Lucien - Silvia Violet Page 0,61

taken some prisoners. It would be better if you didn’t know any more than that.”

His voice was cold, and he still didn’t look at me. Just like that, the hope I’d felt as we stood by the corral evaporated. I knew Lucien cared for me, but I needed more. I needed him to see this as more than hot sex and showering me with gifts. Jimmy was right. I had a sugar daddy, one who cared about me, but this wasn’t a fairytale. Lucien wasn’t in love with me, and I wasn’t going to change him.

He was probably right; I was better off not knowing what was happening. It would probably scare the fuck out of me, but my desire for him had survived watching him kill a man. I believed him when he said the man would’ve killed him first if he’d had the chance, but Lucien had also said he’d done far worse. What might I see that would be worse?

No matter what Lucien said, our relationship would have a natural end, and when it was over, I would have to walk away. So maybe this was for the best. I needed to forget my fantasies about capturing Lucien’s heart.

24

Lucien

Not only had Angelo let me know Devil had gone off the rails again, but my father returned early from the Bahamas and liberated Sabrina from the safehouse where I’d sent her. Now I was going to have to confront my fucked-in-the head cousin in front of my father. Fucking perfect.

I’d known things were close to blowing up, but I’d had a plan even after the fucking disaster a few nights ago, now it was blown to shit. If Peter found out what Devil had done, it wouldn’t matter if I bought him so many horses he could ride a different one every day of the year. He would never look at me the same again.

I thought Peter was the one, the way my mother had been for my dad. I thought he might be able to unfreeze my heart so I could love him openly, but now the chances of that were worse than ever. If Devil made Peter hate me, I was done ignoring his inability to follow orders. He was going to get the fuck out of my house and the family business.

As we pulled up at the house, Peter’s mouth dropped open. At least he was fucking impressed, but my last fucking hope of hiding things from him was gone. Devil stood by a black SUV he’d parked right in front of the house. He had a gun stuck in the waistband of his pants, and instead of the suit I expected him to wear when he came into the office, he had on a tank top, revealing the tattoos covering his arms and showing that he didn’t give a fuck how cold it was outside. Dressed like that, he looked even scarier than usual.

As we watched, he pulled the handle of the rear passenger door and yanked it open. We couldn’t hear what he said, but I saw him jerk his head toward the house. Seconds later, a woman stepped out of the car. I heard Peter’s sharp intake of breath, but I didn’t dare look at him. It was Damian Ricci’s wife, Elena. She was at least twenty if not thirty years younger than him, and while it was bad enough Devil had taken her, she turned back to the car and motioned for her two children to climb out. They stood beside her, clinging to her skirt. I wasn’t sure of their exact ages, but my best guess was four and six.

“Lucien?” Peter’s voice trembled.

“We need to go into the house.” I didn’t bother trying to explain. Nothing was going to make Peter think this was okay, because it wasn’t, but it was done, and I had to deal with it now.

When we entered the foyer, Lola was escorting the woman and her children to a room somewhere down the hall, followed by two of our guards. Whenever we spent time here, Lola always joined us. I was glad she was here today. Devil grinned at me, looking very pleased with himself. I refused to acknowledge what he’d done. “Are Dad and Sabrina here?”

“They’re probably in your dad’s office with Angelo, but I don’t know. I haven’t been here.”

“I noticed, and it’s my office now.”

Devil just smiled. I wanted to drive my fist into his smug face, but he was trying to