Lucien - Silvia Violet Page 0,62

wind me up, and I wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction.

I glanced at Peter and inclined my head, indicating that he should follow me. He did. At least he wasn’t scared enough to insist I let him go. When we reached my office, I was surprised to see my father hadn’t taken his old place behind the desk but had left it for me. My aunt was there too along with Angelo. I focused on Sabrina. “Would you keep Peter company while we have our meeting?”

She looked ready to protest, but when she looked at Peter, she must have seen something on his face that made her change her mind. She rose from her seat and smoothed the wrinkles from her skirt. “Of course. Peter, why don’t we see what Lola has for us in the kitchen.”

I forced myself to look at Peter. The disappointment in his eyes cut right through me, but I kept my expression neutral. “Stay with Sabrina. I’ll find you later when our business is concluded.”

Peter gave me a small nod before turning away. I wanted to follow him, to tell him this wasn’t my choice, but begging someone for understanding wasn’t something men like me did. I gave orders, I made decisions, and I expected people to accept that.

“I needed a snack,” Devil said when he finally stepped into the office, holding a large cookie in his hand.

I grabbed it, threw it in the trash, and pointed at a chair. “Sit the fuck down.”

Fortunately for him, he did. I felt his eyes on me as I turned away and began to pace the room. I didn’t feel like sitting down. What I wanted to do was take Peter’s hand and walk out of the room, out of the house, away from my life. But I would never do that. I had to fix this fucking mess.

When I thought I could speak calmly, I looked at Angelo. I wasn’t about to give Devil the privilege of speaking first. He wanted to brag about what he’d done, and I had no interest in hearing it from him. “Explain to me what the fuck went on today.”

“No,” my father said first. “You explain why he was left to deal with it while you ran around with your new boy. I expect better of you Lucien. You don’t usually get led around by the dick.”

My father had made me angry many times before, but I’d never felt the rage toward him that I did at that moment.

“Never speak about Peter like that again. He had nothing to do with my decision to leave today. That was on me. I thought Angelo could handle himself. He’s wanted more responsibility, so I tried to let him take some.”

Angelo glared at me. “Don’t fucking pin this on me. You’re the one that walked out without giving me any instructions except to do exactly what you would. Guess what? I’m not you.”

“Right. You’re the one who lets Devil get away with whatever the fuck he wants.”

Devil slammed his hand down on the desk. “No. This isn’t Angel’s fault. It’s not Lucien’s either. I had an opportunity, and I took it. I made a decision, and I maintain it was a fucking good one.”

“A good decision? To take Damian’s wife and kids? To bring them here to our fucking house?”

“Where else did you want me to take them? The office?”

“Fuck no.”

“Maybe I should have tied them up at the warehouse.”

I was going to kill him. “You could have left them the fuck alone. We have plenty of other tactics to use against Ricci.”

“None of them are this effective.”

“They’re also not as likely to escalate this war, alienate our allies, and bring the enemy to our turf,” my father said.

Thank fuck he didn’t agree with Devil. Not that I’d thought he would. I’d learned my methods from him, including the fact that the only way we involve women and children is questioning them.

“Does he not even know?” Devil asked, scowling at me.

“Know what?” my father asked.

“Why did you think Sabrina was at the safe house?”

“She told me you were worried she was a target.”

“Because she wanted to be back in the middle of things.” When was he going to learn how good our aunt was at manipulating him? “Do you honestly think she would’ve agreed to leave if there was nothing but a theoretical threat?”

“If you told her to, then…” My father paused and rolled his eyes. “Fuck no.”

“Exactly. A few days ago, thanks