want to go? You want to leave?” The very thought of her leaving is like a punch to my chest. A hard, steal-your-fucking-breath punch that has my head spinning out of control, my muscles wound up in tight balls of rage.
“Yes.”
Grinding my teeth, I stare back at her, urging myself to stay away from those lips. I release her face, and it takes every ounce of strength in my body to step away from her. “Fine. Makaio will drop you off first thing in the morning.”
Chapter 55
Isadora
The buzz of my cellphone rips me out of dreams, and I sit up in bed. Morning light shimmers through the curtains, while I wipe the sleep from my eyes and lift my phone to see a call from Aunt Midge. I texted her last night, letting her know I decided to stay the night at Kelsey’s. I hate having to lie to her, but the truth will only make her worry.
“Hello?”
“Isa … you need to come home.” Even through the phone, her voice carries the weight of grief and sends a shiver of goosebumps across my skin.
“What is it? What’s happened?”
“Your mother … she was found dead this morning. You need to come home.”
Makaio closes the passenger door of the Bentley, and as he rounds the vehicle, I catch Lucian standing in the window of his office, staring down at me. Hands stuffed in the pockets of his slacks, he carries the same stern body language as when I first arrived, and I know he’s angry with me. I didn’t bother to say goodbye, or tell him about my mother.
There’s no point.
My return to Aunt Midge is merely to be there for my aunt.
The news of my mother didn’t exactly come as a surprise to me, seeing as I’ve waited nearly a decade for that call to come in. A person doesn’t get to live that perilously without fate kicking in at some point. A part of me feels hollow and cold, empty inside, but not from the same sadness that will surely crush Aunt Midge over the coming days. Mine is a yearning. A craving to find some small piece of me that still gives a shit about something.
My disconnect with Lucian the night before was like snipping the only other thing that mattered to me, aside from my aunt. Now, I feel like I’m drifting. A flitting scrap caught up by the wind.
As the car pulls away, my heart withers inside my chest. For a fleeting moment, I was certain what I had with Lucian was real. That, for the first time in my life, I felt something genuine.
There is safety in Lucian, insofar as I’m willing to take a leap over the edge of a treacherous cliff to reach it. I should’ve known better than to get involved with a man like him—a deity of wrath and flames, when I’m nothing but a mortal, playing with fire.
I didn’t grow up with the kind of power he wields, the kind that can eliminate threats and competition without consequence. The kind that can hunt down a dangerous drug dealer and bury him right under my nose. I was naive to think that he’d struck a deal with Franco, or paid him off. How foolish to imagine two predators could come to some mutual understanding that way.
Sharks don’t compromise, they hunt to kill, and Lucian is one of the more cunning in this sea of corruption.
By the time we reach Aunt Midge’s house, Makaio hasn’t spoken a single word to me. I find myself torn between wanting to thank him for coming after me, when Aedon and Brady had me pinned down in the nasty park bathroom, and fearing him. Like Lucian, he’s apparently quite capable of eliminating whatever gets in his way. And I certainly don’t want to be the source of his wrath today.
I unclasp the bracelet and set it down on the console table beside me. When Makaio opens the door, I step out onto the sidewalk, and he reaches for the duffle bag in my hand. This time, I set a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “I’ve got it.”
He eases back a step and rests his hand on the door, instead.
“Makaio …” Words are hard for me. Words of thanks and appreciation are impossible. “If you hadn’t shown up last night, I know that would’ve been a very bad situation. I had nightmares about what could’ve happened.”