The elevator door opens, and I step inside, keeping my attention glued to the red paisley carpeting. It’s only when they begin to close that I look up and catch him staring back at me. The eyes of the devil, burning right through me, and if not for the thick silver doors shutting him out, I’d probably crumble into a pile of ash.
On the first floor, I exit past Makaio and Rand escorting a man I’ve never seen at the Manor before. Dark hair, and equally dark eyes beneath bushy eyebrows that lower with a scowl, he doesn’t divert his gaze as polite people do when passed.
Like he recognizes me, or something.
I don’t recognize him, at all. Should I?
Confused, I turn around as Makaio leads him onto the elevator, and when he turns to face me again, his eyes pop wide.
“Wait!” He lurches forward, held back by the massive Hawaiian beside him, and the doors close shut.
In that moment, I wonder if I’ve just come face to face with Franco.
Chapter 32
Lucian
Stepping from the elevator on the floor to the catacombs, I casually sip my drink, as the sound of screaming echoes down the shadowy corridor. I open the door to the room on the right, where Makaio blocks most of my view. All I can see from the doorway is a pair of trembling feet sticking out from the right of the massive bodyguard, as Makaio goes to work on removing Franco’s tongue, per my earlier request.
Because the best meetings are the ones where I talk, and assholes listen.
I stroll to the other side of the chair, getting a front row view of the carnage, where Franco lies in a bloody mess on the old dentist chair, his tongue on a silver tray beside him.
I tip back another sip of my drink and tuck my hand into my pocket, listening to him sob like a child. “I apologize for the haste of this meeting, but I’m afraid the matter was urgent. I’ve come to the decision that I’m neither going to return your shipment, nor entertain any bullshit from your uncle. No one will find your body. You’ll be nothing more than another pile of bones to add to my collection.”
As he moans and writhes in the chair, Makaio grabs one of the tools from beside him and prods a sharp-looking object into the man’s side.
Franco arches, his voice cracking on a scream before it dies down to another sob.
The sight of his tears tugs a smile that I bury in the last of my drink. “Turns out, you were right, Franco. I am fucking crazy.”
Chapter 33
Lucian
Eight years ago …
Annoying giggles echo down the hall as I pass the atrium on the way to answer my father’s summons. The sound is as much a nuisance as the girl’s presence, and when I catch sight of Amelia, sitting on one of the chairs beside my mother, while the two of them appear to trim flowers, I can’t help but wonder how much longer this will go on. What started as an invitation to spend the week with us has turned into nearly a month of her and my mother running around this place like two obnoxious teenagers.
Amelia flashes yet another flirtatious smile, one of many in the last month, and I turn my head to dodge it and keep on down the hall, toward my father’s office.
It seems she’s always there, wherever I am. Whether it’s in the pool, the gym, the garden, the hallways. I can’t stand that she’s everywhere. Always flirting and offering things I’m pretty sure my mother wouldn’t approve of, if she heard them.
Of course, I always refuse.
I don’t know what it is about her. She’s undeniably one of the most beautiful girls in Tempest Cove, and yet, I’m not attracted to her in the least. Not since I’ve been forced to spend every day avoiding her, anyway. I’m waiting for my mother to bring up marriage, and that’ll be when I put my foot down.
There’s no way in hell I’ll marry Amelia Boyd.
The elevator opens, and I slow my steps on entering my father’s office, where he sits across from Mayor Boyd. Frowning, I keep my eyes on Boyd, while I take my seat beside him and look back to my father, whose flat expression offers no indication as to what this meeting is about.
“Hello, Lucian,” Boyd says, his voice tense as he stares down at his