Poison - Jade West Page 0,112

turned up a few days later. I knew as soon as they sat down opposite me in Lucas’s living room and began the conversation.

My word against his, unfortunately not enough evidence to prosecute, and I managed to nod my way through it without crying, because I’d tried.

I’d been honest and at least I’d tried.

After they’d gone, he held me tight, and I let out the fears I’d been pushing away for days on end.

“What if he comes after me, Lucas? Because he might. He never lets things go, and he’ll be raging. Totally raging that I went to the police about him.”

“He won’t be thinking of coming after you for long, Anna, I promise you,” he said, and put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me back enough to look me straight in the eyes. “I never let things go, either, and he isn’t going to be capable of coming after you for very long. I’ve made sure of that.”

There was a flash of panic inside, because I knew whatever he was talking about would be serious, but his eyes were so steady and so true.

“Tell me,” I said. “Please, Lucas, just tell me.”

So he did.

He finished making dinner and we sat down at the table together, and he told me all about how Sebastian Maitland was a corrupt little prick who’d used his career position for fraud and bribery. He told me how Sebastian was arrogant, and over the years had become careless with his bullshit, and it had been so easy to piece together behind the scenes by checking out his communications activity from three different phone accounts.

And how easy it had been to assemble and report anonymously.

“It’s just time,” he said. “I can assure you, his career days are reaching their end, and he’ll be suffering the consequences of the life choices he’s made for his own gains.”

“But you shouldn’t have done that, right?” I asked him. “That’s abusing your position, isn’t it? What if they come after you, too?”

“I hope I’m a little more careful than he is,” he said. “But yes, I’ve abused my position. It’s a rarity, but I’ve abused my position, there’s no denying that.” He shrugged. “I think it’s worth it, though. I wouldn’t have been able to use anything he hadn’t done himself. One day someone would have found him out for it, I’ve just sped up that process.”

I reached out across the table to take his hand. “You didn’t have to do that. You didn’t have to make Sebastian pay for what he did.”

“I didn’t have to do that,” he said, and took both of mine. “I wanted to.”

We stared at each other in silence for long seconds, both of us lost in that moment.

“Please don’t do that again,” I said. “You aren’t some super moral hero behind the scenes, trying to make the world a better place. You’re Lucas Pierce, here with me, having chickens and ponies and walking the dogs. I love you that way, please don’t change it.”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” he replied, and kissed my hand. “I’m very, very happy to be Lucas Pierce, here with you, having chickens and ponies and walking the dogs. I’m not intending to change that. We’ve got more than enough time to make up for.” He paused. “I just wanted Sebastian Maitland to get what’s due. I could have dug a lot deeper and done a lot worse to him, I assure you.”

I let it settle at that. I took a deep breath and we cleared the plates and my heart was thumping with a nice wave of comfort that I was really here, out the other side of the battle.

Because love is a battlefield. It really is.

We’d taken our blows, and we’d hidden in the trenches, and luckily, finally, we’d won the war.

Or so we thought.

It was just a shame the enemy didn’t want to surrender.

Even now, there was one final wave of attack still to come.

Chapter Forty-Two

Lucas

Within a few days we were living in bliss, waking up in the mornings and being so happy to be there. We’d eat breakfast in dressing gowns and shower together, then take Bill and Ted out before work.

I’d drop her outside her office, and we’d ping each other through the day, and I’d be there every evening to pick her up for home. Sometimes we’d grab the rackets and hit the tennis court, and some games she’d get so close to winning that she’d dance along the net, blowing me