LOGINLucien’s POVI dial Jamie’s number again as I get off the highway, minutes into Maya’s neighborhood. “Have you found her?” My voice feels raw, scraped against my throat. “Yes,” he says, relief in his voice. “I just pulled into the gas station. I can see her now. She—” he pauses. “She’s with Adrianna. They’re both safe.” My shoulders tremble, strength leaving me for a moment as air rushes out of my lungs. My grip falters as I gulp in a shaky breath. “Good,” I whisper. “Guard them with your life, Jamie.” “I will,” he says briskly. “A sedan,” he adds. “She says it was a sedan trailing her. A brown sedan. She didn’t catch the full plate numbers.” He gives me a couple digits. “Do you want to…speak to her directly?” My breath catches. My chest squeezes. I do. I desperately want to hear her voice. “No,” I shake my head. “Keep them safe.” I end the call before I can change my mind. I need to keep my distance. If I hear her voice, I might break my promise. I tuck my phone into my pocket
Lucien’s POV My phone rings. I turn it over without a glance, putting the shrill sound out of my head. I turn to my father again, my hands behind my back and my voice thin with frail patience. “Your son,” I tell him. “You severely underestimated him.” “You,” I laugh wryly, “thought he needed my help. That he was almost as useless as Antonio, but it turns out that he’d been stealing from you all along. How did it make you feel?” He stares at me. “Disappointed, I’m sure,” I answer for him. I take a step closer to his chair. “He and I had a chat. He was more than willing to put a bullet through your head to take over the company.” My father turns pale.“I wonder if Antonio feels the same way,” I say, rubbing my chin. “I mean,” I chuckle dryly, my shoulders shaking with genuine mirth, “you basically cut him off. And now he’s married to a woman more ambitious than he ever was.” I stop when I can smell the sick on his warm breath, leaning over. “What do you think,” I whisper, “he’ll
Maya’s POV“Mummy?”“Mm?”I pull my eyes away from the window and turn back to her, forcing a small smile onto my face. “Yes, baby?”Adrianna studies me for a moment, her lips pursing thoughtfully as she tilts her head. “Are you okay?”“Me?” I let out a light laugh, shaking my head as if the idea itself is ridiculous. “I’m fine.”Her expression doesn’t change. If anything, the concern in her eyes deepens.“You took my bag and gave me yours,” she says, lifting the strap of the purse hanging awkwardly off her small shoulder like evidence in a trial.I glance down at it.Right.“And you walked into the wrong class to look for me,” she continues, counting each point off on her fingers with careful seriousness.“That was just a mistake,” I say quickly. “You’re early too,” she adds, lifting another finger. “You’re never early.”“I’m never late either, am I?” I say, letting out a small laugh as I try to lighten the moment. It doesn’t work. “Okay,” I clear my throat, like I’m abo
Lucien’s POV I’m seated alone when Jamie rushes into the building, the sound of his boots heavy on the ground. “Lucien!” he yells my name, out of breath. He stops when he gets to the table, glancing around. He spots the trail of blood leading away from the table. “Did you kill him?” He exhales heavily, running his fingers through his hair. “I know he’s a monster and all, but if you killed your brother—” I give him a side glance that stops his ramble. “Would you rather I let him walk away? To try a second time?” “We don’t know if it was him. The substitute teacher couldn’t identify the man properly or recall any distinguishing features because it was rush hour. She had to deal with the kids and a few parents.” He drops into a chair. “It might’ve been the agent. He might’ve wanted her as leverage. A bargaining tool.” “For what?” Jamie purses his lips for a moment. “His freedom? He knows you’re after him, and I doubt your brother…” he trails off, staring at me. I rub my
Lucien’s POV I’m out of my chair, my fingers wrapped around his neck, before I realize I’ve stood up. “Don’t you dare,” I snarl, glaring down at him. “Don’t you fucking dare.” Salvatore grins, staring at me as his face turns red, my fingernails digging into his skin. “Go ahead,” he taunts me still, choking on his words. I hear footsteps hurrying towards us, but I don’t move. I want to choke the life from his eyes and repeat the process as many times as it takes to drain every bit of hope from him. Guns cock, safeties going off. Salvatore raises a hand, holding them off. He turns back to me. “Kill me,” he hisses. “Do it. I’ve always known you wanted to. Even when–” he stops when my thumb presses into the side of his neck, cutting off his air. My blood runs hot, and I see rage. Nothing but white, hot rage. My fingernails sink into his carotid artery as my jaw grinds. “Maybe I will,” I chuckle under my breath. “Maybe I should do the world a favor and finish you off.” The smu
Lucien’s POVI’ve been waiting for this meeting for three days.Not because I wanted it. But because once I saw his face outside that building — once my jaw dropped in the back of that car and the pieces rearranged themselves into something uglier than I’d prepared for — I knew it was coming. He wasn’t going to keep moves in the dark. It wasn’t his style. So I reached out first. I’m already seated when he arrives.The restaurant is closed. I made sure of that. Neutral ground, no audience, no staff lingering within earshot.Salvatore walks in like he owns the floor beneath him. He always did. Even as a boy, he moved through rooms like he was taking inventory. Like everything in his line of sight was already his and he was simply confirming it.He looks older. Harder. He adjusts his cuff as he pulls out the chair across from me and sits without being invited.“Brother,” he says.“Salvatore.”He smiles. It doesn’t reach anything. “You look well. Prison agreed with you.”“You’d know m
Maya’s POV “What kind of trouble?” I ask carefully.James shakes his head once. “The kind I just said.” He reaches to the bottom of a messy stack, yanks out a file, and slaps it onto the desk. “This landed on my desk minutes ago. I haven’t even had time to dig into it yet, but”—he lets out a short
Lucien Jamie stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. His head tilts slightly, brow lifting a fraction as if he’s trying to find the joke he’s missed. He opens his mouth, closes it again. He spreads his arms wide, an exaggerated gesture that collapses halfway, hands dropping back to his sides.He exh
Maya “Jenna? Jenna?”I blink suddenly, snapping out of my thoughts at the sound of something clicking in front of my face. I shut my eyes for a half-second as my vision doubles. When I open my eyes again, Andrew’s face is inches away from mine, his eyebrows close to being a unibrow. “What?” I ask
What happens, Maya, when they find out that you slept with the man you were supposed to trap and turn in? What do you think they’d do, if they find out that you spent the night in my arms, naked and sweaty…my head between your thighs and your fingers fisting through my hair? The seconds go by and







