Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Erin
I’ve given them space, hidden myself in the corners of the cabin where I can’t overhear their talk. Lucian calls me back to the kitchen table. “Erin, come hang with us.”
“Gregory,” I say, sitting back down at the table, still in a state of shock. “You have such a different name from Lucian, yet the very same eyes.”
“Yeah,” Gregory turns to Lucian with a grin. “How did I get such a straightlaced name, Luce?”
Lucian rises from the table, saying, “’Cause I was old enough to tell mom not to name you something as weird as Lucian.”
“I love your name,” I tell Lucian. “I can’t imagine you being called anything else.”
“Thanks.”
“Same.” Gregory smiles up at Lucian, like the man hung the sun.
Kind of the same way I smile at Cass.
“I’ve got to check in with the men,” Lucian says. “Can you keep an eye on this one?”
“We’ll be fine,” I assure him.
“I was talking to Gregory,” he jokes.
Playfully, I punch his shoulder. “We both will be fine. Go.”
Lucian grabs his lighter coat, a tan utility jacket, from the hook, without even thinking to ask me for his heavier one that I wear.
“Wait!” I stand up, shrugging out of his coat, wanting him to be warm.
He doesn’t even say anything. Only gives me a look. I sit back down, shoving my arms in the sleeves.
“Still bossy, I see,” Gregory laughs.
“Is he ever?” I joke back, sending Lucian a wink.
“Some things will never change,” Lucian says, winking back at me with a look that melts me.
He shoots Gregory a warning look over his shoulder. “Don’t tell her any of my secrets,” he says. “Especially not about that bowl cut I had when I was fourteen.”
Gregory’s mouth twitches, fighting a grin. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Lucian leans down to press a kiss to my forehead. His lips linger a second longer than necessary. I know why. He hates leaving me, even for a moment.
But I nod up at him with a small smile to assure him. “I’ll behave.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” he mutters, “Half the time you think you’re behaving well, you’re causing trouble.”
“That’s not really true,” I whisper to Gregory. “Only half true.”
Lucian disappears out the door, already barking orders to his men.
The chill rushes in, then the cabin’s quiet again—just me and Gregory and the whistle of the kettle.
I glance at him, awkward for half a beat. He’s seated stiffly in the chair Lucian usually occupies, his mug cradled like it might do more than warm his hands.
“I’m sorry about the coffee,” I offer.
He takes a slow sip, hiding a wince in his politeness. “It’s… ambitious. Might be better served with a knife and a fork.”
I laugh. “That’s generous. I found it in a drawer next to a broken mousetrap and some emergency flares.”
“Well then, I’m honored.” He raises the mug like it’s a toast. “To surviving mystery brews.”
I sit across from him, holding my own mug. My curiosity is intense. Not just about him, but about them—the brothers, Lucian’s parents, and everything there is to know about him.
“So,” I say, “Lucian never told me he had a brother.”
“And he hasn’t told me about anything real, surface stuff only,” Gregory replies dryly. “He hasn’t told me much in the last decade.”
I frown. “Why?”
“Because he didn’t want me in this world.” He leans back, his gaze drifting to the low-beamed ceiling. “He always shielded me. After our parents died… he made it his mission to keep me safe. Sent me to the best schools. Paid tuition with blood money I didn’t ask questions about.”
I blink. “How did your parents—?”
“Car crash,” he says. “Drunk driver. We were just kids. He was sixteen. I was six.”
“I’m sorry.” I think of my mum. “The pain doesn’t go away. Does it?”
“It was so long ago. I don’t remember them well, but I feel their absence. You know?”
“I do.” My chest tightens. “But you were much younger. That’s a lot to go through.”
He nods. “Lucian became everything after that. My brother. My father. My bodyguard. He was just a kid himself, and he was out there hustling jobs on the side. Then he met Carlos.”
The name drops like a rock between us.
I attempt to lighten the mood. “Carlos is the one who introduced Lucian to a life of crime?”
Gregory pauses. “He knew Carlos was bad, but Luce took the risk anyway. For me.”
Of course, Lucian gave up everything for Gregory. That’s who he is.“I’m sure he’d do anything for you.” I smile. “Even rob a few banks if he had to.”
“Sometimes I think, with both our parents dying at once, I have to wonder if our family was already tied in. Car crash seems a little suspicious, especially when I haven’t seen their ‘lost’ death certificates.”
He takes another sip of coffee, more relaxed with me now. “When he met the Bachmans, he finally let me visit. I like them. The ties they held. The way they formed a kind of found family.”
“They are like family. Tighter than family. And a little bit intimidating,” I admit.
Silence settles between us again, but not heavy this time—more like… mutual understanding.
I lean forward, warming my hands on my cup. “Then Bayne called, right?”
“Then Bayne called,” Gregory agrees. “Told me Lucian was in the same country as me. Said he might need backup. That I was family, and family should show up.”
I smile a little. “Bayne’s right.”
Gregory watches me for a beat. “Now that I’m here though… I don’t think I’m the only reason he’s still fighting.”
My cheeks warm under his knowing look.
“You,” he says gently. “You changed something in him.”
“Is that a good thing, or bad?”
“After Isobel, he shut himself off. I feel like he’s more like him again. Open.”
In all this chaos I’ve caused, I don’t feel the same fears about being with Lucian, tied to a man in the mafia, as I once did. It’s starting to seem like I’ve always been part of this life.
Or, that it’s been a part of me.
Revenge, power, violence. They stay hidden away, but they swirl just below the surface.
He’s woken me up.
As if I’m meant for mafia. As if…
I’m meant for him.
Gregory tilts his head and asks, “How did you two meet?”
If Lucian has put all this work into shielding his little brother, I’m certainly not going to corrupt Gregory by telling him how we met.
I take a deep breath. “It’s… complicated. And it has been ever since.”
“I majored in physics,” he says. “I can handle complicated.”
That earns a laugh out of me.
He leans in. “But if you’d rather tell me about yourself, I’m listening.”
I find myself opening up in a way I didn’t expect. I tell him about Cass and Ryan. About Caleb. About running.
I finish, my voice soft. “We ran from a mafia so I could protect them.”
“Now you’re falling for a man who would burn the world to keep you safe. But he comes from the same world as the man he’s protecting you from,” Gregory finishes softly.
“You are good with complicated.”
He laughs.
“But since we’ve been here?” A serene smile comes to my face, the one that does when I think about how I feel about Lucian. “It’s becoming simpler.”
We fall silent for a moment. I think about how I’m starting to like complicated. How I’m maybe even beginning to…love…complicated, even with all its dangerous implications.
Then, Gregory says, “He’s never had that in a long time. Someone he loves after the scars.”
Loves. I leave his word hanging in the air.
Gregory says. “He doesn’t trust easily. He came after you, followed you here. That says everything.”
And I trust him implicitly with everything.
I feel tears prick behind my eyes, but I blink them away.
“Thanks for talking to me,” I murmur.
Gregory smiles. “Anytime. And for the record—I think you’re good for him.”
Just then, the door creaks open again. Lucian steps inside, eyes immediately scanning me as if he needs proof I’m still here. His gaze shifts to Gregory, then to the mugs.
“Did she corrupt you with more of that poison she calls coffee?”
Gregory raises his cup. “To the bitter end.”
Lucian smirks and shakes his head, stepping back into the warmth as if we’re on a reunion vacation with his brother. And I wish we were. But we’re not.
Gregory’s here, and he doesn’t seem like he’s leaving anytime soon. Cass and Ryan are home, safe and guarded by the Bachmans.
Some patchwork family seems to be rising from the ashes of our pasts.