Chapter 50
Logan
Francesca said Serena was fine and that she had accepted the offer to become part of Solitaire, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. It wasn’t this slightly more confident goddess that has, to my dismay tied her hair up in a bun.
“How are you?” I ask carefully.
“Good. Francesca is great. She showed me that what I did was necessary, or I would be dead, and probably you as well.”
“All true. That woman was…disturbed.” Coming from me, that’s saying something. “But are you sure you’re good?” She seems to be, but killing someone, especially the first time is shocking and takes a while to come to terms with.
“I’m okay. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“But I want to. You mean everything to me.”
Her eyes light up, and it stirs my cock. She adores the words that make her feel good, and I can’t wait to show her with actions for the rest of my life. But unfortunately, there are things hanging over my head. “I have something to say. Now probably isn’t the best time, but I have to tell you.”
“What is it?” Her sense of dread is there even though she’s trying to hide it.
“I went to see Quentin earlier.”
“Oh? How come? Is everything okay? Did he hurt you?” Her eyes laser over me, checking for injuries.
“I’m fine. He…Isaac shot and killed him.”
“Wh-what?” she stammers, her eyes wide. “Who is Isaac?”
“The big guy.”
“The one with the apples?”
Frowning, I want to ask her how she knows about the apples, but shake my head and say, “Yeah, that guy.”
“Okay. Is he definitely dead?”
“Yes.” No way am I telling her he was shot in the head.
“Fuck.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry, Serena.”
“Fuuuuck! Now what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to get answers?”
“See! I knew you didn’t want me to kill him,” I can’t help pointing out like an idiot.
Her incredulous expression makes me want to laugh out loud, but I don’t. “Seriously? That’s your issue here?”
“No, but I’m still sorry. I couldn’t stop it. It was an order from higher up.”
“Rue’s parents?”
Shrugging my response, I ask, “You need to speak to your mom, and ask her what happened.”
“Mom,” she scoffs. “Yeah, okay.”
“For all intents and purposes, she was your mom.” Feeling it unnecessary to remind her that she has parents, I press my lips together.
“Yeah, I suppose,” she admits reluctantly. “I’ll call her later.”
“Do it now.”
It’s an order that I want her to obey. This will hang over her head, and to be honest, tonight, I want to make her forget everything.
The cleaner her slate, the easier that will be.
She might seem okay right now, but when she closes her eyes and the night darkens, boxing her in, she is going to see Kelly’s last moments over and over again.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” she says, pulling away from me to dig out her phone from the oversized handbag Rue brought with her belongings a few days ago. Even though the threats against her and us are over, I’m not allowing her to leave this apartment to go back to hers. This is her home now.
“Dead,” she announces, holding it up.
“Charger,” I reply, pointing to it plugged in the corner of the sitting room.
“Fuck," she mutters and ambles over to plug it in.
As she does so, my phone rings. Answering it as I see it’s Guy, he is quick to jump in before I’ve even said hello.
“I thought you said you were going the legal route?”
“With what?” Casting my glance over to Serena, who is staring at her phone while it boots up, I need him to hurry up.
“Clifford Stanley.”
Narrowing my eyes, something doesn’t feel right. “What about him?”
“He’s dead.”
“What? How?” My blood runs cold as the implications hit me. I was still in the process of getting the case out of cold storage. How the fuck?
“Shanked.”
Closing my eyes, I shake my head. Viktor and another one of his gifts, no doubt.
He is tying me deeper and deeper into the Society, and while not a bad thing, certainly isn’t what I was hoping for.
The feeling that this isn’t the end of it plagues me because I’ve figured out his endgame and the fact that it scares me should tell you the severity of what he is planning in the future, possibly sooner than I can predict.
“Dammit, Vik,” I mutter.
“Huh?”
“Nothing. Thanks for the update.”
“Anytime.”
We hang up, and I turn to Serena, needing her comfort, needing her arms around me for just a second so I can feel real and not some pawn in a power play that is way above my pay grade.
“What?” she asks, the dread in her voice palpable this time. She drops her phone and comes to me, wrapping her arms around me as I stand completely still, unable to fully process everything that just happened.
“The man who murdered my family and tried to murder me has been killed in prison.” I blurt this out, knowing it will shock her, but needing the simplified version of events for her.
I’m not wrong.
“Fuck. Wow, that’s…shit, Logan. Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”
“You don’t need my shit weighing you down.”
“Hey,” she snaps, gripping my chin and being the fierce, badass woman I know she can be. “This is our shit to deal with together. I don’t get the monopoly on bringing shit to the relationship. If you feel up to it, I want to know, but if you’re not ready, I’ll be here when you are.”
Contemplating her words as I stare into her wide, innocent green eyes, which are now tinged with darkness, I fall so deeply in love with her, I’m finding it impossible to breathe.
It was there before, a possessive love that made me want to consume her, but that’s not who she is.
She is mine, but she isn’t mine. As much as I want to lock her away from the world and keep her all to myself, I know at that moment, she needs to fly, to extend her burgeoning wings to become the woman, the wife that will be a force in my life.
Because shit just got real, and with the knowledge I’ve pieced together that Viktor and Francesca are planning to overthrow the Don, I have a nasty feeling, she is going to need all the strength in the world to remain by my side, to grow and learn and find herself.
And as much as I hate that I can’t keep her caged, I’m going to have to let her soar.