Chapter 22 Lucien
Lucien
I hit the accelerator harder, pushing the car to speeds it doesn’t think we should be traveling on city streets, and spare a glance for Daniel in the passenger seat.
He looks like he also doesn’t think we should be going this fast, but since he’s not driving, he doesn’t get a say in the matter.
“Siri, call Luke!” I shout at my phone.
She gives me some form of ‘yes, master,’ then makes the call, and seconds later my cousin is on the line.
“Get to the Landry mansion,” I tell him quickly. “Now. I need backup.”
He doesn’t ask any questions and doesn’t bother to even say goodbye. Just grunts and hangs up. And I think for the millionth time that I need to put more time into training that kid, because he’s going to be a very solid backup when he gets older.
Though I’ll think about that after I get through the next hour or so.
If I get through the next hour or so.
Christ, that’s a hard thought to have, but the next one is even harder: I might already be too late. If the Russian is there and Mikhail phoned him to tell him I’m on my way and have been asking questions, we’re all dead men walking.
And Brooks might already be gone.
My phone rings and I glance at the screen, expecting Luke or even Brooks, but it’s my father.
Fucking terrific. The last thing I want to do right now is hear about how Gemini expects me to take a fucking wife.
I almost refuse the call, but then my logical brain kicks in and tells me that I might need Gemini’s support in this.
I might need men and guns, like, tonight, and if I do, Gem is the best one to provide them.
If I can trust him.
That comes with a range of questions, because I’m all suspicion right now.
Five years ago, Brooks ran out on me because her father and mine had arranged our marriage and she started to get suspicious.
I didn’t think much of it at the time–just a marriage between two powerful families, and one that Brooks and I both wanted–but now I’m wondering.
Why did my father broker that deal in the first place?
Was it because he wanted in on this trafficking thing with Dom?
When I was young, he sent me to Dom’s house to warn him about the trafficking, but had that actually been a different message? A sign that Gemini knew about it and wanted to be cut into the deal?
Is he in on it now?
Was he already in on it when I delivered that message?
Were Brooks and I set up by our own fathers?
That last question makes me feel like I’m going to throw up, and when I answer the call, I’m fuming.
I never thought so before, but the thought of Gemini fucking me over makes me angry as hell.
I want him to be a real dad. A good dad.
The kind that has my back when I need it.
But for that to happen, I need to know where he stands and what he believes in.
It’s time for him to stop beating around the bush and tell me the truth.
So I can get him to help me take this ring down.
“You better start talking, old man,” I say, by way of greeting. “Because it turns out Dom Landry is running a sex trafficking ring and kidnapping girls we know, and I want to know if you’re fucking involved. Is this why you wanted me to marry Brooks? Are you helping him? Do you know the Russians?”
The shocked silence on the other end of the line sounds guilty as hell... until my father starts talking.
“Are you insane?” he snaps. “Join Dom’s trafficking ring, have you lost your mind? That man needs to be taken out into the street and fucking shot for what he’s doing, and I’ve been trying to do it for the last twenty years, at least.”
He launches into a tired about Dom and how stupid he is, the things he’s done and what my father thinks he has planned, and even the reason Gemini said yes to the arranged marriage in the first place.
“I knew you had feelings for the girl,” he says gruffly. “And I’ll admit that I thought it might be a way to get control of the man. What he’s doing isn’t good for the city, and I would have done anything to stop him.”
“Anything?” I ask, hope I wasn’t expecting blooming in my chest.
“Anything,” he confirms.
“I’m going against him right now,” I blurt out, shocked that I’m even telling him. “If I need help–”
He doesn’t even hesitate. “You can count on my men.”
My heart feels as though it expands three sizes in the space of about a minute, and for a full five seconds I forget how to breathe.
I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear that until I heard it, and the knowledge that I can actually count on my father, after all the things we’ve been through over the past several years. ..
“What are you doing, crying?” his voice snaps.
Right. There’s the father I recognize. Thank God.
“No, I’m fucking driving,” I say. “Did you actually need something?”
“Heard there was drama in the city,” he replies, saying absolutely nothing. “Heard that you were involved. Wanted to make sure you weren’t doing anything stupid.”
“Nothing stupid,” I say quickly. “But I have to go. I’ll talk to you soon.”
I hit the button to end the call, comforted by the fact that he’s still the same person I thought he was–and that he’s somehow better than I realized–and turn to Daniel.
“I need you to get back to the house and figure out what the Russians have on Dom and where they’re headquartered.
I want to know who this Boris is and what we can expect from him.
Who he’s working for. They wouldn’t send their leader into the field like this.
I need to identify the head of this snake. ”
“Anything else?” he asks in typical, straitlaced Daniel fashion.
“Get Hunter and get back into their system. Find Corinne’s last known location. Brooks says she was in the Landry mansion, but I need to know where she is now. If shit starts going down and gets ugly, I need to find her and get her out.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going in to get Brooks.”
I can hear the double-take he gives me.
“By yourself? Are you crazy?”
I grin at the road in front of me, then swerve around a car that’s going too slowly. “Not by myself. I already called Luke.”
Daniel looks at me hard enough to burn the side of my face, but I don’t care. Luke is bigger and younger than Daniel, and he’ll be better in a fight. He also won’t argue with me the way Daniel does.
Which is perfect, since we’re not going to have a lot of time for discussion once we get in there.
I jerk the wheel to the right, slide around the corner, and shoot up Dom’s driveway, knowing that it’s stupid to be going in hot like this.
But I don’t have time to be quiet.
I have to get in there and get my girl before someone kills her.
If she hasn’t already forced them to kill her.