Chapter 14 – Drake
DRAKE
Four Years Later
Olivia climbed onstage to accept her college diploma, smiling at the crowd. This girl could light up any room. She was magnetic and brought love, laughter, and joy into my home.
Until she left me.
Before Olivia, the Battle Fortress was cold and lifeless.
She made me whole again. Even my mother and the staff loved her.
And I missed the hell out of her the past four years.
For the first two years, she only moved back to the house for holidays and summers.
But at the start of junior year, she asked me to rent her an on-campus apartment.
Of course, I said yes. I would have done anything for her.
But I didn’t expect her never to come back.
I sat in the Kingston University auditorium beside Tate, a proud grin frozen on my face. Olivia shook the dean’s hand and waved, holding up her diploma.
I clapped and cheered.
Tate stood and whistled.
My eyes tracked the gentle sway of her hips, the bounce of her big tits, and that sweet ass hidden beneath the black gown.
I memorized every curve of her delicious body.
In the past few years, she gained more weight, a vast difference from the skinny girl I brought home all those years ago.
She was insecure about her weight, but I loved how she looked.
Beautiful.
Perfect.
Mine.
No, she would probably never be mine, but I often told myself that she would be someday. Eventually, she would see past our first time and remember that she loved me.
I ensured Olivia had everything she desired. If she had asked me for the moon, I would have found a way to get it for her. For years, I denied myself the one thing I wanted most. Olivia was on my mind all the time. She tortured me in my dreams and consumed my fantasies.
But I couldn’t touch her.
Tate would not allow it.
Not after the last time.
Besides, Olivia had shown no interest in me since she moved out of the house. Even when she came back for the winter and summer breaks, things were different. We didn’t watch movies the way we had in the past. Nor did she make excuses to come visit me in the Battle Cave.
I licked my lips as she rejoined her classmates in the first row. She flicked her long caramel locks over her shoulder, glowing like sunshine.
Tate nudged me with his elbow. “Off-limits, brother.”
We were back on good terms after a lot of apologizing and promising not to lay a hand on Olivia ever again.
The bargain I made with Tate meant giving her up.
Besides being tied to me was too dangerous, especially now that Lovelace was a highly sought after artificial intelligence software.
She didn’t just run my home and offices anymore.
“I did nothing,” I said, which earned me another elbow, this time to my stomach.
“Uh-huh. I’m not an idiot.” Tate shook his head. “I see the way you two look at each other.”
I couldn’t hide my attraction to Olivia from my best friend. He was very perceptive. Or maybe what gave me away was my inability to look away whenever she entered a room.
After being her guardian for a year, I should have trained myself not to notice her. But forbidden fruit tasted so much sweeter… and I couldn’t help myself. She offered me a taste, and only a fool would have turned her down.
“I plead the fifth,” I whispered, careful not to disrupt the people surrounding us.
“She can never know the truth,” Tate said in a hushed tone. “Relationships require trust. We talked about this.”
After Tate forgave me, we had a heart-to-heart. I told him how I felt about Olivia. Confessed that she was the only woman I’d ever loved. That I would give her anything just to make her happy.
He reminded me that the mile-wide secret we shared created a divide. Until he was ready to tell her everything, I had no future with Olivia. We were better off as friends. At least, that was what I told myself to get through the day.
“She deserves to know,” I said, hoping that Tate would eventually change his mind.
“Liv is happy and looking forward to working with us at Battle Industries. Don’t rock the boat.” Tate squeezed my shoulder and leaned closer, speaking against the shell of my ear. “Think about what the truth would do to her.”
I nodded to end the argument.
Of course, he was right.
Tate always had her best interests in mind. He was my best friend and confidant. As my head of security, he knew everything about my business and life, including the parts I couldn’t tell anyone.
My cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I read the text message from Marcello Salvatore and sighed.
Marcello
Luca called a meeting for midnight.
Drake
I’ll be there.
I belonged to a secret society called The Devil’s Knights.
We were the bankers of the criminal underworld and had ties to organized crime.
As the group’s tech guru, I hacked into servers and stole information—anything they needed.
But dealing with criminals also meant spending a lot of time on the dark side of the internet, attracting the attention of unsavory characters.
The Knights had been at war for the past year with a terrorist organization called The Lucaya Group. All the women in our lives were in danger. For that reason, I avoided attachments and was glad Olivia was living in Beacon Bay. I couldn’t risk bringing an innocent person into this mess.
“I’m so fucking proud of her,” Tate said, smiling as she resumed her place on stage. “Another brainiac in the family. You two are like two peas in a pod.”
“Why do you think I hired her?”
“As your assistant,” Tate shot back.
“Actually, that was Liv’s idea.”
Tate snickered. “Only because she wanted a reason for you to get rid of Carmella.”
“I fucked her once,” I whispered. “When I was seventeen. You guys make it out like I had some long-standing relationship with her.”
“Well, regardless, I think Liv is happy you finally moved Carmella to your Silicon Valley office.”
“What am I supposed to do after the year is over and Liv has satisfied her end of the deal?”
I offered to pay for her education. Olivia was so much like her older brother that she refused my help. However, when she applied for financial aid, they denied her because of my income.
So, I offered to let her work for one year at Battle Industries in exchange. Everyone, including Olivia, said that was too cheap of a bargain. The money didn’t matter. I would have paid for her college anyway. But the opportunity to have her at my side every day was too sweet to pass up.
Tate shrugged. “Find a replacement.”
“Good assistants are hard to find. Why do you think I kept Carmella around for so long?”
“All I know is if you bring her back from California, Liv will kick your ass.”
I laughed. “You’re probably right.”
After graduation, I treated Tate and Olivia to lunch at Cafe Lacroix. It seemed too simple for her big day. But when I suggested throwing a party, she rejected the idea.
“I want to celebrate with my two favorite people,” she’d said with a cute smile. “And I want to do it at our favorite restaurant. Low-key. Nothing special.”
She deserved so much more than a fifty-dollar burger, but it was what she wanted.
“I’m so pumped to start work on Monday,” Olivia said between bites, grease sliding down her lip.
She licked it away, and I nearly stopped breathing. My sole focus went to her mouth. Tate was saying something, but my brain couldn’t process it.
Get it together, Battle.
“Drake decorated an office for you. He hired a designer and nit-picked every color and piece of furniture. Wait until you see it. You’re gonna love it, Liv.”
Her eyes widened at me. “I get an office?”
I nodded. “You need a place to work without distractions. You’re more than an executive assistant. I wanted you to have a space of your own.”
“Drake,” she squealed, rising from her chair to hug me. “You’re the best. Thank you. When we made this deal, I didn’t expect much. But you always exceed my expectations.”
I kissed her cheek. “You deserve it. I’m proud of you, Liv.”
My cell phone dinged with several messages in rapid succession. Two from Luca Salvatore. Three from Cole Marshall. Five from Marcello Salvatore. One from Sonny Cormac. The rest of The Devil’s Knights would soon start blowing up my phone.
Olivia glanced over my shoulder. “Everything okay?”
“Sure,” I lied. “All good. Why don’t you finish your food before it gets cold?”
“Um, okay.” Olivia bit her bottom lip. “You sure you’re good?”
I bobbed my head. “Work stuff. Not a big deal.”
I hid the phone under the table and scanned their frantic messages. Luca’s texts were borderline threatening. Marcello was kind but forceful in his approach. They were all worried about the latest threat from The Lucaya Group.
I still hadn’t found the courage to tell them about the hacker that I had pissed off. Maverick was a legend on the Dark Web and my nemesis. In my attempts to take down The Lucaya Group, I accidentally let him into my system. Those brief seconds were enough time for him to steal vital information.
In the past year alone, Alex Wellington—now Salvatore—and her twin brother were kidnapped. The Russian Mafia had nearly killed my cousin Cole’s wife, Grace.
Lovelace had the capabilities of a weapon of mass destruction. But I couldn’t do it.
I wasn’t a psychopath.
Olivia glared at me across the table, stuffing a steak fry into her mouth. She read the lie on my face. It was impossible to hide anything from her. By some miracle, I’d concealed the biggest one.
“I’ll tell you everything when we get home,” I said to diffuse her irritation. “This is not the place to share privileged information.”
She perked up at that and smiled. “You can do your Batman thing tonight. But when we get home, I want to watch a movie. No phone. No computers. Just the three of us for at least two uninterrupted hours.”
Despite my obligations to The Devil’s Knights, I couldn’t leave her hanging on graduation day. She hadn’t asked for much. So, I turned off my cell phone and tucked it into my pocket. I would pay for that decision later, but she was worth it.