19. Lucien
Iwatched the girl I loved running out into the street, her gun up and ready and her eyes on the battle in front of her.
And I smiled to myself at the thought. The girl had always been too smart for her own good, and way too ready to run into trouble for people she cared about. Hell, she’d been willing to marry me because she’d been convinced that it would help her family, and because she’d thought I would give her the love she’d always wanted.
She’d been right about that second one.
And honestly, she still was.
After all, I was the romantic idiot with hearts in his eyes, standing here on a New York corner with all of my best men around me because I’d promised to come up here and help her when she needed it. I was here to fight a war that had nothing to do with me, and would probably lose men doing it. I’d have to answer to my own father when I got back and spend time restocking our soldiers for the men I’d lost. I would absolutely have a problem with Dominic Landry next time I saw him.
Come to it, he’d have a problem with me. Because I was never going to let him forget that Brooks had gone to him for help and he’d refused her while I stepped in to save her. I didn’t think he’d care, but if it gave me something to throw in his face, I’d take it.
I never liked the man.
And I wasn’t sorry he’d turned her down, because it left the path open for me.
A path that led me to this corner and this battle where I didn’t know the players or whose side we were on. Didn’t know the stakes or even what we were hoping might happen. I didn’t have one fucking clue who Brooks was grabbing and towing to the side of the road right now. But when she turned around and looked for me, her bright blue eyes finding mine and asking me one question, I didn’t have to think twice about it.
It didn’t matter that this wasn’t my city or my people. Because Brooks was my family. She always had been, and one day, I was going to make it legal.
And I’d fight a million battles, throw my men at a million other enemies, for one more chance to bring her home and make her mine.
I shouted a quick command to my men, switched the safety off on my gun, and charged toward the girl I loved, shooting as I went and praying to whoever was listening that we’d both survive long enough for me to tell her the truth about how much I wanted her back.