33. Jacob
Jacob
B y the time I finished with all of the church-related rituals I had to perform, Vince was long gone…
and so was the red-haired ghost who’d been there the night of his attempted assassination.
I hadn’t put it together at the time, but I would have bet my identity that he and the man who admitted to the attempt in my confessional were the same person.
I should have tried harder to see his face through the grate, should have done something…
Instead, I’d kept to my ruse, maintained my own cover. My own safety.
If Vince found out, he’d never forgive me.
He’d probably kill me, and I would deserve it.
People didn’t just lie to the heir of the Angelini family and live to tell about it.
I was foolish to think I could ever be an exception, just because he wanted to fuck me.
Just because he’d taken me into his home and made me do depraved things for his pleasure.
No. Who was I kidding? Vince hadn’t made me do a thing.
I’d gone into his home willingly, stood alongside him and Orion, on my knees and on my back.
My family would kill me if they knew.
It seemed like there was no winning for me, I realized, cold sweat breaking out against the small of my back as I changed from my vestments into street clothes.
I was going to die at the end of this; the only control I had was choosing by whose hand.
I thought about the implications of that choice on the short walk to Vince’s townhouse, lost in thought as I climbed the steps to the front porch.
Orion had given me a key—at Vince’s behest—and I was to come and go as if the place was mine.
I had to let Vince know when I was leaving and coming, but I wasn’t expected to knock, wasn’t expected to wait for entry.
The key went in with a small amount of force, the teeth freshly cut.
I shouldered the door open and followed the sound of Orion’s voice into the kitchen.
I didn’t know if Vince had made it back yet, but if he wasn’t there, I would tell Orion about the mystery red-headed man.
There was an unspoken animosity that lived between the two of us, but I knew he put Vince’s interests above his own and he’d set aside any feelings about me to do that.
“It’s never too late,” I heard Orion say as I came around the corner into the kitchen. He was with two men I didn’t recognize, until one of them turned their head to the side and the overhead light reflected off the shiny gold-frame of his glasses.
Luca Mandeville.
Which meant…
The other man turned, following Luca’s stare, and when he saw me, his eyes went wide, surprise flashing across his entire face like a solar flare.
“What are you doing here?” Daren—my cousin—asked me.
“Priest,” Orion murmured from the other side of the counter.
Daren’s brows knit together and he tilted his head like he wanted to look back at Orion, but didn’t dare take his eyes off of me.
I didn’t blame him.
“Do you two know each other?” Orion asked next, already knowing the answer from the tension in Daren’s shoulder, the backward sway of my body toward the door. To an escape.
“As I was saying,” Daren said, not looking away from me. “I think my father and uncle are planning something.”
I didn’t know how much he knew and I had no clue what he’d said to Orion. I lifted my hands, showing my cousin—my childhood confidant—that I was unarmed.
“Curious,” Orion said. “I knew you weren’t a priest.”
I shook my head.
“Who are you hiding from?” he asked me.
“No one,” I whispered .
“Everyone,” Daren corrected, shoving away from his seat and breaking away from the gentle hold Luca had around his wrist. “You’re in hiding until they’re ready to move on Vince.”
Orion cursed under his breath, but didn’t move for his gun, which I took as a good sign.
It hadn’t been that many days since I’d sucked cum out of his asshole and there had to be some tentative kind of truce that existed between us.
He had to see the truth in me, even though my entire presence in his life was shrouded in a lie.
“Tell me more about this plan,” Orion said. “And sit the fuck down. If anyone is going to bring harm to the priest, it’ll be me.”
Rage flashed in his eyes, covered by the usual green of his jealousy.
“He’s not a priest,” Daren spat.
Luca hauled Daren back down into the seat, tangling their fingers together as if his touch was enough to settle Daren and bring him back to the present, which…it apparently was. Daren inhaled audibly and looked hard at Luca, then me.
“I’m not a priest,” I confirmed.
“No shit,” Orion remarked, rolling his eyes. “I know the difference between religious ecstasy and masochism.”
Heat flooded my cheeks, and Daren groaned. “Have you fucked?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said.
“No,” Orion agreed. “It doesn’t.”
His finger twitched toward his gun, and I wondered if I had misjudged whatever the thing between us was. I knew it was Vince above all. Hell, it was the same for me and I’d been the one sent into the lion’s den with a mission that couldn’t have deviated more from where I’d ended up.
From the other end of the house, the front door opened again, and none of us had to look to know Vince had come home. Orion finally drew his gun and leveled it at my face, hand steady. Luca cursed, looking helplessly at Daren between us. Vince came around the corner, seeing Orion before me.
“What’s going on?” he asked, voice calm.
“Who’s he?” Orion asked, and I slowly angled my head to the side, trying to get a look at Vince in my periphery to see who was with him.
He hadn’t come alone, and Orion had a gun on me.
A known danger before me, unknown behind.
It was stupid to look away from a man who wasn’t afraid to kill you.
I didn’t think Orion was scared of many things and neither was I, but when I caught sight of the man at Vince’s side, all of that changed.