Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
LYKOS
Istepped into the room to find Violet sitting and chatting with Aria and I wanted to rip my hair out. Why was nobody fucking listening to me today?
My daughter sat on the armchair across from Violet, legs tucked beneath her, adoring eyes fixed on Violet.
The resemblance between them made my chest hurt.
But it wasn’t only that. The way Violet was looking at my daughter had alarms going off in my head.
It was as if she wanted to pull her into a hug and take off, leaving me and Dimitros in the dust.
Over. My. Dead. Body.
She left Aria and relinquished any rights to her when she walked away. I still remembered the sound of the door shutting with a soft click while I stood there, hoping she’d come back while I held my child in my arms.
I remembered like it was only yesterday the last words I said to her and her response.
“Violet, don’t you fucking leave our daughter,” I hissed. “We’ll do this together. You can keep up your studies and—”
“I can’t stand the thought of anything that reminds me of you, Lykos,” she spat, her lip curling as if the very air around me tasted foul. “Not a trace. Not a memory. I want everything about you gone from my life so it’s like you and Aria never existed.”
I stood frozen and hurt, holding my newborn daughter and staring into the empty space where Violet stood long after she was gone. The door shut behind her softly, yet it might as well have shaken the entire building because it rattled every fiber of me.
I was convinced she’d come back. The door would open any moment and she’d run over to our child, realizing what a mistake it was to leave her.
Newsflash: Violet never came back. I stood in that spot until Aria woke up in my arms, wailing and hungry, and angry that I’d been cursed with two women who’d abandoned my child.
I mentally cursed my best friend to the depths of hell.
“Papa?” my daughter called out. “Are you mad? I was in my room, but I was bored waiting and—”
“I’m not mad,” I assured her. “Can you go find your brother and tell him we won’t be going to the clinic?”
She stood up.
“Of course.” She glanced at Violet before looking back at me. Children noticed everything; they just didn’t always understand.
“Now, please,” I added.
She nodded, taking my hand as she passed and tugging me to her level.
“Don’t be scary, Papa,” she whispered softly, then pecked my cheek. “I like her.”
She liked her. Dammit, that didn’t take long.
I gave her a terse nod in acknowledgement and then Aria slipped out of the room, but the moment she was gone, the tension in the room charged tenfold.
Violet stood up, her short frame barely reaching my chin, but she didn’t cower. I let my mind roam to all I had learned about her over the years. What her patients sought counsel for, where she lived, her failed dates—I made sure of those. I also knew she was rich. Very rich.
“So, have you and your friend decided who I’m treating?”
I gritted my teeth. “You certainly won’t be my therapist.”
She nodded as if expecting that. “Very well. Then take me to your… wife so I can start my evaluation.”
It didn’t escape me the way she hesitated at the word, almost as if she detested it. She certainly didn’t hate it as much as I did.
She sidestepped me.
“First, we’re going to establish some rules,” I started. She stopped abruptly, her floral scent invading my personal space.
She tilted her head. “Such as?”
“You’ll keep your distance from my children.” She arched a brow, unimpressed by my show of dominance and my icy tone, but I didn’t miss the flash of hurt in her eyes.
“I’d like to remind you,” she retorted, her voice calm, “that you don’t have all the rights when it comes to one of those children.”
I gritted my teeth. “I’d argue otherwise, considering you wanted nothing to do with that child.”
“I don’t care what you think, Lykos. The facts are that I have rights too.”
I took a step forward, getting into her personal space, but she didn’t budge. She kept her spine upright, her chin tilted up stubbornly, refusing to break eye contact. “Don’t push me, Violet. You won’t like the other side of me.”
“I could say the same. I’m not that young woman from a decade ago. You’ll find I have significant resources at my disposal too, and I’m more than willing to use them.”
Fuck, I couldn’t help but be impressed. Yet the fact remained that she didn’t want our daughter. She brought her to me and left her behind.
“I’m not going away this time, Lykos,” she added. “I want to be close to my child, and I’m going to make sure Aria knows who she is and who I am.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that,” I stated slowly, reining in my anger and hurt.
What about me? Did she even consider what it would do to Dimitros and me if she were to take Aria away from us?
“Don’t get any bright ideas when it comes to my daughter, Violet.
And you’ll stay here, under my roof, where I can keep an eye on you.
Considering you want to be closer to Aria, you’ll find the arrangement agreeable. ”
“Fine.”
She’d been here less than an hour, and I was already struggling to hold on to my control and dignity.
“Anything else?” she asked as she sat back down, crossing her legs.
My eyes followed the movement, locking on the smooth skin as her skirt inched up.
My dick swelled, and I made a show of stepping toward the hallway and checking that Aria had done as I said, so I could adjust my pants.
“Or would you rather just stare at my legs?”
How was a mere mortal man who hadn’t touched a woman since that night ten years ago supposed to resist this temptation? Or even keep his sanity while looking at her…
“You shouldn’t be here,” I muttered, more to myself than her.
I didn’t know if I’d survive being close to her, both of us sleeping under my roof.
Yet, I knew that saying “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” definitely applied here.
She wasn’t exactly an enemy, but I needed to keep an eye on her, because Violet was up to something.
“But I am here. And as I already stated, I’m not going anywhere,” she stated matter-of-factly. “Besides, it was mere seconds ago you were telling me I am to stay under your roof. You’re giving me whiplash with all this stay, go, stay, go.”
I turned, facing her once more. “Last time, you couldn’t wait to dump my daughter at my doorstep and get away from her and me. Why all the sudden interest?”
“That was then,” she said, wincing, and I knew I’d struck a nerve. “This is now. Things have changed.”
“You don’t get to play with my family, Violet,” I said, my voice low but threatening. “You don’t get to change your tune now, all these years later. You lost all privileges the moment you brought our daughter to me and turned your back on her.”
She smiled sadly. “Who says I turned my back?”
“I do,” I growled, bending over and getting into her face. “I fucking do. What you did…”
I stopped myself before I said too much. I didn’t want to admit that even now, over nine years since I last saw her walking away from us, it still fucking hurt. Never mind me, I deserved it, but how could she abandon our baby like that?
“Like I said, now that I’m here, I’m not going anywhere. Not without Aria.”
She crossed one leg over the other, leaning back in a show of ease, but she couldn’t mask the hurt expression in her eyes. Good, maybe it was time she hurt too.
“We’ll see,” I said, barking out a laugh. “Let’s see how fast you run this time, considering your track record.”
That landed.
She tried to hide it, but I saw it in the pause before her next breath, in the slight tremble of her bottom lip, and the way she fisted her hands in her lap.
“You know nothing about me, Lykos,” she snapped. “You have no idea what—” She cut herself off, then gave her head a subtle shake. “I’m not arguing with you, a goddamned man.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
She leaned forward slightly, resting her elbows on her knees. “It means you lack the wits to carry on a reasonable conversation. I don’t waste my breath when it’s a moot point.”
“What kind of fucking doctor are you, insulting your patients?” I growled.
She smiled. “You’re not my patient. Remember?”
“Careful, Violet,” I drawled. “You don’t want to start a war with me.”
Her eyes flicked up to meet mine, that sorrow and sadness still lurking in their depths. But there was also strength. Determination.
“I know exactly who you are, Lykos Costello. And if you’re trying to scare me, you’re failing spectacularly.”
I smiled, flashing my teeth. “I’ll have to work harder, then, won’t I?” I said quietly. “You’re standing in my home. You will be sleeping under my roof. I would advise against provoking me, or you won’t like the consequences.”
“Consequences?” she parroted, her delicate brow furrowing.
“Yes, ever heard of them?” I asked evenly. “So far, you’ve gotten away with evading accountability, but maybe it’s time you got a taste.”
She let out an incredulous laugh. “Are you done, Lykos? If so, take me to the patient so I can get on with my work.”
“You’ve changed,” I said suddenly, straightening to my full length.
I had no idea what possessed me to even say it.
We weren’t given time to get to know each other ten years ago, but her whole aura was different then.
She was more vulnerable. Yes, she had a backbone, but it was more subtle.
Now, her confidence and power rolled off her in waves, and fuck me, it was a huge turn-on.
That alone pissed me off more than anything.
“Your vibe is different,” I added, gritting my teeth.
“People tend to change,” she stated matter-of-factly as she stood up, smoothing invisible creases from her skirt. But the tremble in her hand didn’t escape me. “It comes with age, a part of growing up. God willing.”
“God willing, huh?” I repeated. “You don’t strike me as a religious person.”
“I’m not,” she murmured. “But you are.”
I frowned. “What makes you think that?”
She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I seem to recall you had a cross tattoo.”
It made me feel smugly happy that she actually remembered that.
“Maybe there’s a God after all, huh?” I said sarcastically, although internally, my heart was beating wildly.
“Maybe,” she retorted dryly. “But it isn’t you.”
I smirked. “I distinctly remember you calling me God once upon a time.”
I watched her pale skin in fascination as crimson climbed its way into her cheeks. Dammit, I liked that look on her. I remembered pounding into her, her body writhing underneath me as her whole body flushed with arousal.
“I was calling out to God to save me,” she said coldly, her eyes narrowed on me. “There’s a difference.”
“That’s not how I remember it,” I drawled tauntingly.
She rolled her eyes, but a blush still stained her cheeks. “Just take me to the patient.”
She strolled past me, her violet scent making every cell in my body tremble. I closed my eyes, reveling in it, and decided right there and then.
To hell with everything.
I would have this woman wrapped around me again, and it better be sooner rather than later. I had a decade of abstinence to make up for.