37. Thea
37
Thea
T here was no sign of my bedmate when I woke in the morning. Only a pillow indent and a lingering scent of man remained. Hardly surprising given it was nearly 10 AM when I finally prised my eyes open.
By the time I’d scrubbed all traces of last night’s activities from my body, the house was silent like the grave.
A note on the kitchen counter told me Dario had taken Verity hunting for shells on the beach and the others had gone to pick up supplies from the local farm shop for the next few days.
It was a bright but cold morning. Golden sunlight lit up the kitchen, adding a cheerful glow to the place. For the first time in ages, I felt positive about the future. Dad wouldn’t expect me to go looking for him, so taking him by surprise should be easy.
Not that he was weak. Far from it. His most loyal men were almost always close by. Men like Torrance, who’d happily eliminate any threats to keep him safe.
I turned on the coffee machine and chewed on a dry cracker while I waited for it to heat. I’d discovered cream crackers helped keep the nausea at bay. Ginger biscuits, too.
Just as my coffee finished brewing, the crunch of gravel alerted me to an unexpected visitor. When I looked out of the window, a sleek black car stood, engine idling, outside.
I frowned. Had Declan sent some of his guys to evict us? Surely not. Eden would have said something if so.
A tall and altogether familiar figure climbed out of the passenger seat, his broad shoulders clad in a camel wool coat and his eyes obscured behind dark shades.
Lucian Forsyth. What the fuck was he doing here?
I grabbed my phone and fired off a text to Cassian to let him know, then reached for a small paring knife and tucked it into the back of my jeans. Lucian didn’t scare me, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
From the look of surprise when I opened the front door, I was the last person he expected to see.
“And you are?” With his cut-glass accent, Lucian could quite easily have walked off the set of Downton Abbey.
I folded my arms across my chest. Lucian’s gaze dipped down and lingered on my breasts, making me silently wish I’d chosen a large shapeless sweater instead of a tight technical tee that hugged my braless breasts. But I didn’t react. He probably wanted to make me feel uncomfortable.
“And you are?” I asked, ignoring his question. “I don’t think the property owner is interested in double-glazing or finding religion, sorry.”
Lucian’s eyes flared with rage at my blatant mockery.
“Lucian Forsyth, Cassian’s father,” he replied after pasting a fake smile on his handsome face. “Perhaps I could come in.”
“Who?” My brow scrunched like I had no fucking clue who he was. God dammit. A Hollywood career was in my future, for sure.
“Don’t play the innocent with me, you little bitch!” OK, so I’d officially exceeded his patience. Good to know he had a short fuse. And also unsurprising. “Where is my son?”
“No idea. Have you checked the Daily Mail Online? They seem to run stories about him on the regular.”
I watched with amusement as a vein in Lucian’s temple throbbed like it might burst at any second. He glanced back toward the car, presumably checking in with his security detail, and then, without warning, he lunged for me.
Before I could react, his fist circled my neck, squeezing hard enough to cut off my oxygen supply. But I didn’t panic. Torrance had trained me for shit like this.
Lucian was so busy spewing bullshit about my lack of morals, his son’s stupidity, and more that he failed to notice when I reached for the knife tucked in my waistband.
It wasn’t until he felt the tip of the blade dig into his dick that he froze. For a moment, his eyes widened in surprise, then his grip on my neck loosened.
“Touché, Miss di Luca. I see your father has taught you well.”
“I have no clue what the fuck you’re banging on about, stronzo . Now fuck off before my friends get back and call the police.” Kyril murdering him in a fit of temper was a legitimate concern, but whatever.
Lucian chuckled, even though the knife hadn’t moved a millimeter and he remained in imminent danger of a DIY penile amputation. The guy had balls. I’d give him that.
His security detail seemed oblivious, which I was grateful for. If trained men armed with semi-automatics jumped out of the car, I was in big trouble.
A burst of laughter drifting over from the cliff path sent my heart rate spiking into the stratosphere. I was in trouble if Verity and Dario appeared. Lucian had no morals. He’d think nothing of threatening my sister to get what he wanted, and I doubted Dar had taken a gun when he took Ver for a casual stroll on the beach.
Lucian took a step back and threw me an approximation of a smile, but from the ticking vein in his forehead, there was still a risk he might stroke out.
“I’ll leave you to your…” He waved his arm expansively, treating me to a lung-full of some expensive cologne. “Whatever whores do on their day off.” My blank expression stayed fixed in place.
How suspicious would it look if Lucian Forsyth took a tumble off the cliff? Asking for a friend.
Sadly, my bright idea bit the dust as soon as a stocky, ex-special forces dude climbed out of the car and grunted something incoherent.
“Please tell my son I visited since he forgot to take his phone with him when he left home.” Lucian turned to go before pausing. “Oh, and let him know his mother’s been moved to the Highgate Clinic. Dr Lassitor has started her on a new, experimental drug protocol.” Lucian grinned. “He’s most excited about the outcome.”
My lip curled in disgust as Lucian climbed into the waiting car. The man was a snake. As bad as, if not worse, than my father.
Just as the car pulled away, Dario and Verity appeared at the top of the cliff. He skidded to a halt at the sight of a vehicle disappearing down the driveway, quickly shielding Verity with his body.
“Did we have guests?”
“No.”
He frowned in confusion. Then he spotted the knife in my hand and growled. “Are you OK?” he asked, scanning me from head to toe. “Who the fuck was here?”
I shook my head dismissively. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Lucian Forsyth came calling, wanting to speak to Cassian, only they’re not back yet.”
The unpleasant interaction with Lucian had left me with a headache and an upset stomach. My coffee was now cold, too, which was a further black mark on his record. What an asshole. No wonder Cassian had left, although I couldn’t help but wonder if his mother was safe.
Lucian obviously intended to mess with Cassian’s head, thanks to his vague threat about some kind of experimental drug.
“Ver, get inside, please,” I snapped, as Dario started ranting about the house being unsafe. I mean, he had a point. If Lucian could find us, anyone could. It was hardly a vote of confidence on our security, and yet another reason I needed Eden to take Verity away while I hunted my father.
We piled indoors. Verity remained quiet, chewing her lip as she stared first at me and then Dar.
“Everything’s fine,” I reassured her, not feeling fine in the slightest. “Go watch TV while I talk to Dar.”
“But—” she began.
“Please, Ver. This is important.” She looked like she wanted to argue further but evidently decided it wasn’t worth pushing her luck. I waited until she’d flounced off muttering something that sounded a lot like ‘fucking stronzos ’ under her breath before turning to Dar.
“Fucking fuck!” He slammed his hand down on the counter, making the contents of the drawers beneath rattle. “We can’t stay here if Forsyth knows where we are, but more importantly, how did he find this place?”
Indeed . Had Cassian told him? Surely not. He’d come here to escape the man, so giving him our address made no sense.
Had Seamus or Declan revealed our location? If Lucian was on good terms with Seamus, it was possible. That said, I suspected Declan did a lot of things his father was blissfully unaware of. And besides, Eden would never forgive her cousin if he threw us under the bus to score points with Lucian.
“Tell me what that bastard said,” Cassian demanded as the door flew open and the guys rushed in. Dammit . I’d been so busy locked in my head, I hadn’t even heard their car return. Kyril dumped some bags on the floor and pulled me into his arms. Dario walked away, heading toward the coffee machine.
“Lan, put the groceries away,” Kyril barked over my head.
“What did your last servant die of, eh?” Landon grumbled, but did as he was told. Milo leaned against the table and watched us, listening quietly as I relayed everything Lucian had said. Which was a whole heap of nothing.
“How did he find us?” Kyril asked, voicing my concerns.
“I have no fucking clue. He shouldn’t have been able to. It’s why I left my phone and laptop behind, just in case he’d installed trackers in them.”
“Maybe he chipped you,” Landon suggested. “Like a pet.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Cassian rolled his eyes and sat down near me, his jaw tense and his body rigid. The relaxed man from last night was long gone.
“If he found us so easily, there has to be something you brought with you that contains a tracking device.”
“My Calvins, maybe? The only stuff I packed was a few items of clothing, my wallet, and my watch.”
“Give me the watch.”
Cassian threw Milo a skeptical look, but unfastened the watch and handed it over. We all watched as he used a small knife to prise open the metal backing. He peered inside and then disappeared into the room he used as his workspace. After a few moments, he reappeared and dropped a tiny chip on the counter.
“That’s how he found us.”
“What the fuck is that?”
“A GPS tracker.”
Cassian looked furious. “He gave me this watch for my 16th birthday. It was my grandfather’s.”
Milo shrugged. “I guess he didn’t want you to lose it.”
“More like he didn’t want to lose you, ” Kyril clarified. “It’s no longer safe here. My father is running out of patience and so is yours. Dad wants me back at college and under his thumb. Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. Isn’t your father hosting his usual party, Cass?”
“Yeah, which is why he’s come after me. He’s probably running out of excuses for my absence, given there’s been no news of me in the usual places.”
“Yeah, we’d normally be partying up a storm by now,” Landon agreed.
“Is that boy code for fucking lots of women in public places?” I sniped. Landon grinned.
“You don’t need to worry about me, wifey. I’m a reformed rake.” He sidled over and kissed my cheek, ignoring Kyril’s scowl.
“Where are we going to go?” Dario asked from the far side of the room. The others turned to stare at him.
“You can fuck off if you like. We don’t need you.” This came from Landon, not Kyril, which surprised me.
“No, I’m not leaving Thea.”
I rolled my eyes and pushed back from Kyril. “Seriously? I can take care of myself. You all know this.”
Dario’s eye twitched with frustration. “Yes, cara , and that’s why we had to rescue you from your father’s estate, minutes before you ended up married off to Konstantin Marku.”
“Hey, I had a plan!” Kind of.
“Of course you did, cara .” I glared at him, not enjoying his mocking tone.
“Whatever.” I picked up the cup of coffee I’d made before Lucian showed up, took a sip, and then grimaced when I remembered it had gone cold. For fuck’s sake . Could a girl not enjoy a hot cup of coffee in peace? This day had already gone to shit, and it wasn’t even noon yet.
“Look, we don’t have time to argue,” Cassian snapped. “Dad will come back. He knows I won’t have gone far. I’m amazed we didn’t pass him on the way back. I guess he took the road to Sligo rather than the village.”
“Yes,” Kyril agreed. “We need to pack our shit and leave.”
“And go where?” It wasn’t as if we could roll up at a hotel. Cassian and Landon might get away with public outings to the local village, where most people were blissfully unaware of anything happening outside the county, but in a larger town, people would most likely recognize them. Photos would end up being posted online, and before long, a swarm of paparazzi would show up.
“We need Declan’s help again,” Milo said.
Kyril muttered something under his breath in Russian, but nobody disagreed. Milo was right. Declan was the only person in Ireland who had the resources to hide us from Lucian, and also Vasily Orliov. It was time to make another deal with the devil.