Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Erin
For the first twenty-four hours after Bachman Village, I let Lucian cage me.
Not because I don’t notice.
I notice everything.
The extra guards outside my room. The way the hallway goes quiet when I open the door.
The way Mack appears every time I move more than six feet from the bed.
The way my phone disappears for a “security review” and returns with a new encrypted system I didn’t ask for.
The way every window has men beyond it now, shadows moving between trees with guns and orders and grim little earpieces.
I notice the doctor checking my wrist twice because Lucian tells him to. I notice the nurse getting searched before she enters.
I notice Lucian watching me like blinking is a risk.
And for twelve hours, I let it happen.
Because I am tired.
Standing there beside Isobel doing nothing drained me, and as soon as Lucian was out of my sight—
I understood the fear he felt.
The need to lock me in a room where nothing could ever touch me.
Because, my god, waiting there and being able to do nothing more than hope he was okay?
It was pure torture.
So, I let him keep me under lock and key.
For a bit.
His hand at the back of my neck while the doctor speaks.
His body between me and the door.
His coat over me like a blanket on the ride to get checked out.
I wake alone in his bed.
Not really alone. Lucian is in the chair by the window, fully dressed, awake, gun on the table beside him. Because of course he is. The man has the sleep schedule of a haunted gargoyle.
The room is dim. Heavy curtains drawn. Fire low in the hearth.
Upon seeing me wake, Lucian moves instantly.
“I’m going to see Cass,” I say.
His face does not change. “No.”
There it is. One word. Just no.
I stare at him. “She’s down the hall.”
“No.” He looks away, breaking eye contact. “You need rest.”
“I have rested.”
“You know we know this can’t end with Carlos.” He paces the floors, running a hand through his hair. “It can’t have been this easy.”
“And we are safe. At your family’s Hamlet. In Connecticut. A state away from where Carlos died. Surrounded by armed men. And you sleep with a gun.” I push the covers back. “I’m going to see my sister.”
His eyes flick over me. “I said no,” he says.
I move toward the door. He is there before me. Blocking.
The old Erin might have yielded to his force. The size of him. The authority built into his bones. The dark promise in his face saying he can rearrange the world if it displeases him.
The current Erin needs to see her sister. “Move.”
His eyes darken. “No.”
“Carlos is dead,” I say softly.
His face changes. “I didn’t tell you.”
“Tell me what?” A creeping feeling of unease crawls up my spine. He doesn’t answer. “Tell me what, Lucian?”
His eyes lock on mine. “We received a message. Just before we arrived.”
I count back. “That was like twenty hours ago. What. Message.”
“And. And…I couldn’t.” The hurt that flashes across his face almost makes me break. “I couldn’t send for Ryan and Cass after that.”
“They aren’t here?”
He shakes his head. “No. I’m sorry.”
“You let me believe my family was on the way this whole time. That we were safe…”
My words trail off as I put the pieces together.
Silly, silly girl.
The extra guards, Mack being weird, Lucian having me checked over by medical like I’d been in battle.
We were never safe.
His jaw flexes. “I’m not trying to hurt you.”
“I know.”
“You needed rest.”
“I know.”
“I am trying to keep your family safe and you alive.”
“I know.”
“I won’t apologize for taking care of you,” he says. “But I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
“Thanks, but why didn’t you? You knew I was counting down the minutes till they got here.”
“Exactly.” His dark eyes reach mine. “Honestly? I didn’t know how.”
“I get it.”
Lucian received a message from the man he’d just killed. And he’s trying to keep my family safe.
And keep me sane.
And he doesn’t know how to talk about any of it.
My poor, tragic, unable-to-process-emotions, man.
I wrap my arms around his neck.
“Come here,” he says, pulling me hard against him. He buries his face in my hair, breathing me in.
Have you ever had a man made of stone inhale your scent to comfort himself?
The feeling is intoxicating.
“What was the message?” I ask, softer now. “Come. Sit down.” I take his hand and lead him to the bed.
We sit side by side.
This time, my arm is around him.
I’m the one holding him up.
After a moment, he says, “It was pre-recorded.”
“From Carlos?” I guess.
“Yes.”
My heart stops beating, the air leaving my lungs. “What did he say?”
“Let me play it for you.” He slips his phone from his pocket and, with a swipe of his finger, lights his screen.
Carlos appears. He’s looking solemn. “Lucian, if you are receiving this message, then know, even in death, I will prevail. I will win. And everyone who has betrayed me will die. I have made sure of this.”
“Where is this going?” I murmur.
“You’ll see.”
Carlos stares at the camera. “This was to be sent to you in the case of my death. To tell you that even dead, I will still haunt you. And I’m coming for someone very close to you.”
I give an audible gasp. Lucian puts a hand on my thigh to steady me.
The screen goes black.
He holds the phone with its screen darkened in his hand.
“He had no men there, Erin. Literally, only two guards in the Village. And they didn’t stand a chance against us.
” He shakes his head, gripping my thigh.
“We cornered him. We exposed him. We took every route, every file, every woman he tried to use. He died with nowhere left to go.”
“And now he’s going to haunt us? What does that even mean?” I think for a minute. Then, look around me.
“The guards,” I say. “The round-the-clock security. Cass and Ryan still in Norway. You know something more than you’re saying. Don’t you?”
He sighs.
“Lucian…”
Finally, he says, “Because there was one more part to the message.”
“Show me.”
“I can’t.” He looks away from me, almost sheepish.
“Lucian,” I say.
He doesn’t respond.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. I only got rid of the last part. Before the screen cuts to black. I knew you’d want to see the message the moment I told you about it.” He looks at me. “But there was no need for you to see that part.”
“Lucian…” There is no point in arguing with this man. I skip that part and go for what I need to know. “Tell me what it said.”
“It said.” Anger flashes over his face and darkens his eyes. There he is. The monster within the man. “He said that he’s made sure of it.”
“Of what?”
“That the Morettis are coming.” He looks at me. “For her.”
I freeze as ice creeps into my veins.
The Morettis aren’t finished with us.
Specifically:
They aren’t finished with me.