Chapter 40
Kian
I’m going to ignore her little finger-snapping thing for now, but I’ll definitely be reddening her ass later.
Right now, she’s panicking, and the last thing I want to cause her is any sort of stress or anxiety.
But fuck, I’m struggling to handle this very well myself.
Especially since Luciano isn’t responsible for it, and I have no idea who is.
Whoever wanted to hurt my girl is still out there, and that’s not acceptable.
After letting out a sigh, I tell her everything as quickly as I can while she stares up at me, her face paling the more I say.
Luciano stands beside me, letting me speak, though the tension is radiating from him.
He’s still processing this. I’ve had more time to come to terms with it, though now I have no fucking idea where to go from here.
When I finish talking, Ace stands, frozen, the light in her eyes dimming as she looks at Luciano.
When I glance over at him, he’s staring back at her, his expression heavy with guilt.
Not because he did anything. No. Luciano is blaming himself right now for the fact that someone got to Ace on his watch.
Just like I’d be doing if I were him. This will haunt him for the rest of his life.
“What about my dad?” she asks. “Did you look into his death?”
Luciano opens his mouth to speak and then slowly blinks. “Your dad was speeding around a corner, and it was raining. He spun out and hit a tree. It was a single-car accident.”
Ace shakes her head. “I don’t think it was an accident.”
The hair on the back of my neck prickles as Luciano glances at me and then back at Ace. Tears fill her wide, sparkling eyes.
“I’ve heard my mom say that name, Dreq, before.
One night after my father died, I was crying.
I wanted to go to my mother, but when I crept out of my room, I overheard her speaking to someone downstairs.
She was on the phone and used it several times.
I couldn’t make sense of what she was saying, but she kept saying she understood.
She must have heard me coming down the stairs because she suddenly got off the call and then came screaming at me to go back to bed.
“The next morning, she apologized and said she missed my dad and was grieving, which caused her to lash out. I never forgot that name. And, eventually, when I was in high school, I looked up the word just because it wouldn’t leave my mind. I would have dreams about that name.
“And the initials. LR. Lenora Ricci. My mom’s initials.”
What the fuck?
Luciano staggers back a step like he’s been struck as he stares at Ace. “Motherfucker. I forgot her full name is Lenora. I’ve only ever known her as Nora. That’s what she’s always gone by.”
“Lenora wasn’t good enough for her. She refused to go by that name. Even in my dad’s death announcement, she was listed as Nora Ricci, beloved wife and loving mother of Lorenzo Ricci’s only daughter.”
That fucking woman.
Every time I hear about Ace’s mother, my hatred of her grows. As far as I’m concerned, Ace will never be around that woman for even a second more of her life.
The shit my girl has been through makes me want to hunt down Lenora Ricci and watch blood splatter as I put a bullet between her eyes. Her mother was emotionally abusive and used Ace to maintain her fucking snooty social status.
Her father died seventeen years ago. It was a single-car crash that was weather-related.
“I can have Cassian look into the records from his death, but I don’t know how much there will be if they immediately declared it a weather accident,” I tell her.
“But if he was killed…by Dreq or whoever, there would be a marker, right?” Ace asks so quietly, almost as if she’s afraid.
She’s right, though.
There would be a marker.
In her father’s casket.
Fuuuuuck.
I’m going to do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of this. And, unfortunately for Luciano, he’s going to help me this time around.
When I look over at him, he knows. I can tell he knows exactly what I’m about to say, and he’s dreading it as much as I am.
“How soon can you get your jet ready?”
Luciano stares at me, then glances at Ace, who is trembling so much that I pull her into me.
My poor baby. She’s probably still feeling the aftereffects of her migraine, so this is the worst possible timing.
She needs to be tucked into bed and go to sleep for a few more hours.
I don’t like that she had an episode back-to-back.
I want her to get another brain MRI as soon as possible, but I don’t want to make her do it while she’s still feeling bad. Tomorrow will be a better day for it.
Besides, it looks like we’re going to be spending this evening digging up another grave. If it keeps my girl safe and protected, I’ll unbury as many bodies as it takes. At least this one should only be bones by now.
“Fuck,” he murmurs as he tips his head back, closing his eyes at the same time. “I’ll get it ready. She needs to go back to bed.”
Narrowing my gaze at him, I consider punching him in his pretty fucking face, but then I remember I’m in love with Ace, and she loves this asshole for some reason. So instead of giving in to my anger, I take the high road.
“Don’t you fucking worry about what my girl needs. The only thing she needs is me. So, mind your fucking business and get your plane ready instead of worrying about my girl,” I snap.
Luciano levels me with a stare, his eyes burning into mine, but I don’t back down. I’ll get along with him for Ace’s sake, but the last thing he’s going to do is impose on our relationship in any way. I’ll make him disappear if he becomes a major problem.
A second later, he lifts his chin respectfully and turns around, pulling his phone from his pocket as he goes into the kitchen.
“I want to go,” she pleads.
“No,” I reply firmly, then grab her chin and force her to look up at me when she opens her mouth to argue. “Final answer, angel. The only place you’re going is back to bed, where you belong. If you argue with me, I’ll put you over my knee and then put you to bed after.”
Something passes over her eyes. She’s considering what she wants to do.
It intrigues the hell out of me that she is interested in discipline.
I think she wants it, but she’s afraid to jump across the threshold.
It will happen naturally at some point; she’ll experience a real spanking while being bent over my lap.
And I hope that when she finds herself in that position, she feels safe and loved rather than controlled or used as a pawn.
“Fine,” she says, her shoulders dropping. She’s still so tired. I see it. Which is why there’s no fucking way she’s doing anything other than what Daddy says. Because now it’s my job to protect Ace, and I won’t take that lightly.
“Good girl. Go to the bathroom while I grab you some crackers and water for your nightstand.”
By the time Ace exits the bathroom, she’s barely able to keep her eyes open. I hate that I won’t be here to watch over her, but the pain and vomiting is over, it seems, so now she just needs to sleep off the effects of the medication she took.
When she climbs under the covers, I tug them up to her chin and lean over her, staring down at her pale face. Even not feeling well, she looks like an absolute angel.
My angel.
“I’ll see you tomorrow. Stay in bed. Rest. If you start feeling worse or if you need anything, I expect you to call me immediately. Do you understand?”
Her warm fingers reach out to touch me, and I lean in, loving the simple physical connection. Ace is mine. I knew it the second I looked over at her when I heard her name called out in that club.
My heart squeezes when her bottom lip quivers, and she gazes up at me with shiny eyes.
“Is it really possible that my mom could’ve done this?” she asks shakily.
Staring down at her, my heart cracks. Her father was her protector from that witch before he died.
Luciano tried to be that once he was gone.
But I’m going to be that from now until the day I leave this earth.
If her mother is the one responsible for this, the fact that she’s a woman doesn’t matter to me.
Torturing a female is the last thing I thought I’d ever do, but Ace’s mom is a monster. One I will destroy.
“I don’t know, angel. I’m going to find out, though. What I need you to do is be my good girl and rest. It’s not good for you to be stressed. That could trigger another migraine.”
That’s another thing I need to figure out because Ace suffering through these fucking migraines is not acceptable.
“I’ll be back in the morning,” I say and lean down to kiss her forehead.
“Sleep, angel,” is the last thing I say before I walk out of her bedroom, my mind swirling with thoughts I shouldn’t be having. Like how quickly I can move her in with me. And how soon she’ll let me change her last name to Savage.
Because my girl is a Savage. Even if she doesn’t know it yet.
“Jesus Christ,” Beckett says as we all stare down at the coffin. “I can’t believe I’m digging up another goddamn grave.”
Caleb smirks and pushes Beckett. “Fucking pussy.”
I snort. “At least this time it will only be bones in there.”
Beckett starts to gag and turns around, walking away into the darkness. He calls out. “Fuck this. You don’t need me for this part. I’m out.”
The rest of us laugh.
An hour later, we have the coffin out of the ground, sitting beside the unearthed grave. It takes longer to break open the locking system on this one. When we finally lift the top, the sky is just starting to lighten. The sun will be up soon. We need to hurry the fuck up and get out of here.
Luciano helps me take the lid off. We take a step back, looking at the remains of Ace’s father, as we scan the silk-lined interior of the casket.
When my eyes land on something small and circular next to the skull, my stomach turns. It’s covered with remains of hair, and it’s dull, but the second I pick it up, I know it’s the same type of coin I found in the other casket.
Using the pad of my thumb, I wipe the face of it and stare at the initials.
LR.
Her mother’s initials.
“I’m going to fucking kill her,” Luciano growls.
Shaking my head, I glare at him. “No. You had your chance to protect Ace when she was young. She’s mine to take care of now. I’m going to be the one to kill her. I’ll be the one to bring my girl her mother’s head on a fucking platter.”
My words hurt Luciano. I know it. He doesn’t show it, other than the slight twitch of his jaw. Deep down, I know if Luciano had been aware of how terrible her mom is, he would have done something about it. And the knowledge that he didn’t is going to sit with him for a long fucking time.
He turns to face me, his expression set firm. “Fine. But before you do that, I get time with her.”
I give a sharp nod, and then everything goes to hell.
“Hey! What are you doing over there?” a voice yells out.
Every single one of us draws a gun, but it’s still too dark to see, and then I hear Beckett.
“Put your gun down, motherfucker!” he shouts as three shots ring out, two from one gun and then one from another, before I hear two thuds and everything goes silent.
We all take off in the direction that Beckett went, screaming his name as we rush over to him. He’s on the ground, groaning as he holds the right side of his chest. Blood gushes through his fingers, thick and crimson.
“Fuck,” Caleb says as he rips off his shirt and uses it to apply pressure to Beckett’s wound.
“Who was that? Where’d he go?” I bark as several guys take off in different directions.
Xander, Cash, Caleb, and Luciano kneel beside my baby brother, pulling off pieces of their own clothing to use as towels as they give first aid to Beckett while he slips into shock.
“Here!” Cassian calls from a distance.
I run toward him, heart pounding, stopping short as Cassian wrestles with a man in a security uniform. Luciano runs up, taking in the guy on the ground.
“We need to get your brother to Seattle Med. I have a team who will meet us there,” Luciano says. “Cassian can deal with this asshole. His gunshot isn’t life-threatening.”
Beckett’s might be.
He doesn’t have to tell me twice. Beckett has passed out when I get back to them. Without words, the four of us lift him and move quickly to our SUV, while Luciano jogs ahead and opens the back door for us. None of us speaks as Cash tears out of the cemetery following Luciano’s SUV.
I sit in the back seat, with Beckett slumped between Caleb and me. When I meet his eyes, I see the same fear that I’m feeling right now. Caleb might not be related by blood, but he’s been Beckett’s best friend for years; he’s family to us.
Caleb keeps his fingers pressed to Beckett’s pulse point on his neck, while I quietly pray to whoever is listening that my baby brother will survive.
Because I can’t lose someone else that I love.