Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
LYKOS
Isat in my office and stared at the amber liquid of my untouched glass, seeking solace between these walls.
I had tons of work to do: reviewing numbers from my real estate businesses all over the world, checking on the status of all my illegal shipments, and now, figuring out what the deal was with this Obsidian Society.
But all I could think about was Violet, Violet, and more Violet.
Two days had passed, and I’d been avoiding her like the plague.
Unfortunately, my—our—daughter didn’t. She had been actively seeking her out, which brought up conflicting feelings within me.
On one hand, I wanted Aria to have a motherly figure and a woman to talk to, but on the other, I was terrified that Violet would decide that she didn’t want anything to do with her and turn her back on her again.
Or that she would take Aria away from me and leave me behind without a second thought.
Dropping my head, I let the years of unbearable solitude slide through me.
I vowed when I got married that I would be a faithful husband. A good and kind husband. No matter what. I failed spectacularly.
Of course, I couldn’t have predicted what the future had in store for us.
But apparently, the shame associated with failing my wife remained despite all the excuses I could list. And Violet had seen right through them.
Damn the woman.
The door to my office swung open and I straightened in my chair as Salvatore sauntered in.
“Don’t despair,” he greeted. “Your buddy’s here.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered. “You’re still here?”
“Of course,” he deadpanned. “I want to make sure my plan succeeds.”
Salvatore and I were close in age, but fuck, I felt so much older than him.
“Fuck you and your plan,” I grumbled. “And how many times do I have to tell you to knock before you enter my office?”
He grinned. “Tell me at least one more time.”
“I want to murder you.”
“But you won’t.”
He was right. I wouldn’t, but only because he was my oldest and closest friend. I knew I’d been more tense and agitated than ever, and I was grateful he seemed to be giving me a pass.
He grinned as he sat in the chair opposite me, resting his ankle over his knee. “How is it going with the gorgeous doctor?”
“Peachy,” I grumbled.
“Jesus, Lykos. Do you want me to give you some instructions on how to seduce the woman?” he asked. Much to my horror, he was dead serious. “You need to get laid. I’m pretty sure that woman needs to get laid too. Both of you are conveniently here… so for the love of God, get laid.”
“You’re forgetting my wife is here too,” I said bitterly. “Violet has standards and is very scrupulous when it comes to being the other woman.”
Salvatore scoffed. “Standards… Schmandards… Sweet-talk her and leave your wife to me.”
I shook my head. “What the fuck does schmandards even mean?”
He shrugged. “No idea, but I heard one of these younger generations use it.”
“You really have to stop whoring yourself around, especially to women who are half your age,” I said matter-of-factly. “You’re too old for that shit.”
“Age is all up here.” He tapped his fingers against his temple. “I’m in my twenties all over again.” Then he smiled smugly and added, “I bet in your mind you’re thirty and banging Violet all over again.”
“Jesus Christ, Salvatore. Shut the fuck up.”
“Oh come on,” he retorted dryly. “You admitted you jack off thinking about her and only her. She’s your soulmate, you said it yourself.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, regretting the night I got so drunk that I rambled my secrets to my best friend. “I really wish I had never told you that.”
“Seriously though, you need to get laid. Your dick will fall off. Forget blue balls, yours must be purple by now,” he said, his expression somber. “Besides, you might make more babies. More Arias and Dimitroses. Just fuck the good doctor’s brains out and live happily ever after. It works in books.”
“Don’t tell me you read romance novels?” I snickered.
He shrugged nonchalantly. “Don’t diss it until you’ve tried it. There are some good tips in those books.”
I shoved my hand through my hair. “I don’t even want to know.”
“Your loss, buddy,” he drawled. “Did you get someone to bring all Dr. Freud’s stuff from her hotel?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, yesterday. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“Ah, good. There’s hope for you yet.”
“Geez, thanks,” I muttered dryly.
“Will you tell Aria about her birth mother?”
I stiffened. “Why would I do that?”
“Because Violet is her mother,” he deadpanned. “And by the look on that woman, she cares about her. Did you see how she looks at her with shimmering eyes? The woman tries to keep her face a blank mask, but her eyes… they betray her. She loves that child as much as you do.”
Much to my dismay, I did notice it, but it was hard to forget those words she said when she dropped Aria off like she was garbage to get rid of.
Our daughter needed her when she was growing up.
Violet should have been the one to fix her hair, go shopping with her, and to a nail salon.
But it was Dimitros and I who did it all with her.
My lips twitched, remembering the morning I woke up to painted nails and a four-year-old Aria grinning proudly.
She asked me if I loved it. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Daddy didn’t like painted nails.
So with a proud smile, I told her she did a great job, but internally, I was so fucking sad that she only had Dimitros and me.
“Lykos—” Salvatore started, but I cut him off.
“Don’t you have some shit to do?” I reached for a document that had been waiting for my attention, although I was incapable of reading a single word on that cursed document.
Salvatore’s dark eyes stared back at me as he shrugged. “Not really.”
“Geez, lucky me.”
He ignored my sarcasm.
“Why are you here and not tempting the pants off your guest?” he inquired. “Do I need to show you how it’s done? I know you’re out of practice and—”
“Let me stop you right there,” I cut him off. “Before I lunge across this desk and fucking kill you.”
He leaned over and grabbed a cigar from my open case.
“Let me give you a tip,” he drawled.
“Fuck you and your tips.”
“So damn moody.” He lit up a cigar and inhaled deeply. “I’m staying for dinner to make sure you don’t fuck this up,” he said. “And I’ll stir the conversation between you and the lovely doctor.”
“I’m quite capable,” I retorted dryly. “We did have a night where we ‘conversed’ without your help.”
He snickered. “I would’ve never guessed after the cold reception you got yesterday.”
“Salvatore, I am really not in the mood for this today.”
He smiled knowingly. “You need to work on charming the woman.”
“Yeah, that will go over like a ton of bricks, considering my wife is currently three floors up.”
“Let me take Amara back to the clinic,” Salvatore suggested. “Surely Dr. Freud has seen there will be no talking to her?”
The sheer horror on Violet’s face flashed in my mind. “Yes, I think so.”
“How did that go anyway?”
I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Violet was in shock and didn’t comment much.”
And she hadn’t even seen Amara at her worst.
If Violet had witnessed her suffocating Aria or cutting her own son’s cheek, she would have been horrified. Probably even scared. Maybe she would have even blamed me for providing an unstable and dangerous home to my children. Who knows?
“I have a feeling it won’t take Violet long to realize she cannot help Amara.”
Salvatore rubbed his hands. “Good. Good.”
“Why is that good?” I asked, my brow furrowing. Sometimes his line of thinking was hard to follow.
“Lykos, she’s a therapist. She lives to talk things through with her patients. Now that she has seen that Amara’s condition is way beyond that, she can focus on you.”
“Fuck, you must hate me.”
He shot me a surprised look. “How do you get that from what I just said?”
“Because you want a therapist to fuck with my mind.”
He chuckled. “Well, yeah, I would love for her to do that so you can start living.”
I scoffed. “Your definition of living is mind-blowing. I hope Renzo doesn’t turn out like you. I don’t think the world, let alone women, can handle two of you.”
I was fairly positive Salvatore had been a man whore in order to avoid dealing with his feelings and the loss of his wife.
He was my best friend, and we often talked about it, but it never went anywhere.
At the end of the day, he dealt with it in his own way, and his aunt aided in that behavior since she stayed in the house with Salvatore and babysat Renzo like he was her own.
“First, every woman I parted ways with—”
“Dumped,” I corrected.
“It was on good terms,” he continued, pretending not to hear. “And my son will turn out to be a better man than both of us. All our children will.”
The corner of my lips tipped up. “They will.”
“Now get your ass out of here, go knock on your doctor’s bedroom door, and inform her it’s dinnertime. If you can squeeze in a quick fuck before then, do so.”
“Get out of my office,” I grumbled. “I have work to do and you’re wasting my time.”
He stood up and laughed all the way down the hall.
And ten minutes later, I found myself in front of Violet’s room, knocking on her door.