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“No,” Raphael snapped. “Benowitz stays. Willa and I were about to sign our marriage contract—but it seems my fiancée has suddenly gotten cold feet.”
Silence descended on the room.
Lucifer’s chest and biceps flexed. I pivoted in his arms. He released me with one, and it hung relaxed at his side, ready to secure his weapon if necessary. Liam and Keegan flanked him.
The four of us were in a standoff with Raphael.
Benowitz must have come to the same conclusion and decided he wanted no part of it. He snatched his briefcase from the floor and scurried toward the door. “I can show myself out.”
“Lucifer?” Keegan asked.
“Leave him.”
Everything shifted in that moment.
Something bloomed in my chest. Something that shined a whole new light on my life. An illumination so bright I thought I saw my future for a fleeting beat. And I felt hope.
Lucifer was in charge.
Raphael didn’t share my joy.
“We need this deal to go through, Lucifer! We need Brennan to send men!” Raphael paced the study, his fingers crammed into his hair. “The street gangs are building an army against us. They will take the docks! Your bullshit meeting with the old guard won’t put an end to any of it.” He stopped moving. His glare fell on me, then lifted to Lucifer. He pounded his chest with his fists. “Only I have that power!”
Lucifer guided me behind him, shielding me with his broad frame. “You know I called a meeting with the old guard.”
Old what?
If Lucifer had an emotional attachment to that statement, his voice didn’t let on. And I was clueless as to what they were talking about.
“Aye. As you can tell by the state of your bloody apple tree—you’ve pissed me off.”
The vision of Lucifer’s tree stacked by the fireplace like kindling came back to me. I ground my teeth so hard I thought my molars might turn to dust.
“How did you find out?” Lucifer asked.
“It doesn’t matter. Loyalty is in short supply these days—you should know.” Raphael scoffed. “But all will be forgiven if you bring Benowitz back here right now and do your goddamn job as my enforcer and make. Her. Marry. Me.”
I gripped Lucifer’s jacket a little tighter.
“You don’t know the outcome of the vote.” Lucifer delivered what sounded like another rhetorical question, and I dared to peek around his arm to catch Raphael’s reaction. I had no freaking clue what was happening, but it didn’t take a telepath to know that Lucifer and Raphael were discussing something significant.
Raphael let out a bitter laugh, but as quickly as he’d dismissed Lucifer’s words, his expression blanched. “They wouldn’t.”
I glanced up.
The muscle in Lucifer’s jaw twitched. “They did.”
Keegan and Liam were in motion. Lucifer’s reply was a code that only they knew.
Liam searched Raphael, confiscating two guns, a blade, and the keys to the handcuffs. He tossed them to Lucifer. He freed me from the restraints and rubbed my wrists while Keegan scoured several specific areas in the room, retrieving weapons from each spot. The final item on the Mob scavenger hunt was a knife shoved between two couch cushions.
“Take a seat, brother.” Lucifer jutted his chin toward the couch. Then he turned to me. His eyes softened and his voice lowered. “Your da ever teach you how to handle a Glock?” He withdrew his gun from his back.
I cleared the cobwebs in my throat. “Aye.”
He pulled back the slide without dropping my gaze, maneuvering a bullet from the magazine into the chamber. He inclined his head in silent encouragement. “Be careful.”
I curled my fingers around the grip. I rotated my wrist, observing the pistol from different angles. The weapon was heavy in my hand—much heavier than a knife. It felt different, but it also felt right. Maybe it was genetic.
