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That didn’t matter to me, of course. But what did matter to me was the woman—his woman. She had saved him.
And she also saved me.
Katelyn. Katelyn Brooks is her name.
The man I was looking for? Lucifer Charles Ashton the third. Street name Lucifer Raven. He was the right-hand man to one of the most notorious drug lords in LA, and he was also the man who harmed my sister. He was mentally and emotionally abusive, sometimes physically abusive as well, and when he disappeared…I knew… I knew in the deepest recesses of my soul that he was still alive, and I set out to find him.
And when I did find him?
I also found his new woman. His Katelyn. Katelyn who swore up and down that he was amazing and would never harm another living soul.
Can people change?
I never believed it.
But I believe it now. Lucifer—now known as Luke Johnson—proved it. He got away from the drug business, turned canary and sold out some of his cohorts. I normally hate narcs, but these people had to go down. Luke did it with the help of his old man, who has old money and lots of connections. But what truly changed him? He got off alcohol. Lucifer Raven was an alcoholic. And then he met Katelyn.
A big part of me still wants to see the man dead and buried. A big part of me still wants to pummel him, take out all my aggressions on him the way he took his out on my sister.
But I don’t. I don’t because of Katelyn. Katelyn, who was also held on Derek Wolfe’s island and who is a very special woman, and she sees something in Luke Johnson—something I’ll never see. Something I don’t want to see.
But I witnessed it. I witnessed how he was willing to give his life for hers.
So I gave him back his life. It still sticks in my craw. I can’t deny it. But somehow, he makes Katelyn Brooks happy. I’ve never bought into the old adage that a good woman can change any man. I think that’s bullshit.
But whatever happened to Lucifer Raven, he’s now in my debt.
He said as much because of how I protected Katelyn when all three of us were in pretty damned hot water.
I didn’t ever plan on cashing in on that debt.
But for Aspen?
I’ll cash in.
Vengeance…
What a fucking beautiful and ugly word.
“You going to join me?” Aspen asks from the couch, where she’s slicing the roast chicken.
I sit down next to her. “Yeah. I am.”
We eat in silence. Silence that’s so thick, I’m convinced I can slice my steak knife through it and see it part like the freaking Red Sea.
But Aspen is eating. She’s devouring, actually. This memory has sparked something in her—and I’m not sure if it’s good or bad, to be honest.
When I finish the last morsel on my plate, I wipe my lips with my napkin and turn to her. “Do you want to see your parents tomorrow?”
She shakes her head instantly—almost too quickly. “No.”
“But isn’t that the reason you came out here? To see Brandon and then your parents?”
“And the mountains. But things change, Buck.”
Her eyes again. Those beautiful brown eyes with long ebony lashes… But in them I see only vengeance.
The need for revenge.
And I feel it as well. Damn! I don’t want to feel it, but I do. It exudes off Aspen and into me, and I need revenge against her perpetrators as much as she does.
Every time I feel this way…
God, no.
Every time in the past that I felt this way?
Someone died.
Someone I cared about died.
Except for the last time. When I went after Lucifer Raven. No one died on my watch. Emily is safe on Billionaire Island. Katelyn is safe. Even Kingsford Winston, the drug lord we took down that day, is safe in a fucking prison cell.
No one died that day.
So perhaps no one will die this time.
I don’t want any more deaths on my conscience.
“Aspen, baby, you need to see your parents.”
“Who says? You? Macy? My parents? You know what? The only opinion that matters is my own.”
“Your parents need to see you. They need to see you alive.”
“They know I’m alive. I’ve spoken to them.”
“It’s not the same thing, and you know it. They love you.”
“I love them too. But they don’t want to see me like this.”
“Look,” I say. “I’m not a father myself, so I can’t speak for how they’re feeling. But from what I understand about parents and their children, they won’t care that you’ve changed. The fact that you’re alive… It’s like a miracle to them, and they need to see it. They need to see you with their own eyes.”
She sighs then. “I’m an only child. Their one and only.”
“An even better reason.”
“All right. I’ll see them tomorrow. Because…”
