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I was too hurt to care.
Too sensitive to face reality.
Lucca’s words still ricocheted in my mind, and since nothing I could do or say made him feel the same way he’d hurt me, this was my way of pushing back.
“Katia.” Two knocks bounced urgently at the door.
“Go away, Viktor.”
“I’m coming in,” he quickly added, and the door opened.
Viktor stood by the entry in a full light-gray suit that complemented his striking blues. He had an umbrella in his hand as the upcoming storm the news had warned us of had arrived in haste on the Miami coast.
“We were supposed to leave ten minutes ago to meet Lucca at the church. Why aren’t you ready?”
I sat up and ran my fingers over Vino’s white coat.
“The weather.”
“Damn it, Katia! I know I said to give him hell when you arrived home, butthisis not the time.” His head shook, and his lips thinned in frustration. “Fuck!” Russian flew from his lips as I watched him pace.
When he stopped to face me, his shoulders straightened.
“Thiswasn’t it.” His fingers waved around. “If anything, this was the worst thing you could have done.”
I stood up. “Good.”
Viktor’s eyes lowered, and his nod was reluctant. “I will tell him you are unwell.” Viktor didn’t utter another word. He walked away, closing the door behind him, and I suddenly felt unconfident about my actions.
In the time I’d spent with Viktor, the short conversations, the looks, the warnings, and even the quiet moments where words weren’t needed, he’d slowly crawled into my trust. The kind I didn’t even have with Enzo or Leo. Somehow, the disappointment in his eyes was the one I would’ve thought an older brother would feel.
It was uncomfortable to experience it. The compulsion that crept in to find him and ask for him to talk to me. To tell me what he truly thought, to confide in him.
To have someone in this fucking hell who cared.
Instead, I stayed in the room as thunder rumbled from above and waited for the storm to barge inside.
The door burst open, and Wex and Vino quickly stood alert. Their growls were loud, and their bodies were ready for the threat.
Lucca.
“Are you dying?”
I moved away from the desk and stepped farther away from his ire.
Two days. We hadn’t seen each other for two days and this was his greeting. Of course he wouldn’t come in trying to work through our issue before we said I do. No. It was Lucca. He wasn’t done hurting. Punishing.
“No.”
“Are you running a fever?” His chest bounced while he stood in outrage.
“No,” I whispered.
His jaw clenched, his palms turned to fists, and a deep rasp bubbled from his throat as his teeth shone briefly. When he stepped closer, so did the four-legged beasts.
Lucca’s eyes snapped down at Wex and Vino, their reaction infuriating him further.
This was a disaster.
