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“Wex would’ve attacked him!” I couldn’t believe it.
“He did what he was trained to do. You’d been threatened.”
“It was an accident,” I stated.
“He could’ve snapped at you!” Lucca bit back harshly.
Frustrated, I was ready to fight back and return his icy and sharp tone, but loud knocks filtered from the bedroom door and Lucca left me alone.
All the adrenaline rushed from my body at the turn of events, and my worn body inched closer to the tub. Taking advantage of Lucca’s absence, I carefully removed my clothing while minimizing the use of my wrist. A sigh of relief escaped my body as I sank down into the warm water of the large porcelain tub.
I closed my eyes, but they quickly rushed open as his defiant and gloomy temper returned.
“I don’t want to fight,” I murmured.
His eyes took me in, holding me as tightly as he clenched on an ice bag.
“Then don’t.” His hands shot outwards, frustrated. “I wish you wouldn’t.”
He reached over the tub and dropped the bag onto my injured wrist. Nothing showed a sweet or caring gesture, it was just another check on his checklist.
“But you will.” His eyes peered down at my soaking body. “It’s all you do.”
He walked out.He walked out!I was so close to throwing the ice bag across the room.
But I didn’t because he would’ve been right.
I missed the darkness, and maybe time had been right. Daylight didn’t offer peace. Maybe daylight would always be my foe.
XIX
LUCCA
I needed fresh air.It was imperative for me to regain control and maintain my focus on the continuous threats that were knocking on every inch of my territory. A task I never failed and refused to. But Katia’s presence kept intervening in matters I wouldn’t have given much thought to or cared to address before her arrival. Just the mere thought of having her in my home without knowing what she was doing was a distraction.
She was a burden on my mind. One I didn’t want but didn’t mind at the same time. Because when her greens looked up to me, all I saw was mine, and every day this week I’d killed for those eyes.
Every. Single. Life I took.
I had taken it personally, and my hands were filthy.
This war was meant to be a power shift, a gain for my own empire and foul desires of vengeance. But the more bullets I shot, the more I lost myself in this wicked ache of possession.
I shouldn’t have cared if she could throw a knife again. Or how her wrist had swollen slightly from a fall. Or the way her eyes closed briefly in humiliation. But I had. I did, and all I thought in that moment was for no one else to see it—her vulnerability because, if Katia showed it, it should only be for me to see it.
Outside in the humid heat, I picked a cigarette out of my case and rolled my neck in hopes of easing the urge to walk back into that kitchen.
Steps neared, and I was no longer alone with my demon. I didn’t have to look to know it was my brother, but he treaded carefully, sensing my dark and consuming demeanor.
“What do youreallywant me to do?” Arlo asked. He’d walked into the kitchen, assessed the situation, and now fully understood where my mind had taken me.
“Something I’m not planning to order.” I looked down at the cigarette that twirled between my fingers.
Diego came from a family protected by us. While that had an insignificant say, I couldn’t eliminate him as I wished. His family meant something to Salvatore, and certain things couldn’t be killed if it meant breaking the duty of honor.
Honor.Maybe if I repeated it enough, it would help ease my ire and remind me why I had to let it be.
Then my mind replayed Katia’s body slithering through the filthy floor, the way she tried to hide behind the pain as her wrist rolled in Wex’s strength, all for astronzowho couldn’t do something as simple as walk.
