He took a deep breath, calming himself to think about this logically. It had been a long time since his blood family had been attacked, and he was too close to this situation to see it clearly. Regardless, his consigliere was right. Once Dante had become the boss, the family had become richer, more successful. He needed a means to prove the allegations against the Luciano family. If he were to even mention them trying to take a hit on him, it could be grounds for war for tainting their name, a war which could kill his entire family if provoked.
They had been at peace for years, but it was obvious that the Lucianos were becoming angry from not having more. The last war between the families had been brutal before the Lucianos ultimately took a deal to live peacefully with a small portion of Kansas City as their own. When Dante had taken over his part of the city, they had prospered greatly, while the Lucianos had slowly destroyed theirs.
Dante took another drink. “How the fuck am I supposed to prove anything when they’re fucking dead?” He couldn’t prove shit when the Luciano fuckers who walked into his casino hotel turned up dead every time.
Lucca snapped his lighter closed. “He’s not dead.”
“You didn’t fucking kill him this time?”
“No, not yet.” Lucca stood, going to the door.
That certainly changed things. He was going to hold Lucca personally responsible for the night.
“Good, clean up this fucking mess.”
When Lucca nodded as he went out the door, Dante could see he had already planned to do just that. Whatever it was, this wasn’t business to Lucca. It was fucking personal. That shouldn’t have shocked him, considering Maria was his sister, but Lucca wasn’t one to care for anything after learning just how he had that loving could only get you hurt.
He had seen that look on his own face once before. Types of revenge looked different on different people, but there was always one which looked the same.
*
Oww…
Waking up the next day, her throat felt sore and Vincent wasn’t beside her, making the feeling worse. As the sleepiness wore off, she remembered him kissing her awake at some point to tell her he had to take care of a few things. Lake understood. She was sure he had to deal with what had happened the day before. The more she thought about it, the happier she was that she was alone.
The thought of Vincent fucking her like that, just a step in the door, still had goose bumps going up her arms. While some were terrified bumps, the other ones were turned-the-fuck-on bumps.
She was right; each time they fucked, it became more intense and the less control Vincent had over his dark side.
What the fuck happened? It was like…
Lake honestly had no clue what it had been like, but it certainly hadn’t been how she had thought sex was going to be.
Getting out of bed, she took her time in the bathroom, lazily soaking in the tub to get the soreness out of her body. By the time she got out, she felt a hundred percent better. Well, almost.
Her thoughts about how he had fucked her still weighed on her mind. Lake was just scared, plain and simple. She was scared to love him. She was certainly scared of him. Most of all, she was scared to fuck him again.
She quickly put on a robe that hung on the back of the door, tying it around her waist. Opening the bathroom door, she didn’t see him at first but when she did, Lake clutched at her chest, frightened to death.
Looking at the man sitting on the bed, she pulled the robe closed tighter with shaky hands while he eyed her up and down.
“W-what are—”
“Sit down, darlin’,” Lucca commanded her.
Licking her very dry lips, she found her feet slowly moving, his voice making her do what he asked. After the previous day, she really didn’t want to push his buttons. Like ever, if he even lets me live.
She sat down gently on the bed, keeping her face straight forward. She had seen enough of his ragged appearance to know the night he’d had was a long one. Every word out of her mouth was going to have to be precise.
“As much as I enjoy you finally fucking get that you should be scared of me, you can relax. I’m not ever going to hurt you.”
His voice still sounded cold, so she had to look at him to see if he was telling the truth. He is…
She shook her head. “You won’t?”
Something told her Lucca Caruso didn’t cross off anyone on his ‘could kill if it pleases me’ list. She was pretty certain that even his brother Nero’s name wasn’t crossed off.
He grabbed her chin with his thumb and index finger, stopping her motion. “No, I won’t. I give you my word.”
Being forced to gaze in his crazed eyes, she could see the sun from the windows brought out the green more than the blue.
“It’s because of Chloe, isn’t it?”
Lucca stared at her a moment, completely ignoring her question. “Why did you do it? Risk your life for theirs?”
Lake could see him trying to figure out why she would possibly do something like that. The feelings and emotions she possessed were far different than his, but she could see past his emotionless mask enough to recognize they shared the same feelings about Chloe.
“I think we both know why I couldn’t let her get hurt.”
He looked at her for one more second before the pressure slightly increased on her chin. Then it was let go.
“What you did was fucking stupid.” His cold demeanor returned.