Page 4 of Lady Killer

My eyes darted nervously to Alister, and for the first time since the three of them had stumbled on me, I felt like I was in true danger.

“Tsk, tsk, Starbright,” Everest chided. “Now don’t look at him like that, that’s not fair. He’s not going to save you, not tonight, and certainly not from me.”

He reached for my hand, and this time, I didn’t pull away. Instead, I suppressed the shudder that ran through me as his cold, calloused fingers wrapped around my sticky red palm.

Everest tugged me closer to his side, completely oblivious to the blood smearing onto him from me.

Looking up at the violent maniac next to me, I was finally able to make out his eyes.

They were the palest blue I’d ever seen, like shards of ice in the coldest months of winter.

“As I was saying, we’ll have to take you to Lucian, darling . . . But how about I make it worth your while?”

Chapter two

Luz

Despite the warmth emanating from the fireplace in front of me, the atmosphere at the Blackwell Estate was dark and foreboding. I sat, my head held high, ankles crossed, and hands placed gingerly in my lap, facing down the infamous Lucian Blackwell.

Everest had offered me a deal—come willingly to meet with Lucian, and he and Alister would not only vouch for me but would also help me get Aaron’s body out of the woods and displayed somewhere to be foundlater.

I couldn’t claim to understand or trust Alister, but I could see why he might offer his support in facing his older brother based on his past behavior. For whatever reason, he appeared to want me alive . . . for now.

What I couldn’t wrap my head around was why Everest, a complete stranger and reputed psychopath, seemed so invested in me. His peculiar pet names and familiar attitude were in direct opposition to the threat my instincts registered him to be.

He acted as though he . . . adored me . . . Which was concerning, to say the least.

Still, I would have been an idiot to say no, considering we all knew I’d end up going with them one way or another.

So here I was, in Lucian Blackwell’s office in the earliest hours of the morning, after watching Alister and Everest transport and display Aaron’s corpse with an ease that made me uncomfortably jealous. I’d never had to transport a body after killing before, and there was no denying that I would have struggled to do it alone.

They had also disposed of my bloody dress and shoes, dropping them off at an incinerator conveniently located on one of the back roads that led to the estate. This left me facing off with the heir to the Blackwell empire in the old workout clothes I had hidden in the woods. They werestill damp from the snow, and I was more than aware of the water stain I was leaving on the gorgeous leather chair beneath me.

Lucian radiated a sense of deadly command so intense that it seemed to physically fill the room around him. Like the rest of the Blackwells, he was inarguably beautiful, but there was a hardness to him that was absent in the others.

If the twins and Locke had been carefully carved and polished from the finest marble, then Lucian had been forcefully hewn from the hardest granite. Eyes dark as coal stared at me from under a heavy brow bone that was balanced by a strong jaw and wide nose. His hair was the same inky black as Locke’s, although it was longer and thicker, worn brushed away from his face, and his beard was neatly trimmed.

When I entered the room, I’d only gotten a glimpse of him at full height before he sat down, but from what I could see, he was built like a linebacker—taller than the twins with shoulders that would make Atlas jealous.

“Who would like to tell me what is going on?”

Lucian’s voice was low and soft, with an underlying venom to it that sent the most delicious pulse through my body.

“Right, introductions . . .” Everest clapped and plopped in the seat next to me. “Lucian, this is Luz—polyglot,murderess, and future mother of my children. Luz, this is Lucian—the big guy, boss man, my bestie, my l—‍”

“Everest,” Lucian growled.

“And I believe everyone else knows each other . . . Although maybe we should all go around and introduce ourselves, like a sort of icebreaker . . . Oh! I can go first. My name is Everest and—‍”

“Enough.”

“Lucian, if I may?” Alister interjected from behind me.

“No.”

Nixon remained silent, probably still pouting, and an uncomfortable quiet fell over the room.

Lucian inspected me coldly, almost clinically, and I could feel myself nearly choking under the weight of his stare.

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