Page 35 of Midnight Secrets

Madison flashed me thatdon’t be a smartasslook. “He worries because he loves you.”

“He worries because he can’t control everything when I’m not here.”

“The world is not a peaceful place,” Madison continued. “He’s seen what is out there.”

That was true, but we all had to make our own mistakes along the way. “Maybe I should tell him about my business, especially if it means I have to travel.”

She gave me one last hug. “That might be for the best. At least that way he can organise for you to stay in his home in London.”

My heart beat double-time when Francis and I got into the car and headed to the airport close to our home. That tone earlier said Ash needed someone right now, that our phone calls weren’t enough to scare his demons away. He’d done so much for me, I would sacrifice whatever he asked to help him.

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Chapter Fourteen

Ash

I shouldn’t have sent for Lucrezia. It was stupid and selfish, but right now I was unravelling fast and needed an anchor to stabilise me. Her phone calls were the only thing keeping me sane right now.

The corruption in the Council went deeper every day, with Jordan wading through the shit in an attempt to find its source. Xavier had fallen head-over-heels with a woman he met in the Midnight Rooms, who was also a solicitor at the law firm dealing with our property transactions. I would normally have spoken to him about Dad, but he seemed unapproachable since he found Cassandra.

The only person who spoke to the real me was Lucrezia. Her voice soothed my nerves and her quirky text messages made me smile. I needed her right now because I was suffocating and she was the oxygen I needed to breathe.

My phone pinged with a message to tell me my jet was in the air and returning to England. The beast inside me clawed at my chest and demanded an escape. To stop myself from driving and waiting at the airport, I went to my gym and used the punching bag to burn off my excess energy.

Michael was marked for death and there was nothing I could do to save him. Every day the Grim Reaper stalked closer, ready to launch an attack and steal him from our family. He was a horrible human being with a streak of evil that he inherited directly from Dad, but he was my brother.

I wasn’t sure if I was punching Dad, Michael, or myself in the end. Pain burned from my chest in waves until my knees gave way and I collapsed on the floor. Today had been the last straw when I saw Mum’s face. He’d lost control and went further than he had before. Dad revelled in psychological torment. He knew exactly which buttons to press to hurt or destroy someone, but today he’d reverted to using his hands against a woman who’d stood by his side no matter what shit he pulled.

He’d gone too far, which resulted in me paying him a visit. It wouldn’t surprise me if I was the next one to appear on the Council’s official hit list. It was worth it just to remember the look on the sanctimonious asshole’s face when he was lying on his ass on the floor.

Fuck it, I should never have dragged Lucrezia into this. It was true that she was needed to organise some of the details for the show, but in a pinch I probably could have stepped in. I just didn’t want to anymore. Watching Xavier with Cassandra, I needed someone in my life right now. Selfishly, I wanted that person to be the woman who haunted my dreams.

We went to Krakow after we’d visited Lucas and took care of his problem. I tried to forget Lucrezia, but every time I’d tried to have sex with someone on that trip, my dick had gone on strike and refused to work. He had no interest in the Midnight Rooms, and even less in the Twilight Rooms.

I dragged myself off the floor and into the shower. The water scorched my skin until it felt like it would flay it from me and I finally turned the temperature down. The thought of Lucrezia on her way to me made my dick, who’d been withholding services, spring into action. The fucker happily stood erect as if waiting to salute her. I leaned one arm onto the shower wall and used the other to stroke his length while visualising her.

I was in over my head and about to earn my ticket to Hell for even considering touching someone as pure as her. My grip tightened and my balls throbbed before I climaxed all over the side of the shower.

Lucrezia was going to have to use all the bolts on her room door to keep her safe from me. The unfortunate thing was that she never saw the danger, holding onto me as if I would save her instead of destroying her. No matter how I tried to atone for my father’s sins, he was fifty percent of me. Michael revelled in those psychotic genes while I fought them every single day.

It felt foolish now, but I’d had local jewellery makers convert one of the rooms in my townhouse into a studio for Lucrezia to work in. I knew a lot of the artists liked to make last minute adjustments to their pieces, and I wanted her to have somewhere. Standing in it, I wanted to kick myself because it looked needy and pathetic.

No one used this place but me when I descended into darkness. I owned apartments in other parts of the city close to Xavier and Jordan, but this was my inner sanctum where the beast sat and contemplated his problems.

To ensure no one followed Lucrezia, I’d hired a private car and driver to collect her from the airport. Nothing would ever track her back to me. From a third-party location, she would be brought to one of our fake businesses in another car. Francis would probably freak, but this was my world and I knew how to navigate in it. I would be waiting at the business for her. Checking my watch, I made my way to my car to go and wait for her. My emotions had been numb for so long that it took me a while to identify the strange sensation in my stomach as excitement.

Every mile felt like it took an hour, even thought that wasn’t true, and I swear every light I came to turned red just to aggravate me. There was a ghost vehicle at the business for Francis to use that didn’t connect directly to me. Jordan ensured that we were as clean as possible in the eyes of the law.

About an hour later, I sat watching from the CCTV feed as Lucrezia emerged from the back of a black Mercedes. Her brow wrinkled in confusion as she stared at the building and Francis bent down to speak to the driver. She looked even better than I remembered and the fact that she was here because I called her made the cold, dark lump in my chest that used to be a heart thud into life.

I wandered to the front door and opened it. Without a single word, she flew across the space between us and burrowed herself deep into my chest.

“I was so worried about you, Ash,” she whispered for me alone to hear. Every night, I watched the moon and thought of her, and now she was here.

Francis shot me a filthy look as my arms wrapped around her to drag her in behind the door. Her back arched when I pressed her into the wall, my hands travelling down until they reached her ass. She nearly climbed me like a tree, her lips seeking mine as I leant down to hers.

My dark heart fractured into a thousand pieces and her warmth invaded me. Lucrezia was my guardian angel who protected what little good was left in my soul. Her arms snaked around my neck and tugged me ever closer to her, her tongue demanding entry to my mouth. If she continued with this welcome, I was going to end up fucking her against the wall, and that was no way for a virgin to be initiated into sex.

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