Page 7 of Midnight Secrets

Catarina watched me the entire way back to our table. “Problem?”

“Nope.” I shook my head and gave her a smile.

Laughter and chatter surrounded the table, but I sat in quiet contemplation, only speaking when someone addressed me directly. Papa moved through the restaurant to the toilet, Catarina already there when I finally made up my mind.

“Are you free tomorrow morning, Xavier?”

“Depends,” he joked, grinning. “If you’re gonna paint my nails like you did when you were little, I’m not.”

“I need to borrow your masculinity.”

Jordan nearly choked on his drink and Ash’s eyes widened.

Xavier’s focus sharpened as he became the man that other businessmen feared. “Problem?”

“Just a small one and I could really do with some help.” I held my finger and thumb together to illustrate my point.

“Something Uncle Lucas doesn’t know about?”

“Papa tends to overreact.”

“I’ll pop around later and we can discuss it,” Xavier said. “Since restaurants have eyes and ears.”

Maybe Francis was right. Xavier was the big brother I never had. He’d pulled my pigtails and taught me to swim. Perhaps I didn’t have to face this meeting alone. What was the point of being a Black and not using all the advantages it entailed? I tried not to see the expression on Ash’s face. This had been the only opportunity to speak to Xavier without Papa interfering.

***

Chapter Four

Ash

I’d barely seen Lucrezia for a few years. The girl had turned into a ghost, disappearing when we arrived and hiding in the garden or her room. The woman who walked toward us in the restaurant was entirely different, her shy confidence making heads turn and men to stare. Catarina had always been the sexual sister, but Lucrezia had transformed into a rare beauty when I hadn’t been looking.

Years ago, Jordan used to joke that she had a crush on me, but I doubted it. She was just a shy kid who blushed when anyone spoke to her. It was the curse of an all-girls boarding school and a tyrant of a father who didn’t let anyone near his daughters.

She tended to keep her head down and eyes lowered the way we trained all the subs to act in the Twilight Rooms. She naturally took that pose and there wasn’t a heterosexual man in this restaurant who didn’t notice that shit. It evoked the inner caveman in us.

Lucrezia gnawed her bottom lip when no one was looking, her face pale after her security detail spoke to her earlier. Something had happened and she looked scared and vulnerable. I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but it wasn’t my place. And why the fuck had no one else noticed her demeanour?

Her huge, brown eyes watched Lucas stalk through the restaurant. She turned her attention to Xavier. “Are you free tomorrow morning, Xavier?”

“Depends.” He laughed. “If you’re gonna paint my nails like you did when you were little I’m not.”

“I need to borrow your masculinity.”

What the fucking hell? Had someone threatened her?

“Problem?” Xavier asked in the tone that made most of our business acquaintances stop and rethink what they’d just said.

“Just a small one and I could really do with some help.” Her bottom lip quivered and her teeth bit down to stop it.

She had the undivided attention of all three of us. “Something Uncle Lucas doesn’t know about?”

“Papa tends to overreact.”

“I’ll pop around later and we can discuss it,” Xavier said. “Since restaurants have eyes and ears.”

She nodded and dropped her head again. Jordan glared at me with murder in his eyes. Those three girls were his family and he didn’t take threats to them lightly. I knew that he would insist on going with Xavier later. If he was going, then so was I. There was something about Lucrezia that activated a long dormant possessive gene that screamed I wanted to protect her.

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