Page 15 of Midnight Salvation

Phil’s brow furrowed in confusion. “You’re heir to the Blackwood line.”

“I am, but that doesn’t mean that I want it. My mum has known most of my life that I have no interest in taking that throne.”

His face wrinkled in disgust. “Father always raved about you—how smart you were, how good a fighter you were, how you would take our family to greatness.”

I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Let me guess, you are one of his many children who are scattered across the country. Mum should have cut his balls off years ago.”

Lucas chuckled darkly. “Matteus always liked to see himself as a player.”

“He needed to play with himself or get a vasectomy,” I muttered. “Look, Phil, Dad doesn’t give a fuck about any of us. He signed the order to have Michael terminated and will gladly do it to the rest of us. Why did he send you to snoop on Lucas?”

I tried to find an aspect of our father in his features as he scowled at me. “He knows you have the hots for one of his daughters. If he has to kill each one of them, he will. You are a disgrace to our family.”

I lunged forward, my fist connecting with his face over and over until Lucas dragged me back.

“I will deal with this, Ashton,” he said.

I could hardly breathe as my temper burned fiercely in my chest. My pulse sounded in my ears and I wanted to beat the shit out of him for even daring to threaten Lucrezia.

Lucas slowly removed his suit jacket and folded it before placing it on a chair. His tie followed it, and he rolled his black shirt sleeves up before facing Phil. “Lucrezia is my youngest daughter,” he said in idle conversation. “She has been a dreamer from the moment she was born, with her head constantly in the clouds, and a sketch pad in her hands.”

He moved over to Phil and unlocked the manacles restraining his arms and legs. Phil rubbed his wrists and threw a cursory look in my direction. I had no fucking clue what was going on, but there was no way I was intervening. I’d picked my side in this war, and Lucrezia was the only person I cared about.

“My Lucrezia was always so innocent, so imagine my surprise when she was the first of my daughters to set her sights on a husband. She decided that she wanted Ashton from when she was fifteen. I just hoped that he never noticed the hearts in her eyes when she looked at him. That all ended months ago when he finally saw the woman she’d become.”

Lucas had obviously seen a lot more than I gave him credit for.

“I gave my approval when I saw the man he’d become to be with her.” Lucas stood tall and straight, staring at Phil as if he had crawled out of the sewer. “I refuse to hit a man when he is restrained. If you can get past me, then I will let you go free. If not…” He shrugged.

He was more than twice Phil’s age, and most people believed Lucas to be a businessman living a quiet life in Tuscany. They were wrong. This man had honed our skills and made us into killers. That instinct didn’t retire in a life in the sun.

A cocky smile curved Phil’s mouth and he brought his fists up. That was his first mistake. His second was lunging first. Lucas hit him with a hard jab to the jaw followed by a swift kick to the balls.

Phil stumbled back, shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts.

Personally I would have just sat my ass down as soon as Lucas released me.

His stubbornness was definitely a Blackwood trait because Dad and Michael possessed it in abundance. Maybe Phil was related to us since his jaw tightened and a belligerent expression crossed his face. Dad never knew when he was beat either. I sat in one of the seats to watch our security officer be taught a lesson. Considering I didn’t even like Michael, whom I’d been raised beside, I felt no fraternal allegiance to the man currently pacing around Lucas.

The asshole moved too much and started to tire his arms out with the constant punching that Lucas easily deflected. Phil launched himself forward in a scathing attack of punches and leg kicks. Lucas grabbed one of his legs, and rapidly lowered himself onto his knees as he twisted the leg. A sickening pop sounded.

Stupid fucker had left himself open and now he was down a limb.

Phil groaned and rolled onto his side for a few moments before he pushed himself onto his feet, limping. “What would Dad think of you sitting there watching this?” he shouted over at me.

“You really don’t know Dad very well,” I replied with a dark grin. “He used to fight Uncle Eli and Uncle Bart all the time. They beat the crap out of each other in the training room in the basement. He made me fight my brothers so he could decide which of us was the strongest and who needed more training. Dad would join me watching you, but he would be ashamed of your performance.”

Phil roared in anger, his movements sloppy as he attacked Lucas. He grabbed a chair and tried to batter his opponent. I shook my head in disappointment. If he had been a true Blackwood, he would have known that your body was a weapon that should be honed to perfection so that you could fight any enemy.

Lucas grabbed the chair and tossed it across the room before he grabbed Phil by the throat and pinned him to the wall.

“Let me tell you something about Matteus Blackwood,” Lucas hissed. “He is a coward who hides behind the strength of others. You would have survived if you had placed your alliance with your brother.”

Phil brought a hand up to try and claw at Lucas’ eyes. The resounding crack told me he received a broken wrist. His other hand tried to dislodge Lucas’ other hand, and I watched as Lucas grabbed his lower arm and released his throat, yanking his arm up his back until he dislocated his shoulder.

Lucas dropped him to the ground and towered over him. “I am sick of men like you who think they can hurt women. Twice I had to hold my temper because a weapon was held against a female family member. I will happily send your body as a warning to Matteus of what happens when you fuck with me.”

Phil’s eyes widened as Lucas descended on him like a demon from the depths of Hell. Over and over, Lucas’ fist connected with Phil’s head and neck until I doubted Dad would recognise him. I hope he still had a DNA sample from the paternity test he always insisted on, because facial recognition wouldn’t be applicable.

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