Page 1 of Loving Lucian

Chapter 1

LUCIAN

One Month Later

Lighting up a cigarette in the alleyway, I waited and watched the man spasm in pain as I sent my knife into his stomach before slowly pulling it out, the gushing of blood following. It was like gutting a fish—a gutted cowardly fish. What did he think this was? A fucking lifestyle you could pick and choose to live? Once you pledged, that was it—your life ran through the codes and laws.

I enforced those codes and laws. And right now, he had broken one that couldn’t be overseen, so as he bleed out in the alleyway between the clubhouse and the bar, I hoped he died a painful death.

Hell, he was lucky to be awake for another few moments before he passed out from the pain and bled out in the alley.

“Gasoline or burial?” Rage asked as we walked away from the dying ex-member.

“Burial, ain’t in the mood to smell burning flesh.” I shattered his hope. Rage had an addiction to fire, loved to light things up, and that included bodies. Which, honestly, had come in handy more than once.

“Yo, Prez!”

I kept walking but then stopped. Fuck, I wasn’t used to that title. Never had been an acknowledged president, more like a silent factor and enforcer that appointed the presidents. Perhaps more powerful, but the mother charter always liked to pull rank on me.

But Dash was no more.

Thus, the empty position, and me being forced to take it as I killed the president responsible for murdering my wife. Broke a lot of laws that night, but leaving her in that room to bleed out had destroyed the human inside me. I was told by Ruby hours later, that Haylee had died. The only reason I hadn’t taken her to the hospital was because I knew there was no coming back from those injuries.

I let her die following the code, following the laws, and she got the burial she deserved. Her soul was at peace, and I couldn’t say she was a peace while she graced this earth.

“Some bastard put a hit on you,” Stone informed me, then shoved a phone in my face. “You want me to handle it, or you got plans for this fucker to die slowly?”

I read the hit report. Basically numbers, but my number had been called out. I had a hit on my head. Wasn’t the first, sure as fuck wouldn’t be the last. “Nah, I’ve got plans for this,” I muttered numbly because I knew who had put the hit out—Harley. He wanted revenge for his sister’s death, and best of all, I was going to give it to him.

I’d been ready since Haylee died to join her. For a few brief months, the woman granted me peace on this earth, and I was ready to feel that peace again. After all, I was doing things that even the club members frowned upon—going too dark for dark is a warning sign. But most of all, I wanted peace again. I just wanted to be with Haylee.

“Stone, ya in charge till I come back.” I knew I wanted him to step up, so I gave him the order in front of everyone. The witnesses would confirm after I died that I had left the club in the hands of Stone.

I’d lived this lifestyle for freedom, but in the end, it gave me nothing but a box.

Walking to my bike, I didn’t even look back at the club that I had dedicated my life to. I was ready to join my wife.

* * *

When the light disappears from your life, it is much like being buried alive. Because in the midst of night, there is nothing but darkness. My eyes ran over the dock, knowing my body would be going into that ocean.

I always told myself I would not die quietly. I had once vowed to myself that my life would only end by someone who deserved to end it, someone who deserved the create the end Lucian Hunter life.

Now as the waves knocked on the walls of the dock softly, I was ready to sink into it.

I heard the car pull up, and considering that I was giving myself up, I was at least expecting a painful death. After all, I deserved it. I had killed many, and few of them were painless.

It was a spilt-second, the pain washed through my body as the knife pierced the back of my thigh and I fell to my knees. I didn’t fight back. I didn’t even turn around. I was ready to die. Ready to end it all.

Harley deserved this. Fuck, Haylee would want this. She would want her twin to have peace.

The knife went to my side, and then I realised the pattern. Haylee had been stabbed in the same places. But how would Harley have know that? From blood loss, I looked over my shoulder, and that was when I saw the angel of death.

Haylee, her hair was pinned back, her eyes calculating, and she pulled the knife away. She locked her eyes with mine.

“If you survive this like I did, then we can talk.” Her words were as sharp as a whip, but to me, that sounded like chocolate-coated velvet.

“I’ll be seeing ya, darling,” I said as she backed away, leaving me to bleed out on the dock. I wondered now, did she want me to survive this? I didn’t question if she was real or not, I didn’t even wonder how she was still alive. All I cared about was surviving this to get the answers I deserved, the answers I was willing to face death down for.

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