Page 103 of Blood & Lace
Lucero leaned down and kissed my cheek. I didn’t pull away. When he walked over to Nash, I floated through the gala, talking and smiling at people. Cara was currently scanning the crowd based on their invitations, past arrest records, and social media posts written about them. She was thorough. I slipped into the bathroom and peed before I moved to the sink to wash my hands.
“Louis.”
My head snapped up. A feeling of unease wrapped around my spine. There were only three people who called me that: Adam, my mother, God rest her soul, and him. My father.
Régis Monet.
Immediately, my hand shot down into my bag. I had been after him for longer than anyone on my list. He was my first, and hopefully last, mission one day. The man that had assaulted my brother repeatedly. The man that had stolen his life. The reason I hunted scum, and the man that had tainted me with his legacy.
“Why are you here?” I asked, my hand shaking.
“Keep the needle in the bag,” he said. “I’m here to make you a deal.”
“I don’t want it,” I spat.
He frowned. “Come on, son. You don’t mean that.” When he stepped closer, I shoved back. “I want this war between us to end. You already got me once. I don’t think we need a repeat.”
My father lifted his head. On his neck was a long, ugly silver scar from where I had drawn my knife. But I had been younger then. I had never killed anyone. As soon as the blood started to flow, I’d run. Now, I had to live with that mistake.
I should have ripped his throat out. I had failed Adam. And when my father fled? I had lost him. I had no choice but to occupy myself. To wait. To purge the Earth of people like him until he was back. And he was here.
“Don’t,” he said with a smile. “I’m protected now. You wouldn’t understand how much political influence can keep you safe, mon fils.” He smiled even wider. “You’ve been pulling on the wrong threads. Playing vigilante when you shouldn’t be. Let’s stop this now, and I’ll keep you, your empty-headed husband, and your dear big brother safe.”
My entire body seized. I stared at him. He had been here for longer than I had thought. I knew that like I knew the sky wasblue and Lucero would be texting me in the next twenty seconds. I swallowed around the lump in my throat.
“The nerve of you to show up here of all places,” I spat.
“Who do you think organized and threw it?” He shrugged. “I put the governor’s name on it, but it’s still mine. And hey, people change. You don’t think I’ve changed?”
“I think you’re a kid fucker!” I screamed at him. “That’s what I think about you. Get the fuck out of my face!”
For a second, he blinked hard. And then his eyes narrowed. In the next moment, he was smiling once more. “Always so temperamental,” he mused. “I told you, Adam is lying to you. I never laid a hand on him.”
No, I knew better than that. My stomach twisted, a wave of nausea crashed over me. I tried to swallow, but the lump in my throat refused to go down. He’d tried to convince me for years that he’d done nothing, but I saw the change in Adam. He had gone from happy and excited, to withdrawn and angry. And then the drugs started, the insomnia, the agoraphobia. When my mother took his side, that was all the evidence that I needed.
My father was a monster. Not to me, but to Adam? He was the boogeyman. And that was all I needed to hate him.
“I’m going to kill you,” I whispered. “You should have stayed out of New York.”
He took a step toward me. Confidence poured from every inch of him. As if he had nothing to worry about. “I’m more protected than you think. Me and my friends? We’re close-knit. You’re better off finding something else to do, Louis.” He patted my shoulder as he walked past me as if I never tried to kill him before. Bile lapped at the back of my throat and I gagged. “Dramatic. Just like your mother and brother. I’m disappointed in you.”
When the door shut, I ran into a stall. My hands braced on the cool metal as I vomited. My stomach heaved and rolled untilnothing was left. Finally, I straightened up, wiped my mouth, flushed, and stepped out of the stall.
I ran head-first into Lucero. He frowned as he looked down at me, his hands cupping and lifting my face. There was already a damp bit of paper towel in his fingers and he wiped my mouth.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Who upset you?”
I stared up at him and burst into tears. Without a word, I walked into his arms. And when he hugged me tight? I never wanted to let go.
27
LUCERO
The world cameto a halt the moment my husband fell into my arms and hot tears soaked into my tux. I held him close, scanning the room for any threat.
Who the fuck made him cry?
My hands moved on their own as I checked for any physical injury. If someone was stupid enough to touch Onyx, I'd make sure that death would seem like a Christmas gift once I was done with them. My breathing became labored the more I checked and found nothing. Anger bubbled up inside as the seconds ticked by. Beads of sweat slid down my spine the longer I went without knowing where to aim my frustrations.
