Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

Lucian

When Trenton arrived on the scene, I was leaning against the wall, staring at the fucker I’d killed, twirling the bloodied knife in my hand, my cock still throbbing from Elaine’s perfect asshole. My right-hand man burst through the door with a Jesus Christ and glanced around the place in horror. I didn’t blame him. It really was a shitstorm he was stepping into.

A shitstorm I was proud of.

“What the fuck happened here? Fuck, Lucian, who is he?”

I kept twirling the blade in my fingers, barely even shooting him a glance. “That doesn’t matter. Just get it cleaned up.”

I allowed him a minute while he was pacing around, trying to fathom just what the fuck had gone down in this place. “Fucking hell,” he cursed, then pulled out his phone and started making the call to the cleanup team.

“Bury him deep.”

“So, who the fuck is that?” he asked between calls, gesturing to the dead body like it made any damn difference who it was.

“Nobody to concern yourself with.”

“This is back alley as fuck. Does anyone know you’re here?”

“Like I said, it’s not your concern.”

He kicked out at the guy’s legs, just to make sure he was really gone, then looked at me, eyebrow raised as he lit up a cigarette. “Haven’t seen you get hands-on for a long time. Must’ve been something quite urgent to put that knife in your hands.”

“Urgent enough.”

“Fine,” he said. “Just give me a bit more damn time to sort this shit out next time, will you? Preferably some damn fucking warning.”

I twirled the knife one last time before casting it onto the floor. Trenton would dispose of it along with the body. “Am I done here?”

He nodded as he took another drag. “Yeah, you can go. The team will be here soon enough.”

I turned away to leave.

“Wait, Lucian,” he called.

I spun back to face him. “What?”

He headed closer and kept on smoking. “The Power brothers. You wanted to know what was going down between them and the Constantines.”

My flesh surged with life as he said the words, a shiver of want right up my spine.

“Elaine Constantine,” I said, and closed the distance between us. “I wanted to know what was going down between them and Elaine Constantine.”

“Yeah, Elaine Constantine,” he repeated. “Well, I found out what’s going down. It ain’t pretty.”

I fixed my attention on his face. “Tell me.”

“She’s in deep. Got in debt for drugs, same old story. But there’s more.”

“Spit it out.”

He took another drag on his cigarette before he answered. “It’s not just her own debt they’re chasing her down for. She took on a load of other debt with it. Other people’s debt.”

“Other people’s? What the fuck?”

He tipped his head. “Seems little miss stuck up isn’t quite the selfish little princess she appears to be. She’s been pitying a whole world of drug addict losers and bailing them out.”

The words grate when they come out of his mouth.

He continues on, oblivious, “She deserves everything coming to her. Taking debt on with the Powers sure ain’t a charity gig. She should have kept to the rich girl charity bullshit.”

I tried to find the logic in her moves. But there wasn’t any logic in it.

Trenton was right—she shouldn’t have gotten tangled up with the Powers. But she was a Constantine…queen Caroline Constantine would surely clear her debts.

Trenton read my mind. “Caroline’s washed her hands of it, so they say. Apparently, Elaine’s done it before, over and over. Last few times her mom’s bought her out of it, but not this time. This time the stakes are higher, and her mom has said no fucking way. She’s on her own. She’s been enough of an embarrassment to the family name already, so the whispers say. Mommy’s done with her.” He flicked his cigarette butt onto the body. “Elaine’s on her own, and they’re coming after her. Soon.”

“And what exactly are they going to do about it?” I snapped, but I knew the answer. I could see it in his eyes.

He gestured to the dead fool on the floor before he answered me, and I knew what was coming. Trenton Alto had questions of his own brewing fast. Questions I sure as hell didn’t want to be answering. “What’s the deal with Elaine Constantine?”

“What the fuck does it matter?” I said to him. “Tell me exactly what the damn Power brothers are planning to do to her and when.”

“Holy fuck, Lucian,” he said. “What the fuck is happening to you? Of course it matters. The very fact you’ve been breathing in the same air space as that Constantine matters, and you know it.”

His eyes were bold and cold. Hard and disbelieving.

He didn’t recognize me, and I didn’t recognize myself, either. I was swimming in shit, and all because of her. All because of the woman I should be hating with every evil sliver of my soul.

Trenton was correct, and I hated him for it.

He cleared his throat. “There are rumors already flying around, you know? Rumors about you not being in Morelli Holdings last week, rumors that something is going down…rumors about you chasing a pretty little blonde…”

“Rumors can fly all they like. I’m not obligated to answer to any of them. My business is my fucking business, and mine only.”

He looked guilty, shifting from foot to foot. “Not when the questions are coming from the board.”

“Fuck the board.”

“And Bryant Morelli? Fuck him, too?”

Jesus Christ. I could see it in his eyes. Trenton Alto’s loyalty didn’t belong to me anymore. The motherfucker had been in discussions with my father. Discussions about me.

“He asked me,” he said, as though that excused it. “I had to, Lucian. He asked me.”

“Well, well. Does he know you’re here?” I pushed with a sneer.

He shook his head and took out another cigarette. “Not yet. The mess tonight happened pretty damn quickly, don’t you think? I wouldn’t have been able to snitch to your dad if I’d have wanted to.” He lit up. “But he asked me what you’ve been doing. He asked me about Elaine Constantine. I didn’t start it, not at all. Seems the chauffeur has been reporting back.”

He’d pay for that.

Trenton carried on talking, like I needed to hear his advice. “You’re getting yourself in crazy waters. Don’t think I’m gonna be drowning there with you. Leave it alone. Leave her the fuck alone. Please, boss. Just leave her alone.”

Even though my mouth was dry with rage, I couldn’t say I blamed him.

He was right. I was in crazy waters.

I was in the shit. I could feel it all the way through my skin. My father would only have to sniff a hint of the truth in me chasing down Elaine, and the whole damn world would feel my damnation along with me. He would tear me apart alive with the whole family cheering.

“He’s been talking to the board while you’ve been gone. Whispering in their ears.”

I cursed. What a shitshow. With my father losing power and the board losing faith in me…

“I’ll try not to tell him,” he said. “But you know I won’t be able to hold off for long, Lucian.”

Even in my beast of a mood, I couldn’t blame him. They’d tear his spleen out inch by inch until he confessed whatever the fuck they wanted from him. They’d get one hell of a confession, too. Trenton Alto knew my business from the inside out. I should’ve seen it coming.

I hadn’t wanted to. Somewhere down deep he meant something to me.

Trust is always your greatest weakness. Never trust a soul but your own.

How the fuck had I managed to forget my own mantra?

“You’re a piece of shit for telling him anything,” I said to the man who’d been at my right hand for years. The man who was my link to the underworld and all its profits. The man who did the dirty while I did the deeds.

“I had to be a piece of shit this time,” he told me. “I’m not going down on that ship with you, Lucian. I’ll end up at the bottom of the ocean when your dad blows up the whole damn boat along with you.”

“Never had you down as a pussy,” I said, and he smiled at me.

“Never had you down as such a goddamn psychopath,” he replied.

I stepped up closer to him. “What exactly did you snitch to my father?”

He kept his eyes on mine as he answered. “I told him that you’ve seen her. Been stalking her around the place. I had to.” He paused. “Doesn’t know you’re digging her secrets out from the Power brothers. That’s a whole other league.”

“You’d better keep it that way if you want to keep your tongue in your mouth.”

“Whatever you say, boss. It’s not just my tongue you wanna be worried about, though. Whispers are whispering right through the back alleys.”

As much as I’d have enjoyed slitting Trenton Alto’s throat in that instant, I had too much I needed from him. “Let’s get back to my question,” I said. “What are the Power brothers planning to do with Elaine Constantine?”

He sighed. “They’ve already sent the orders down. She’s a walking target.”

“Fuckers.”

He sighed again. “They’d be fools if they didn’t. If they let that rich girl off with what’s due, then every fucker would think they could leverage their connections to write their debts off. The Powers can’t allow that. Pride if not the practicalities.” He paused as he stared at me. “Why? What the hell are you planning to do about it? Please say you aren’t going to reason with them to save her ass. Please do not fucking say that.”

He was right. I shouldn’t save her. She wasn’t the well-bred girl I could use to prove myself to the board. Even for a Constantine this was too far. It would mean losing the coup. It would mean giving up being CEO for now… and maybe forever.

“You ain’t gonna do it, right?” Trenton pushed, and it snapped me out of my headspin.

I glared at him, and he gulped down a breath. “Clean this up, like I pay you for, and stay the fuck away from me. You’d better stay the fuck away from my father too, or you’ll regret it.”

“Stuck between a rock and a hard place,” he groaned. “Fuck off, then. Leave me to it.”

The first thing I did was check the tracker on my phone, feeling a flood of relief to see my toy arriving back to her building. She was home.

Home with her asshole still bleeding from taking my cock, no doubt.

The thought had me hard all over again.

It’s a strange thing how walking alone can allow your thoughts to speak to each other so well. I found myself wondering just what the hell it was that made Elaine so irresistible to me. What the fuck was it that made that little princess so damn special?

I remembered her skin pressed close to mine. Remembered the look in her eyes whenever they caught sight of me. I remembered her needy flesh, trembling for more pain, even when she was begging me to stop.

Hurting her asshole was only a tiny taste of what was teasing me. I wanted the rest of her. Every filthy scrap of her.

I wanted her to be my toy.

Elaine Constantine was a dirty little flower in a filthy world. She was tainted innocence in the face of debauchery. She was an unopened book with deep dark secrets, handwritten pages of beautiful hurt and shame and darkness in the half light.

She was a good girl who thought she was bad. A sweet little angel, begging to be punished.

I’d punish her for her family’s sins as well as her own, and I’d love her for it. I’d love her to be a pretty little canvas in my basement, ready to be scarred with my evil.

There was a strange twinge of fear right down in my guts as I headed back to my apartment that night. I wasn’t the only evil man planning to hurt Elaine Constantine. The sweet little angel was running out of time for salvation…and I was running out of time to save her from her sins.