Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Five

Elaine

Lucian’s car pulled up as dawn was just beginning to creep in. The low rumble of the engine woke me from my daze on the sofa, the headlights bright enough in the dark to shine through the window. He was home. My boyfriend was home.

That word felt strange. It didn’t describe the wild, twisted, mad way that I loved Lucian, but I also cherished it. Such a simple, carefree declaration: my boyfriend.

Just thinking it made my heart leap.

I was already on my feet and at the front door when he stepped up to the porch. I was all set to dash out and grab him, but I stopped as he came into view under the porch light.

My boyfriend was covered in blood, and it most certainly wasn’t his own. His shirt was splattered, red on white. His jacket was damp and his face was smeared with red to match. His gloved fingers were bloodied around his keys, and his eyes were shining dark.

Evil. But it wasn’t evil directed at me…

I didn’t even know what questions to ask. They were empty sounds in my mouth. I stepped back to let him through, and he walked in with purpose and strength, as powerful as I’d ever seen him. Then he smiled. Lucian Morelli, covered in blood, smiled at me.

“Morning, sweetheart.”

He headed straight to the kitchen, flicking on the coffee machine before ditching his gloves in the sink. He got out two mugs and went to work, mute, without offering a single word.

It was me who finally found my voice and asked the most obvious question.

“What happened?”

His eyes were twinkling when they met mine. “I had some business.”

“Business?”

He laughed. “Yes, sweetheart, business. Business for you.”

I looked him up and down, still trying to soak in what the hell was happening. “For me? How the hell could this be for me?”

He leaned against the counter casually, like this wasn’t some kind of alternate dimension of craziness at dawn. “Well, that depends on who the blood belonged to, doesn’t it?”

I got a shiver all the way through me, because it couldn’t be…it couldn’t be from someone who hurt me. But it was. Of course it was. My stomach did the weirdest lurch. My heart was racing at the thought—both excited and scared at once.

“Who was it?” I asked, then took a breath. “Was it Uncle Lionel?”

Even the thought was terrifying—because if it was Uncle Lionel and people knew—if people knew, they would put the pieces together and those pieces would spell MORELLI in huge capital letters, and MORELLI would spell out LUCIAN Morelli the very moment it was said out loud.

Only it wasn’t Uncle Lionel.

“It was Reverend fucking Lynch,” he told me. “I tore the piece of shit apart.”

I stared in shock. Lucian had killed the man who’d prepared me for punishment and made me take it at the hands of other men. My mortal enemy of just a few days ago had ripped apart the man who’d been my true enemy since I was a little girl.

“You killed Reverend Lynch?” I asked him.

He gave me a smirk. “I most certainly killed him, Elaine. I’m sure he was damn well pleased when I did. He was hardly enjoying his last few moments alive, I can promise you that.”

The thought of Reverend Lynch suffering was strangely nice. Even buried after all these years, it was nice to think of him hurting, just like all the times he’d enjoyed my pain. Only he was dead. Lucian had killed him. Reverend Lynch was actually dead.

It shouldn’t have surprised me, because this was Lucian Morelli standing before me, and Lucian Morelli was undoubtedly the most vicious man alive. He hurt people for fun and fascination. He arranged deaths for his own ends, whenever it suited him. What surprised me was that his own hands were dirty, and it was because of me. He’d killed someone for me. Again. He’d killed someone because they’d hurt me.

I’m not sure it was everyone’s traditional idea of boyfriend material but in a fucked-up little part of my soul it sure felt like it to me.

My next words were a whisper as I tried to digest it. “Reverend Lynch is dead.”

Lucian poured my coffee. “I also made sure the girls’ doors were open before I left the place, even though they were sleeping soundly.”

“Wow.” He’d killed them and freed the girls. I smiled at him. Those girls would have been going through so much, just like I was. The monster had freed the victims.

“Thanks,” I said, and it was the most pathetic word in the world.

“You’re very welcome, Elaine.” His eyes were fire on mine. “He will be the first of many.”

“Many?”

His grin made me light up inside. “Many. Believe me, baby, I have a whole list of the next candidates. I’ll be savoring every single one of them.”

My brain was spinning just thinking about it. I was still trying to comprehend whether I was reading this right, because if I was… “You mean people alongside Reverend Lynch?”

“I mean every man who has ever laid his sick twisted hands on your sweet little body. Payback will be divine,” he said.

Yeah, he was certainly boyfriend material. I didn’t know what to do so I did nothing, still trying to get a grip on my thoughts. I took my mug from him with shaking fingers, still blown away by just how casual the monster was in the aftermath of butchering someone up close.

I stared at him, loving him. The full weight of what he’d done for me slammed me like a train when I finally came to my senses enough to process it. Reverend Lynch was dead, and the girls around him were free. I’m not sure who was more surprised when I launched myself at Lucian’s body and wrapped my arms around his neck. He was still wet with blood, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was being up close to the man I loved.

I didn’t just love Lucian Morelli, I adored him. I adored him as much as it could ever be possible to adore someone. He was like a god to me—a beautiful, vicious god who’d killed for me like a noble avenger.

“Thank you,” I whispered, and this time it came out from deep in my heart. “Thank you for loving me, Lucian.”

He pushed me away just far enough to look me in the eyes.

“I told him I loved you, you know,” he growled. “I told that bastard I was in love with you before I knifed him to death.”

The thought made me proud. It filled me with glee that Reverend Lynch knew that finally someone loved me enough to make him pay for his sins. Just a shame it was one of the Morellis and not the Constantines.

Lucian ran his thumb down my cheek, then pressed his lips to mine. His kiss tasted like blood, but I didn’t care. I’d already kissed him in someone else’s blood. Both times were because he was hurting them for hurting me. Boyfriend material didn’t even come close to it on reflection.

“What did you do with the body?” I asked. “Is it just lying there? The police will come find it, right? Will they know it was you?”

His laugh was depraved. “Lynch’s body is in the trunk outside,” he said.

“In the trunk?” The whole thing was growing more bizarre by the second.

“In the trunk. They’ll find plenty of blood in that fuck-up of a manor, but they won’t find him. The police might well find the scene, but they won’t be coming after me. The fellowship will be damned sure his death stays well hidden.”

“Oh, thank god.” The relief when I heard that was a beautiful thing. The idea of Lucian being arrested and taken away from me was becoming the most unbearable thing in the world.

“And that Margaret will be out of the country by the time the cops find anything. I told her to run if she wanted to live.”

I held him tight again, breathing against him, grateful to have him in my arms. I wanted nothing but Lucian for all time. I wanted him at my side through every step I took, right to the end of my life. I couldn’t be away from him if I tried. I’d never make it. I’d never want to make it.

“I mean it,” he whispered. “I’ll kill them all, baby, one by one. They’ll all rue the day they ever looked at you that way, let alone touched you. That’s a promise.”

His warmth against me was blissful, even soaked in blood. I squeezed him, kissed him, did everything I could to let him know just how much I loved him, and then I asked him all over again.

“Please, Lucian, please will you fuck me now? I need to feel you inside me, please.”

He brushed my hair from my forehead and smiled down at me with dark, sparkling eyes. “Yes, sweetheart, I’ll fuck you now. It’s time.”