Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Elaine

Istarted packing as soon as the car had left the driveway. My hands were jittery, but that was okay. It was good to have them occupied.

It took barely any time before I’d folded and packed almost every item of clothing from Lucian’s closet. I’d boxed up several pairs of his shoes, and the bulk of toiletries we wouldn’t need to use before leaving, and then I’d dug into his most private space and packed his dream journal and fountain pen and the watch with RHM on the leather strap. I was on a mission, getting us ready to roll.

My jitters were even worse when I was done. I drifted aimlessly around the place, chewing at my nails, staying inside with the door locked—just like I promised Lucian. As much as the grass outside was calling me, tempting me to head outside for some fresh air, I wouldn’t break my promise. As much as I wanted to venture out and see the mound of dirt we’d thrown over Reverend Lynch’s body, I didn’t. I didn’t break my promise to Lucian.

Still, I’d stare at it from the window. I’d stare at that dirty grave and think of the disgusting body inside it with a flame down deep inside me. Fuck you, you sick asshole.

I was so fucking glad he was dead.

Reverend Lynch’s pit of a resting place was a beacon, thrilling me, but there was more to it than that. I couldn’t deny the thoughts that were tickling my mind. Thoughts of what Lucian might be doing as I waited for him to come home that could be so damn important. So damn important, and so private that he had chosen to keep it from me.

Where could he be?

If he wasn’t at Morelli Holdings, and we weren’t getting flights on our escape run until tomorrow, then where the hell could Lucian be?

I knew there was something dark and deep about what he’d headed off to do, stepping out into the world when we should surely be hiding in here as quietly as we could and counting down the minutes. I also knew, just an inkling, but a powerful one, that what he was doing had something to do with me. I was still in shock about that—a powerful beast of a man like Lucian on a mission to do something for a little fuckup of a girl like me.

There was a strange pleasure to it, better than the greatest cocaine buzz I’d ever felt. It made my heart soar to mean that much to someone. I’d never felt so wanted, or so important, or so validated.

That tickle was deep and strong in me. The whisper that maybe, just maybe, someone else who deserved it would be joining Reverend Lynch in hell.

I couldn’t even hope.

One hour felt like a lifetime as I waited with the suitcases all packed and ready to go, so hell only knew how long twenty-four of them would feel like as we waited to make our run overseas. The minutes were dragging so slow they could cripple me. Still I drifted, thought, stared out of the window. Drifted, thought, stared out of the window.

I couldn’t do it. Not all through the afternoon.

I stopped drifting around the house enough to put the TV on once another twenty minutes had crawled on by, expecting to see my face staring back out at me like usual. Only it wasn’t my face staring back out at me. Not this time.

As it turns out, I wasn’t quite prepared for it.

I knew we were in some serious trouble the moment the photograph came up on-screen.

If you have any information about this man, then please call the number below.

Oh fuck.

The image was a blurry photograph taken outside my apartment, presumably right before my abduction. He was dark and tall…like a lot of men. A lot of men who weren’t Lucian Morelli.

I was hoping my letter would have drawn the attention away from his visit but it was only a matter of time. It had always been just a matter of time.

The number on-screen was scrolling.

If you have any information about this man, then please call the number below.

If you have any information about this man, then please call the number below.

If you have any information about this man, then please call the number below.

There were people from the Work Truths auction we’d been at, talking about how they’d seen him there, including my cousin, Harriet. It broke my heart to see her like that—tears streaming down her cheeks. She was genuinely asking for information, but it was her naivety asking, loud and clear. There was no way in this world that people wouldn’t know. That people wouldn’t see the connection, the similarity between the Morelli god and this lurking shadow.

Yeah, sure, there was no doubt about it. The pieces were piling up around us. The picture on-screen was just another huge pointer linking Lucian Morelli to me.

We were running out of time.

If you have any information about this man, then please call the number below.

If only I had a cell, maybe I would. Maybe I’d tell them something, anything just to get them off track. But I didn’t. I had nothing. It was just me, with my legs pulled up and crossed on the sofa as I rocked back and forth, staring at that blurry photo on the screen.

I leapt out of my skin when I heard a car pull back up in the driveway. Thank fuck for that. Thank fuck Lucian had made it home.

For the second time today, I twisted the key in the lock and raced on out of there to meet him, and this time I got further. I was racing, rushing…only it wasn’t Lucian’s car that was waiting for me outside when I screeched to a halt on nervous legs.

It wasn’t the strength of Lucian greeting me when a tall stranger stepped out of the driver’s side and came after me.

No.

Oh my God, no.

My body was on autopilot as I turned around and made a dash back to the safety of the house, but it wouldn’t have mattered, not for anything. My body would never have been fast enough.

I was back up on the porch when the man’s hands grabbed me from behind and slammed me right into the hallway. I had no idea who I was squealing against as he spun me around and threw me right up against the wall.

“Elaine Constantine,” he snarled. “We knew it. We knew you two were holed up together in some fucked-up little shit show of a haven. Where is Lucian?”

I stared blankly, every inch of my skin prickling as I tried to work out just who or where this guy had come from. He had a scar down the right side of his face, a brute in the most brutish sense of the word. Dark and deadly with heavy eyebrows that made me feel like a useless little girl.

“Who are you?” I asked, and his eyes were nothing but vile as he stared down at me.

“I could be anybody,” he said to me. “Everyone is coming for you. The Morellis, The Power Brothers, your own fucking family.”

It broke my heart that he was right.

It also broke my heart that I may never see the love of my life again.

One thing for sure was that I was never going to betray Lucian Morelli. The guy before me could do whatever he wanted, but I wouldn’t be revealing anything about the man I loved.

“Tell me,” he pushed. “I want to know everything you know about the spawn of Satan.”

I gasped when I felt it. The chill of the blade pressing against my ribs.

He was really going to hurt me. The sick fuck in front of me was really going to hurt me.

I was a little girl in that moment with my life flashing before my eyes, but I didn’t want it. I wanted everything but to say goodbye to the first shot at a future I’d ever really craved.

“Tell me,” the guy grunted again. “I have a whole load of people waiting for a damn fucking update.”

I closed my eyes as I shook my head.

The whole load of people could wait, because I wouldn’t be telling him anything. Not a fucking thing.

I don’t know when he used that blade on my ribs. My senses were swimming as I first felt the stab of pain slice my skin through the fabric of the shirt on me, and my squeals sounded distant. Distant and scary enough that my legs were like Jell-O.

I just prayed with every part of my fucked-up little soul that on some weird level, I’d get at least one chance to see the love of my life again.

Please God. Please just one more glance at Lucian Morelli.