A Dark Place (a Tomb of Ashen Tears Book 5)

by Kailee Reese Samuels

  “… Should I open it?”

  “Yes!” she orders as I bust open the seal. “Sibyl is closing. If you want the clients or the old building, let me know. I am in no rush to sell, so take some time and think about it. I left the keys for the house in the kitchen drawer. Feel free to take my cars out to your house.”

  “Even the Camaro?”

  “Everything is yours,” she says, smiling through dampened eyes. “Delarte doesn’t want anything but me.”

  “And the inheritance going to Jaid?”

  “Jaid isn’t getting shit since I found out what happened to Cruz. Her father and I both cut her out completely.”

  Pulling out the paper, I ask, “… Who told you?”

  Her eyes drift over to my wife, and she innocently says, “Buttercup did. She trusted me even when you doubted me.”

  “How was I supposed to know that Kate was Anna and Luca’s daughter?”

  “I don’t know,” she says, shrugging. “But I don’t envy you.”

  “Holy fucking shit…”

  “That was my reaction,” she recalls as I fold up the paper. “Now use it wisely before someone else does. Keep your points and players tight.”

  She embraces me. “I love you, Stephanie.”

  “It’s been good, Kid,” she whispers in my arms. “Remember everything I taught you.”

  My eyes bubble with tears. “Goddammit, I don’t want you to go!”

  “I have to,” she whispers. “I cannot spend what time I have left without the one I love. And I am one phone call away. Send me pictures of Ariella when she’s born.”

  I blink, and the tears fall. “Do you talk to my wife all the time?”

  “For a very long time,” she confirms, stroking my goatee. “You turned into a hell of a man, Lucas Salvatore. Don’t let these bastards catch you.”

  “I won’t, Ma’am.”

  “Run faster, but not away.” Standing on her tiptoes, she plants a kiss on my cheek. “Take your fantastic ass home to those you love.” Her voice cracks, and she cries. “I love you.”

  “It has been an honor and privilege to have you in my life, Mistress Serene.” I bow and embrace her slight frame. “I love you.”

  “That’s my boy,” she boasts, placing her car keys in my palm and closing my fingers around them. She rubs her thumb over my crab rings. “Cristos always loved you. Don’t you kneel for anyone but your Queen.”

  She walks away. “… Serene?”

  “Yeah, Trotter?” She winks, and tears stream down my cheeks.

  “Did you bring clothes for Mae?”

  “They’re in the trunk,” she says, wiping her cheeks with a tissue. “Car seat is in there too. The rest of her things are packed at the farmhouse. Don’t blow it up.”

  “I won’t.” I lift my hand and wave once as she softly smiles, leaving. “Fuck…”

  Frozen in the moment, I watch Serene disappear in Cristos’ limousine as Cruz approaches and asks, “Are you okay, babe?”

  “Ya,” I mutter in shock. “She’s leaving to go be with Delarte.”

  “… Seriously?” he mumbles, just as stunned as me. “What about Kade?”

  “She is taking him to Greece.”

  We walk closer to the graveside service we’re present for, but not paying any attention to. The truth is, we don’t give two shits; one of the Grace girls has made our lives hell for years. Knowing how I am, he questions, “Are you going to stop her?”

  “Not this time,” I answer, smiling at Amber. She is holding Mae, who is waving her arm off at me, as the Gennaro kids circle around her feet like sharks. Please don’t put my daughter down. “Nicky is a fucking mess. Kade deserves better.”

  “Is Cristos capable of giving him that?”

  “I don’t know,” I say, stopping mid-step. I want to buckle over, but I can’t in front of this influential crowd. “But it’s better than the alternative. How was the GG kill?”

  “Clean, easy,” he reveals. “And she recounted her lies with you.”

  “No shit.”

  “Nope, none that I saw.”

  I laugh. “Cristos is one twisted fuck; I’ll never claim otherwise, but he is not a child abuser. Nor does he ever get his hands dirty, much like Dom.”

  I shift my glare to the man I have called a Master for a third of my life. I make a beeline for him standing in the back of the service—he’s been keeping one eye on Iris and one eye on me.

  “Do you still think Serene is behind it all?”

  “No,” he concedes, “But killing Gwyn Grace got you nothing.”

  “I fulfilled my final promise to Nicky.”

  “He didn’t deserve it,” he responds.

  “It’s not about what he deserves,” I say, giving him a side-eyed glare. “It’s about being a man of my word.”

  “Goddamn, you’re good,” he compliments. “Jealousy looks horrible on anyone. Particularly me.”

  “Yes, it does, Daddy,” I snicker as we stand beside one another in our suits. “Are you ready to do this with me?”

  “Are we back in business, son?”

  “We were never apart,” I reply with a smirk. “You don’t care for my appreciation of Cristos’ flaming revelry. If you think I have a hard-on for Cristos, you should’ve seen me with Pharm; there was drool frothing from my lips and leaking out of my cock.”

  Despite his efforts to hold back, he gives up and laughs. He’s got a contagious smile when it shows, which is so rare I could probably count the times I’ve seen it on two hands. “You won’t ever cheat on Cruz. You two are a bonded pair.”

  I don’t tell him what he doesn’t need to know. That his sons already crossed the bridge to that dark jungle.

  I hand him the letter from Murasaki Hada that Serene gave to me. “When do I play this card, Sir?”

  He scans over the handwritten letter. “Save it as long as you can,” he mutters. “If word about that gets out, Sugargrove will be a war zone real fucking quick.”

  My lovely wife floats like a goddess over to me. “Sofu wants to talk to me privately. I need to go.”

  With concern, I inquire, “Where are you going?”

  “To his office.”

  “The jet?”

  She nods with excitement. “He has lunch waiting, and we’re coming closer to an agreement.”

  I glance at Dom, who blinks with an affirmative. “One hour. And then I bring the fucking militia.”

  “Okay,” she says, smiling. “I’m going to try and save my reputation.”

  I kiss her lips. “I love you! Take your phone! And get your coat out of the car!”

  “I will! I love you too!” she says, spinning in the black dress and wide-brim hat. She shows me her phone in her hand. “I’ve got it. I think your name is Sal.”

  Dom chuckles, “She adores you.”

  “Why did you break away from Serene?”

  “Because when the limelight wasn’t shining on his incredibly brief racing career, I was one of Chris Smith’s best friends.”

  “Serene’s first husband?”

  “Yes,” he says. “And I caught her when he died, but she was never the same. She lost Delarte and Chris. It was much like I said, there wasn’t one definable moment when Serene and I fell apart—but we always both wanted the same thing—Iris and you to do better than the fathers before you. We were Amber and Cruz. We sacrificed playing in our generation—against the Delarte Cristos and Cesario Raniero’s of the world—to make yours more, so don’t blow it.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Are you going to the reception tonight?’

  “Not a chance in hell,” I scoff, rolling my eyes. “I’m taking Baby Mae and going home where I belong.”

  “Hell of a man.”

  104

  Deus Benefaction

  The Master

  “What is this white stuff?” Mae sneers, picking apart her sandwich. She tosses the thick slice of cheese onto the table. “Eww…”

  I giggle, and Amber says, �
��That is mozzarella, and you need to eat it because it is good for you.”

  “I don’t like it!” she squeals. “It’s yucky white stuff!”

  With a smile, Amber tries to reason with the determined youngster, and politely argues, “You haven’t even tried it. How do you know you don’t like it?”

  “I don’t eat white food.”

  Covering my mouth, I snort and lift my brows as Amber’s blue eyes widen at me.

  Picking up the cheese from the table, I rip it in half. I take a bite like a savage, but Mae has moved on, turning her nose up at the tomato. She gobbles down the basil like Iris consuming cake at midnight. I study her moves, profiling the four-year-old’s mental state.

  Hopping up from the table, I grab a few basil leaves, laying them carefully on the cheese, and roll it into a tube.

  “Mangia! Mae!”

  She furrows her tiny brows and shoves a chunk of ciabatta in her mouth, but I sneakily get her to take the basil from my hand, like we’re passing secret love notes in school. Cruz grins as she chomps down on it without even caring.

  “I hate you,” Amber whispers, and I laugh. “Any word from the vixen?”

  “Not yet,” I reply, checking the GPS on my phone. “She’s still at the airport.”

  “When are you going?”

  I check my watch—1:06 PM. “Nowala.”

  “We got this,” Amber says, waving at Mae as I walk into the kitchen. I shoot Cruz a look, but he is too busy putting black olives on Mae’s fingers to pay attention. “I told you,” she snickers. “He’s built-in Daddy material, and you’re not so bad yourself.”

  I kiss Amber, Cruz, and Mae. “Sally has got to go check on Auntie.”

  “Iris!”

  “Yes, baby,” I say, giving her another kiss as she wraps her chubby arms around my neck. “I’ll be back soon.”

  Sprinting to the bedroom, I change from my sweats into jeans with my back to the door. When I turn around, the three-footer is staring at me.

  She loudly declares, “Your butt is not white.”

  I need locks on all of the doors. ASAP.

  But I have to get used to closing them.

  “No,” I say, picking her up and setting her on the raised bed. “I’m Italian. My butt is usually olive-colored.”

  Unless it’s red.

  “Why is this bed in the air?” she asks as I grab my wallet and shirt. “I need a bed up in the air!”

  “We can talk about this when I know if you fall out of bed.”

  “I-do-not-fall-out-of-bed.” She annunciates every damn word like it’s gospel and I die laughing. “This is Auntie’s bed?”

  “Yes,” I say.

  “You sleep with her?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  I didn’t last night because I passed out on the sofa with Cruz after we smoked the blunt.

  Not my fault, he said I needed to calm the fuck down.

  Iris and I haven’t spent one night together in our marital bed that I insisted Cruz ship from Les Pétales along with the desk and a few other things.

  “What is that thing?” she asks, grabbing me with her gooey hands. I easily spin around for her inspection, knowing I cannot hide what I am.

  I will not lie to her—ever. If the truth hurts, I will hold her through it, but I will not start our relationship as a family with lies. I will be a better man.

  She stands on the bed, and I feel her tiny fingers tracing my brand.

  “That is my Lotus flower because I love your Auntie so much.”

  “Can I have one?”

  “You probably don’t want one, sweetheart,” I reply, pulling on a white t-shirt. Picking her up, I carry the rambunctious inquisitor downstairs. “It’s very painful.”

  “What about your colors?”

  I ask, “My colors?”

  “This black stuff.”

  “My ink?”

  “Yes, can I have that?”

  Amber’s freaked expression is worth its weight in gold—pure stuff, not plated. “Maybe, depends if you want to tell your story on your skin when you get older. Auntie has beautiful ink.”

  “Iris!”

  “Yes,” I laugh. “And I have to go fetch her ass.”

  “Bad word,” she scolds. “Butt.”

  I snicker and shake my head as I put my shoes on, and Mae puts her feet in Cruz’s sneakers. She stomps around. “Yes, I have to fetch her butt.”

  “Take my bike,” Cruz suggests, glancing over his shoulder as the rascal climbs into his lap. “Keys are hanging up.”

  I’m stunned by the offer, almost speechless. “... Are you sure?”

  “Yeah.”

  Grabbing the keys, I pat him on the back. “Thanks, bro.”

  “Text me if you need me.”

  Jumping off the porch, I make a vow to repair the wobbling boards next week. Someone is going to get hurt. I toss the helmet on the deck and fire up the bike.

  “Yo, sport! Slow down, hot shit!” Cruz yells, nudging the helmet and lighting a smoke. “Get this fucking thing on your pretty head, and then put this jacket on before you catch a cold.”

  “This is your RR jacket,” I whisper. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”

  “You belong to me. If we’re doing this, I’m giving it my all,” he contends as Mae runs out the door. He quickly dips down and hoists her up on his shoulders before she falls through one of the broken slats. “Be careful! I got this shit.”

  “That’s a bad word.”

  “Yeah, don’t say that,” he says, taking a drag. “It’s bad.” She mockingly smokes her finger cigarette as he gently pushes her arm down. “Yeah, don’t do that either.”

  We laugh.

  “God, this is going to be good!” I admit, smiling as Cruz has a look of, I told you so. “I love you guys!”

  “We love you!” Mae blows a kiss. “Go fetch Auntie’s butt!”

  Wow! That kiss blowing was a nice touch.

  “Yes, Ma’am!”

  I hate to leave, but I have to check on my wife. Slowly, I ride through the trickle of a creek to the road before I open her up and fly to my girl. She’s got a family who loves her waiting at home.

  And so do I.

  I’m at a stoplight in Sugargrove when I text Cruz. “We forgot one thing.”

  “What?”

  “If she’s finished, how the hell am I getting a pregnant girl home on a bike?”

  “Pick up the phone and call me, Sally.”

  His Butterfly

  “I never imagined things were going to happen the way they did in Brazil.”

  “Cesario will recover, or he won’t,” Sofu says, sipping his sake. “Either way, it isn’t your fault.”

  My phone lights up on the table. “Sal is outside.”

  “Always full of surprises,” he says. “Invite him up.”

  The captain lowers the steps, and I carefully walk to my husband, acting like a bad boy in ripped jeans and a leather jacket. I bite my lip, wondering if he is a bad boy. Is this what I signed up for? “Hello, you!”

  “Hello to you!” He takes me in his arms and claims me in his kiss as I feel the hard steel in the harness under the jacket. He will be carrying a gun for the rest of his life. Maybe he always has. “How is it going?”

  “Good, good,” I reply, smiling. “He has some concerns about my behavior.”

  He lifts a brow with a shift of his eyes and a slight nod. “I can understand the concern, but what you do behind closed doors is your business. It’s been over an hour.”

  “And I am perfectly fine.”

  “Is he going to give you Lotus?”

  “I doubt it,” I say, taking a breath. “Because he thinks I am not mature enough to handle it.”

  His jaw rocks. “Is he aware you own the ships?”

  “Yes, but he is in the process of securing a deal with the other Japanese families to purchase ships,” I inform. “He doesn’t need my ships to keep things running smoothly.”

  He peers down at me over
his nose before glaring back up. I see the gears spinning in his head and the agitation growing in his eyes. “How bad do you want Lotus?”

  I smile, start to form the words, and smile again. “There is you and the baby, my other family here, and Lotus.”

  “So bad…”

  “Yes, Sal,” I confess. “This is going to hurt like hell.”

  “I need to tell you something, Iris,” he tenderly whispers. “And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

  “Are you about to break my heart in a thousand pieces?”

  “I fucking hope not, Angel.”

  “Tell me, Lucas.”

  His tongue jets out over his lips. “I forced Dale Archer to relinquish custody of Mae-Mae.”

  I blink in astonishment. “That’s wonderful!”

  “And I am her new legal guardian.”

  Oh.

  Talk about the other stiletto dropping and stabbing me in the heart.

  The world seems to silence around me as my vision turns hazy. “You’re Mae’s Daddy…”

  “Yes,” he replies, grabbing onto me. “But it doesn’t change anything.”

  “It changes everything!” I scream. “And you know it does! Why didn’t you tell me at the hotel? Were you too busy getting your rocks off to say—‘Oh, by the way, I am her father.’—Was it that easy to play me? Do you not love me?”

  “I didn’t know,” he roars fuming. “I didn’t want to say anything to you because I didn’t know if Archer would go through with it. But he did, and Serene handed her off to me today.”

  “… Today? Handed her off? Is she a fucking baton? Is she already there? In my house?”

  He shakes his head. “Why are you being like this?”

  “Because there is now a child living in my home,” I point out, holding my belly. “You asked me if I wanted this with you, and I do. It took everything I had to forgive you for what happened.”

  “No, you haven’t,” he mutters, tilting his head. “You played me.”