by CR Robertson
“Secret date?” Xavier winked at me. “I’ll not tell a soul.”
The waiter arrived with the bottle of wine and poured our drinks.
“A lady never tells, Xavier. You know that.” I took a sip and smiled at the waiter to tell him the wine was fine.
Jordan laughed. “A beau in every city? You’re just right, Lucy!”
Papa scowled and slammed his glass down, his glare burning into the side of my head as I continued to study the menu.
I turned wide eyes to Papa. “Are you having a starter?” Watching Sofia had taught me how to control Papa and his tantrums. There was little point defying him as Catarina tended to do. There was more than one way to get what you wanted in life, and playing dumb was one of them.
“Don’t you normally prefer dessert?” he grated out in reply.
“Yes, but I’ve already decided what I’m having.” I gave him my best innocent smile. “Are we ready to order?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Ash watching me. He was studying me with that intensity that made my panties a little too tight. I was the same plain girl I had always been that he’d ignored in the past.
Papa waved the waiter over and we gave our order. I reluctantly let him take the menu away as it had given me something to look at to avoid conversation around the table.
“Uncle Lucas says you’re interested in fashion,” Xavier said to Catarina.
Her laugh trickled over the group and a guy passing our table nearly fell over his feet because he was looking at her. “You know me, Zee. I had contemplated opening my own store in Milan, but Papa thinks I’m too fickle to be a businesswoman.” She pouted and took a sip of her wine.
Xavier’s eyebrow arched up at her comment. Catarina’s biggest commitment was to her shoe collection. He moved his attention to me. “And what about you? Any burning plans for the future?”
The store we had been in today had been pleading with me for a while to design a precious gems line which incorporated diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. The outlay would be huge, but the potential results would create a name for me in the design world. I was going to view stones this afternoon.
“I’m considering my options.” It was true but also could mean a lot of different things.
“Didn’t you used to enjoy drawing?” Ash asked. “I remember you sketching tribal designs.”
My smile froze on my face. No one ever noticed what I’d been drawing, assuming it was the flowers in the garden in Tuscany. “I still sketch,” I replied in a low tone, my mouth drying out. “It helps me to relax.”
His head canted slightly to the side and I couldn’t look away for a moment. When the starters arrived for the guys, a tap drew my attention to the man beside me—Francis. He indicated I follow him.
“They’ve moved your meeting until tomorrow morning as they have another potential buyer,” Francis said. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. His gaze moved to the table. “I know you want to do this by yourself, but maybe you should consider asking one of those guys for help. You’re a woman who’s new in this world. Not many people refuse your cousin or his friends.”
“I can’t complete this collection without quality stones,” I whispered. “Right now, I’m running out of options unless I can find a reasonable supplier.”
The name Lucas Black opened doors, but no one knew who Lucrezia Black was.
“Think about it,” Francis coaxed. “Everyone needs help every so often. There’s no shame in asking family for help when you’ve already done so much on your own.”
“Thanks.” I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. Friends were hard to find when you lived in a tower far from the reaches of the world.
Catarina watched me the entire way back to our table. “Problem?”
“Nope.” I shook my head and gave her a smile.
Laughter and chatter surrounded the table, but I sat in quiet contemplation, only speaking when someone addressed me directly. Papa moved through the restaurant to the toilet, Catarina already there when I finally made up my mind.
“Are you free tomorrow morning, Xavier?”
“Depends,” he joked, grinning. “If you’re gonna paint my nails like you did when you were little, I’m not.”
“I need to borrow your masculinity.”
Jordan nearly choked on his drink and Ash’s eyes widened.
Xavier’s focus sharpened as he became the man that other businessmen feared. “Problem?”
“Just a small one and I could really do with some help.” I held my finger and thumb together to illustrate my point.
“Something Uncle Lucas doesn’t know about?”
“Papa tends to overreact.”
“I’ll pop around later and we can discuss it,” Xavier said. “Since restaurants have eyes and ears.”
Maybe Francis was right. Xavier was the big brother I never had. He’d pulled my pigtails and taught me to swim. Perhaps I didn’t have to face this meeting alone. What was the point of being a Black and not using all the advantages it entailed? I tried not to see the expression on Ash’s face. This had been the only opportunity to speak to Xavier without Papa interfering.
***
Chapter Four
Ash
I’d barely seen Lucrezia for a few years. The girl had turned into a ghost, disappearing when we arrived and hiding in the garden or her room. The woman who walked toward us in the restaurant was entirely different, her shy confidence making heads turn and men to stare. Catarina had always been the sexual sister, but Lucrezia had transformed into a rare beauty when I hadn’t been looking.
Years ago, Jordan used to joke that she had a crush on me, but I doubted it. She was just a shy kid who blushed when anyone spoke to her. It was the curse of an all-girls boarding school and a tyrant of a father who didn’t let anyone near his daughters.
She tended to keep her head down and eyes lowered the way we trained all the subs to act in the Twilight Rooms. She naturally took that pose and there wasn’t a heterosexual man in this restaurant who didn’t notice that shit. It evoked the inner caveman in us.
Lucrezia gnawed her bottom lip when no one was looking, her face pale after her security detail spoke to her earlier. Something had happened and she looked scared and vulnerable. I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but it wasn’t my place. And why the fuck had no one else noticed her demeanour?
Her huge, brown eyes watched Lucas stalk through the restaurant. She turned her attention to Xavier. “Are you free tomorrow morning, Xavier?”
“Depends.” He laughed. “If you’re gonna paint my nails like you did when you were little I’m not.”
“I need to borrow your masculinity.”
What the fucking hell? Had someone threatened her?
“Problem?” Xavier asked in the tone that made most of our business acquaintances stop and rethink what they’d just said.
“Just a small one and I could really do with some help.” Her bottom lip quivered and her teeth bit down to stop it.
She had the undivided attention of all three of us. “Something Uncle Lucas doesn’t know about?”
“Papa tends to overreact.”
“I’ll pop around later and we can discuss it,” Xavier said. “Since restaurants have eyes and ears.”
She nodded and dropped her head again. Jordan glared at me with murder in his eyes. Those three girls were his family and he didn’t take threats to them lightly. I knew that he would insist on going with Xavier later. If he was going, then so was I. There was something about Lucrezia that activated a long dormant possessive gene that screamed I wanted to protect her.
Something had spooked her and put shadows in her eyes. Her smile fixed in place when Catarina arrived. Did no one else notice that it was fake and never reached her eyes? It was the type of smile that Mum wore for functions and gatherings. A professional one that was reserved for a performance.
“What do you think is wrong with Lucrezia?” I asked when we were back at ou
r office. It was a front for our organisation, a place where Jordan kept all his surveillance equipment far from prying eyes.
“No idea.” Xavier trailed his fingers through his hair. “But I want to punch whatever the fuck it is.”
“Did you see how scared she looked?” Jordan asked as he loosened his tie. “Whatever Francis said made her even quieter than normal.”
“What time are you heading over?” I couldn’t explain it, but I had every intention of being there tonight to find out what was wrong with Lucrezia.
“She asked for my help,” Xavier pointed out like a prick.
“Funny how she’s getting the three of us for the price of one,” Jordan challenged him. He’s always been overprotective of the sisters since he adopted them when we were younger. Some people thought Lucas Black would be the biggest hurdle they had to cross on their route to one of those girls, I would take bets that Jordan would be an awkward fucker to anyone who tried to get anywhere near them.
Xavier eyeballed Jordan, who refused to back down.
“Can we all put our dicks away?” I groaned. “You all know mine is biggest.”
Jordan bounced his eyebrows suggestively. “You been looking again?”
“Fuck off!”
“We’re going. That’s the end of it,” Jordan said before slumping into a chair at the desk he tended to use, opening the bottom drawer to pull out an open bottle of scotch. The next drawer up had glasses in it.
The amber liquid burned going down my throat and I closed my eyes to savour the exquisite pain. Today had shaken me and I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on. In my head, Lucrezia was still a cute kid with piggy tails and braces. The woman who strolled into that restaurant today did not fall into that category. She walked with the elegance of a model and held herself with the grace of a debutant.
“We have a security leak in the Council,” Jordan said, pouring himself another drink. “I have protocols activated to catch the rat, but I have a bad feeling about what they’re searching for.”
“Have you closed all the loopholes?” Xavier asked.
“Yeah, but it has to be someone with reasonable high-level access. I caught some chat among law authorities and it sent me rummaging through archives. The information could only have come from someone in the Council network.”
I downed the last of my drink. “Dad will kill whoever it is. The one thing he hates is a tout,” I replied. “He would have me assassinated if he thought it would benefit him or I dishonoured the family name.”
Xavier held his glass out for a refill. “That’s because Matteus has four sons. Dad only has me, so all his hopes and dreams rest on my shoulders, along with all his despair and disbelief.”
Jordan bit out a bitter laugh. “I am the sole heir to my grandfather’s throne of blood and bones. He doesn’t accept failure in any form.” He held his glass up in a silent salute. “God bless our ancestors.”
“I need a trip to the Midnight rooms to help me relax.” Xavier stretched. “The builders have already finished the top floor of Midnight Manor and they’ve scheduled a site visit for us next week.”
Normally I would be up for a trip to the Midnight rooms. A mindless fuck could help to clear your thoughts. The unfortunate problem was that my thoughts were firmly fixated on Lucrezia today.
“I need a trip to our range to get rid of my tension,” I muttered.
“Fuck yeah,” Jordan agreed.
A few years ago, Jordan had created a training area for us that incorporated a firing range. He built a laser quest area where we could shoot the crap out of targets with his specially designed guns like our very own game that we walked into. Right now, the idea of having sex with a stranger didn’t pique my interest. After seeing the fear in Lucrezia’s eyes earlier, killing unknown enemies suited my mood.
Dressed in black combat trousers and a long-sleeved black T-shirt, I strapped on the fake ballistics vest that registered our actions in the game. Night vision goggles sat on top of my head, and adrenalin pumped through my veins.
I understood the rhythm of a fight, the need to survive that pushed you onward. Dad had taught me that from an early age. He’d beaten it into me until the day I had become taller and stronger than him and broke his leg. After that, he left it to his hired army to beat it into me, while he stood and watched. The day I reappeared from an Easter break home with black eyes and bruises to every part of my body, Jordan made us train every day until my next visit home. They had to put five in the ring with me to try and overpower me.
That was the day Dad stopped watching.
“Ready?” Xavier activated his gun and put it in the back of his belt.
There were no fake-looking weapons down here, it was devised as training tools for the guards Jordan hired for the Council.
I pushed the comms device in my ear. “Yep.”
Jordan wandered into the staging area with that feral grin that said he was being an asshole. “I got my computer geeks to add a few surprises into the system for us.”
Xavier and I threw each other a worried look. This wasn’t going to end well for us. I creaked my neck from side to side to loosen up my body. If that asshole was grinning like that, I was about to get my ass kicked.
The lights went out and the only visibility was infrequent red emergency lights that added an eerie glow to everything. I snapped my goggles in place and readied myself. Normally, holograms of enemies appeared when we least expected them. This time, soldiers jumped out at us and tackled us to the ground with brutal force.
I lost myself in the ebb and flow of battle. Soldiers leapt out at us to engage us in arm-to-arm combat, snipers firing at us in this elaborate building Jordan had converted into a war zone. It was exactly what I needed.
I grunted at a kick to my kidneys, but flipped around to land a blow on my assailant, forcing them back as my leg swept their feet from under them. My laser gun fired several shots to their forehead before I moved on.
The darkness was where I thrived and became the man who evolved from all the punishments and beatings. Every time Dad put me in that cellar with no lights, it allowed my other senses to develop. He created a creature of darkness who hated him and everything he stood for. I followed the path laid out for me, but I twisted it every opportunity I got. He wanted me to study finance, so I did. Only now I was able to tiptoe into his accounts and create mischief without him even knowing I was there.
My knuckle grazed the chin of another soldier who tried to capture me. He stumbled back and my foot connected with his chest. In the real world, I would have snapped his neck.
Dad gave Mum a monthly allowance that made my blood boil. It was just enough to maintain her image but never enough to allow her any form of independence. In defiance, I had laundered money for a new house through his accounts. It was fully fitted with everything she could ever want. She no longer had to live under his roof in London. Courtesy of Dad, she had a shiny new account with enough money so she would always be comfortable without him. All it had taken was a subtle moving and selling of shares with the profits drained into a new “project.”
My chest slammed against a wall when I lost concentration for a split second. An arm wrapped around my neck to try and make me submit. I learnt long ago that I submitted to no one. I stamped on my assailant’s foot and suddenly dropped my weight to break his hold. I spun on my knees and came up behind him, reversing positions, so my arm was around his neck.
I grabbed my laser gun with my other hand and fired several rounds into the side of his head. His body armour flared red to indicate he was dead in the game. In my mind, I visualised every one of these men putting that scared expression into Lucrezia’s eyes. The problem was that I couldn’t figure out why that bothered me so much.
When I finally reached the end, Jordan was already there, Xavier reaching us a few minutes after that.
“Fucking hell, Jay,” Xavier said, sliding down the wall to sit on his ass. “We had a big lunch, you could have gone easy on
us.”
“Our enemies wouldn’t account for our lunch schedule.” Jordan grinned like the psychopath he was.
Sweat beaded on my brow and pooled at the bottom of my spine. My pulse still pounded in my ears as I put the pistol into a docking booth. “I fucking hate that we need to have these skills,” I muttered.
“I agree,” Xavier said in a low tone. “But no one is coming after anyone I care for. If the fuckers on the Council thought we were weak, you can guarantee Jay and I would be on their hit-list to take our places on the inner Council.”
They were only children with no heirs. I had three brothers to take my place, so I was expendable.
Jordan’s phone pinged and he swiped the screen, his eyebrows lifting. “Lucas has a business meeting tonight and Catarina is meeting some friends from school for one of their birthdays.”
“Looks like Lucrezia is all by herself tonight,” I said, clarifying his thoughts.
“What the fuck has the baby of my family gotten herself into?” Xavier groaned. “I thought it would be Sofia since she was at university and gaining a little independence. I fully expected Uncle Lucas to have put a hit on some poor, unsuspecting student who had taken too much of an interest in her.”
I laughed at the image of a student sniffing around one of Lucas’ daughters. Any man would have to be incredibly brave or have aspirations of being a eunuch to consider taking his dick anywhere near one of those girls. My dick had definitely taken interest earlier and he was a rebellious little fucker who tended to lead me into trouble.
“Sofia’s security detail Mario has her locked down every night by ten o’clock. He’s very strict about where she can go and has all her known associates vetted,” Jordan informed us.
“Sounds very clinical,” I replied. “What’s his background?”
Jordan turned to me. “You think there’s a problem?”
I shrugged. “He’s male in a university filled with drunk and willing students all ready to experiment, and he has Sofia in bed every night by ten. Are they in a relationship?”