by Mia Knight
“Fucking Lucifer.” Lyla sounded annoyed.
“Lucifer? Oh my God, Lyla. Get away from him.”
“I’m trying.” Lyla sounded out of breath, and there was someone laughing maniacally in the background. “Asshole.”
Lyla just called Lucifer, the king of Hell, an asshole and didn’t sound remotely afraid. Did she not know who he was? “Lyla, he’s a sociopath. He runs Hell. You have to—”
“It’s fine.” Lyla sounded supremely unconcerned. “Are you okay? How’s Nora?”
Now that she knew Lyla was fine, she was fantastic. “You took ten years off my life, but I’m okay. Nora’s asleep. Are you coming home?”
“Yes.”
Carmen squeezed her eyes tight, unable to believe that God had spared her cousin. “Lyla, is it really over?”
“Yes.”
It was over. Vinny’s killer was gone, and Lyla and Gavin were alive. “I love you.”
“I love you too. I’ll see you soon.”
After they hung up, she clasped the phone to her chest and bowed her head. She took a long, deep breath as tears of gratitude and relief filled her eyes. It was over.
“Carmen?”
She blinked and brushed away a tear. “They’re alive!”
His mouth quirked. “Yeah, I got that. They’re all right?”
“Yes. I can’t believe it.”
She was lightheaded with relief. She swayed on her feet, and Marcus pulled her against him.
“Did I hear you say Vega?” he asked.
“Yeah. The nerdy brother. If I’d known, I would have killed him myself.”
“Vega,” he mused as he ran a hand down her back. “He tried to accomplish what his father never could … overthrow the Pyres. His family has the reputation and power to pull it off.”
“How do you know this shit?” Her words slurred as exhaustion took over.
Marcus scooped her up in his arms. “I’ll tell you another time.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“You need to rest.”
“I don’t want to leave Nora.”
“I’ll wait with her until they get back. You’re crashing. When’s the last time you slept?”
“I don’t know.”
“Ate?”
“I ate marshmallows an hour ago.”
He paused as he settled her in the guest bedroom. How did he know that this was the room she’d been staying in?
“Marshmallows?”
“Comfort food.”
He smiled as he tucked her into bed as gently as if she was a toddler. “Your idea of comfort food is marshmallows?”
“What other kind is there?”
He chuckled as he leaned down and kissed her. It was slow, gentle, drugging. When he lifted his head, his eyes were heavy lidded and glittering.
“Do you feel alive?” he asked.
“Yes.”
His thumb stroked her cheek. “I’m glad you’re all right.”
“Thank you,” she said with as much sincerity as she could muster.
“The pleasure was all mine.”
He kissed her again—a short, unsatisfying kiss—before he eased away.
“I still want to know why Gavin trusts you,” she mumbled.
“The same reason you trust me,” he said.
She fought sleep. “I don’t trust you.”
He chuckled. “Yes, you do.”
Marcus said something else, but she couldn’t make it out because she was crashing.
5
Carmen opened her eyes. She was flat on her back, covers pulled up to her chin, staring up at a shadowed ceiling. Her mind was a complete blank. She floated on a sea of nothingness and watched the play of sunlight dance across the ceiling as the sun rose.
Nature called. She stretched and suddenly became aware of the burning in her calves as if she went on a long-distance run. Simultaneously, her vagina throbbed, and her mind lurched into gear. Everything returned in a rush. Lyla was safe, the monster was dead, and she had been fucked by Marcus Fletcher. She threw back the covers and raced out of her room like a kid on Christmas morning.
She knocked on Lyla and Gavin’s suite. No answer. That didn’t stop her from opening the door. She peeked her head around the door and found Gavin lying in bed with a gun pointed at her. He lowered the gun as she tiptoed forward until she could see Lyla.
“She’s asleep,” Gavin rumbled.
Carmen hovered over Lyla who had Nora cradled close and listened to the sound of their synchronized breathing. She closed her eyes for a moment and said a silent prayer of thanks before she noticed Beau on his doggy bed. She gave him a pat before she rounded back to Gavin’s side of the bed.
“You okay?” she whispered.
He grunted as he messed around with his phone. He’d never been the best communicator.
“Is it really over?”
“Yeah,” Gavin said.
She gripped his arm. “You promise?” Lyla told her last night, but she needed to hear it again. She needed to hear it from him.
He looked up. The light from his phone illuminated a thin scratch on his cheek that hadn’t been there the night before. He wasn’t wearing his suit or brass knuckles now. He wore sweats and nothing else. His energy was quiet but still alert.
“He’s dead? You’re sure it was Vega?” she asked urgently.
“Yes.”
Her voice was a bit hoarse as she asked, “Did you make him suffer?”
He stared at her for a long moment. “As much as I could. Lucifer cut off his head.”
She wouldn’t have been opposed to chopping off every limb with a chainsaw but being beheaded was okay. She only wished she could have witnessed it herself. “Why did he do it?”
He looked down, and she realized she was digging her nails into his arm. She released him and fanned her face, which felt hot.
“Vega wanted to prove to his father that he could do what he or Rafael had never been able to do.”
Marcus was right. “He did all of this to prove a point?” It was unfathomable that someone would cause so much death and destruction to prove to his family that he wasn’t weak. She lost Vinny over a fucker who had daddy issues? Her fingernails dug into her palms.
“Psychos don’t need a reason to kill. They just do it.”
“Right.” She let out a breath and rolled her head on her shoulders. “But he’s dead?”
“Yes.”
She frowned. “Lucifer beheaded him? I thought they were working together.”
“I cut a deal with Lucifer, and he handed Vega over.”
“You cut a deal with the devil?”
He gave her a cold look. “I’ll handle it.”
Of course, he would. “It’s really over?”
“Yeah.”
No more combat training, running for their lives, or waiting for the next disaster. Vinny had been avenged and she … she could start anew.
She smacked his shoulder. “I’m glad you’re still breathing.”
He glared at her as she exited. It wasn’t until she closed the door behind her that she realized she still wore the oversized sweater from last night that rode high on her thighs and nothing else. She hightailed it to the nursery and searched for her leggings and thong but didn’t see them. Gavin would shit a brick if he found out she fucked in Nora’s nursery. She went back to her room and found her leggings folded on a chair with her thong tucked primly into the fold. Marcus. He was so fucking cute and never missed a thing.
She stripped and stepped into the shower, tilting her face up to the spray. Relief, joy, fear, and guilt tumbled inside her like clothes in a dryer. Tears slipped down her cheeks, but she didn’t dwell on them. Moving on wasn’t going to be easy, but she was fucking game.
She stepped out of the shower and surveyed herself in the mirror. There were dark shadows under her eyes, but they sparkled with zeal. She lost a piece of herself when Vinny died, but she’d been given a second chance, and she wasn’t going to wast
e it. She would do whatever was required to push through the pain. Last night, Marcus helped her begin a new chapter. He awakened her body, which pulsed with life. That was the way to end this hellish ordeal—with a bang. She couldn’t live in purgatory anymore, not when she had a taste of ecstasy.
Her body was covered in scratches from her run across the desert and her hair … She fingered the ink black strands. It was time for a change. Thanks to her workouts with Blade and Lyla’s private martial arts instructor, she was in better shape than she’d been in years. She could do more lunges, but overall, not bad. She reached for her makeup bag and erased all traces of the past. The result was a fresh face, bright eyes, and a cheery peach lipstick that hadn’t seen the light of day for years. The dark, heavy makeup she’d favored for the past two years slinked to the bottom of her bag. She completed today’s look with white skinny jeans and a matching long-sleeve crop top.
When she passed the nursery, she found Gavin yawning as he changed Nora. Beau danced excitedly around him.
“Let me take her,” Carmen said. “Get some sleep.”
It was a measure of how exhausted he was that he didn’t argue. She beamed at Nora who smiled back. She watched Gavin’s retreating back before she gave Nora a mock serious look.
“You didn’t see anything last night, did you?”
Nora flapped her arms.
“You’re learning a little earlier than I planned, but you’re going to take after me, so I guess it’s not that bad. Aunty Carmen and Uncle Marcus got a little carried away,” she whispered conspiratorially. “He was good. Better than good. He was fucking phenomenal if you want the truth.”
A cherry-colored dress with a tutu skirt caught her eyes. She held up the tiny dress and was dazzled by the cheery color. She dressed Nora in the lace dress and clapped her hands.
“Who’s the prettiest girl on the whole planet? That’s you, baby.” She picked up the grinning baby and put her on her hip. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
They made their way to the kitchen. She set Beau loose in the backyard and heated up a bottle. Her stomach yowled, so she stuffed a strawberry breakfast bar in her mouth as she fed Nora, who latched onto the bottle immediately.
Carmen finished her bar and looked around for something else to eat. She snatched a green apple from the basket on the table and stared at the shiny surface for a moment, mesmerized, before hunger won out and she bit. Taste burst on her tongue, and she hummed in delight. Nora stared up at her with wide eyes as she finished the apple in record time.
She tapped her feet restlessly as she waited for Nora to finish her bottle. The gray blur dashing around the backyard caught her attention. Beau, a normally staid pit bull was going nuts. He ran full out, barking madly. Somehow, he too sensed it was over.
The rising sun lit a different world today—one that was new and full of possibilities. For years, she didn’t recognize a new day as anything more than endless hours where she had to appear normal while her insides wept and bled. Vinny’s death sent her into a tailspin of grief-stricken madness and guilt. She could finally tell Vinny that he had finally been avenged.
After Nora finished breakfast, she took her outside for a breath of fresh air. It was a beautiful day without a cloud in sight. Rust colored mountains rose above the wall that enclosed the fortress. The temperature wasn’t hot or cold. It was just … perfect. Her heart felt lighter than it had been in years. She was full of energy. Thanks, Marcus, she thought and couldn’t hold back a satisfied smile. He definitely liked kink. Just thinking about his hand in her hair as she sucked him off or the way he forced her on her hands and knees was making her hot again.
“Your godfather is fine,” she told Nora as she swayed to the sultry beat playing in her head. She couldn’t stay still. “What do you think I should do about him, baby?”
She twirled and was rewarded with a delighted baby laugh. Beau’s warning growl made her turn. A man she didn’t know stood in the doorway that led into the house. Beau pressed against her side, and she gripped his collar as she took in the stranger. He was dressed casually in black jeans and tee with a worn leather jacket molded to broad shoulders.
The fact he was walking around unescorted was interesting. This guy would have been decorated with bullets if he wasn’t supposed to be here. The stranger started toward her. Beau tensed at her side, but at her firm, “No,” he sat on his haunches.
The sun highlighted the man’s rich chocolate brown hair styled in a fauxhawk and his deep-set blue eyes. He was dripping sex appeal, but she wasn’t fooled by his guileless smile. He had player written all over him.
“Please tell me you’re the nanny,” he said in a New York accent that made her insides clench.
Oh, hell yes. A smoking hot bad boy with a New York accent was an excellent way to jumpstart her day. “If I am?”
“Then, baby”—he paused for emphasis and looked her up and down—“you’re going to make one of my fantasies come true.”
She liked a man who had fantasies. “And if I’m not?”
“Then you can tell me one of yours, and I’ll make both our fantasies come true.”
She laughed. “I like that line. You don’t mind if I use it, do you?”
“Feel free.” His eyes switched to Nora, who eyed him curiously. “This is Gavin’s kid?”
“Yes. Who are you?”
“Angel.”
Carmen shook her head. “No.”
“No?”
“Your name can’t be Angel. It’s a stage name, right?”
“Stage name?”
“You have to be a model or actor.”
His eyes sparkled with humor. “I’ll keep that in mind in case I need a backup career.”
“Do you have a brother named Demon?”
He threw back his head and laughed. The sound was raspy and full of genuine mirth, which made him even more attractive.
“Roque has many nicknames. I think we’ll have to add that one to the bunch,” he said.
She froze. Roque wasn’t a common name. She glanced at the gold eagle pendant lying contentedly in the vee of his shirt. The eagle’s wings flared proudly on his chest, the symbol of ancient Rome. “You’re Angel Roman?”
“So you aren’t the nanny,” he surmised and shook his head. “Damn.”
“I’m Carmen.”
His eyes narrowed. “Carmen … Vinny’s wife?”
“Yes.” She’d never met the Romans of New York, but she’d heard stories. Angel looked too friendly to be part of the notorious clan.
“Vinny was a good man,” he said and inclined his head. “I’m sorry we didn’t make it to the funeral.”
She hadn’t expected the Romans to attend. Vinny wasn’t a blood relation to the Romans. Manny took him in after his parents died in a car accident. Vinny changed his name in his teens.
“What are you doing in Las Vegas?” she asked.
“I took Gavin’s place.”
She opened her mouth to ask as what, and then it hit her. “You’re the new crime lord?”
He nodded.
“That’s why Gavin went to New York,” she said thoughtfully. Lyla must be relieved.
“You were with Lyla at the safe house?” When she nodded, he cocked his head to the side. “You look pretty happy for someone who was nearly gunned down two days ago.”
“Vega’s dead. That’s all I care about.”
Nora reached for him. He responded by moving closer, but he paused when Beau barked. She gave Beau a sharp command, and he quieted. Angel took Nora, but he stiffened when he rested the baby against his chest.
“What is it?” she asked.
He gritted his teeth and handed Nora back. “I got a scratch last night.”
She put Nora on her hip. “A scratch?” His collar shifted, showing the edge of a bandage. “What happened to you?”
He gave her a piercing look. “I was with Gavin last night.”
“In Hell?” She tugged on his shirt so she could see down th
e front.
“If you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask.”
She got a whiff of his cologne. It wasn’t classy sin, but it was just as musky and seductive. His scent made her hand clutch the soft material of his warm shirt. Oh, shit. Had Marcus’s initiation awakened her sex beast and now she would get hot for anything with a dick and pretty face?
“That’s not a scratch.” She forced herself to concentrate on the two huge gauze pads on his chest and not the color of his nipples. “What happened?”
“It’s a whiplash. I’ll be fine in a couple of days.”
She looked up and was captured by hypnotic pale blue eyes mere inches from hers.
“About that fantasy …” he drawled.
Nora let out a shrill scream, breaking the sexual tension. Carmen stepped back as Gavin approached. She took the time to bitch slap herself mentally. This was Angel freaking Roman. Beneath those stunning good looks was a man trained to be heartless and cruel, and besides, he was the new crime lord. He definitely wasn’t a man she should be fooling around with.
Nora bounced excitedly as Gavin took her. Carmen slid sweaty palms over her jeans and focused on Gavin instead of his cousin.
“Lyla?” she asked.
“In the shower.”
Nora pounded Gavin’s chest and chattered as her father pressed a kiss to her temple. Both of Nora’s parents were alive and well today. All was right in the world. She scanned Gavin, who still hadn’t bothered to put on a shirt. In broad daylight, she could see that his knuckles were swollen, bruised, and full of nicks.
“Did you get hurt too?” She circled him and stopped dead when she saw the lash on his back. “What the fuck, Gavin!”
“What?”
The lash on his back was the length of her forearm and encrusted with dried blood. The skin around the wound was inflamed and must hurt like a bitch. “I hope you killed whoever did this.”
“Of course,” Gavin said.
“I think I got him with my trident” Angel said.
“No, I think I hacked his arm off with my sword,” Gavin countered.
Whips, tridents, swords? Only in Hell.