He lands a punch that splits my lip. I catch him in the ribs, probably cracking one.
Neither of us cares.
It’s not about hurting each other. It’s about bleeding enough to get the poison out.
“Time’s up,” Gideon announces.
We both stop, breaking apart. We’re both bleeding, both breathing hard. My jaw aches. His nose might be broken—it’s bent slightly wrong, and dripping blood down onto his mouth.
Logan wipes the blood from his face with the back of his hand, and snorts a rough laugh. “Feel better?” he rasps.
“Fuck you,” I mutter, but it comes out half a laugh, too.
“Now get the fuck out of my office,” Gideon commands.
We do.
We clean up the best we can in my office, then we go to the rooftop. We sit on a frozen ledge like idiots. The icy air bites at our skin, and steam rises off our battered bodies.
Logan hands me a flask of booze. I drink. The whiskey burns down my throat like absolution.
He drinks.
I don’t apologize. I don’t need to. Some things between brothers are said with fists, not words.
“I love her. I think I’ve always loved her. Even before I knew her.”
“Fuck, that’s deep.” His voice is muffled because he’s got a tampon up his nose; we got it from a bathroom.
“She deserves better.”
“Maybe.” Logan tentatively touches the back of his head, where he probably has a knot from when I slammed him into thewall. “Butshe doesn’t wantbetter. She wants you. The man she loves. The man who loves her.”
I stare at the skyline, throat raw.
“I’m not one of the good guys.”
“None of us are,” he mutters. “But if you don’t try, then you’re just a dickhead with good cheekbones.”
I laugh at that and then wince because my split lip hurts.
Logan claps a hand on my shoulder—hard, a brother’s support in the form of bruises. “Get your head out of your ass, Lucian, and go get your woman.”
“I can’t,” I whisper.
Logan sighs. “I know.”
19
SAFE & AFRAID
CALISTA
Remo Morello is dead.
No headlines. No public spectacle. Just a whispered phone call from Italy.
“Heart failure, internal bleeding…no one knows for sure. Calistina, now you’re free to live the way you want.”
