Chapter 27- Lucien
The pinks and purples of the flowers I held in my hands almost seemed to glow. I stared at them long and hard before I lay them down near the base of my mother’s headstone. It was a towering angel, marked with her name, date of birth, and date of death. We’d had to wait weeks for it to be finished and placed here. The best Italian marble had been imported and carved by a local artist. I could see each perfect groove with fine detail. The flowers cast a color shadow up against the white and I stared long and hard. I’d had her buried by my uncle, her brother in law. They had hated each other but there had been mutual respect.
Looking around the cemetery, I noticed a few people moving around but they were too far away to hear anything I had to say.
“How do I tell her mama?” I asked quietly.
Naturally, my mother said nothing.
I could hear a child shouting and running along nearby while a parent gave chase.
Taking a deep breath, a shudder went through me.
“She’s the daughter of the enemy, mama. I’ve tried to deny it for so long but she is. Her father took everything from us…took away Papa.”
Scrubbing a hand over my face, I wondered why in the hell I was saying this all out loud. I should have told Simone long before now.
Her father had killed my father and then ran. He had been ousted from the crumbling Bratva that my father had run and then fled to America. After years of trying to track him down, I finally had. The only thing that I hadn’t counted on…was Simone.
I’d known about his piece of shit son. The one with a gambling problem. That had been my plan at first.
To lure that fucking idiot in, let him run up his tab, and then I was going to put a bullet between his eyes.
Then she had come out of left field.
Even now, just the thought of Simone and her skin, inked with intricate patterns I could spend years worshipping and discovering…she made my palms sweat and my heart flutter.
My heart was not a thing that had ever fluttered in my entire existence.
Women had never been more than what I allowed them to be.
I fucked women and then I tossed them to the side.
Simone was living with me. She was a goddess that let me worship at her temple while I took her over and over again on the brand new crème colored satin sheets my fucking housekeeper had talked me into.
Simone scared the shit out of me.
The need to kill her father was still there like an itch I need to scratch badly. And yet, there was no way I could kill that man knowing that she shared his DNA.
Then there was Albie, still a fucking pest.
He had been the one supplying the drugs in my club. He was the reason the police had started to sniff. He was the reason my own brother had overdosed.
Could I let those infractions pass, because of Simone? Albie was a damn fungus on Simone’s life and everyone knew it.
“Son of a bitch!” I growled and stormed away.
I needed to tell her.
To tell her about all of it.
