“No.”
He doesn’t need to say it because I know. But I ask anyway. “Who?”
“Vittoria.”
“Of course it was her.”
“Accidents happen,” he says. “People die by mistake all the time.”
“You make Kayla sound like she was a piece of trash, something unimportant, something to throw away. She was more than that,” I snap but my anger is going from raging inferno to deflated balloon very fast. I frown. “So much more.”
“Monty…I’m sorry?—”
“Save it.” I can’t take any more lies from him. I suck in a breath and slide down in my seat. My gaze drifts out the window, where the city blurs in black and white. How am I supposed to spend forever with Lucian if I can’t trust a word that comes out of his mouth?
Time ticks on in silence. I think it’ll last the entire ride until Lucian clears his throat and leans forward. “Don’t you want to know where we’re going?”
“You’ll probably just lie to me about it, so no.”
His eyes narrow. “Monty, please. I didn’t tell you right away because I knew it would break your heart. I was going to tell you eventually, just when you were more…stable.”
“I’m fine,” I bite out. “Don’t insult me. You should’ve told me.”
“You’re telling me you wouldn’t try to kill Vittoria?”
“I never said Iwouldn’tdo that,” I say. “I’m still considering it.”
I don’t know if he believes me and right now I don’t care. Vittoria’s lucky she isn’t on this little excursion with us or I would rip out all of her pretty red hair.
Another bout of quiet stretches between us.
And then, “We’re going to a meeting, a dinner,” Lucian says. “To see what the Rogues’ agenda is.”
Maybe that was his plan all along, but my curiosity surpasses my anger. At least for now. “Rogues?”
“A group of young vampires who want to live with humans. Not feed from them.”
“Not drink from humans?” I ask. “What do they eat?”
“Animal blood.”
I scoff in disgust. “Vegan vampires.”
A smile flickers across his face. “You could say that.”
“Are these Rogues a threat?”
“Not yet,” he says. “But Santiago claims they are making moves to challenge me, take VMR out. That’s why he visited. To warn me.”
“Santiago.”
“Yes.” He sighs. “I know from experience that I can never take him at his word, so I’m meeting with Raleigh to find out the truth for myself.”
“I guess you two share that trait,” I mutter. “Brothers in blood and brothers in omission.”
“He’s not my brother,” Lucian growls.
“Right.” I look back out the window. “You brought me out tonight for, what? To distract me from what that bitch did? Or is it because you don’t trust me to be alone?”
