I glanced over my shoulder.
"I look forward to your face being the last thing I see when it's my time." Lucian grinned. "Because I can promise it'll be mine, you see, when your time comes."
"It'll be my pleasure," I replied and left.
I slid behind the wheel, pulled the door shut, and leaned my head back. Lucian's speech landed heavily because most of what he said was true. He forced my hand, pushing me to take broken boys like me and turn them into men who'd follow without question.
When you pull a man from the grave, you don't just save his life, you inherit it.
The brotherhood Wolfe, Crown, and I built was birthed from lies but built on trust, bloodshed, and trauma. Every connection was a piece of Lucian's design. I'd been walking the path he laid, blind to it and thinking I was one step closer to being free.
Anger flickered at the edges of my smirk. Lucian had underestimated one thing. I fucking knew now. I saw the manipulation, the calculations, and the way he anticipated every move before it was made. I'd been his pawn, convinced I was a king. My fists tightened as everything settled in. Lucian thought he'd planted control, but the roots that drank from old wounds and unfinished grief weren't meant to bind… they were always meant to strangle.
My phone vibrated on the dash. I glanced down at the time, then at the name lighting up the screen.
Navy
Come home.
Now.
Me
You good?
I swiped out the thread and called her. The voicemail sounded again and again.
I went back to our messages.
Me
Omw. But let me know you're good.
Navy
I'm fine just come home. I need you.
"Fuck," I groaned.
I unblocked Choyce, then rang her phone, but all I got was the voicemail.
"Aye, something came up," I said after the beep. "I'll hit you later for us to meet."
I ended the call, tossed my phone onto the passenger seat, and pulled off, blurring the city as I raced home.
Navy Achebe
Wine in a glass,cuddled in my hand, slipped down my throat like punishment, meant to dull the ache in my heart and seal the cracks of my broken soul, but it didn't. It magnified them. It turned every splinter sharp, and every break louder. Still, I continued to drink, swallow after swallow, pour after pour, hoping by the time the love of my life walks through those doors, I'll be numb enough not to feel him.
"Are you gonna be okay by yourself?" Honey asked.
We'd been sitting in this living room for over three hours, not talking and barely breathing, with just wine.
I sipped.
She poured.
"You could've left if you have somewhere else to be."
