Velvet Lullabies

The next minutes happened so quick. One second he was watching Adelina shake in her mini dress and the next he was diving over to her and pushing her down while bullets pierced through the glass windows.

“Stay down,” he whispered as he pulled her over toward the bar.

Around them was chaos, patrons were running and mafioso had guns out, firing back.

This was an attack.

Lucian placed Adelina behind the bar, out of the chaos. “Stay here, bella.”

Her face was worried, but there were no tears and her makeup was intact. She was strong.

Lucian peaked around the bar and spotted a red head in a black sweatshirt coming in with a gun. He pulled out his pistol, aimed, and fired. One shot, and he was down. He moved on the next target, another black clad man with an automatic. Down.

Across the club Gian was shooting with his own pistol. One by one the Irish men went down until they finally began to retreat.

“We’re clear.” One of the men in the club called out. Lucian was pretty sure it was the younger DelGado, Gio.

Patrons scurried out from under furniture, fleeing the scene. Lucian could already hear patrol sirens.

“Come on, bella.” He pulled Adelina up from behind the bar. “We got to go, sweetheart.”

He assessed her as he pulled her from her hiding spot behind the bar. Blood ran down her right leg over the top of her black stiletto. “What happened? He asked following the blood to the wound. There was a shard of glass stuck in her leg, not deep enough to kill her, but enough to make her bleed.

Anger fired up in Lucian. He wanted to kill the man who made Adelina bleed.

He swiftly lifted her into his arms to carry her out of the club.

“I’m fine. Gemma?” she croaked.

“I got her.” Gian said, appearing behind them. “Get out of here Luchese. No one wants to explain your presence.”

“Got it.” Lucian typed a quick text to Nico and carried Adelina out of the now destroyed club.

“Wait,” she tried to pull on his arm. “Lucian.”

He looked down into her gassy brown eyes. “I know you’re scared, but I need you to be strong and let me get you out of here, okay?”

She nodded silently and let Lucian carry her down the street away from the club where the Escalade was waiting.

“Let’s go.” He told Nico as soon as he had Adelina in the back seat.

Nico hit the gas immediately. “Brown?” he questioned.

“No,” Lucian said, an arm wrapped around a shaking Adelina. “Let’s go back to my suite.”

“You got it boss.”

???

Adelina was still shaking when they arrived at the penthouse suite and Lucian anger was boiling over. He carried her into the large ensuite bathroom and set her down on the counter. He ran water in the large soaking tub before returning to her to remove her shoes and tend to the cut on her leg. It wasn’t anything serious, but Lucian was still pissed about it.

Pissed that she was hurt on his watch.

Pissed at himself for letting that happen.

He was supposed to protect her. Keep her safe from all this violence, but how was he going to do that?

He let her down tonight. She didn’t deserve this. She should be safe and protected. She should probably be with a normal man, out of the family. Someone who had a boring job, who owned a boring house, someone no one would ever go after. She’d be safe then.