“When it came to Lemon’s mother, I never gave up. I loved her with all my heart. I’d never believed in love. In our world, it doesn’t exist. Fighting and fucking, that’s what makes our worlds thrive. Yet, handed to me was a little piece of heaven. My heaven. What I’m saying to you, Evans, is simple. Lemon’s a keeper. She deserves a man who will fight for her. Who won’t back down from a fight no matter what. Do you love my daughter?”
Nate clenched his hands into fists. “I love her more than anything in the world. I’m not going to let her go, Rocco. I’m going to fight for her.”
“Good. Then you won’t have a problem cleaning this mess up while I take care of my daughter, will you?”
He didn’t wait for a response. Turning on his heel, he left Nate with a dead man in Lemon’s bedroom.
Getting to his feet, he rushed toward the window and looked out. The car had blacked out windows. He couldn’t make her out, but damn it, he wanted to see her again.
Nate ran fingers through his hair.
Rocco got in the passenger side of the car, and it pulled away from the curb, taking him and Lemon away from him.
A large cleanup van drove down the long road, parking up outside the houses, and six men climbed out. The cleaning crew were here.
Nate left the bedroom, heading to the crew. For the next three hours, he helped clean up the mess that had been left behind.
All of the marks were O’Leaves soldiers. He had no doubt Rocco already had a plan for retaliation, but with this kind of force, Lemon’s home was no longer secured.
With the walls covered, and both houses looking pristine once again, he knew it wouldn’t be long before they were put back up on the market.
Nate packed a bag, collecting everything he needed, and then went out to his car.
He was in love with Lemon Bosworth, and regardless of her father being Rocco, he wasn’t going to allow her to be taken from him.
He’d fight for her.
After throwing his bags into the back of his car, he climbed in the driver’s seat and took off. He’d worked for Rocco most of his life, and he knew there were only a few locations he’d take her.
She wouldn’t go back to his home, that would be too risky, which left one of the ten safe houses Rocco owned. Seeing as there was one about a forty-minute drive from her home, he was going to take it.
Putting his foot down on the gas, he was thankful there were no cops on the road to stop him.
The ambush tonight had taken him by surprise, and he didn’t like that. No one ever got the best of him, but he’d been so focused on Lemon, he hadn’t taken the time to consider their surroundings, and it pissed him off.
He fucked up big time.
That wasn’t going to happen again.
Gritting his teeth, he glanced at the time. It was late, but he had to see Lemon. He had to tell her how he felt. No matter how stupid it sounded. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.
This was all messed up. Lemon wasn’t supposed to find out this way, if at all. He’d put plans into place to build this life with her, away from Rocco.
As he drove toward his woman, intent on claiming her, Nate couldn’t help but think back to the houses.
Was it true?
Did the houses bring couples together?
Soulmates?
It all seemed a little too farfetched to him, but now, as he broke the speed limit in an attempt to get to his woman, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was an element of truth in it. There had to be. Right? He’d done his research, and all the previous couples were still together and happily in love, so that had to account for something.
He rubbed at his temple.
Everything was so fucked up, he was starting to see shit in nothing.
Nate didn’t believe in the cursed houses. That was all fairy tales and crap that the locals had cooked up.
With his foot pressed to the gas, he stopped thinking about the houses, and instead focused on the woman he loved.
He had to get to her.
Nate couldn’t help but hope she was pregnant. It would make his life so much easier if she was. She wouldn’t have a reason to leave him, or at least she’d have a reason to keep him in her life.
He intended to be there for his kid, no matter what.
Forty minutes later, Nate pulled up into the safe house location. It wasn’t obscured. Rocco believed there was a great benefit in hiding in plain sight, so this house was a terrace, and had nothing about it that stood out.