Shackled Hearts (Chained Hearts Duet 4)

“Why?”

Piper pushes past me and heads toward the door, and I follow her. “Because Lucas Rossi should be feared by all.” She accentuates the word then pulls open the door.

Goddammit! Lucas is standing with Merci in his arms and Brody next to him, and my emotions run riot as I stare at him. I hate that his presence gives me comfort, but also bubbling away at the surface is hatred and fear. How can one person provoke such emotions all at once?

Lucas’s eyes latch onto mine as he holds my glare. I look away first, my gaze falling to a passed-out Merci in his arms when I say with a little panic in my voice, “What’s wrong with her?”

“The doctor gave her something to help her sleep,” Brody replies, walking in and wrapping his arms around me. I let him, even though it hurts.

Sailor’s there to show Lucas where to put Merci.

“You shot Malik. Keir and Lucas have been yelling at each other ever since,” Brody whispers to me.

“He deserved it.”

“I wish I’d done it,” he says, then looks up the stairs after Lucas.

“You can go with her. I’m fine.”

“Even with him?” He nods up the stairs.

“Yes. I’ll be okay.”

“Ha,” Piper says, listening into our conversation. “Come on, kid, since she doesn’t want me to kick his grubby ass out, let’s go and get you cleaned up instead. Now, are you opposed to me sitting on the toilet while you shower?”

Brody glances back at me with drawn brows for help, but I look back to the stairs where Lucas has reappeared.

It feels as if everything goes quiet, and it’s just the two of us left in the space.

How is that possible?

Lucas takes the steps one at a time, ever so slowly, until he reaches the bottom, his eyes never leaving mine once.

What will he say?

What can he say?

Nothing will change the fact of what happened. I had thought I could see something between us, then it was torn away by a vicious lie.

The Viper.

He strikes.

And he did just that with me.

Collected me for his father, then handed me to him as if I were nothing.

I should have known better.

A normal person would have run.

Maybe that’s the issue? I’m not normal.

I wait, but Lucas says nothing. He simply stands there staring at me. I can see him clenching his jaw, and a vein is popping in his neck.

Does he want to kill me for what I did? Well, he can damn well try, but I know his shit of a father deserved it. Actually, he deserved so much more than a single bullet wound to the skull.

“Chanel.” I turn to Keir’s voice as he walks in the house and stands between us but enough that I can still see Lucas watching me. “The doctor is here to check you over.” I didn’t even notice the person behind Keir.