Chapter Twenty-Two : Curse with Kindness
Dimitri
When Henkel called to tell me that Corinne was standing off against that Voodoo bitch on our lawn, my vision had pulsed red, tinting everything in hues of orange. And I couldn’t stop the panic that clawed at my neck, clamping down on my windpipe - panic I hadn't felt in years - had not allowed myself to feel.
Letting Corinne get this close to me was a dangerous gamble because even if she didn’t mean to, she could inadvertently cripple me. But no matter how many ways I examined this, I couldn’t let her go.
As the car rumbled to a halt, I watched as Henkel and Nika escort the Voodoo woman down the street - away from the house and Corinne. She was a spitting, kicking, shrieking mess, and I wanted her as far away from what was mine as possible.
By the time I entered the house, Corinne, Marie, and Brenna were all seated at the kitchen counter, sipping wine as they discussed their plan of action. And even in the midst of her battle strategy, her gaze met mine, causing my body to vibrate with rage when I thought of any harm falling upon her.
“Hey.” She breathed, completely ignoring her fellow Witches.
The two of them continued the discussion without Corinne, but if she was annoyed by their actions, she did not show it in the slightest.
“Did they come to retaliate?”
She chewed her bottom lip as if she wasn’t quite certain how to answer that question, and fuck if that action did not fill my mind with a slew of other things I wanted from her. A vision of her on her knees before me sprung into my mind from earlier today, and it was exactly the type of thought that was wholly unhelpful in this circumstance.
“More like she came to beg me to undo everything.”
I held my tongue, allowing her to speak - to tell me everything, even if we were surrounded by her Club.
“Lauren is pregnant.” She whispered the words, and even as she whispered them, the torment and regret in her eyes made it difficult to breathe.
“We don’t regret the way we protect our family.” I spoke the words, firm and true. Even Marie and Brenna stopped chattering to gaze up at me.
“Do you think I should undo it?”
Brenna and Marie scrutinized me for my answer, but I didn’t care - I wasn’t here to win the Club’s approval.
“Do you want to?” And even as I threw the question back at her, I watched her throat bob with indecision, and so I amended my question. “Can you take it back? I don’t know how spells work, but is that even possible?”
“No.” Brenna’s hard voice rang through the kitchen, and if Corinne hadn’t turned to face me, I may have missed the slight flinch that shifted her brow.
Fucking Brenna. The girl had no tact, and I was wondering how accomplished she truly was when it came to Magick.
“I’ve asked Zoey to come so we can look at the options - her family will have more insight into this than we will. If it’s possible, they will know how to do it.” Corinne delivered the information in a matter-of-fact tone, and I wanted nothing more than to take her away from these people and press her against the wall simply to remind her to feel. My little Vedman was terrified, only she was scared of her own decisions more than anything else.
“If you find a way to undo it, and still choose not to, I won’t think any less of you. There is always a cost to protecting your family, and if this is that cost, I can’t pretend to be sorry.”
Brenna flashed me a gaze filled with disdain, but I was beyond fucking caring what Brenna thought. My attention was solely Corinne’s.
“O-kay.” She exhaled, and that seemed to be the end of discussion. I glanced around the area, suddenly starkly aware of how unneeded I was. She was safe here, and until they truly retaliated, there wasn’t a damn thing I could do. Because if there was one thing that Corinne had taught me, it was that retaliation within Magick always had dire consequences.
I pressed my lips to her forehead, and the instant I smelt her vanilla scent, I wanted so much more than a chaste kiss. But we both had responsibilities, and this empire needed steering. I bid the girls farewell, only to return to my office - burying myself deep in the mountain of work that always seemed to await me.
I stationed more men outside the house and resigned myself to the fact that if something was truly wrong, one of them would call me.
By the time the sun began to dip against the horizon, I had managed to sign a deal that would allow for a second burlesque club, and secure a new distributor for our product. Yet, even my good day at the office could not prepare me for the sight that greeted me at my entrance.
There - on the front of my lawn was a woman dressed in nothing but cut off jeans and a crop top. Her wild mahogany curls hung in her face, and her skin was a tanned color, making her race nearly indistinguishable.
These Witches would be the death of me. Another Vedman had descended upon my home, and if they weren’t so important to Corinne, I would have told them to fuck right off a long time ago.
The new Witch was currently crouched knee-deep in dirt as she planted a series of bushes in a row. Mario, my groundskeeper, was going to be furious, but I was starting to learn that arguing with a Witch was a fruitless endeavor.
“And you are…” I allowed my voice to carry, letting the question hang in the air. I was fairly certain that this was Zoey, but there were so many of them that it was difficult to keep track. I halted my steps on the pathway as I awaited her answer.