“What did you do?”
“I tortured him. I made him give up his entire life, from the first theft he ever committed to where his mother and sister lived.”
“Why? I mean, sure he was an idiot but why not call the police?”
“Because I wanted a message sent. I wanted the world to know if they wouldn’t fuck with my father, then they dare not fuck with me.”
My fingers are twined into Lily’s hands as I feel her stiffen up. She wanted to know though. She needs to know the man she belongs to, needs to understand that this is his life and by extension hers—though she will never need to fear anything but my wrath.
I will pull the reaper by the fucking throat if he ever dares fuck with her.
“The screams couldn’t be contained fully so by the time I finished him Meredith was there to cast judgment on me. She didn’t know what he had planned to do to our home or us, she only saw that I had hurt a man. Hurt a man who was begging for the life of his mother.”
Pulling away from, me she sits up fully. “So, she saw the devil, right?”
“Yeah, she actually called me that. She said, ‘You’re the fucking devil! You’re Lucifer.’ And it stuck. The guards first started calling me it, not unkindly. They saw that I was cut from the same cloth as my father, maybe more. Father took notice of it, especially after he learned of what I had done. I think he called me it out of some pride, maybe terror as well. He knew I was far more ruthless than he could ever be.”
Shuddering slightly, she allows me to pull her back to my chest. “You see, Lily, I was protecting my sister and myself. There is nothing in this world I won’t do to protect those I love and call my own. Nothing. You, Adam and Evie are mine. I will protect you all until the end of time.”
Pulling up in front of the house, I step out of the car with Lily. Taking my coat off of myself, I wrap it around her. She may have a coat on but the wind has picked up in intensity. The freezing bite is hitting our skin even harder than when we left.
Wind whipping my suit jacket around me, I pull her to me as we reach the doors. Pulling her tight to my body, I press my mouth hard against her own as I push her up against the front door. My tongue dives into her mouth as I feel her wrap a leg tightly around me, her mound pushing hard against me.
Forcing myself away from her is like poisoning myself. Each moment away I feel the pain of being separated. I may own her, but she has claimed a part of me just as well.
“Goodnight Lily, I’ll be back late tonight. I have business to deal with before I can come to bed.”
“But…” she starts to protest. Shaking my head, I open the door and assist her in.
Stepping back out into the winter storm that has been brewing for the last few hours, I smile at her then turn back to the car. Getting into the warmth of the car, I shake off any of the humanity I showed to Lily.
“Andrew, take us towards the office.”
“Yes, sir.”
Pulling out my cell phone, I dial Simon. “What do we know?”
“I was getting ready to call you just now. Can you get to Marshall’s house? I have something I need to show you.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask him after I give Andrew our destination.
“No, I don’t think I do. You need to see this for yourself. We definitely have an issue.”
Swiping off the phone, I growl. Whatever happened at Marshall’s has Simon staying quiet which is never a good sign. More than likely he is keeping silent because he doesn’t want anything we have to say possibly being overheard with any kind of detection.
Fuck me, tonight’s going to be a long night.
Pulling up beside Simon’s car, he motions for me to follow. We’re not too close to Marshall’s house, about half a block down the street from him, but it’s not hard to see what has Simon’s attention as he leads me down to Thomas’ personal car. It’s a black, late model, BMW that he bought after the last one was totaled chasing down a guy who owed us a fuck ton of money.
Coming up to the side of the car, I see that the driver side window is shattered completely, destroyed by a bullet. The entrance wound is on the side of his head. The exit wound has left the right side of his face missing. This isn’t a small caliber type of bullet wound. From the large hole in the right-side car door, I can only assume someone decided to make sure he was dead.