Heartless (Starcrossed Lovers Trilogy 1)

“What the fuck happened here? Fuck, Lucian, who is he?”

I kept twirling the blade in my fingers, barely even shooting him a glance.

“That doesn’t matter. Just get it cleaned up.”

I allowed him a minute while he was pacing around, trying to fathom just what the fuck had gone down in this place.

“Fucking hell,” he cursed, then pulled out his cell and started making the call to the clean-up team.

“Bury him deep.”

“So, who the fuck is that?” he asked between calls, gesturing to the dead body like it made any damn difference who it was.

“Nobody to concern yourself with.”

“This is back alley as fuck. Does anyone know you’re here?”

I scowled. “Like I said, it’s not your concern.”

He kicked out at the guy’s legs, just to make sure he was really gone, then looked at me, eyebrow raised as he lit up a cigarette.

“Haven’t seen you get hands-on for a long time. Must’ve been something quite urgent to put that knife in your hands.”

“It was urgent enough,” I told him.

“Fine,” he said. “Just give me a bit more damn time to sort this shit out next time, will you? Preferably some damn fucking warning.”

I twirled the knife one last time before casting it onto the floor. “Am I done here?”

He nodded as he took another drag. “Yeah, you can go. The team will be here soon enough. Are we to wipe out any onlookers, or just give them warnings?”

It was an easy question to answer. Elaine Constantine was involved in this. Everyone in the damn vicinity should be wiped out rather than letting that shit out into the open.

“Everyone. Wipe out everyone,” I instructed and turned away to leave.

“Wait, Lucian,” he called.

I spun back to face him. “What?”

He headed closer and kept on smoking.

“The Power brothers. You wanted to know what was going down between them and the Constantines.”

My flesh surged with life as he said the words, a shiver of want right up my spine.

“Elaine Constantine,” I said, and closed the distance between us. “I wanted to know what was going down between them and Elaine Constantine.”

“Yeah, Elaine Constantine,” he repeated. “Well, I found out what’s going down. It ain’t pretty.”

I fixed my attention on his face. “Tell me.”

“She’s in deep. Got in drugs debt, same old. But there’s more. A shit ton more.”

“Spit it out,” I snapped.

He took another drag on his cigarette before he answered.

“It’s not just her own debt they’re chasing her down for. She took on a load of other debt with it. Other people’s debt.”

“Other people’s? What the fuck?”

He tipped his head. “Seems little miss stuck up isn’t quite the selfish little princess she appears to be. She’s been pitying a whole world of drug addict losers and bailing them out.” He laughed and sneered. “Stupid bitch.”

The words grate when they come out of his mouth. Elaine may be a stupid bitch, but she’s mine, and no one talks about my Elaine that way.

He continues on, oblivious, “She deserves everything coming to her. Taking debt on with the Powers sure ain’t a fucking charity gig. She should have kept to the rich girl charity bullshit. Would have been safer for her.”

I tried to find the logic in her moves. But there wasn’t any logic in it. Not a bit. Trenton was right – she’d have to be a stupid bitch to get tangled up with Powers’ debt. But even if she was . . . she was a Constantine . . . Queen Bitch Caroline Constantine would surely clear her fuck-ups with cold, hard cash.

Trenton read my mind.

“Caroline’s washed her hands of it, so they say. Apparently, Elaine’s done it before, over and over. Last few times her mom’s bought her out of it, but not this time. This time the stakes are higher, and her mom has said no fucking way. She’s on her own. She’s been enough of an embarrassment to the family name already, so the whispers say. Mommy’s done with her.” He flicked his cigarette butt onto the body. “Elaine’s on her own, and they’re coming after her. Soon.”

“And what exactly are they going to do about it?” I snapped, but I knew the answer. I could see it in his eyes.

He gestured to the dead fool on the floor before he answered me, and I knew what was coming. Trenton Alto had questions of his own brewing fast. Questions I sure as hell didn’t want to be answering.

“This is about her, ain’t it? This shit here? This is about Elaine Constantine?”

“What the fuck does it matter?” I hissed at him. “Tell me exactly what the damn Power brothers are planning to do to her and when.”

“Holy fuck, Lucian,” he said. “What the fuck is happening to you? Of course it damn matters. The very fact you’ve been breathing in the same air space as that Constantine bitch matters, and you know it. You fucking know it.”