Lucien (The Marchesi Family 1)

Angelo would catch him, and I would deal with him later. I turned back to the men we’d captured, but before I could give the order for Devil and the others to toss them in a truck and find a place to dump them where it would take them a long time to find their way back to town, a crash came from outside followed by a muffled scream.

I ran for the door, and Devil followed me. My guards would take care of the captured men. I pushed the door and stepped outside, gun drawn ready to take down anyone who touched Peter.

19

Peter

I jumped when Lucien and Devil fired their guns.

Angelo had told me to look away. I had, but then, like when you can’t decide whether or not to watch during a horror movie, I’d turned back. They’d killed two men like it was nothing. Lucien just stood there as calm and in control as he’d ever been.

Bile rose in my throat, but I couldn’t look away from the bodies. Blood spread in a dark pool from the man who lay on his side, and the other was still upright in his chair with a huge hole in his forehead. My vision started to go dark around the edges, and my stomach heaved. I stumbled toward the door, needing some cold air, needing to run, to be as far away from this horror as I could. As I pushed open the door, I felt Angelo right behind me. Could I outrun him? I didn’t have a chance to find out. I only made it a few steps before my stomach fully revolted and I lost most of my dinner.

Angelo kept a hand on my back as I hung there, hands on my knees, willing my stomach’s spasms to calm.

Suddenly, I heard a grunt and his hand disappeared. When I turned and saw Angelo on the ground, I screamed. A man stood there, aiming a gun at me. Had he hit Angelo over the head with it? Surely he hadn’t shot him. I didn’t see any blood, and I hadn’t heard a shot.

“You’re coming with me,” the man said.

I shook my head. “There are more men inside. They’ll be here any minute.”

“That’s why we’re going now.” The man grabbed my arm, his grip painfully tight. I fought him as he began to drag me along, but he was stronger than me. “They want you alive, but you don’t have to be feeling good. If you want to get there in one piece, you better fucking cooperate.”

I heard the squeak of the warehouse door and dug my feet in. When I looked back, I saw Lucien and Devil.

I screamed, and Lucien started running toward me.

My would-be kidnapper wrapped his arm around my neck and held his gun to my head. I hadn’t been that scared since the night my parents died, and this time I couldn’t run. I couldn’t do anything but pray Lucien could find a way to save me. In that moment, I didn’t care what Lucien had done. I didn’t care that I’d seen firsthand how cruel he could be. I knew he cared about me, and I knew he would do anything he could to save me.

Lucien moved closer, his gun out and pointed at the man who slowly moved backward, still determined to drag me away.

“Come any closer and I’ll kill him,” the man said.

Lucien shook his head. “No, you won’t. Your boss wants him for collateral. He doesn’t want him dead.” How did Lucien know that?

“I can hurt him, though. I can hurt him real bad.”

“And you’ll be dead before he even feels it. I’m giving you until three to let him go.”

What was Lucien going to do? If he shot the man, he could easily squeeze the trigger and kill me before he died. And if Lucien’s shot was even a little bit off target, he would hit me.

“Please. Be careful, Lucien.”

“You should listen to your boy.”

Lucien looked at me as if trying to communicate something, but I wasn’t sure what it was. He focused back on my attacker. “One. Two.” A sound came from behind us. The man turned, aiming his gun at whoever was there.

“Head down,” Lucien yelled. I barely comprehended the words before my attacker fell backward. Lucien had shot him. I pulled myself away, tripping and falling to my knees then crawling, wanting to put as much distance between me and the man as I could. Then Lucien was there, pulling me into his arms.

“It’s okay, baby. He’s dead.”

The world wavered in front of me. The last thing I remembered was Lucien’s fingers stroking my cheek.

When I woke, I was lying in the backseat of a car, a blanket over me. I panicked for a moment until I saw Angelo sitting beside me. “Are you all right?”