Bitter Truths (Crimson Falls Duet 2)

When Kahn nods at Darius, the man beside me says, “Good. Now let’s get some drinks. I think it’s time to celebrate my brother visiting.”

“Cut the shit,” Lycan bites out. “I’m not here to make a social call. I’m here to take my wife home,” he grits, his eyes dancing with angry flames of defiance.

“Perhaps you should sit down, brother,” Darius continues, as if Lycan said nothing at all. “We have a lot to discuss.” He pulls out a chair, which has his men mimicking his actions, and Lycan slowly sinks into the seat opposite his brother. His gaze flicks to me every now and again, but even when he looks at me, something is missing. The fear he regarded me with when he first stepped inside is gone. And that’s what scares me.

“I have a proposition for you,” Darius says as he settles in beside me. The man who allowed me to talk to him earlier, to learn about his brokenness, is gone, and in his place is the VP of a motorcycle club making a business deal. A man who won’t take no for an answer, and one that’s hellbent on revenge.

“What makes you think I’ll listen?”

Darius’s hand lands on my thigh, causing me to jerk up, a gasp falling from my lips, and Lycan pushes to his feet. His hands flat on the smooth, shiny wooden surface of the long table that’s keeping us apart.

“I think you should sit down, brother,” Darius says. “If you don’t listen to me, I’ll have my guys escort Scarlett back to my bedroom where she spent the last few nights.”

“Alone,” I add quickly, keeping my focus on Lycan and ignoring the heat searing me at my side from the brother who stole a kiss while in the bedroom earlier. “Lycan,” I call to him, causing him to finally look at me again. His name on my lips has his warmth returning, but only for a short moment before he slips the mask back on and glares at Darius.

“Speak, or I’ll leave her here with you and you can deal with her bratty ass,” he sneers, the anger in his tone causing tears to burn my eyelids.

“Horatio and Grace Bardot,” Darius starts. “I want them ended; they can no longer rule over everyone’s lives as if they hold our existence in their hands.”

Howler sets a folder in front of Darius, who in turn pushes it toward his brother. “This is my contract. The terms are set out for you. You don’t trust me, and I don’t expect you to jump at this, but if we stand together, the way Shaw’s were always meant to, we can win this war.”

Lycan’s dark brow raises as he regards Darius with surprise. “This war? This is a war you started, brother,” he tells him. “When you took Scarlett, you took the very heart of me. I shouldn’t be telling you just how much she means to me, but I can tell your affections are growing for her as well. Which means, something happened here. I don’t need to know about it, but the moment I agree to anything, you will release Scarlett into my care, and you walk away. We will finish the Bardots, which is something I’d been planning for years—”

“But you never believed Grace had Dad killed,” Darius confesses, exasperation clear in his tone. “The proof is in the folder.” He pushes to his feet, a pair of strong hands loop under my arms and drag me from the chair. “Scarlett will wait in my bedroom while you ponder your decision.”

The man holding me tries to carry me from the room, but Lycan’s stare finds mine once more, a promise burning in those green gemstones—I’ll never leave you. I don’t know how I can read him so well, but I realize the mask he had in place wasn’t for me, it was for his brother. A show of confidence and power.

“No.” Lycan stands. Kahn beside him. Both men look like they’re ready to take on the world. Perhaps they are. They seem like they’re ready to fight for me. And my heart catapults into my throat.

My eyes burn once more, and this time, I allow Lycan to see my pain.

I blink the tears away, the salty emotion trickling down my cheek.

His hands fist at his sides. “She will stay where I can see her.” His voice is dark, filled with poison. “Or I will walk out of here right now, my men will storm the gates, and I will kill you.” He’s so convinced of winning this war between him and Darius, even I feel confident that he can. Possibly.

“You don’t have the—”

“You’ve known me my whole life, brother,” Lycan assures. “Surely you’d know I wouldn’t walk into a gunfight with a knife.” This time, Lycan chuckles, the same demeaning one he gave me when I first tried escaping the Shaw mansion. He knows he’s on top, and that’s something I can’t deny makes my body respond.