Grievous

  Kassian says something in return, I don’t know what, the words rushed and in Russian, like they’re arguing. After a moment, Kassian groans, throwing his hands up, dismissively waving Markel away. “Fine. Fine! Go.”

  Markel reaches into his pocket, pulling Kassian’s phone out, sliding it onto the table before stalking off. He slows as he passes me, walking so close his shoulder bumps mine, as he says, “I will see you later, suka. Be a good girl while I’m gone, and he will be nice.”

  Nice. That’s not the word I’d use for it. He’s erratic on coke, hot and cold. He either thinks you walk on water or he wants to bury you in the dirt.

  There’s no middle ground.

  A smile lights his face as he looks at me.

  My stomach sinks.

  I’m walking on water at the moment.

  I think I’d much rather want him to bury me.

  Slowly, I approach, to take my seat on the floor, but Kassian grabs a hold of my hips and pulls me onto his lap instead. His arm snakes around me, shifting me in the chair, pulling me back against him as he relaxes, sipping from his bottle of vodka. I don’t move, don’t fight it, even as his hand caresses my stomach, even as his lips find my shoulder blade, kissing it.

  I bite my cheek, squeezing my eyes shut.

  Happy place.

  A loud chime echoes through the house. Everyone grows silent. Reopening my eyes, my gaze meets Declan’s across from me. He doesn’t look like he’s afraid, but he’s certainly not at ease, either.

  It isn’t until the chime rings out for the second time that anyone seems to realize what we’re hearing. Doorbell. Kassian shoves me off of him, and I slide down onto the floor, taking my seat once more, hugging my legs. He sets his bottle of liquor down in front of me on the table before waving toward his minions. “Somebody answer that.”

  The guy closest to the door gets up and walks out, leaving Kassian here with Declan and I and two others, now that Markel is gone.

  It’s quiet. Almost too quiet. Nothing happens for a moment. The guy who answered the door doesn’t come back. Did he leave? Nobody else seems concerned, though, so I try to relax, until out of nowhere I hear his voice—cool and calm, almost mockingly so. “No offense, Aristotle, but your parties kind of suck.”

  My eyes dart to the doorway, right to where he appears. Lorenzo. My heart beats so frantically my vision blurs. He’s wearing black from head-to-toe: black slacks, black shirt, black combat boots. He looks almost sinister, standing there in the shadows, hands shoved in his pockets. He glances around at the men, gaze lingering on Declan, before he turns to Kassian, skipping right over me.

  It’s like I’m not even here.

  Like I no longer exist to him.

  My insides twist in knots, and I swallow thickly. I feel like I’m going to be sick. Ugh.

  “Ah, yes, well, there are usually more women,” Kassian says, reaching down to pat my head. “Tonight, we only have our little guest of honor, but she is quite enjoyable on her own. I am sure she would be more than happy to liven things up for you.”

  “I appreciate the offer, but I’ve already fucked her,” Lorenzo says, those words nonchalant, but they hit me like a blow to the chest. “More than a few times, actually.”

  “So I have heard.” Kassian fists a handful of my hair and roughly tugs my head up, so I’ll look at him instead of Lorenzo. “But who has not fucked her?”

  A throat clears nearby, a voice chiming in. “I haven’t.”

  Declan.

  Kassian loosens his grip on my hair. “Ah, yes, you have a thing for one of the others. Lexie. Seems she took a liking to you, also.”

  “Can you blame her?” Declan asks.

  “Yes,” Kassian says with a laugh, “I can.”

  Slowly, I turn my head again, my eyes shifting back to Lorenzo in the doorway. He’s staring at me now, his expression blank, not a hint of emotion to be found anywhere. I so desperately wish I knew what he was thinking, wish I knew what was going through his mind. I wonder if he came here with a plan, if he knows what he’s doing, if he realizes why Kassian told him to come. I wish he could hear my thoughts, so that I could warn him, so that I could thank him for everything he’s done to help.

  So that I could tell him to get the fuck out of here.

  As he stares at me, his cheek twitches, the slightest hint of a frown tugging his lips.

  “Sit, Mister Scar,” Kassian says. “Have a drink.”

  Blinking, Lorenzo turns away from me again, looking to Kassian. “I’d rather we get business out of the way first.”

  “Fair enough,” Kassian says, shoving out of his chair, leaning across me to grab a black duffel bag from the floor nearby. He drops it on the center of the table before sitting back down. “A million. It is all there. Every dollar I promised for her.”

  Lorenzo strolls into the room, coming closer... and closer... and closer, stopping so close to me that I can smell the faint hint of his soap as he leans down, unzipping the bag.

  It’s overflowing with cash. I can see that from here. Lorenzo shifts through it, but he doesn’t bother counting before zipping it back up.

  Snatching up the bag, he tosses it over to Declan, nearly knocking the wind out of the guy as it lands on his lap with a thud.

  “Take that out to your car, Three,” Lorenzo says.

  Declan forces his way up off the couch, not one to disregard an order. The guys in the room look around, not sure if they’re supposed to let him leave, looking to Kassian for some guidance.

  “What is the rush?” Kassian asks, waving them off. “Sit. Enjoy yourselves. No need to run off.”

  “I’m not running anywhere,” Lorenzo says, grabbing Kassian’s discarded vodka bottle from the table. He sniffs it before taking a swig.

  Declan walks out, lugging the heavy bag with him. I can feel Kassian tense, his hand shifting to my shoulder, squeezing it hard, like he thinks Lorenzo might try to have me hauled out of here next.

  Lorenzo steps over and drops down onto the couch, taking the seat Declan vacated. He looks at the guys on either side of him, assessing them, as he helps himself to the liquor. He seems at ease, more than he ought to, a fact that I know is ruffling Kassian.

  His grip gets tighter... and tighter... and tighter.

  I wince, trying to move from his grasp, trying to scoot to the right, out of his reach, but he isn’t having that. His hand shifts once again, this time grasping the back of my neck as he leans down toward me, saying, “It seems you were wrong, pretty girl.”

  “Fuck you,” I whisper.

  He laughs at me, and I shudder at the feel of his breath on my skin.

  “Eager, are we?” he asks, running his nose along my hair. “Patience, pussycat.”

  “So, tell me something, Jabba,” Lorenzo says, interrupting. “You got the kid frozen in carbonite somewhere?”

  Kassian pulls away from me, but he doesn’t let go of my neck. “Jabba?”

  “Yeah, you know, Star Wars,” Lorenzo says. “You seem to have a Jabba the Hutt thing going on with your chained-up dancers. Quite uncanny, really.”

  “Star Wars?” Kassian’s voice is incredulous. “I do not like all that space stuff, with those aliens and the beam me up nonsense.”

  Lorenzo coughs, choking on some vodka. Sitting up, he points the bottle at Kassian. “Did you seriously just...?”

  “Star Wars,” Kassian says, waving him off. “It is all so stupid.”

  Something happens in that moment. A flicker of rage flashes across Lorenzo’s face. Before the last syllable even passes from Kassian’s lips, Lorenzo snaps.

  Flipping the liquor bottle around, he snatches it by the neck and swings hard, like a baseball bat, slamming the guy to his right in the head with it.

  BAM.

  The bottle shatters, glass scattering, vodka saturating the room as the guy falls limp. Knocked out. The guy to Lorenzo’s left grabs him, to try to stop him, but there’s not much he can do to ward off what’s happening. Still clutch
ing the neck of the broken bottle, Lorenzo turns, not hesitating at all as he lunges, stabbing, the jagged glass plunging through the side of the guy’s neck.

  The guy gurgles, gasping, panicked, and yanks the bottle out. Mistake. Big fucking mistake. Blood spurts from the wound, shooting out like a water fountain, not stopping even as he grasps his neck, holding tightly.

  Lorenzo shoves the guy off the couch, unfazed as the blood splatters him.

  Seconds. Mere seconds. If I would’ve blinked, I would’ve missed it all. Kassian reacts, shoving up out of the chair in alarm. His fingers wind tightly through my hair, forcing me to my feet, pulling me against him as he steps back, away from the table, putting some distance between the men. I cry out as pain radiates along my scalp, feeling like he’s ripping out clumps of hair. His hands shift, arm winding around my neck, putting me in a headlock from behind, my body shielding part of his.

  Lorenzo’s on his feet, pulling a gun from beneath his shirt. He cocks it, aiming at Kassian. Aiming at me. My heart races.

  “Hiding behind a woman?” Lorenzo asks. “Kind of a dick move, isn’t it, Jabba?”

  “Sentimental fool,” Kassian says. “You would not risk hurting your precious Scarlet. You do not have the guts to pull the trigger.”

  BANG.

  The moment Kassian says it, a gunshot lights up the room. I scream, startled, my ears ringing as a bullet flies right by me. So close. Too close. Lorenzo didn’t flinch, didn’t move, not a flicker of emotion on his face when he pulled the fucking trigger.

  Kassian shoves me, moving, trying to dodge the gunshot. Or maybe he’s trying to throw me into it, I don’t know. I don’t know. All I know is seconds later, in another blink, there’s movement. The guy on the couch, the one Lorenzo smacked with the bottle, comes to with a jolt, the loud bang rousing him back to consciousness.

  Lorenzo doesn’t notice. The guy is in his blind spot.

  “Lorenzo!” I scream.

  Kassian’s hand clamps down on my mouth as he pins me against him, hissing, “Stupid girl, shut up.”

  Lorenzo turns just as the guy hits him, fists swinging. Oh god. Lorenzo fires a shot that misses entirely, the bullet hitting the mantle over the fireplace, ricocheting my direction. I cry out into Kassian’s palm, panicked, my vision blurring, struggling to break free but it’s not working.

  They start going at it, hitting, grabbing, the gun ripped from Lorenzo’s grasp and kicked across the floor. My stomach drops. Lorenzo’s at a disadvantage, not only because of his blind spot, but because Kassian’s guys are built for this. They’re trained to disarm, to subdue, to inflict pain...

  “You see that?” Kassian whispers in my ear. “He is weak, your little plaything. He cannot save you.”

  Lorenzo puts up one hell of a fight, using everything he’s got, but it isn’t long until he’s knocked down, dropping to his knees. Blood streams from his busted mouth as he breathes heavily.

  My heart damn near stops.

  “Aw, look at that, suka,” Kassian says. “Now you get to watch him take his last breath.”

  I struggle, flailing, kicking my legs, swinging my arms. I throw my head back, slamming into Kassian’s chin, my elbow jabbing him in the rib, but it’s still not enough.

  Fuck this.

  I bite him.

  My teeth clamp down on his palm. He rips his hand away from my mouth, cursing, and shoves me, throwing me to the floor by the fireplace.

  I wince, my ankle twisting in the goddamn heels as I land... hard.

  “Stay,” he barks, glaring at me, furious. Turning away, he stalks over to Lorenzo, shaking the hand that I bit before he snatches the gun from the floor. He steps right in front of Lorenzo, raising the gun, pointing it at his forehead. “It is a shame it has come to this, Mister Scar. You and I could have been friends.”

  Lorenzo says nothing, just staring up at him, his tongue slowly running along his busted lip.

  “But friends do not steal from each other,” Kassian continues. “My friends do not try to take what is mine. I may let them have a taste, from time to time, but the suka belongs to me. She is not theirs, and she is certainly not yours. The stupid girl, she does not know what is good for her. She let you believe you could keep her, she let you have parts of her that were not hers to give away, and that, Scar, is why we can never be friends.”

  Anger flows through every syllable from Kassian’s lips, his hand shaking as he grips the gun. He doesn’t use them. He prefers his bare hands. But his finger is on the trigger, and I know he’s going to pull it. Any fucking second, the gunshot is going to echo through the air.

  No. No. No.

  Frantic, my eyes dart around, my mind working fast, looking for a way out. Where are Lorenzo’s guys? Where’d Declan go? Where are the others? Where’s Seven? Why aren’t they here, protecting him? Why is nobody doing anything to stop this?

  Why isn’t Lorenzo fighting?

  It makes no sense.

  It’s insane.

  A smile creeps up on Lorenzo’s lips. It sends a chill down my spine. Oh no. Oh god. Why the fuck is he smiling? A light laugh escapes him as he spits blood on Kassian’s shiny shoes, like none of this bothers him.

  “You’re right, Aristotle,” Lorenzo says. “You and I could never be friends.”

  As soon as he says that, I hear the front door of the house open. I don’t know who it is. I don’t know who’s coming. All I know is that if somebody doesn’t do something, this is it. It’s all over.

  He’s going to die because of me.

  I can’t let that happen.

  Kicking off the heels, I shove up to my feet, grabbing the first thing I can reach—the fireplace poker. I grasp it tightly in my sweaty palms, clutching it with both hands as I lunge right for Kassian, ramming it in his back. It doesn’t go far in, the thick metal curving, my bruised body too damn weak to shove it through, but it pierces him enough to knock him forward.

  His minion grabs me before I can do much else, ripping the poker out of my hand, out of Kassian’s back, before he throws me across the room. The gun goes off as soon as I hit the floor, the noise harrowing in my ears.

  BANG.

  I scream, desperately turning.

  Don’t let him be dead.

  I watch, eyes wide, as Lorenzo finally fights. He’s on his feet again, twisting Kassian’s arm, forcing him to pull the trigger again.

  BANG.

  The bullet grazes Kassian’s shoulder, throwing him off enough for Lorenzo to get the upper hand. He snatches the gun back as Kassian staggers, stunned.

  People swarm the room as adrenaline flows through me, the rush nearly making me black out. The first person I see, the first face I encounter, is one I haven’t seen in a while.

  Seven.

  Behind him is Declan. Beside him, Frank. Declan and Frank carry guns, assault rifles, while Seven holds his hands up in front of him, almost defensively.

  Lorenzo stands up straight, no hesitation, pumping a few bullets into Kassian’s last minion, dropping the guy before he points the gun at Kassian.

  “You see, the thing is,” Lorenzo says, “I could never be friends with someone who doesn’t know the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek.”

  He doesn’t pull the trigger.

  No, he swings.

  BAM.

  Lorenzo beats him, slamming him in the face with the pistol, blow after blow, unrelenting. Lorenzo backs him up into the wall, hitting him so hard Kassian drops, sliding to the floor. His face is a streaked mask of red, blood pouring from him, coating Lorenzo’s hand.

  “Damn, boss,” Declan says. “Just pop a bullet in the guy... would be more humane.”

  “No,” I yell, my own voice surprising me. “Wait, you can’t. Don’t kill him!”

  The guys cast me peculiar looks.

  All except Lorenzo, who doesn’t even look my way. I’m invisible again. His attention is on his guys, scanning them as his expression darkens. He raises the gun again, aiming, this time at Seven. br />
  I have no idea what to make of that, no idea what’s happening, but I don’t have time to figure it out. Kassian’s eyes are drifting closed, like he’s going unconscious.

  I rush over, dropping to my knees beside him, grasping his bloody face and shaking him. “Kassian, look at me.”

  His cold gray eyes meet mine.

  “Tell me where she is,” I whisper, my voice cracking. “Tell me where I can find Sasha.”

  He curves an eyebrow. “Markel did not tell you?”

  “Markel? No. Tell me what?”

  He says nothing.

  I hear Lorenzo behind me, talking to Seven, his voice angry as he says, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  “Jameson called me,” Seven says. “He was trying to get up with you. He told me about the club, and I just... I screwed up, I know, but I want to help, boss.”

  “Don’t call me that,” Lorenzo says. “You shouldn’t have come. I told you I never wanted to see your face again. Hell, I told all of you to get out of here. None of you listen!”

  Kassian turns his head, glancing past me, at the guys.

  I’ve lost his attention.

  “Listen to me, Kassian,” I say, making him look my way again. “Tell me where she is so I can go to her. If there’s any heart in you at all, if you love her... if you love me, like you say... you’ll tell me how to find her.”

  He reaches for me, his fingertips brushing against my cheek. He’s wiping away my tears, I realize.

  I’m crying.

  “Always so beautiful when you cry,” he says, his fingers tracing my jawline before running down my neck, his hand settling on my throat. “What is it you used to say? Face your fears and wipe your tears?”

  “Yes,” I whisper.

  “Then wipe your tears, pretty girl,” he says, “because the time has come to face your fears.”

  He grips my throat tightly, and I gasp, shoving against his chest to push away but he yanks me toward him instead.

  “Oh, whoa, whoa!” Declan yells. “What the fuck?”

  Someone grabs me, dragging me away from Kassian. I don’t have to look to know it’s Lorenzo. I can smell him, can feel him as he wraps his arms around me from behind.