Merciless Vows by Faith Summers

40

Lucca

The most unlikely of people to visit me walks through my garage door at the crack of dawn the next morning.

He’s familiar with my sleeping patterns after having helped me come back after my accident. So, Dr. Belmont knows exactly where to find me.

I’m in the garage blowing off steam as I work on the car I was fixing up last week.

The sun had barely risen when the door creaked open.

The look on his face as he strides toward me is unsettled.

The only thing that could bring him out here to see me at this hour is trouble.

I don’t have to guess if it’s to do with Aria.

“Dr. Belmont, what can I do for you?” I say.

“Heard you got shot again. You, okay?” He stops by the worktable and scans my tools before settling his gaze back on me.

“I’m okay now. What’s going on?”

He sighs. “That appointment with your girl was a real bitch.”

I grit my teeth. “She told me she spoke to you about what happened to her.”

“She did, but there were some things she said that sent me here.”

My nerves spiked. “What did she say?”

“I’ve wrestled with the whole doctor/patient confidentiality aspect of this unusual case. I swore to her that I would keep our conversation private, so I can’t tell you much.”

“Then why the fuck are you here?” I ball my fists and seethe. My temper is already through the fucking roof in regard to this.

I’m just exercising more patience than I have.

“Because I want to give you a heads up. Lucca, it’s going to be dangerous if certain people around her know she’s starting to get her memories back.”

The instant he says that, it dawns on me that she knows who her attacker is.

And certain people around me?

That fucking means it’s somebody I know. Somebody she’s seen.

Did she tell him who? If so, why didn’t she tell me?

She lied to me.

“Who is it?” I demand.

“She didn’t tell me, and I can’t push her. Lucca, she doesn’t trust anybody, and she’s right to. But she trusted me with enough information because she knew it would help me, help her. That part, though, was asking for help without asking. I couldn’t sit back and not do anything. She doesn’t know the Bratva like we do. I don’t think she’d be having these appointments with me if she didn’t mean something to you. You need to protect her.”

That goes without saying. He would only need to ask me to do so if he knew danger was on the horizon. “I will.”

He dips his head and leaves. I stare after him, wondering what I’m going to do.

Certain people around me?

Fuck. The first person that fucking comes to my mind is Pasha.

What if it’s him?

Jesus Christ.

When I think of how she acted at the party, something tells me it’s him.

If it’s him, he’s dead.

Pasha wouldn’t have just been in her home.

Her fucking father would have been there too.

Raphael.

That motherfucking bastard who will be my father-in-law in two days.

He’s first on the list of fuckers I plan to see today.

* * *

Heads turn in our direction when Jon, Alexei, and I walk through the revolving doors at Cervantes.

Two security guards glance at us when we approach the elevator. One stern look from me, and they know not to interfere.

They talk to each other instead and stay the fuck away from us. I’ve been here before, not with this fire I carry with every step, but with the same presence that tells people, I’m a dangerous man.

Raphael’s office is on the top floor.

When we get there, there are security guards here too who zero in on us. His secretary looks at me and picks up the phone straight away.

Good, at least she’ll save me the time and give him the heads up that we’re here.

He’s ready for us when I push the door open to his office, disturbing whatever meeting he was having with a blonde woman with fake tits and too much shit in her lips to fill them out.

“Connie, I’ll call you later,” Raphael tells her, but he’s looking at me as he speaks.

“Okay, that’s fine,” she answers in a squeaky, annoying as fuck voice. She quickly grabs her purse and scrambles out the door. She looks over her shoulder, though, looking back at me with caution.

Don’t worry, Connie, I don’t plan to fuck with this asshole today. Not yet, but fucking soon.

Alexei closes the door behind her, and both he and Jon stand guard while I step forward.

“What do you want?” he demands. “You can’t just barge in here. This is where I work.”

“The document you signed says different, Governor De Marchi. You don’t own shit. This is my company.” I don’t bother to tell his ass he won’t be around to see that happen. He can work it out for himself.

“Not yet. Not fucking yet. Scum, just like your father. You are—”

I don’t give him the pleasure of finishing that sentence. He must be mad if he thinks I’m going to allow him to talk about my father like that. I’m so fucking sick of him thinking he can call me and my family scum when it’s him who’s dog shit.

In one swift move, I’m at his throat, and with the same arm, I shove him hard into the wall, then I squeeze his neck, digging my fingers into his skin.

He tries to fight me, to stop me, but he can’t. I’m not sure he realizes he never had a chance.

He still thinks of me as the boy who used to bring him drinks and clean his shoes. It’s way past the hour when he should have realized I haven’t been that boy in years. Now he can go fuck himself.

“You, you motherfucking dog. You’re a poor excuse for a father. A fucking poor excuse. Don’t you fucking dare call my father or me scum. . Don’t think I don’t know you’re working tirelessly to fuck me over. Did you send people to kill me the other day? Behold motherfucker, I’m still here.”

“No,” he garbles against my grip. “I didn’t do it,”

I don’t believe him for one second, but the aim in coming here is to scare the living shit out of him and let him know I’m always ready for him.

I’m here to clarify he has no power over me even when he thinks he does. If not for my plans with Damien, this asshole would be dead already several times over.

I release my grip and allow him to crumble before me, coughing and spluttering as he tries to catch his breath.

I lower to his level and stare him down. “Raphael, you need to watch your back and leave me and mine the fuck alone. After the wedding, I don’t want you anywhere near my girl.”

The fucking asshole gives me an uncanny smile, and I realize why. It’s because of what I said.

My girl.

The words just fell from my lips without me thinking first.

“Listen to you talk, Merciless. I didn’t realize you cared for my girl that much. She will never love you. You, a soulless creature who is just using her as a way to get to me. That is the kind of man you are, and she knows it. In the end, she’ll know you’re as evil as me.” He chuckles when I clench my jaw.

I draw in a breath and land a fist straight in his face that sends him to the floor. That’s for her and what he allowed to happen to her. It was a taste of what’s to come.

The day he stares at my gun in his face before I blow his head off will be the day of true retribution for all.

The satisfaction of hitting him and savoring the vision of what is to come fills me, but his damn words stick in my mind.

They stay with me because he’s right. I can’t fault him for any of what he said. Even the accusation that I’m as evil as him.

I am. So, I save my breath and hold my tongue. There’s no point wasting any more time on this asshole.

Straightening up, I walk away from him.

Jon opens the door for me, and we leave Cervantes.

Raphael’s days are numbered. I have to keep that in mind. It’s only a matter of time before I strike.

It’s the interim that worries me. The problem with time is what it allows you to do.

The information Aiden gave me places me several places ahead of where I thought I would be, and I just hope nothing happens in the meantime to fuck me over to let me lose the advantage.

* * *

When I get home that night, Damien’s waiting for me in my office.

I’m anxious to see Aria. I was heading up to my room to see her when Marylin told me Damien was here.

Since my meeting with Aiden, I’ve been on edge when I’m around Damien. I feel like a traitor and like I’m betraying the trust we have between us that always makes him refer to me as a son.

After the wedding, I hopefully won’t need to feel this guilt. I just have to hang in there for a few more days and hope Gibbs finds something additional I can add to the bomb I’m waiting to drop on Raphael.

After I left him, I spent the day looking for a lead on Ivy.

Turning up with nothing each day is beginning to make me look bad.

The only reprieve Grigori will give me is the time it will take to say I do. He’ll expect me to continue the search, and I can see this becoming a problem if it runs into any more time than I’ve already taken.

I hate being stuck, and while I can still say with certainty no one can hide from me, I have to give Ivy credit for staying off my radar for this long. She really got her head screwed on when she made friends with men like Stephano Ricci.

Damien looks me over when I walk in. “I just came by to check on you quickly before I turn in for the night.”

“I’m okay. The day was just shit.”

“Well, there’s no way I’d believe you were on your back days ago with a bullet wound injury,” he states with a deep chuckle.

“A man still has to work. When that man is me, it’s not even a question.”

“Any news today?”

“No. Not from one nor the other,” I lie, or rather it’s a half-truth. The lie is in regard to Raphael, and I’m so used to schooling my face, he’d never be able to tell. “Damien, it’s strange I haven’t been able to find Ivy yet. It’s like she and her daughter just disappeared.”

“You know what Stephano is like. He hasn’t got the balls for a head-on fight, but he can hide anything from God himself.”

“It’s fucking screwing with me.”

“And we don’t know who wanted you dead yet?”

I laugh. “Damien, you make it sound like I don’t have people waiting in line to kill my ass. That’s not the thing that worries me. If death were something I worried about, I’d be a baker or something like that. What worries me are all the things I don’t know.”

“I don’t think it was Stephano who sent the drivers to kill you.”

“So, you think it was Raphael?”

“I do. It’s his style. Kill you, and this is over. I don’t have anybody else who would be powerful enough to help me. The Pakhan will not value a brigadier over a man like him. Or, you. We need to be extra careful, Lucca. Especially at the wedding.”

“I know. We need to be careful all the time.” Not just the wedding.

I walk over to the drink cabinet, grab two glasses, and pour us both a shot of whiskey.

Damien comes over and takes his glass then we both drink our shots at the same time.

The abrasive texture of the acrid liquid is exactly what I need now to take the edge off.

“Try to push everything aside tonight,” Damien states. “Your father used to tell me to end the night with a clear mind and start the day the same. That’s the best way to sharpen your focus. I’m going to tell you the same and think of the accomplishment we’ve had this month in defeating our biggest enemy. Great will be the day when we watch Raphael fall. The best thing about men like him is that you don’t have to wait too long for the asshole to fuck up. He’ll do it soon enough, and we’ll be watching and waiting.”

“We will,” I assure him, thinking of the end result. What Aiden gave me will end this once and for all.

Raphael will lose everything, including his life.

“I’m proud of you, moy syn. Your father and mother would feel the same pride too, and I know Timothy would be indebted to you for the strength in your friendship you have shown. I know you put your life into this to give me my revenge. Marriage is a big thing, and you are doing for me exactly what my son would.”

I’m listening and grateful as I am for the pride he speaks. However, I can’t help but think he’s reminding me again where my loyalties should lie.

“Thank you, Damien.”

He claps me on my back and smiles wide. “That’s all from me. See you tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

When he leaves, I set my glass down and release the breath I’ve been holding on to.

I put my work guns away and head down to my room, where the beauty is waiting for me.

She’s sitting by the window, looking out at the shadows of the roses. When she sees me, her expression softens.

She gets up and walks over to me. I cup her face, and we fall into a kiss.

When she touches me, I know there’s no way in fuck there’ll be anything traditional about us over the next two nights before the wedding. I’ll be seeing her, and I plan to be balls deep inside my bride-to-be every chance I get.

“Shower with me,” I mutter against her lips.

She nods, then I put out my hand to her, and she comes to me.

We start in the shower, and we end up in bed. I don’t know what time it was when we both drifted off. All I’m aware of is the walls between us crumble and what lies on the other side is something I crave.

More of her.

Not just her body. Everything else.

Her heart, mind, and soul.