Heartless Prince by Brook Wilder

 

Chapter 59

Lucas

 

The auctioneer was the first person that crossed my path. “Don Valentino,” she said smoothly, no hint of concern in her eyes. “I’m afraid you made no purchases this evening, so I can’t let you go any further.”

 

Rocco murmured something like a curse behind me.

 

“I’m afraid,” I seethed, “that you will let me pass, or you will find yourself out of a job, madam.”

 

She clearly was made of sterner stuff than most, likely because she dealt with assholes like me for a living. She didn’t flinch at my harsh tone.

 

“You know the rules, Don Valentino. I can’t change them, not even for you. Besides, you put the girl up. She’s no longer yours.”

 

Wrong answer.

 

Leda was mine; she was going to be mine for the rest of my miserable fucking life. I had made a mistake, a shitty one, but I was in the business of fixing my mistakes.

 

I grabbed the auctioneer by the neck and shoved her hard into the wall. The first flicker of fear crossed over her face as the façade of invincibility shattered before her eyes.

 

“What are you doing?” Rocco asked in a low voice. He knew the ramifications of what I was about to do and the shitstorm we would have to deal with later.

 

“Where is she?” I asked, keeping firm pressure on her neck. “Where did you put her?”

 

The auctioneer licked her lips, her eyes taking on a maniacal look. “What are you willing to do, Don Valentino?” she rasped. “Are you going to kill me? If you do, you will never find her.”

 

I leaned in. “I will burn this fucking place down with you inside if you don’t show me where Leda is.” I solidified my request by tightening my hold, and she winced.

 

“Down the hall,” she finally forced out. “To the right.”

 

I let her go, her body crumpling to the floor as I started to move up the hallway. If Adrian was still in that room, he was going to be a dead man.

 

A hoarse cry went up behind us, and Rocco stopped. “I’ll handle this. Buy you some time,” he said urgently. “Go!”

 

“Start the car,” I answered in a near growl. “We will be leaving as soon as I get Leda.”

 

Rocco nodded and took off in the opposite direction of the hallway, leaving me to move forward. The sounds behind the doors as I passed them only sickened me further. I was going to burn this place down one way or the other.

 

I took a right at the end of the hallway and drew up short when a bouncer crossed my path.

 

“Out of the fucking way,” I told him.

 

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” He grinned and I returned that grin with one of my own.

 

So be it.

 

With a roar, I was on him before he even realized I could move that quickly. Using the narrow corridor as leverage, I pivoted around him, pulling him down to the ground in a chokehold. As his body went limp, I gave his neck a hard twist. There was a sickening crunch, and it was all over. Without a second look back, I was already on my feet.

 

I hoped I wasn’t too late. Fucking Adrian. He had planned this all along to get his hands on Leda, on the Mafia, and God knows what else.

 

He knew that I would give her up for the sake of the Mafia. He knew exactly which buttons to press. He knew I would fight for the title above all else.

 

What a fucking fool I had been.

 

A scream echoed in the air, and every hair on my body stood at attention.

 

Leda.

 

“No,” I breathed as I followed the source, reaching the door that held her within. Wasting no time, I planted my boot into the wood and kicked hard, feeling the locks give way under the force of my kick.

 

I saw him first, standing over a kneeling, naked Leda with his hands wrapped around her neck. He was killing  her.

 

I had put her in this fucking position, and I would spend a lifetime making it up to her.

 

Well, however long we had left.

 

“Get the fuck away from her,” I snarled, catching Adrian’s attention.

 

Adrian chuckled and let Leda go, causing her to slump to the floor. I saw the barest flash of metal in his hand and realized that he pulled out a knife, somehow smuggled into a place that was supposed to be weapons-free.

 

It didn’t matter. I didn’t need a knife to defend myself.

 

“Well, well,” he said. “You made it, Lucas. I was wondering if you would be able to walk away.”

 

“You fucking played me,” I seethed as I removed my coat, throwing it in the general direction of Leda so she could put it on. “No more.”

 

“You’re so right,” he replied, his eyes gleaming. “Because after tonight, I will be Don, you will be lying in a pool of your own blood, and I will fuck your bitch in front of your corpse.”

 

I smirked, beckoning him forward. “Let’s test that prediction then, shall we?”

 

Adrian’s expression darkened and he charged at me, the knife extended. I moved quickly to avoid being slashed, kicking at his right leg so that I could get him on the ground. Grappling was where I was best at in hand-to-hand combat.

 

Adrian regained his footing nearly immediately and we clashed again, his knife slicing my upper bicep. I grimaced but caught him under his chin with the heel of my hand. His head snapped back as we both stumbled away from each other.

 

“Well played,” Adrian laughed, looking at the tip of his knife. “Looks like I drew first blood.”

 

I straightened my shirt like there wasn’t a line of blood on my arm. “But I’ll have the last laugh.”

 

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he responded.

 

I narrowed my gaze and looked for a weakness in his stance, knowing that he had the same training I did, from the same person. We blocked each other’s hits, my eyes ever watching where the knife was. He knew where to sever tendons, and if he did so, I would be helpless to fight back.

 

I wasn’t about to go down like that.

 

The knife bit into my side and I hissed, knowing that cut was a little deeper than the one on my arm. It was a game Adrian was playing. Death by a thousand cuts. My shirt was growing sticky with blood, and by the look on Adrian’s face, he knew that he just had to drag out the process.

 

Well, I wasn’t going to let him win tonight.

 

I didn’t even glance over to see how Leda was as I came at him with my fists raised, landing a few blows before feeling another sting on my upper thigh.

 

“What’s wrong, whore? Looking a little slow there,” Adrian taunted. His own face was a blooming red from my punches. His mouth was bloodied, and he was starting to favor his left side.

 

I, on the other hand, was dripping blood all over the floor from the various cuts Adrian had inflicted. I had to stop this shit now.

 

With a growl, I charged him, catching Adrian off guard as I did so. We crashed against the wall, the movement jarring my body, but it was enough to loosen Adrian’s grip on the knife, sending it clattering to the floor.

 

Adrian’s grin dimmed as he realized that he was now unarmed.

 

I kneed him hard in his balls and he doubled over. The moment was all I needed to grab the knife off the floor. In a flash, I plunged the knife into his thigh and pulled it back out. A spurt of blood emerged from the open wound.

 

It would have to do for now. I was growing weak, and if we didn’t leave now, it would be too late.

 

Adrian bellowed with pain and rage as I hurried over to Leda. She had wrapped my coat around her naked form, her entire body quivering.

 

“Let’s go,” I told her urgently as Adrian tried to pull the knife out of his bloodied hand. “We have to go now.”

 

“Lucas,” she breathed, standing. “You’re—”

 

“Don’t fucking worry about me,” I panted, hating that I had to be this way with her right now. My vision was starting to get blurry, and I was afraid that I would pass out if I didn’t concentrate. “We don’t have much time.”

 

Luckily she heard the urgency in my voice, and together we started toward the door.

 

“This isn’t the end!” Adrian yelled behind us.

 

I knew it wasn’t and hoped that he would come after me. It would give me a chance to finish what I had started.

 

“This way,” Leda finally said, leading me away from the way I had come in my disorientation. “It’s the way they brought me in.”

 

My heart twisted at her words, and if we got out of this mess alive, I would be begging her forgiveness.

 

Right now, I could barely feel my own legs. I felt like I was drunk, but it was just blood loss.

 

I stumbled into the hallway, and Leda let out a cry, tucking her arm around my waist to keep me upright. “Come on, Lucas!” She urged, propelling me forward. “It’s not too much further. Just a little while longer.”

 

“I’m sorry,” I rasped, shaking my head to clear the sudden cobwebs. “I’m so fucking sorry.” I wanted her to know that I hated every minute of what I had subjected her to, that it would be one of my biggest regrets.

 

“Apologize later,” she responded, coming to a shut door. It only took a few tries to get it open, and the cold night air rushed in when we crossed over the threshold, not far from the entrance of the underground club.

 

“Goddamn it.” Rocco swore the moment we rounded the small exterior building. “We got to go.”

 

I let him take my weight, and he dumped me in the back seat, with Leda scrambling inside before the car was moving, tearing down the road. “Tell me what to do,” Leda was saying, her hands roaming over my skin. “Tell me what to do, Lucas.”

 

I opened my eyes, seeing her frantic gaze meeting mine. “Stop the bleeding.”

 

She nodded and pulled the shirt out of my pants, tearing the fabric at the bottom. She balled up the fabric against my thigh and my rib cage. I groaned against the sudden pain, but now that I was lying down, my vision was clearer.

 

The problem was: we were still in danger.

 

Leda’s face hovered over mine, pale in the dim lighting. “Why?” she asked tearfully. “Tell me the truth, Lucas.”

 

Swallowing, I didn’t turn away from her intense gaze. “I thought I had to choose. And I chose wrong.”

 

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything, realizing what I was saying. It had been either her or the Mafia, but I couldn’t have both.

 

Now that I had her, I made my choice, a choice that I couldn’t go back on.

 

Because it was the right choice.

 

“Oh, Lucas,” she said softly, some of the anger fleeing from her face. “Why didn’t you just tell me?”

 

Yeah, I didn’t know that answer either.

 

We fell silent the rest of the way to the docks, and by the time we pulled up to the yacht, the bleeding had slowed. Leda climbed out first, but it was Rocco that helped me out of the car.

 

“You look like shit,” he said, grimacing as we made our way down the dock to the yacht.

 

“I know,” I said instead, stepping down into the boat. “Get this thing out into the water quickly. Adrian will be coming.”

 

Rocco frowned, but he nodded, and I grabbed ahold of the railing to steady myself, my body still weak from the blood loss. What I would like to do was to get Leda into bed and sleep for fucking days, but now wasn’t the time.

 

I felt the engines start under my feet and continued to move inward, finding Leda standing right inside the outdoor living room area where I had had my discussions with Emil this morning. She was shivering in my coat, her hair blowing around her head.

 

I gritted my teeth. “You need clothes,” I bit out. “Go to the bedroom and find some.”

 

Leda turned to me, and there were tears on her cheeks. “Tell me that you love me,” she whispered, her arms wrapped around herself tightly. “Because if you don’t, I’m not coming with you.”

 

“Leda,” I growled. “This isn’t the time.”

 

Didn’t she understand what I had just done? I just declared war with my own Mafia.

 

“No!” she shouted. “This is the time! You put me back on that block, Lucas! After you promised to take care of me. You were ready to give me up to those, those animals. He was going to kill me!” She marched toward me, not caring that I had just been in the fight of my life. “So tell me that you love me. Because if you don’t, I will jump from this boat.” 

 

“Fuck,” I swore, reaching with my free hand to cup the back of her neck. “You have no idea, Leda, no fucking idea.”

 

Her lips pressed into a thin line, and I sighed, pulling her closer.

 

“I love you,” I growled. “Or else I wouldn’t have come back for you.”

 

It was true. I wouldn’t have been able to leave that place without her by my side.

 

Leda was meant to be with me.

 

She rested her palm against my chest. “Alright. I’ll come with you for now. Where are we going?”

 

I pulled away from Leda’s touch, and cleared my throat. “Back upstate,” I told her. “I can protect you better upstate.”

 

Leda opened her mouth, but I placed my hand on her cheek, rubbing my bloodied thumb over her delicate skin. “I promise, Leda. I promise that I’m going to protect you. I know that my words may not mean anything to you now but it’s all I have to offer. You are the only thing that matters right now, and I’ll never let you go.”

 

Her lips parted, but I was already hobbling away as the yacht started to pull out of the harbor. This was far from over.