Chapter 123: Applause, Applause

Chapter 123: Applause, Applause
Lynn

We were just woken up by an extremely early morning phone call right after we had just apparently made a porno. Damon hesitantly answers. I can tell by his curt answers that this is a business call...an alarming business call. I could hack his phone and see everything, but I won't. I want him to tell me, so I snuggle up beside him and rest my hand on his shoulder and one on his thigh as we sit on the side of the huge bed. Ardin watches us from his side of the bed. He hangs up after about a ten-minute conversation. “So?”

He sighs and looks away. “I was hoping to avoid this.”

“Just tell me.”

Damon looks into my eyes. “Monday evening, we have a dinner date with Hades.”

I cock my head. “Hades or Serge?”

“I'm not sure anymore,” he replies.

I gasp and put my hand over my mouth. Ardin purses his lips. “Told you that you shouldn't have played with them both.”

“I backed off, as did he. It ended amicably.”

Ardin shakes his head. “You thought what you did in college did, too.”

Damon looks between us. “What's the whole story? All I know is that I had to talk him down.”

“Well, I didn't end him just like I didn't end the O'Sheas. The Marconis,  I just gave a warning to. As for the other Italians, I merely showed them the light.”

Damon growls. “What did you do!?!?”

I sigh. “T and I were kinda dating at the time. Chris was in the wind. Come to find out, Chris was working with the O'Sheas, but not the ones I trusted. Chris sought to hurt Levi. Levi was a friend to me during that time. I told him to be careful, but he's bullheaded. So I included him in what I did.”

“You didn't! I know Lady Darkness had a small hand in it. But you didn't…”

I know what he's struggling with. He's struggling with the war I caused, controlled, and ended.“Yes, I did. We are the ones who set up both the Russian and the Irish mobs. We helped the Italians, who at the time were working with the Feds. We ended many families and taught a lesson to others.”

“Fuck! Serge probably knows, Lynn!”

“We kept Chris clean. After I learned what he did all these years later, that's my only regret. Who all did you give Chris to?”

“Serge, Michael Marconi, and Levi O'Shea.”

I take a breath. “Well, they all hate Lady Darkness. Well, Serge might like her, but he hates me. While Levi and Michael love me. So they most likely tortured Chris for me, not for what he did.” I sigh. “But Serge…”

Damon nods, “Yeah, it was beyond personal for him. Did Chris suspect that you were Lady Darkness?” I shook my head no. “Then that only leaves one reason why he called.”

“That being?”

“A debt owed,” Damon says flatly.

“What sort of debt?”

“He took a bullet for me that would have killed me and nearly killed him,” he says. Great, just fucking great. Damon owes Serge a blood debt.

“Lynn, stress isn't good for you or the baby. It's still so early, please,” Ardin pleads.

I fall back onto the bed. “I know. So what does he want?”

“A contract. I just thought he might give them up like I did when I started chasing you,” Damon admits.

“I know what I found in his archives. The contracts looked like Dom/Sub ones. Also, businesses dealing with shipments. Looks like he has stuck to just guns for the last four years, almost.” I need to try and make sense of why Serge is doing this now.

“You are correct,” he replies.

“Your contract isn't for guns, is it?” The moment Damon shook his head no, I knew. “Well, I'm not some contract that can be negotiated, so if he thinks…”

Damon puts his hand up. “Kitten, retract those claws.”

I curl my nose. “I trust you, but I don't trust others, and you know that.”

Damon says, “I know. He's known as The Negotiator for a reason, and he usually gets what he wants.”

I laugh. “Tough titty for him, because so do I. He's never gone up against anyone like me. I won't lose now either. It's a public meeting, right?”

“Yes, it's at Armond's,” he answers. I grin. “Let me guess, you know the owner.”

“Better, I'm part-owner.”

Ardin smiles, “You bought into it before me.”

“Yes, it held meaning. It's where my parents and the Marconis dined not long before they were killed.”

Ardin nods, “I know that you and them go way back.”

“Since I was a young girl. They are my second family. We were all happy then, and planning my sweet sixteen. I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to go with Chris. I was going to ask Bastain, and if he turned me down, I was going to go with both Michael and Mattia.”

Bastian West, my first real love. He's also the one who got away. I used to dream of him now and then, but they're getting more frequent. It's like my mind is trying to prepare me to see him and Jacob again. I hope for a reunion, but I don't know how it will go. Have they missed me as I did them? “So let Serge's security do whatever, because I will have mine in place too. I'm going armed and we are telling T. I'm not above serving Serge his cock and balls on a silver platter.”

Damon chuckles. “They will probably only want us.”

I smile. “Let them. I have an underwire bra and a clit piercing for all they'll know.”

Damon cocks his head, “What if they want to do a more thorough search?”

“I have a plan.”

Damon rolls his eyes. “Of course you do. So what is it?”

“I'll wear a bloody pad. Let them risk searching a menstruating woman with mood swings and who's very well recognized in the public sector now. I can make one hell of a scene.”

He chuckles. “You're a fucking evil genius.”