Chapter 44: Beautiful and Ruthless Poppies
"Lucas!" Jerald stared at Lucas, who suddenly appeared, his face turning ashen.
"Jerald, so this is all that's left of your crew?" Lucas raised his right hand, and a Caporegime behind him respectfully extended both hands, holding an ashtray in his palms.
Lucas stubbed out his cigarette. The refined gesture somehow looked wild and unrestrained when he did it.
Jerald's expression kept changing. "Lucas, we actually have the same goal, don't we? You want revenge on your ex-wife, too!"
"Is that so?" Lucas looked at me, as if wanting to know whether I'd believe him.
"Isabella hid her identity and deceived you for three years. You're actually pretty angry, right?" Jerald said. "She owns the Platinum Haven Hotel and massive wealth, and got herself a servant with extraordinary medical skills. Don't you want to take it all for yourself? Let's work together. Afterward, I can take the blame for you, but you'll have to give me more compensation."
Lucas snorted dismissively. "In your dreams."
Jerald looked at me again, trying hard to drive a wedge between us. "Lucas has surrounded all of us. He wants to take us all out! I can overlook you killing my men. The situation is urgent now. Let's join forces, or we'll all die here tonight!"
I raised an eyebrow. "Why should I trust you?"
"Do you trust Lucas instead?" Jerald's eyes seemed to say I was a stupid woman. "He's already moved on. You don't think he still has feelings for you, do you?"
Lucas's face instantly darkened.
"You haven't figured out the situation yet." I chuckled carelessly, turned on my phone's flashlight, held it out the window, and waved it in all directions.
In an instant, twenty bright outdoor spotlights surrounding CineCruise Drive-In lit up, even outshining the lightning in the sky.
About thirty cars and nearly a hundred people formed a huge encirclement. I heard Roger let out a loud gasp.
Adrian opened an umbrella with a gold handle and cream-colored fabric. I took his hand and got out of the car, smiling slightly at Jerald. "You're the ones who are surrounded."
Excited shouts erupted around us: "Sorelli! Sorelli!"
Car horns echoed through the park, their high beams flashing alternately. The lively scene was thrilling.
I raised my right hand, palm down, and pressed downward. The scene immediately quieted down.
I smiled with satisfaction. Lucas's entrance was impressive, but mine wasn't bad either. Too bad there weren't more spectators.
Jerald gave me a cold laugh with a gloomy expression. "I really underestimated you! But do you dare kill me? My grandfather is Barry McClellan!"
I pushed my tongue against the inside of my cheek. Barry was a high-ranking government official with a lot of power.
"Scared now?" Jerald said smugly. "The rules of the underworld mean nothing to my grandfather! With just one word from him, he can throw you all in prison!"
"How scary." I patted my chest, my tone not scared at all, and instructed Cole: "Cole, escort Jerald home."
Cole grabbed Jerald by the collar and dragged him toward the car. The other Soldati were all stuffed into the cars they came in. No one dared resist.
Except Jerald. He roared in disbelief: "Isabella, you want to hold me hostage? You want to threaten my grandfather? You're crazy! This won't work!"
Cole didn't like noisy people. He just knocked Jerald out and put him in the car.
Cars left one by one. CineCruise Drive-In returned to silence. Lucas and I looked at each other across the rain.
"Looks like I meddled unnecessarily." He curled his lips mockingly and took the umbrella from Alfred's hand, walking toward me.
"Out of courtesy, I'll say thank you." I sneezed. "Let's go back. It's cold enough tonight."
Lucas frowned, saying with displeasure: "You're dressed too lightly. What's the use of being good at taking care of others? You can't even take care of yourself!"
He was suddenly very unhappy. I wanted to say "none of your business," but he handed me the umbrella. "Take it!"
I grabbed the umbrella handle in confusion. Before I could speak, Lucas bent down, hooked his arm under my legs, and scooped me up.
I gasped instinctively, my hands hooking around his neck.
He carried me toward his car. I said somewhat indignantly: "What are you doing!"
"Would you rather drive yourself back?"
"I have a driver!"
"Adrian and Cole are busy." Lucas was the type who had to see things through once he decided to do them. My protest was overruled. He put me in the back seat and took off my soaked shoes.
For ease of running, I'd changed from heels to sneakers in the airport VIP lounge. But the rain was too heavy tonight. The ground at CineCruise Drive-In had a gentle slope, and rainwater pooled at the low points. When I got out of the car, I happened to stand in a puddle. Soon, both feet were soaked through, making me shiver with cold.
I didn't expect Lucas to notice.
He casually tossed the soaked sneakers under the car seat, took out a clean towel from the storage compartment, wiped the moisture from my feet, then skillfully pulled both my feet into his arms, warming them against his stomach.
During the first two years of my escape, I lived in a house below 32 degrees Fahrenheit with no heating in winter. My hands and feet developed frostbite.
After marrying Lucas, he was very disgusted by them, saying more than once that my hands and feet were ugly. But he bought more than ten kinds of chilblain ointments and various hand creams and body lotions, and insisted on checking whether I used them. I once suspected he had some weird fetish.
In the second year of our marriage, my chilblains never recurred. But my hands and feet were always cold. Lucas covered the house with thick carpets and kept the heating high enough to make the house warm. He liked lying in bed with our limbs tangled together, holding each other tightly. So while complaining that I was like an ice block, he'd warm my hands and feet with his own body heat.
There were reasons I fell in love with him.
That's why I couldn't stand him loving another woman, doing for her the things he'd done for me, maybe even more.
Feeling upset, I yanked my feet out of Lucas's arms and pulled out two heat patches from my pocket, placing them on the tops of my feet.
"Alfred, take me to Platinum Haven Hotel," I said loudly.
Alfred glanced at Lucas through the rearview mirror. "Yes, Mrs. Valeri."
"You're not going back to the villa tonight?" Lucas asked.
Me: "Maybe not."
Lucas: "Then I'll go back to keep Grandpa company."
I almost nodded, but caught myself in time. "There's no room for you at the villa."
Lucas: "I can sleep in the living room."
Me: "Why don't you say you'll sleep in the greenhouse?"
Lucas changed the subject. "What are you planning to do with Jerald?"
I turned to glare at him. "I'm warning you, Jerald is my prize!"
"I'm not competing with you." I actually heard a hint of indulgence in Lucas's tone. He asked me, "Are you confident you can handle Barry?"
"Of course. I'll make Barry personally hand over Jerald's territory to me."
Because Barry had long been taking chronic poison, Doyle had treated him. Now I was probably the only person in the world who knew how to prepare the antidote.
I was thinking about how to use Jerald and Barry when I came back to my senses and found Lucas looking at me.
"You set up tonight's trap?" Lucas asked.
"Yes. So what?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Very good." Lucas reached out to pinch my chin, his thumb ambiguously caressing my cheek. "This is the first time I've seen you so ruthless and fierce, like a deadly flower in bloom."
Lucas leaned down and bit my lip. "Beautiful."