Chapter 18—Lukiyan

I know I’m walking a thin line the moment I drive back onto the premises of Emilio’s home.

Aleksei and I came up with a sketchy plan that’s risky as fuck, but it’s something in the interim to cover my ass and still help me get what I came here for.

Blood stains on the front door greet me when I walk into the house. The said door is also hanging off the hinges.

More blood covers the marble floors leading to the kitchen and there are men milling about the place who under normal circumstances would be police, but these are actually Emilio’s personal investigation team.

Emilio is standing at the top of the stairs looking haggard, like a man at the end of his days. Yet when he sees me, he rushes down the stairs and hope sparks in his good eye. Even the milky white of his dead eye looks like it has hope too and is pleading with me.

“Please tell me you know where she is,” he begs, and I feel like a complete motherfucker. It’s not because of him though; it’s about her. She’s the only reason I’m feeling anything because she’s my exception. “Please, Persephone is missing, Lukiyan. The cameras show you coming back here with her, then nothing.”

Fuck. Of course, the bastards tampered with the surveillance.

My newly formulated plan enters my mind, and I gear up to initiate it.

“I heard her scream,” I begin, and the light of hope fades from his eyes. “Then there was a car driving off the premises. I followed it, but I was too late. I lost it. I don’t even know if she was in the car. I was hoping to catch them.”

“Oh God.”

He believes me.

I’d be a good nominee for an award for best actor of the year, but there’s nothing honorable about me.

And the reason everything I just said is risky is because whoever the real enemy is, knows nobody took Persephone. I’m just hoping I left my explanation vague enough to include a variety of possibilities for her disappearance.

“I went to talk to some people I thought could help, but they don’t know anything.”

“It was The Order.” He looks like he’s aged again.

“Maybe she got away and they didn’t take her.” Again I leave it vague with something to make him think. That’s exactly what would have happened if I didn’t bring her back here.

“I have to find her, regardless.”

Antonio and Frankie come out of the other room. When Antonio sees me, his face contorts with fury, and he rushes up to me.

“You motherfucker. Why the fuck did you bring her back here!” the fool shouts, balling his hand into a fist to hit me.

I allow him to come at me, but the punch intended for my face doesn’t connect. I step out of the way, so he loses his balance and goes straight into the wall instead.

A growl tears from his throat, and he doubles back, but I stop him in his tracks by slamming him back into the wall.

There’s no way anyone can tell me he’s distraught because his beloved fiancée is missing.

He’s not. What he’ll miss if I never release her is the opportunity he could have had by marrying her.

Despite that, the thing getting to me the most about this guy is he’s genuinely in love with Persephone. I can’t stand that.

I wish I didn’t know that part and could only see him for the control freak and bastard he is. But I know he loves her from the look in his eyes every time he sees her, and the possessiveness he shows when it comes to her.

But I’m the same kind of possessive bastard who wants her to be his.

I’m no different. The only real difference between us right now is that I have the girl and he doesn’t.

“Break it up now!” Emilio bellows like an animal and grabs me.

“What are you going to do, old man?” Antonio challenges.

Emilio answers him with a punch in his face.

“Remember who you’re talking to, boy. Now get the fuck out of my sight and off my property.”

Antonio looks as shocked as I feel.

“Emilio, I want to find Persephone,” he insists.

“No more than me.” Emilio bares his teeth like a feral animal. “Now get the fuck out. Frankie, escort him out.”

“Sure thing, brother.” Frankie nods.

When he takes Antonio, I look back at Emilio.

“Come with me,” he says. “Let’s talk. For real this time.”

I dip my head.

We take the stairs up to his office, where he sits me down.

“I need to find my daughter. I need to. If she managed to get to safety then great. So much the better. If not then I know they’ll kill her. If you know anything about the Order, then you know that’s what they’ll do.”

I bite down hard on my back teeth. This pretense is hard, but it’s what I must do.

“Yes, they will kill her.”

“I want you to look for her. You, personally”

“Me, personally?” I’m curious at his change of attitude.

“You know about The Order, don’t you?”

“I know who they are and how they work.”

“The Camorra don’t have dealings with those people, so I don’t know anyone else with knowledge of them. You were able to identify them straightaway. That’s the level of expertise I need. I also know you care about my daughter.” He says that like it’s a statement of fact. Since my heart forbids me to lie or pretend he’s wrong, all I can do is stare back at him. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have attacked Antonio when he hurt her. You aren’t compromised by whatever is happening here and I think I could trust you to keep her safe. She’ll be in danger out there whether they have her or not. I fear if they don’t have her, she might have used the opportunity to escape.”

“And why do you think she’d want to escape?” I want to hear his reasons from his lips.

“She doesn’t want to marry Antonio. The arrangement stopped her from dancing. I’m only considering the possibility that she escaped because she would have called by now.”

This is good for me. The fact that he’s considering a variety of possibilities gives me some room to work with.

Emilio steeples his fingers and clenches his jaw. “I want to believe she escaped, but even if that’s the case, she’ll still be in danger and there won’t be anyone to protect her. They’ll know she’s my daughter.”

That’s exactly why I couldn’t allow her to do it in the first place.

“Are you going to give me some pointers on why this is happening?”

“I am.” He drags in another breath. “It’s happening because I have the plans for a device I want to sell on the black market. At the moment the plans are on a chip. The chip is what they’re after.”

I didn’t know it was just the plans he had. I thought it was the actual thing. “What kind of device is it?”

“It’s a hacking device. I don’t know how people found out about it, but they did and clearly the only people who could know that about my plans are those who work with me closely.”

“I agree. Any idea who that could be?”

“No. I have no idea, but after the attack the other night, I moved the chip from the hotel and brought it here. Whoever did this knew that and they also want me dead too. That makes me think there’s a bigger plan at work because it doesn’t make sense.”

“What are the benefits of your death?”

“It could be anything, but this feels personal and like it’s to do with the past.”

“What makes you say that?” I considered the possibility but couldn’t find a link.

“The past was an inside job.” He sighs.

That makes sense now, given who he is. No one is supposed to be able to just walk on to his property and massacre his family, but they did. I just thought they managed to do it, but they had the right kind of help.

“What happened then?”

“Another Capo of mine betrayed me when he was bribed by my enemies. Although I killed him, I’ve always felt there was someone else involved. I never knew who. That’s why I keep tabs on my enemies. These long years have passed by and I still feel I’m missing something. Now I’m here again, in what feels like an unresolved matter.”

Maybe the person was waiting for the right opportunity and it’s now.

But why?

If Emilio is right, then something must have changed to open the door for the attacks happening now.

“I was supposed to have died with my wife and brother,” he adds. “We were all supposed to die.”

That suggests unfinished business. “Why didn’t you die?”

“I’d just gotten a business call from a client who needed to meet. I must have been gone for ten minutes when Maya called me letting me know what was happening. Persephone and I only made it out because I was able to get back up. I was too late to save my wife and brother. Frankie got shot while he was trying to save them and stop them from taking my other daughter, Athena.”

“They took her?” More truth is being revealed. I assumed Athena was saved at the same time as Persephone.

“Yes. I found her weeks later, but she was never the same again. Nothing was ever the same again and it was my fault. That’s why I need to find Persephone.”

“Where is the chip now?”

Emilio reaches into his pocket and holds it up. I’m amazed that such a small thing can cause all this trouble.

He slips it back in his pocket. “I have a team working on completing the device. It should be ready in three weeks. My associate will be coming then to take it to Prague for sale.”

Associate. That piques my interest.

“Who is this associate?”

“His name is Judas Kane.”

At the mention of that name, my purpose is renewed and the image of my sister lying dead in a sea of red rose petals floating in her blood floods my mind.

The thirst for revenge fuels me with renewed energy and I remember with perfect clarity why I’m here.

“Have you heard of him?” Curiosity fills his eyes.

“Black market dealer. Yes, I have heard of him.” I try to say that with as much calm as possible and leave out the part where I also know that Judas is a contract killer used by those dabbling in the black market.

“Then you must have an idea of how much this chip and the device are worth.”

“Yes, I do. Does Judas know what’s been happening?” If my goal could be achieved with a phone call to Judas right the fuck now, I’ll take it.

“No. He’s a man of mystery so not even I can summon him when I want. According to how he works, he’s not exactly contactable by phone. We mostly meet in person to discuss business once he’s secured a deal, which he already has. So he’ll be here in three weeks.”

Three weeks it is.

I’ve waited this long; three weeks will give me time to prepare for war and keep Emilio’s ass alive.

“My priority right now is finding my daughter. Please help me find her, Lukiyan.” His eyes plead with me.

“Don’t worry, I’ll do my best.”

I pick up the fake passport Persephone had in her duffle bag and look at it. I saw it last night amongst the other things she got.

She changed her name to Belinda Fairchild. Nice name but I like Persephone Vittorio more.

She has everything in this bag to start a new life.

Her plan to escape was well thought through and someone helped her big time.

I considered that it could have been Raven, but I don’t think it was.

Persephone is a clever girl. She wouldn’t have risked telling Raven because she’s the first person people would question.

This plan of hers was completely covert, so whoever helped her was impartial enough to get away with doing things under wraps.

Still, if she’d disappeared at the fundraiser, no one would be any wiser.

I don’t know where she was going, but it doesn’t matter now.

She’s here with me.

That’s as far as I’ve reached in my plan. I don’t know the next step and now she’s here and not out in the world like everyone believes, I have to be more careful.

I just got back from Emilio’s. Persephone is still asleep.

I tied her up because I need her to fear me. She needs to understand the gravity of her part in the situation, and the risk she is to me.

I need her to understand that we aren’t the same people we were when she wanted me to fuck her.

Everything has changed now.

Well… not everything.

I’m still just as fascinated with her as I ever was.

I won’t be the fool and lie to myself. Part of me wants this because it’s a way to keep her with me for a little longer. I don’t know how long, but I can’t release her any time soon.

I’m supposed to be off duty for the next four days, but now that I’m looking for Persephone, I’ll need to check in with Emilio and make it look like I’m doing my best to find her.

That will only work for so long. I’m hoping I can stretch it out for three weeks.

After that, I’ll still have Persephone to worry about.

Despite what I’ve made her believe, or what I need her to believe, I’m not going to hurt her. I couldn’t, no matter whose daughter she is.

I know that’s irony at its finest, since I’ve kidnapped her.

The bright sunlight beaming through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of my father’s former office shines down on me as I lean against the desk and gaze out to the sea.

It feels weird being in this house without my family. I’ve been here a few times since their deaths but the emptiness always compels me to cut my visits short.

Although this house was a base for business, my father always brought us here on vacation in the summer and sometimes for the thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. He liked New York. I liked it too because it was far away from where I grew up.

It was in this house, in this same room, that he first told me I could call him my father and I did. It was easy because I never had one and Melissa automatically called our adopted parents mom and dad. It was harder for me, but felt right.

This house has been in his family for generations. The staff who worked for my father are still here and maintain the place.

If my father had other family this house would have passed to them. But, like all his other assets, it belongs to me. The net worth of everything combined is something in the range of a billion dollars.

I’m a rags-to-riches story, but no one would ever guess that because of the work I do. And nobody truly knows me.

Aleksei walks into the room as I put the passport back in the bag.

“You’re back. Did they believe you?” He gives me a pensive stare.

“They did.” As far as I know for now. “Emilio also thinks Persephone might have escaped on her own.”

“That’s good for us.”

“It is because Judas is coming in three weeks.”

His face brightens. “You’re kidding. When did you find that out?”

“Emilio told me. So we have to wrap this up by then. I need to get to Judas the first chance I get.”

“I’ll continue monitoring the calls so we know the moment he arrives in New York.”

“Thanks. Can you also do a deeper check on everyone who works for Emilio. He said the massacre in the past was an inside job and thinks the latest attack could be the same person.”

“If it is, does he have any idea why they’d come back now? That happened four years ago.”

“He doesn’t know.”

“Okay, I’ll look into it. What about the girl?”

I take a moment to think. “Leave her to me.”

I glance at the clock on the wall across from us. It’s just eleven.

My little houseguest should be waking up soon.