Chapter 28—Lukiyan

Aleksei and I walk into the house just before midnight.

The bullet tore through my side.

The wound is enough to keep a man in the hospital, but not me. As long as I can move, I’m walking.

I got stitches and left the hospital with pain meds, bandages, and the order to rest.

However, there’s no way I can rest when fucking Antonio got away.

Apart from being a threat, he looked like he recognized Melissa from the picture. If that’s the case, I could be compromised because now he’ll know she meant something to me.

Even if I am compromised, I have more shit on him than he has on me and my master plan is in motion. Time is on my side and I’m hours away from killing Judas.

So I’ll take the next few hours to recoup and save my strength for him.

“You alright?” Aleksei asks as I lower onto the sofa in the living room.

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be good by morning.”

“Just focus on Judas.”

“Trust me I am.”

After I kill Judas, my job is done here, but I have one woman who doesn’t belong to me that I have to return. I just have to make sure she’s safe.

That means I’m not going anywhere until I take down Antonio.

Persephone is sitting in the garden on the stone bench.

The goddess is watching over the flowers the way I imagine the mythical Persephone would—with awe and adoration.

It’s nearly eight, and I have a lot planned for today. Seeing her was the first order of business.

She shuffles when she sees me and brightens when her gaze lands on the duffle bag in my hands.

“My bag.”

“It’s about time I gave it back to you.” I hand her the bag and sit next to her.

“Thank you. I appreciate that. Are you okay? You look a little pale.”

That’s the least of my worries.

My side aches like a motherfucker, but I’m holding up well. So much so that no one would ever guess that I was shot.

It’s not the first time that’s happened to me, and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

“I’m fine.” It’s a lie. I’m not okay, and that’s not down to my physical pains. “I have something else for you.” I take out the contract she signed and hold it up.

She looks uncomfortable at the sight of it, but when I tear the document down the middle, terror washes over her face.

“What are you doing? Has something changed? Are you going to hurt my father?”

“No, I’m not. I’m not going to hurt him. I’m actually taking you back home in an hour.”

Now she looks shocked. Persephone’s full lips part and a wealth of confusion fills those autumn-colored eyes. “I don’t understand.”

“You’re free. You’re going home. I told your father I found you.”

I called Emilio a few hours ago to let him know I found his daughter. It was a better conversation than the one we had last night about Antonio getting away.

I’d already decided yesterday that I would do this, but I was still holding on.

“Lukiyan, if I go home, I will be in the same situation. I can’t marry Antonio. I can’t marry him after being with you.” Her eyes cling to mine with a desperation that makes me wish I could have done things differently to be with her.

Once again, she’s baring her soul to me, but I don’t deserve it. I never did. My decision to let her go is perhaps the first right thing I’ve done in years.

“You won’t have to marry Antonio. He was the person responsible for trying to kill your father and the massacre in the past too.”

Her mouth drops open. “What! That’s … oh my God. Really? Antonio?”

“Yes.” I can understand her confusion. Something doesn’t quite make sense, but it’s not my problem. I’ve already identified the bad guy, and I’m only going to take him down because I don’t want him to have her. The motherfucker still thinks she belongs to him. She doesn’t.

“I think he wants your father dead so he can take over the empire sooner,” I explain further. “Now we know what he’s up to, the deal’s off.”

She brings her hands up to her cheeks. “I just can’t believe it. It was him all along. He’s the reason I lost so much. My mother, my sister, my uncle …Maya….”

“I’m sorry. It’s in hand now. Your father knows what Antonio has been up to, so he’ll have his men looking for him and I will be there too. I’ll help with the search to make sure you’re safe”

“Thank you for doing this.”

“You know you don’t have to thank me for that.”

“I do. I’ve only felt safe when I’m with you.”

I brush over her cheek, thinking of the paradox we are.

What happens now, Lukiyan?” Her gaze clings to mine. “Do we go back to how we were before?”

“If all goes to plan, I should be able to get my sister’s killer today. But once we find Antonio, I’m going back to L.A.”

Her face pales. “L.A? So I won’t see you again?”

“Persephone, I don’t think we were supposed to meet, and I don’t think you were ever supposed to know me. I certainly know, above everything else, that you deserve better.”

“But you saved me in so many ways.”

“Hades loved Persephone.” I gaze deep into her eyes so she can see that I’m really trying to tell her I love her.

“Persephone loved Hades.”

I bite down hard on my back teeth as her words pour over me like rich, warm honey, unlocking something more in my heart. Something I have to sacrifice too if I really love her.

“Love’s not enough.”

“Why? Why wouldn’t it be?”

“Look what I did to you. I forced you. I wasn’t your choice. If I were a good man, this wouldn’t exist.” I hold up the remnants of the contract and stand. “You need to go home to your father. He truly loves and misses you. And you need to dance so the world can see you and love you as much as everybody else who wanted you to dance. You know I’m right, Persephone. I’m right, and when you think of it, I’m just a different kind of monster who stole you away. I’m just choosing to do something good for once in my life.”

She can’t answer because everything I said is true.

“Be ready in an hour,” I add, then walk away.

I wish I felt better about giving her up.

If it was such a good thing, why do I feel like I just damned my soul even more than it already is?