LUCIEN

 

JACKSON WALKS INTO my office the next morning with a puzzled look on his face.  He's dressed in a light blue long-sleeve shirt and dark jeans, looking bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and all that crap --- the exact opposite of me.

"You look like shit," he tells me, never one to pull any punches.  "Did you sleep at all last night?"

I shake my head solemnly.  After I learned the truth about my little captive, I couldn't shut my brain off long enough to even get a wink of sleep.

And as if not sleeping wasn't enough punishment, I ambled into the state-of-the-art gym on the first floor and ran for hours on the treadmill, my feet pounding away until my mind and body were devoid of anything but pain and exertion.

Jax shifts from one foot to the other nervously.  I'm sure he has a lot of questions on his mind, but he's not going to ask them.  He knows better.  Instead, he says, "You didn't say anything about getting the plane ready today."

I simply shrug, not really wanting to talk about the inner conflict I'm having about sending Adeline away.

"Well, you slept with her last night, so ---."

I narrow my eyes at him.  "How do you know we slept together?" I demand.

"Luc, relax.  My bedroom is right down the hall.  I could hear…everything," he says with a  knowing smirk.

The fact that my cousin was privy to hearing Adeline's pleasure-filled cries angers me beyond belief.  I stand, my hands curling into fists.  "From your room…or from right outside the door?" I ask him calmly even though I'm anything but calm right now.

It wouldn't be the first time Jax has overstepped his boundaries and been a voyeur.

It's kind of his thing.

He stares down at the floor, and I immediately know the answer.  Swiping a hand down my face, I shake my head and say, "I would tell you that you have a serious problem, but we both know who the more fucked-up man in the room is."  I flash him a sardonic smile.  "Your…fetish is nothing compared to what I'm dealing with up here," I say while tapping on my temple.

He chuckles and glances up at me again.  "Sorry, Luc.  It's just…she's so…oh, wow, her voice…damn, how many times did you make her come last night?  I personally lost track of ---."

His words fuel the fire enough to cause an explosion of anger within me.  Before he can even finish talking, I have him pushed up against the wall, my forearm pressed against his throat.  "You're overstepping again, Jax," I hiss at him through gritted teeth.

His fingers pry at the long sleeve of my shirt as he chokes out, "Okay!  Okay!  I'm sorry!"

I release him, and he bends over, sucking in air and coughing.

"Jesus.  You never cared before."

And he's right.  I never did.  It's not like this is the first time I've caught Jax listening in on me with one of my girls.

But Adeline isn't just a number to me.  She's special.

"She's different, though, isn't she?" Jax asks as if he had just been reading my damn thoughts.  "You're possessive over her.  More than you've ever been before.  Hell, maybe for the first time ever."

I simply shrug at his comment, neither affirming nor denying.  Frankly, it's none of his damn business.

"So tell me why you're not sending her packing then.  They always leave the morning after, Luc.  Always."

I close my eyes for a second and pinch the bridge of my nose.  I didn't want to share this information with anyone, let alone Jax, but I know he won't let up until I do.  "She's not safe."

"And you know this how?"

"Last night after we…"  I let my voice trail off, because I still feel a tinge of guilt for sleeping with Adeline, who, unbeknownst to me, is clearly here against her will.  "Adeline told me that she's engaged."

"She's what?" Jax practically yells.

I glare at him.  "She also told me that she was kidnapped, knocked unconscious by the gunman.  Stolen right off the fucking streets."

"Holy shit," he breathes, slowly absorbing all of this new information.  "That explains the nasty bruise on her temple," Jax confirms.

I nod.  "I spent all night researching her and her family.  She's Salvatore Valenti's youngest daughter."

The mere mention of that name has Jax straightening his spine and his eyes widening.  He knows the FBI has been wanting me to take down the Valenti empire for a long time now.  I've been slowly building my case against the entire clan, wanting to ensure that no one goes free and that they get the max time for their crimes.

What the FBI doesn't know is that I've been buying willing girls from someone in that said empire.

Well, willing…until now.

I have a long list of bad guys, and I've been ticking them off slowly one by one.  In exchange for my help, the U.S. government looks the other way on some of my illegal extracurricular activities on the dark web and how I make most of my money.

"Giovanni Morello, Adeline's fiancé, is the one who sold her to me.  Conveniently, it was at the same time her father was going to be across the country for a few weeks.  I think Morello set up the kidnapping to cover his own ass in case Valenti came to find out." I tell Jax and brace for my words to floor him.

I'm not disappointed.  Jax is rendered speechless for a very long time, which is so unlike him.  Jax is the complete opposite of speechless on any normal given day.

I myself had trouble grasping the concept of why a man, who clearly has everything in the world, would want to give it up.  My only conclusion is that Giovanni Morello needed the money.  Badly.

Money is the root of all evil, after all.

And I know that better than most, unfortunately.

"Does Adeline know all of this?" he asks quietly.

"No.  And I don't plan on telling her anytime soon."  I sigh and shake my head.  "I can't let her go knowing she's in danger.  What if he sells her again?"  That question has bothered me more than I'd like to admit.  If he was willing to sell her once, he could do it again…multiple times.  What's stopping him?  If Salvatore Valenti couldn't stop him, I don't think anyone could.

"So you need more time, more information.  Is that it?"

"Yes," I say, but I'm not being totally honest.  The fact of the matter is I have all the information I need to bring down her fiancé or, hell, to even have him killed.  But I don't want to bring down the Valenti empire.

Not yet anyway.

I know I should return Adeline without giving two fucks about whether she'll be safe or not.  After she leaves here, she's no longer my problem.

But the sick, twisted side of me wants to keep her.

I want…more.

This woman does something to me that I can't explain.  And the thought of letting her go feels like someone is taking a knife straight to the black, deep cavity of where my heart would be beating…if I even have one.  I always thought I didn't.  It was so much easier to be cold, closed off and detached from the world around me and everyone in it.

But Adeline is different.  She makes me feel.  And as terrified as I am to find out what more I can gain from our fucked-up relationship in this even more than fucked-up situation, I can't let her go.  She's like a powerful drug…and I am hopelessly and desperately addicted to her.

I tell Jax none of this.  I need him to believe that she's in danger.  I can't possibly let him know the crazy ideas swirling in my head about keeping her, about not wanting to let her go…ever, and certainly not about wanting her over and over again, which breaks all of the rules.

"I can't let her go until I know she's safe," I tell him, the half-truth slipping out easily.

Jax gives me a nod in agreement.  "Then we'll just extend her stay for a while," he says quietly.  "When are you going to tell her?"

"Tonight.  At dinner."

"I'll be there," Jax says before standing and walking out of my office.

I don't stop him and I don't tell him I don't want him there, because the truth of the matter is I need his support.

Adeline has a way of ripping me to shreds with a single look.

And if I know her as well as I think I do already…

She's going to hate me when I tell her that I'm keeping her.