Page 63 of Judas (The Lito Duet #2)

Sadie is cackling in the same way she did in the park, her head snaps side to side, every wiggle of her fingers flings blood on herself.

Blood I need to— stop, Lucien, you’re slipping, too .

I can’t help it; she’s beautiful. Inside and out and my soul calls to her.

She deserves tranquility, serenity, peace that only death can deliver.

He can’t take her, not when she’s so close to amputating the voices.

Break, Sadie, break.

Babel is on the move, the energy in me is so immense it makes my chair rock. Bending down, he scoops Sadie up— my Sadie —and carries her to the door.

“Give her back!” I roar. The sound births from deep in my chest.

Kace crossed the room when I started to fight harder, righting my chair so it wouldn’t tip over with me in it.

His hand shoots out and grabs a fistful of my hair, yanking my head back and to the side, making me watch Babel leave the apartment with Sadie.

Capitalizing on my distress—sadistic asshole.

“You see her, Lucien? You still think she belongs to you, that rotten brain of yours clinging to some weird fucking notion that both of them are yours to keep, refusing to let them go. This will be the last time you ever see my daughter. She is not yours, she will never belong to you, she is not a part of your insane fantasy of acceptance and family. Do I make myself clear?!”

Heat, uncontrollably scorching heat, floods my veins. I turn on him even as he holds my range of motion hostage with his unforgiving grip.

“They’re my blood! Your monkey brain will never fathom what it’s like to be us. What it means to be part of a family that’s deranged and discarded like ours. You’re an outsider, a vagabond, and I cast you out!”

I’ve been demonized for my possessive behavior For claiming two individuals others ruled as undeserving and barred from existing. Their souls belong to me—all mine. They’re a fucking part of me!

“They’re mine!” The sound of my voice booms through the apartment.

Pain shoots through my face when Kace’s fist connects with my eye socket, momentarily blinding me and sending me into a daze.

Knowing I’m not going anywhere, my hands grip the armrests of the chair I’ve lived in for the past couple of days, hoping to ground myself—things running raw between all of us.

The anxiety hits an astronomical level now that Sadie is injured and the unpredictability of her behavior is rousing my devils.

“Kace!” Nadia wails but the man is too far gone. Showing his true colors—the ones Nadia has yet to see.

“Fucking MINE,” Kace growls, rage fills his expression. He’s close enough to hit me again, his left hand rubbing the knuckles of his right. Don’t guess it feels to fucking good punching me, does it asshole?

“That little girl is my goddamned DNA. That woman belongs to me heart, body and fucking soul. Do you hear me, you psycho piece of shit?! You kneel for a god who abandoned you so he could hide in a corner and watch his prized possessions maim and kill each other. Nadia, though? She kneels for me.”

Kace’s words feel like acid as they sear me across the psyche and heart.

I can almost feel the little boy I placed up on the top of the proverbial shelf in my head for safekeeping, weeping.

Little Lucien is curled up, away from the edge as small as he can get, hiding from the angry man who’s come to hurt him.

“Y… you’ll never understand. You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth.

Didn’t experience pain until your father left you and even then, your family still chose you.

I chose Nadia. I’ll always choose Nadia, and that also means HER daughter.

The only one of us who made an attempt to be part of her life. ”

“Doesn’t matter what the hell you’ve convinced yourself of. One thing is for damn sure: the only thing that’s keeping me from chopping your head off is the fact that you’re Nadia’s brother. She may not be ready to end your pathetic life, but believe me when I say this, I am .”

The last two words that come out of his mouth are eerily calm compared to the way he was shouting beforehand.

“Kace, let…let him go.”

An indignant sneer overwhelms his countenance—I hate him.

“The Cartel brought me in after they scraped me off the floor of the pit. Taught me things you’ve never had the skill set to show off—I had to have practice, you know.

Wasn’t ever a fan of your pops, right? Didn’t mean much to you, abused your mom, twisted and bent you into the vile thing you are now.

Well, let’s just say he met your maker. That first murder was gruesome—I knew if I was ever going to bring you down, I’d need to be disciplined, to prepare.

You remember what that’s like, right, Lucien? Your first murder?”

Feeling my eyes shift left to right, one still blurry, I look over to Nadia where she stands. A frailer version of the savage officer she once was, the one who beat me with a baton. The one who kept murderers and the dregs of society on leashes, even if only for a little while.

Kace hovers near my ear, looking at Nadia as he whispers into the small canal. Watching her shift uncomfortably, I don’t mistake the glimmer of tears as they drip down the face that is a near carbon copy of our mother, the physical reincarnation of Samael’s wife.

“I forgot to tell you, I took the liberty of digging up your dear mother’s grave and dumped Dad’s decaying corpse right on top of her bones. He’ll torture her in the afterlife now. All because you wanted to obsess over the wrong woman—my woman.”

“You… you promised.” Nadia’s sniffling. Her hands reach up to wipe the tears from her face in harsh and hasty swipes—masking the hurt.

Instead of pain and heartache written in her features, there’s ire.

Not what I was expecting, surprised by her like I have always been.

Every interaction, truly, has been unpredictable and this is no different.

I can’t tell who she’s mad at now. Me, for all my years of fucking her up, or him for hurt… hurting me.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” she grills him, her eyes shift from me to Kace. He releases me with a hard shove forcing my head abruptly to the side. Relief rolls down from my scalp through my aching neck and into my shoulders.

“Everything, babygirl. You’ll learn in time.”

“Am… am I trading one psychopath for another? Because I don’t think I can handle any more of this.”

“Look at that, I didn’t have to say anything after all. Ruining this reunion all on your own. Second chance be damned.”

“Shut up, Lucien.” His voice is softer now, the agitation starting to lift—capricious, aren’t we?

“Well?!” Nadia’s voice thunders.

“No, baby. You’re not trading one for another. Maybe one for someone who’s livid, but not one who’s touched in the head.”

“Should have listened to me when I told you not to touch what isn’t yours. We wouldn’t be in this situation if you kept your distance.”

It’s an asinine jab, I know, but the more he acts this way, the less she will want him. She might actually embrace me if I vow to not harm her anymore. There’s always a chance, right? Took a vow to God nearly thirty years ago, I can vow to her for the next thirty.

“Nadia, baby, come here. Please,” Kace asks, placing his hand out for her to take like some sort of chivalric gentleman.

At first she’s hesitant, the angry tears drying up while he waits patiently for her to approach him.

My heart sinks when she does, her smaller hand sliding into his just before he draws her in.

He cups her face when she’s finally standing in front of him, thumbs brushing over her tear-warmed cheeks.

She reaches for his wrists, her fists surrounding them, holding on to him like he’s going to keep his hollow promises.

Gullible bitch.

“Swear to me…” Nadia mutters.

“I swear.” The response is immediate.

“You don’t even know what I was going to have you swear to.”

“Doesn’t matter. If it makes you happy, feel safer, or more secure in this chaos, I’ll swear.”

“When everything is said and done, you won’t hurt anyone anymore.”

“I swear.”

Liar .

“When he breaks that promise, come find me.” Adding in my two cents.

Kace smiles, not looking at me. Nadia’s gray eyes are pinned to him.

Waiting to see what he’s going to do. To be fair, his promise doesn’t begin until I’m tucked away and they’re moving on.

I’ll never let them move on—it doesn’t matter where I am at or what people are doing to me.

I pledge to haunt them for the rest of their lives, one way or another.

There’s a shift in the room when he guides her closer to me, depositing her on my lap just like Sadie was before sending me off to mental torture. Nadia tenses, trying to push up from me but Kace coos her.

“Be my good girl and stay there.”

“W… why?”

“Cause I’m going to show him why you will never run to him.”