Page 79 of Judas (The Lito Duet #2)

“I don’t exactly know. Came back from an appointment with Mavis, my shrink, and found a thousand mile envelope on my bunk.

When I opened it, yours and Sadie’s information poured out.

A new lawyer was assigned to me, my half-attempted parole hearing gave me eligibility, and I was standing at a bus stop before things truly clicked.

My ticket was set for Franklin, where I obviously went. ”

“Why? You were released, why not run the opposite direction and get the hell out of the country?”

“Not an easy answer, Nadia. You’d have better luck figuring out the meaning of life.”

“There is no meaning to life. Depends on how deep you want to go. Scientifically, there is no meaning other than simply existing throughout evolution. Spiritually, I guess, to learn. Learn to love, accept, and forgive…” Her voice trails off almost soberly.

“Fine. I wanted Sadie. You were out of the way long enough for me to grab her, but I knew you would be on her tail next. I was going to get to have both of you.”

“Even if you planned on killing us?” she counters.

“Yes.”

“I don’t understand that part, Lucien.”

“Me either. Well, not now, anyway. After discovering the things lingering inside of Sadie, as well as myself, I can understand how I was easy to manipulate.”

“Don’t blame this on ghouls and goblins—“

“Angels and demons, Nadia, not the same thing,” I say, cutting her off.

“Whatever. You’re a grown man, you take accountability for your actions.

If you kill someone, you serve the time.

If you hurt someone, you deal with the consequences.

Doesn’t matter how uncomfortable they are, you fucking deal with it.

That’s what you need to learn. Not use the excuse of a demon jerking you around like some sort of meaty marionette. ”

Sliding to the end of her chair, Nadia closes the distance a bit.

The ends of her dark pony tail fall over her shoulders.

She looks like Mom and Naamah both, in one unforgiving package.

Storming gray eyes that match my own narrow at me, hands clinching together in her annoyance.

Her lips part to speak but the door cracks open, and in steps the last person we need to see in this situation.

“What the fuck are you doing so close to him?” Kace snaps. The fire in his blue eye doesn’t go unnoticed.

Nadia doesn’t budge, the old side of her rearing its head in defiance. That’s right, sister. Don’t let him control you.

Ironic, Lucien, shut up.

“Talking, what does it look like I’m doing?” Nadia retorts.

Kace steps inside, a few bags in his hands, shoulders squared when he drops them on the kitchen island.

Moving rigidly, prepared for all-out war, he approaches her which renders me curious.

Turning my head more so, I look up at him silently, daring him to do something questionable to her.

I’ll get out of these binds one way or another, just to fuck him up.

His glare shifts from Nadia over to me and back again—fingers flexing in that way people pop the knuckles to calm themselves.

The only person allowed to hurt her is me.

Good conversation, sis. Until… never.

“She wouldn’t have to ask for your permission to speak to me if you didn’t control her, monkey brain,” I jab at him.

He was always so easy to rile up and manipulate, which I have to do more of.

Pain that comes when he beats me is nothing to the giddiness I experience when he shows Nadia he’s not the faultless man Kace believes he is.

Besides, it’s the brotherly thing to do—protect.

Nadia may not have kept my father from being the tyrant he was, but she did save me from hers, and that’s enough. That’s what family does.

“Open your fucking mouth again, Lucien, please. You don’t want to answer questions, fine. I’ll just wire your jaws shut so you can’t speak ever again.”

“Kace, leave him be. We were doing just fine without your interference.”

A salacious grin smears its way along my mouth when she sticks up for me this time. Wonder how much that stings. Knowing his woman isn’t siding with him anymore; instead she’s doing her own thing, standing on her own feet, being her own person.

I’ll never know what it feels like to be my own person, not with Samael squatting inside of me. Spoiling all that remains of the boy. Eventually, he will end up taking full control. My soul will sleuth away from this mortal body and leave the angel trapped, just as Naamah said.

“Don’t let his bullshit manipulate you, Nadia. Jesus Christ, you’re better than that.”

“Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain,” She snaps at him.

“You sound just like him.”

“She is just like me, so is your daughter. Isn’t that exciting?

” Sneering at him, a bark of laughter irritates the air that’s quickly going putrid.

The three of us stew in its sickening broth.

Kace shoots a look of contempt and disgust at me, wrenching his head to the side so fast I’m surprised he doesn’t give himself whiplash.

He’s just a little comical, if I do say so.

Unable to withstand the urge to goad the hell out of him, I pout my bottom lip out and allow my brows to slide into a position of pity. Mockery at its finest.

Hmph, poor Kace.

“You think you’re funny, don’t you? Ladies and gentlemen, here sits the one and only Lucien Bardot. A conniving, objectionable, and damnable waste of space. Do yourself a favor for once and just shut your fucking mouth.”

“Kace!” Nadia shouts, shoving out of her chair to push him back from me. Angling her body between the two of us admirably. Leaning to the side, looking around her, I grin so fully my cheeks hurt, savoring this moment as it will likely never happen again.

“He got into your head, didn’t he? That fucker digging around in the empty space of his skull found the perfect leverage to hold over yours.

Since you’re so easy to read, it’s no wonder he’s manipulated you—absolutely fucking effortless on his part.

Now you’re ready to beg for scraps that he doesn’t have to feed you with, aren’t you?

! Starving for a place to belong. Hate to break it to you, Snitch, you do not belong with him. ”

“You know, it’s not wise to throw stones in glass houses,” I jeer.

Kace tilts his head back, exasperated I’m sure. Hands meeting his hips where they squeeze, doing his absolute best to reign in the anger I’m dying to provoke.

Jabby jabby, one more push.

“Why don’t you tell Nadia what you did, Kace?”

Warmth floods my veins; for the first time in days, I feel elated seeing the one real pupil he has flex and zero in.

The satisfaction I’m experiencing feels like a straight shot of adrenaline to the chest. Fingertips that once faded to a slight shade of blue, cold and lacking circulation, now throb from the way my heart is beating wildly in my chest.

“What is he talking about?” Nadia chimes. The insurmountable weight of her question sucks the air from the room. Suppose it’s a good thing there’s a fiend keeping my body alive—if it wasn’t for the maestro, I wouldn’t get to witness this man annihilate everything he’s worked so hard to accomplish.

If looks could kill, Kace might have just murdered me in a thousand different ways.

Oh, I’m nowhere near done. He’s going to confess his sins and will answer to the only God he knows: Nadia.

Before this is over with, he will recognize the fact he owes everything to my sister, including what’s left of his life.

“Yeah, Kace. Why don’t you tell her how Sadie was the one who killed her adoptive parents—and you were the one who made it happen.”