Page 19 of Beautiful Dangerous

“He’s a killer.”

“And what am I, Lucca? What amI? What areyou? What makesusso different from any of these men?”

“I don’t believe we’re having this conversation… Olivia, these men are dangerous…”

I throw my head back and laugh out loud, he’s seriously telling methesemen are dangerous? I’ve spent years mixing with men – and women – far more threatening than any Devil’s Creed brother. I was married to a dangerous man, someone who taught me how to deal with these people, and Lucca knows that. So I’m not really sure what he’s doing here.

“It’s not your job to tell me who I can and can’t spend time with.”

“Sometimes that’s exactly my job, especially if the choices you’re making are reckless.”

What the fuck’s crawled uphisass?

“I’ve known Angel a long time. I trust him.”

Lucca shakes his head. “No, you don’t trustanyone, Olivia.”

“I trustyou.”

He lets a couple of beats pass, his eyes boring into mine. “But there’s always going to be this tiny part of you that still keeps a wary eye open, I know you, Liv. And I know what Javier taught you.”

“I trusted Javier.”

“We all trusted Javier.”

It’s my turn to glance over at Angel, and he must’ve felt my eyes on him because he turns around and throws me a smile, which visibly irritates Lucca. He doesn’t even try to hide it.

“I think we should have a member of the club on our security team, especially as we’re now bringing them into the cartel. It sends out a message that we’re keeping our allies close. And it provides extra protection for me.”

“You don’t need extra protection.”

My eyes lock on his again, and I narrow mine slightly. “That’s strange, seeing as you’re always telling me I need as much protection as possible.”

He holds my gaze, because that’s what Lucca does. What we both do. We challenge each other, all the time. I’d never call it fighting.

“Ican look after you, Olivia.”

“I know you can. That isn’t in question. And, apart from the fact that I don’t need looking after, that isn’t what they’d be doing. Is it? But what itwouldmean is that some of the load is taken off you.”

“I don’t need any help.”

“IfIthink you need it, you’ll get it. I’ll talk to Eddie.” He wants to carry this on, but I’m finished. I’ve made my decision. “Are we done here?” I sigh, raking a hand through my hair. “We’ve got work to do back at home. We need to make sure we’re ready, for when the time comes to finally end the Pino cartel, for good.”

He comes over to me, and he seems calmer now. Maybe I pushed him a little too far just then, but I’m right. Bringing the Devil’s Creed into our security team, it can’t hurt. We’ll need to expand it soon enough anyhow, so why not start now?

“Thiswillbe finished, Olivia. Soon. I promise.”

I look at him, right into those ice-cold eyes of his. “I hope you’re right.”

His face breaks into a slow smile as he starts backing away, toward the car. “When have I ever been wrong?”

Four

Lucca

“Has anyone seen Olivia?” She wasn’t in her room, she isn’t outside, and I’ve had no messages from her this morning. “Celine? Have you seen her?”

Celine turns around, wooden spoon in hand, and smiles at me. “She went out withSeñorRuiz, about an hour ago.”

---