Page 52 of Sugar Coated

Call me weak. Call me pathetic. Call me whatever you want, but I didn’t want her to see me like this, not while I wasn’t at my best. Someday, I would tell her the whole truth, but not tonight, so I remained motionless in my car, a hand against my wound, waiting for her to return to the party.

Except, as I slowly opened my eyes, I saw she didn’t go back to the party. In fact, I found I wasn’t the only one watching her—a van had pulled up near where she was, and multiple men with ski masks over their heads leaped out and grabbed her. They pulled her into the van and drove off before I could jump into action myself. The pain in my stomach was a reminder that I was not at my top performance.

Shit.

The van drove off, going God knew where. Fortunately for Laina, I was on the van’s tail, though I made sure to keep a respectable distance between our vehicles, so as to not arouse suspicion from the group of kidnappers. I might not be able to fight, but I sure as shit could drive. The pain could wait. Right now, Laina was my top priority.

Across the city, the van drove to an area where the houses were old and a bit run-down, a place where nothing was new and broken-down cars littered the driveways and yards. The perfect place to hold a captive; I would know.

I turned off my car’s lights as I turned onto the same street the van had. I pulled to a stop a few houses down, watching asthe van parked on a driveway and the masked men carried an unconscious Laina to the house under the cover of darkness.

Whatever jealous rage had filled me at the party was replaced by a different sort of fury, the kind that could only be quenched with blood. I didn’t often fly into murderous rages, but this situation definitely called for it.

Only… fuck. I couldn’t go in there. There might’ve been more men in the house. With the current state my body was in, I was no match for a group of assailants—but I couldn’t just leave her in their hands, either. I had to save her, but how?

A groan left me as I leaned over the center console and went for the glove box. Beneath the insurance registration and some other stray papers, I had a burner phone and a charger for it, tucked away. I plugged it in, got it booted up, and sent a text to the one person I knew would come save her.

I might not have liked the man too much, but when he saw the text, when he realized Laina was indeed gone, he’d come. I was certain he’d faced worse odds in the past.

Mike would save Laina when I couldn’t.

And he had. I’d watched from my darkened vehicle, waiting, hoping that he would get there in time to save her. Fang had even shown up, and together they’d saved her when I couldn’t. They’d played heroes while I had been forced to sit in my dark car and wait—and then, after Laina was saved, I’d taken care of myself—had to do it before the sun rose, because I had to drop my car off in the garage and turn the cameras in the house back on.

I couldn’t go home right away. No, I had to give it a bit of time, so that’s what I did.

Fast forward to now, to the stupid charity dinner that wasn’t fooling anyone, and it was finally time. I didn’t anticipate ithappening quite like this, but I couldn’t deny that nagging feeling inside of me any longer. I had to tell her the truth.

The full truth, not just about me being the man behind the mask, but the entire thing.

Something in her eyes shifted when I touched her, like her mind was instantly set aflame, and when I lifted a finger to my mouth and made the same shushing gesture I always made when I wore the mask, it finally clicked. She knew.

She knew and then she ran out of the room.

I watched her go, and then, almost immediately after, Mike and Fang slipped out of the room as well, undoubtedly to find her and make sure she was all right. I had to wrestle with myself over that, over them. Of course I was grateful that they were able to save her when I couldn’t, but that did not make it any easier to know she cared for them in ways I wanted her to care only for me.

But, I supposed, it would be best if we were all on the same page, so I would give them a few minutes before I found them, wherever they went. Until then, I smiled and chatted, played the part my sister wanted me to.

It was what I was good at, until Laina.

That girl… she really screwed everything up for me. Until her, I had been content with my lot in life, doing what I was told, being the attack dog, so to speak. It was just Tessa and me, no other siblings. As the younger brother, I always did what I could to keep my sister safe, and as the eldest sibling, she guided every choice I ever made.

Except one.

I waited a while before I excused myself, and I ignored the subtle glare my sister gave me as I stepped away from the conversation. On my way out, I grabbed a glass of champagne from one of the waiters and downed it in one sip. Now would bethe time for something a little stronger, but I had to take what I could get.

It didn’t take me long to find where they were: the closest restroom, although here they called it a powder room. How uppity. While my sister had always been in search of money and the power that came with it, I never saw much of a point. The rich were all smiles to the world, but behind closed doors they were some of the sickest fucks you’d ever meet. Psychos and sociopaths in suits and name-brand dresses.

I set the empty glass down and cracked my neck as I stared hard at the restroom door. If I had to guess, I’d say I’d walk in there and get the opposite of a warm reception. I’d be on the receiving end of Mike’s fury, at the very least. Maybe a bit of Fang’s.

But I didn’t care about them. I only cared about Laina, and I knew in my soul she wouldn’t let them hurt me.

After all, I was her Devil.

I pushed inside the restroom, coming upon a seating area. Laina was seated with Fang kneeling before her. Mike, on the other hand, had his pistol in one hand, and he was the first to react to my intrusion.

In the blink of an eye, he cocked his pistol, grabbed me by the throat, and set the barrel of the gun against my temple, the only sound leaving him that of a furious growl. In this instance, he was every bit the guard dog he was told to be, his hazel stare radiating nothing but hatred.

I didn’t give him much of a reaction. The only thing I did was blink at him and give him a grin. “I assume she told you, then.”

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