Page 68 of Cruel Existence

I closed the door and walked into the hall.

Ciro instinctively wrapped an arm around me as soon as I appeared. My knees shook, and my palms were sweaty inside the gloves. I believed I had masked it all from Luka, but he knew the words that crippled me. The ones he had whispered in my ear when he had taken me to bed when he was buried inside me. He knew he had ruined any chance of another man taking his place. He was cruel and five years later, nothing had changed.

“We’re leaving now,” Ciro stated. “It’s not safe for you here.”

I nodded my head. “Okay.” I couldn’t argue. I had to get as far away from Luka as I could.

Thirty

LUKA

By the time all the guests had left, and I knew Babushka, Katya, and my mother had retired for the night I called a meeting with Viktor and Nikoli.

Viktor looked as if he had aged like a president in the five years I’d been gone. His hair was gone from the top, and there were heavy lines around his eyes. Deep crevices from stress. Lines that developed from the dark secrets he kept for my family. I knew the man had been working around the clock since my father died, but it was more than black circles under his eyes.

“We need to move quickly,” I stated. “Papa always wanted me to run the organization from here once I moved from Paris. Are there papers to sign? Just put them here.” I tapped the top of my father’s desk. I was impatient. I was unsteady from running into Amara at the funeral.

She was under my skin. In my head. Wrapping tentacles around my heart.

I reached for the crystal decanter on the corner of the desk. I poured a rich bourbon. I wouldn’t let it register that I was the man sitting behind the desk now.

Nikoli sat in a chair and offered him a drink. He had a lot to absorb in a short amount of time. We were both present to let my father’s legal advisor fill us in. I wanted Nikoli to be my eyes and ears in the city. I needed someone I could trust when everything had become so unfamiliar.

“Luka, we have a lot to discuss about your father’s estate.” I saw the weariness blanket Viktor.

“Is there a question about the will?” I asked. “A dispute? I thought that was rock solid.”

“No. Nothing like that. You are the sole heir with specific requests on behalf of your mother and Katya. There are notes to set up a trust to keep the Petrovs from receiving anything.”

“Of course,” I muttered. Family had boundaries.

“Is it the off-shore accounts?”

Viktor sighed. “I think I should start with these.” He shoved a file across the desk. I opened the top flap.

“What the hell is this?” I saw the ledgers. The numbers. The property listings. “This is the warehouse district. And the distillery.” I glared at Viktor.

“There are more.” He handed me a second file thicker than the first.

I flipped through the pages. “I don’t understand. There are second mortgages. Third mortgages. Losses. On every single fucking property.” I skimmed the notes. “What organization is this? Who does my dad owe this money to?” I gulped thebourbon, trying to decide what was fact or fiction. “Is this a real company?”

Viktor crossed his leg over his knee. “It’s very real.”

“Carpe Noctem, LLC?” I closed my eyes as the pain of a knife sliding between my ribs might feel. “It’s not possible. It can’t be.” I look toward the ceiling.

“It’s Amara Amato. You should know she has notes like this all over town. She owns New Orleans now.”

“Amara? That girl I dated.” She was a stranger to me now.

“She studied furiously under her father before his passing,” Viktor explained. “He taught her his techniques. They’ve worked for her.”

“What the actual fuck, Viktor?” I cast a warning glance at Nik. “Did you know?”

I heard whisperings at the funeral home last night. People commented. I saw how the families eyed her at the cathedral today. She revealed herself in the confessional. The rumors were true. I knew she had power. But this kind of power was unreal.

“She’s fair. Respected. But she’s not backing down or going away. She’s made a mark here. Most of the organizations like doing business with her,” Nik answered.

“Why?” I was fucking dumbfounded. “She was supposed to move back to Philadelphia after Lorenzo was taken out,” I groaned. “She shouldn’t be here.”

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