Page 24 of Devilish

“I know,” Lucien said, sighing as he ran his hand through his hair. “I’ll be there in a couple of hours.” He ended the call and rested his fists on the table, dropping his head as he took a deep breath. I could only stare, my mind whirling, trying to come up with an explanation for why he looked like he’d gone through hell and came up empty.

“Lucien?” I didn’t mean to infringe on the moment he obviously needed, but worry overtook any rational thought.

He looked up, surprise flickering in his eyes, and then straightened. “Kai. I thought you’d be asleep.”

My feet were moving before I’d made the conscious decision to, and when I got close, I could smell the strong scent of smoke and see the singe marks on his pants. I reached out to touch his face, the side that didn’t have cuts and what looked like glass embedded in them.

“Oh my God. What happened?”

“It’s nothing you need to worry about.”

More like nothing hewantedme to worry about. “You look like you’ve been in a war zone.”

“Close enough,” he muttered, and closed his eyes.

When it appeared I wasn’t going to get any more out of him, I went to pull my hand away. But the second my fingers left his face, Lucien took hold of it and brought it back to his cheek.

“Just give me a second,” he whispered, and took a deep breath in, curling his fingers around mine as though he were seeking comfort from my touch.

I don’t know how long we stood there like that, but when he finally opened his eyes again, he lowered my hand and gently entwined our fingers.

“There was an explosion tonight, down at my club.”

I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, butthatwasn’t it. “Anexplosion?”

“Yes.” He squeezed my hand. “No one was hurt—it was after everyone had left. I locked up and was on my way out, and it just…exploded.”

“How?” This was insane. There was no way The Veil wasn’t up to code. Not with the kind of high-end establishments Lucien ran. And the fact that he was standing there telling me no one was hurt when it was clearhehad been, had questions flying outof my mouth before I could stop them. “Is the club going to be all right? How big was the explosion? Will you be able to salvage anything?”

“It’s a complete loss. Nothing’s left. Unless you count the burning shell they were still working on extinguishing when I left.”

“Oh my God… I…I don’t know what to say.”

“There’s nothing to say, but Kai, there’s something I have to tell you.”

Me?Why would he need to tell me anything? I wasn’t the one who’d just watched my business go up in flames.

“Rupert was there.”

Confused, I took a step back, sure that I’d misheard him. “Rupert was where?”

“Outside the club. The explosion threw me out into the road, and when I came to and got to my feet, I spotted Rupert.”

No.I shook my head. He had to be mistaken. Why would Rupert be waiting outside The Veil?

“He was watching me, Kai. Do you understand? He was watching my club burn down.”

Shock slammed into me hard, stealing my breath.

Rupert had been there.

Rupert had been watching Lucien.

Rupert had burned his fucking club down.

I understood exactly what Lucien was telling me, and as the realization hit me thatIwas the reason he had almost died tonight, I yanked my hand from his.

My heart started to hammer, and I brought a fist to my mouth.

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