Page 66 of Captured Solace

“Stop this, Lucien,” she said, her voice husky. “If you want to fight, go outside and do it.”

Duran appeared, holding up a hand. “Iris, darling, for the love of God, please take them upstairs. This is about to get ugly.”

This time, Iris was scared enough to take Sienna and Olivia’s hands and pull them toward the steps. They paused in the middle of the stairs as my wife pulled away and ran back down to me, grabbing me by the arm. Her face was pale and her dark eyes wide, her lower lip trembling.

“Viktor, let’s just go,” she whispered.

I stared down at her, at her tear stained face, and it clicked. She wasn’t afraid, she was guilty. Icy cold flooded me, freezing the pit of my stomach as a horrible realization hit me.

My wife had betrayed me. She had somehow found out about Boston and she’d told Lucien. Instead of coming to me and trusting me to explain myself, she’d gone to her fucking cousin behind my back. I looked down at her hand on my arm and the world slowed as I tried to process her betrayal.

Fuck, this hurt.

Why had I allowed myself to fall in love with her? If I had just shut her out and used her for pleasure like I had with all the other women, none of this would have happened.

I could scarcely feel anything through the shock settling in like a wave of stillness over me. I’d lived with this woman for weeks, slept beside her, spent endless evenings sitting and talking with her. I’d fucked her speechless and left my marks all over her body. I’d slept so tangled up in her that it was hard to tell where I ended and she began. And yet, somehow none of it had made any impression because through all of that, she still hadn’t learned to trust me.

I kept my face smooth, hiding all of the suffocating emotion roiling inside me. She looked up at me, her big eyes soft and pleading.

“I have to sort this out, Sienna,” I said. “Go upstairs. Now.”

Something in my voice shook her enough to turn and hurry up the stairs after Iris and Olivia. Silence reigned for a long moment and then Lucien swore under his breath, strode down the hall and threw open the front door. He took out a cigarette and lit it, keeping his back to Duran and I.

I made to follow him to the porch, ready to finish this, but Duran stopped me.

“Listen, fucker, I still want to keep the alliance with you,” he snapped.

I paused, studying him. “I’m listening.”

“I wanted to use our alliance with you to take over Boston too,” he said, his voice lowered. “But I don’t know if I can ever convince Lucien to do that after this fucking stunt.”

“You know it’s the smartest next move. I told him that months ago and he won’t listen,” I said.

“Yeah, but the best thing to do wasn’t to go behind his back.”

I knew he was right, but I wasn’t willing to admit wrongdoing. That was weakness and in our world, showing your neck was a dangerous thing.

“Fuck,” I said softly, the gravity of what I’d done settling in.

Outside, Lucien paced back and forth, flicking his ash over the railing. I stared at him for a long moment and then I pivoted and strode out to face the music. He paused and glared at me, putting the cigarette to his lips as he studied with with a narrowed gaze.

“Look, I haven’t made a move in Boston,” I said. “Do this with me. You know it’s the right move.”

“I don’t know that,” he said wrathfully. “Because you’re a fucking traitor. How do you expect me to trust you after this?”

“Collaborate with me on this. Send Duran to work with me, he thinks we should take Boston too. Have him work with us on this,” I said. “I’ll put down collateral so if I were to fuck you over, which I won’t, you get all of it. I have two hundred million in assets, I’ll let you hold it.”

Lucien narrowed his eyes and smoke drifted from his mouth. Behind him, Duran stood in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. His normally relaxed face was taut and his eyes were veiled. God, I hoped I hadn’t fucked this up beyond saving.

At this point, I wasn’t sure there was anything that could repair it.

“Lucien, hear him out,” Duran said.

Lucien glanced at him and then back at me. “You’re a fucking cunt, Borisyuk.”

I deserved that one so I kept quiet.

“The problem is, you’re a fucking cunt who’s married to one of my women, so I can’t slit your throat the way I want to,” he said. “And I can’t walk out of our deal because unfortunately you’re now part of my family.”

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