Page 51 of Claim

Lucian. I’d call him. No judgment, no anger. He’d expect an explanation, and then he’d likely find my method too easy of a solution.

“I’ll call Lucian.”

Lizzy visibly relaxed.

Pulling out my phone, I dialed, but when the person answered, it wasn’t Lucian’s voice on the other end of the line.

“Sophia, what’s wrong?”

“Damon…I…umm”

“Who’s Damon? I thought you were calling Lucian.” Lizzy nudged me.

“Sophia, answer me.”

“It’s okay. I called you by accident. I’ll call Lucian.”

“You will not hang up. What is the matter?”

“I—I need you to come to get my sister and me.”

“Give me the address. I’m on my way.”

* * *

Less than thirty minutes after my call to Damon, I spotted his sleek dark blue Maybach make a right near the cross-section where Lizzy and I remained hidden from public view.

An uneasiness churned in the pit of my stomach. For the hundredth time, I questioned why I’d dial Damon’s number instead of Lucian’s. My instinct should have pulled toward my brother. Still, it had settled on a man who, deep down, wanted nothing to do with me but couldn’t stay away from me because of some unknown lure we seemed to have for each other.

Why couldn’t I draw a line with this man? Bringing him into this part of my life meant he knew more of my secrets and deeper parts of me, and I hadn’t a clue about him outside of what I’d heard from others or the barest of things he’d told me. He kept his life very private, and what I had found about him online only gave very light information on how he and his brother and sister sold the corporation they’d inherited from their father within a year of his passing.

It made no sense why someone like him desired me so much. High profile and complicated were most Morelli’s M.O.

Especially me.

I glanced at Lizzy, leaning against a pillar in the entryway to a closed coffee shop. Poor thing never expected the adventure I’d taken her on. No matter how much she believed she could handle things, she remained innocent of life in general.

I wanted it that way. My baby sister deserved to have some of her purity and innocence preserved. At least with the older of us taking the brunt of the terror of our father and the distance of our mother, she’d been spared the overall trauma we’d endured.

“Don’t think I’m not going to ply you with questions later.”

Lizzy eyed me with what I assumed was her attempt at a disapproving glare. Still, the exhaustion from the evening’s events erased any of the impact.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less. Just wait until we get back to my place.”

“I thought you said we couldn’t go back there tonight,” worry crept into Lizzy’s voice.

“We will lay low at Damon’s place.”

“Does he know this?”

I cringed inside. “I’m assuming so since I expect he’ll want all the details of our escapades.”

“Who is he to you?”

“I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure it out.” Damon’s car pulled to a stop, and I grabbed Lizzy’s hand and guided her in his direction.

She followed me without uttering a word. However, her eyes scanned everywhere and took in every detail of the vehicle and the man behind the steering wheel.

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