Lake ran into the closet, hurrying to get dressed. “I’m coming, Mom. I’ll be right there.”
“Thank you, baby. Don’t tell your father, Vincent, or anyone. They’ll kill him. I don’t want him killed.”
She bit her lip, contemplating. “Okay, I’ll be right there.”
The call ended, and her ear met silence.
Lake got dressed as fast as she could in her last clean outfit of the small amount of clothes she had taken to Kentucky. If she was going to stay with Vincent, she was really going to need to go to her father’s to get some clothes. However, that immediately got pushed to the back of her mind like it always had when something major came up. These past few weeks had really been ridiculous.
Running downstairs, she looked at Vincent’s car keys sitting on the table. Her adrenaline was pumping. What should I do?
First off, she was lucky they were even there. He was clearly still in the hotel, or he was out and had taken a ride with whoever he was with. She understood her mother not wanting her to tell, afraid they would kill him. That was why she had never told anyone about John, afraid they would kill her mother, as well.
Staring at the car keys, she knew Vincent was going to be fucking pissed that she had left. He had warned her never to do it again, yet she was thinking of doing that exact thing.
I can still see he hasn’t broken you yet…
Lake snatched up the car keys, determined to prove she wasn’t going to be broken.
* * *
Vincent wasn’t able to spend the day how he wanted—in his bed with Lake. He especially wanted it considering he had almost lost her the day before.
He didn’t remember anything after he had climbed the stairs and saw a fucker choking the life out of Lake. Everything had gone black until he had seen her scared face. As he had slowly approached her, the good in him had fought the bad back down.
When he finally had been able to get her alone, he’d had to feel her. He had needed to have her wrapped around him, and that had been when the war in him had begun. He had never fucked like that in his entire existence, needing someone so badly in that instant to the point both versions of him wanted her equally. The good in him had fucked her while the bad had finally gotten his chance at fucking her, too. Once his release had been met, he had finally maintained control enough to push away his darkness again. The darkness had finally gotten its little taste, and it wanted more, a whole fucking lot more.
I shouldn’t have fucking done that.
He was mad at himself that he had treated her that way, knowing she had been frightened toward the end, but he hadn’t been able to stop. There had been no stopping. He simply should have calmed down and gotten a handle on himself before he had touched her. That’s where I fucked up.
Lake deserved better than that after what she had done. She didn’t deserve to be frightened one more time in her life. Vincent didn’t even fucking deserve her. He knew he should make her go and not give her the choice to leave at the end of the summer. However, like he had told her the previous night, I’m fucked-up.
Vincent took a deep breath, smoothing his hair down. It really wasn’t the day to be a made man. So much questioning was happening on how the fuck the night had happened. He didn’t know anything more than the obvious since Lucca was handling the situation. When or even if they figured out all the details, he wouldn’t know. Vincent was still only a soldier, regardless of whom his father was, which was why he had to spend the day working on new security details.
The codes were all changed and only given out to certain men in the family. There was also a new guard on the top floor who stood beside the elevator. They had never required a guard there, since it was watched by surveillance. Besides, in order to get to Dante’s office, you had to walk down the long hall then be let in to the security room with the TVs and guards, and then you could finally get into his office. Not to mention, you were a dumb fuck to even want to get on his elevator and punch in the code in the first place. However, someone had still done it and managed to take Al out.
Vincent slid his card through the door, eager to see Lake again. He had hated leaving her, not wanting something like the night before to happen to her again. If it wasn’t for work and the new guard, he wouldn’t have.
Quickly going up the stairs when he hadn’t seen her downstairs, he felt déjà vu when she wasn’t there. Fuck, no, no, no! It was like he knew she wasn’t going to be in the bathroom already.
Vincent picked up his phone, calling her quickly. Just like last time, it went straight to voicemail. Running downstairs, he noticed his keys were gone. She had blatantly left him.
Going out the door and down the hall, he stopped in front of the guard. “Girl, light-brown hair—”
The guard interrupted him. “Tall and hot? Yeah, she left here earlier today.”
Vincent flexed his jaw. “When? Did she say anything? Did you notice anything?”
“I guess a couple of hours ago. She just seemed like she was in a fucking hurry…”
Vincent was already running down the hallway toward Dante’s office, praying Sal would be in the security room to help him find out where she had gone.
Goddammit, Lake!
He knew something was terribly wrong. He just knew it, like he always did with her. Vincent couldn’t take this anymore. She was literally killing him every time she did something like this.
Why does she fucking do this to me? It was to the point that he believed she enjoyed it.