Relentless (Starcrossed Lovers Trilogy #3) - Jade West Page 0,3

on upstairs and jumped in the shower, nothing but a few minutes of hot steam to set me up for the day before I toweled myself down and got myself suited up and ready.

Elaine’s eyes were fixed on me every move I made.

“Surely your father can’t know all that much?” she asked as we headed back downstairs. “I mean, there’s so much that my family needs to work through with the Power Brothers before anyone asks any other questions.”

“I hope it’s only the beginnings of whispers,” I told her. “I’ll do everything I can to divert the smoke from the fire, but the fire is there, Elaine, and it’s burning bright.”

She wrapped her arms around me like a blanket before I walked out of the front door, pressing so tight to me that I could feel her thumping heart.

“I’m serious,” I whispered, right in her ear. “If I’m not back here by dusk, you head back into the city. You stay the fuck alive. Promise.”

“Okay,” she said, but I knew she was lying. I could hear it in her voice.

I pulled away enough to take hold of her jaw.

“You swear to me, Elaine. If I’m not back here by dusk, you head back into the city.”

I knew she was dithering. I could see the liar in her dancing behind her eyes.

“This is one thing we get straight, right from the beginning,” I told her. “You don’t lie to me. However bad the truth is, you never lie to me, sweetheart. Is that understood?”

The liar disappeared in her. I watched it shrivel and die. I saw it loud and clear in that moment. Elaine Constantine wouldn’t lie to me, not once she’d sworn her loyalty.

“I won’t lie to you,” she said. “I swear it.”

“Good girl,” I said and kissed her forehead.

Handing over the keys to her felt surreal. Handing control of anything to another person felt surreal.

I said it once more to be sure. “If I’m not back here by dusk—”

She was nodding when she interjected. “I’ll head back to the city. I swear it. I’ll stay alive.”

I said something I thought I’d never say. It rolled off my tongue like the easiest words I’d ever spoken. “I love you.”

Her smile was perfection. “I love you, too.”

I kissed her once, hard, and then I walked away.

The drive into the city was long and short, both at once. The traffic around me was a regular bustle of people going about their lives, at contrast with the way mine was potentially reaching its crescendo. I was running through the various possibilities in my mind. The snippets of information my father may have gathered from the people around him. From my chauffeurs, or speculations on the news, or—in the worst possible scenario—from Trenton Alto. Yet again, I realized the man knew far too much about me and my life. I should never have trusted a right-hand assistant for twelve years straight without wiping him out long before now.

I pulled up into Morelli Holdings and checked myself in the rearview mirror once more before climbing out. The Holdings headquarters was buzzing with its regular energy when I stepped foot inside, people oblivious to the potential drama I was walking into. People nodded their heads and waved with their morning, Mr. Morelli, sir at every turn. I tipped my head at them, keeping my expression as stoic as ever.

My father would be on floor nine. I knew he’d be at the very end of the management suite meeting rooms, awaiting me with his evil eyes and his pitted jaw.

I wasn’t mistaken.

“Sit the fuck down,” he said, and I did as instructed, sitting back in my seat with my foot up on one knee.

“What is this about?” I asked him, my voice barely more than a hiss to match.

He tossed a file across at me and I flicked it open.

Testimonials of clubgoers saying how they’d seen Lucian Morelli chasing down Elaine Constantine. The event where I’d floored the security guard after the pathetic little downtown dive was recorded loud and clear.

“How do you think this fucking looks?” he spat. “I knew you’d been chasing that Constantine bitch, but I didn’t expect the whole fucking world to be talking about it. The Constantines are entering a discussion with the Power Brothers. A fucking discussion. It should be bloodshed, not conversation, and this is because of you, isn’t it? We were set to pair up with the Powers, not watch from the sidelines as they begin negotiations.”

My blood chilled