Page 42 of Queen of Misfortune (Shadows of Redemption)

“Luca Conti wants a meeting with Niko.”

My stomach tightens. “About me?”

“I don’t know. He’ll be here in two weeks.”

I feel like he’s telling me that in two weeks, I’ll be gone. Gone from Elena. Gone from him.

For a moment, we stand, gazes caught. I have this feeling like I should apologize for the night before. Before I can figure out what to say, he straightens.

“Have a good night, Mrs. Conti.” He enters the office and shuts the door.

It takes me a minute to register that he didn’t call me Lucy. Something only he does. Mrs. Conti is so formal. He’s now all business. No humor. No warmth. Not with me, anyway. For some reason, that makes me feel even more alone than I’d ever felt.

13

DONOVAN

Two weeks. Fourteen days of dodging Lucy. Do you know how fucking it hard it is to protect a woman who can’t stand the sight of you? I’ve gone over that night I ate her sweet pussy. She was into it, that I know. But as soon as it was over, she was angry. Why? What the hell happened on the way down from that massive orgasm I gave her?

Please stay away from me.

It hadn’t been a demand. It was a plea, and it broke me in two. The only thing that makes sense to me is that the intimacy was too much for her. She doesn’t like touchy feely things. The only person she’s close to is Elena, and I suspect Elena doesn’t know half the things knocking around in Lucy’s psyche.

I need to stop ruminating on this. I’ve got to get my head in the game because the shit is heating up with Giovanni. And then there’s Luca Conti, whom Niko and Liam met with earlier today. All I can think about is Luca taking Lucy back to Italy. It kills me, and yet, it would likely be for the best for both of us.

I’m heading from my apartment in the penthouse to Niko’s office. He and Elena returned here last week, although the wayhe interrupts the day to go fuck his wife makes me think they should have stayed gone two weeks.

“It’s the hormones. They make her need me,” Niko had said, waggling his brows suggestively.

“Fucker. Why rub it in that you’re getting laid everyday?—”

“More like two or three times,” Liam had quipped.

“Ah, Donovan, don’t tell me your charm has worn off. Or maybe you’ve just fucked every woman in New York and have lost interest,” Niko had retorted.

I haven’t fucked Lucy, at least not in real life. In my dreams and fantasies, she has a starring role.

I push that discussion out of my mind so I can focus on the meeting we have today. I round a corner and nearly run into Lucy. For a second, I drink her in. We’ve been in the same location for weeks, but I feel like I haven’t seen her.

Her brows draw into a frown and I remember my place.

“Mrs. Conti.” I step to the side to let her pass. She seems even more pissed now that I’ve pulled back and only act professionally around her. The woman is driving me mad. “Is there anything you need?”

“From you? Never.” Her reply is brisk, dismissive. It hurts like hell, which is a new thing for me. Why can this woman stab me in the heart so easily? Why do I allow it? I must be a fucking sadist.

"Okay." I nod, stepping back, respecting the chasm she's drawn between us. I watch her walk away. Her back is straight, chin lifted, like nothing can get to her. It's armor, that much is clear, but armor against what? Protecting her feels as natural as breathing, but she doesn’t want my protection. She’s got barbed wire around herself, and I’m tired of getting scrapes and scratches each time I go near her.

I breathe again once she's gone, flexing my hands.

"Boss needs you," someone calls from down the hall, and I square my shoulders, schooling my features into the impassive mask of Niko’s right-hand man. All this is good preparation for when I take over Giovanni’s business. Being able to kill the feelings, dull the pain, to focus on the job are all skills I feel I’ve honed, but Lucy is making me rethink that.

I enter Niko’s office. Liam is there, but it’s only us. No othercaposor soldiers. Not even Lou, who I feel is on the brink of a promotion. He’s really proven himself since the ambush by Giovanni.

Niko stands at the window, his hands in his pockets, his gaze out the window. He’s partly surveying his kingdom but also deep in thought.

Liam is hunched over the desk, eyes scanning sheets of paper that can only spell trouble.

"Situation's escalated," Liam says without looking up, his voice low. Despite growing up in the Bratva, his Russian accent is mostly gone except when he’s tense, like now.