Chapter 164: Live fast, die like Lucas

Lucas’s POV

I’m going to die young.

Yeah well, with the sort of life I live, that fact is a no brainer. I’ve always expected death and it all started from the very first day I saw those Winslow bastards drag Aria into their van. Luckily, we survived that horrid experience.

Fast-forward to the present, I now live and work for an established mafia family, so death is unavoidable. It’s even fitting that my favorite member of this family is called death. Yay me.

My steps come to a sudden stop, and I almost make a U turn as I spot my sister standing at the door of my location.

"Don’t even bother turning around, Luke" Aria says loudly and I grunt.

Between the both of us, my sister is the best at combat. Aria is the one who goes into dangerous missions with Damien, while I stay back and do brain work with Elias...well, he does the brainwork while I offer mental support.

I’m a very relevant part of his bleak life.

"What are you doing?" she asks and I shrug, uncapping the bottled water in my hand and pretending to take a swig.

"You’re not guarding your tower, dragon?" I ask and she scowls at me. It’s an inside joke between Damien and I. Aria is the dragon who guards the tower of victimized princesses, actually it’s a basement of Gottingen prisoners, but it fits and it’s funny.

"Don’t even pretend to drink that water, everyone knows you hate water" my sister says and I sigh.

"Your point, dragon?"

"Stop calling me that, you idiot" she hisses at me and I hold a finger up. "Ah-ah-ah, that’s no way to talk to your older brother" I say.

"Shut it before I deck your ass" Aria scowls and I force her into a bear hug. My twin senses are tingling, and I just know she is going to hit me as intended.

"Why are you here?" she asks as she shrugs out of my hug and I sigh.

"One is no longer permitted to see their loved ones?" I ask with a fake wounded look, and she keeps staring at me blankly. Damn it, she fits right in with the Deus and their cynical ass.

"I wanted to see Roman. I wanted to know if he was alive and stuff" I say without looking at her face and I feel the pity radiating off her before I even see it.

"Luke...you can’t have a crush on him. He’s an alpha and he’s practically a dead guy" she says and I gasp.

"What? No way, he can’t marry me and ride with me into the sunset?" I ask with an exaggerated transatlantic accent, and she shuts her eyes briefly. "Are you being sarcastic with me?"

"Of course I’m being sarcastic with you" I snap at her.

"Do you think I’m stupid? I just think he looks good, nothing more. I know guys like him won’t touch an alpha with a ten-foot pole, especially not one who has been..." castrated and humiliated like me.

"Lucas, I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m just looking out for you" my sister says as she tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"It’s the same way I’m looking out for you, Ari. I wish you’d stop pining for Damien and move on" I say and she drops her hand from my face.

"You get twenty minutes with Roman and nothing more" she says abruptly, putting on a protective layer on herself as she opens the door. I feel so sorry for both of us. We’re both damaged beyond repair.

She hasn’t been able to let an alpha into her life since we were sold. The only alpha she comfortably hangs around with is Damien and that’s because he was there at her lowest. As for me...I hate talking about it. My scars and the things they stole from me are still too obvious and too fresh.

I step into the room and find Roman lying on the floor. Jeezy, they should have at least cleaned his face up. The cut on his million-dollar face could lead to an infection or something.

His pretty blonde hair is matted with blood, and I feel bad for him. He has gone from vogue cover model to handsome homeless man.

I uncap the water bottle and hold it over his head.

"Romeo, oh Romeo, wherefore art thou?" I ask playfully as I let some droplets of water land on his mouth and nose.

"W-what?" he stutters and opens his eyes to look around.

"Hi, so the good news is you’re still alive, and the bad news is...you’re still alive. But fear not, Lucas the kind is here for you" I say, squatting and pulling him up to feed him some of the nice water.

Darius likes keeping his prisoners hydrated before depriving them of the basic need to pee; am I doing this for Darius or Elias? No. I just want to see Roman’s pretty face before he gets killed by Elias.

"Get away from me" Roman spits out my hard-earned water and I nearly bash his face into the floor.

"Listen to me, Romeo. You’re one hundred percent dead meat within these walls. The fact that you’re breathing through these two nostrils is a miracle in itself, so take all the help you can fucking get" I hiss in his face and he growls at me.

These proud assholes.

Noah wasn’t like this when he first joined the family. I actually intended to hate that omega when he first arrived, but just breathing the same air as him softened the fuck out of me. He’s like my baby brother now and I’ll protect him till I die.

"My father..." Roman starts to talk.

"Oh right, you’ll get to watch a live stream of the burial tomorrow" I update him and his eyes widen.

"What? No...we wanted his burial to be a private event. You’re disrespecting..."

"Oh, for fuck sake. You people make me appreciate my lack of biological parents. Look, your father was a human trafficker. He worked with Governor Goldsmith and a man called Julian Fletcher, okay?" I say and he opens his mouth.

"Your father was killed just seconds away from violating an unwilling Noah" I continue to inform him and he turns pale.

"What?"

"Yes. There are plenty of proofs and blah blah, so shut the fuck up and take what you get. This is the wrong place to be filial, Romeo" I tell him and he looks dazed.

"You’re not denying anything I’m saying, huh? I bet you suspected your father’s dirty business" I say and he doesn’t answer.

Oh well...I guess I’ve broken my crush. I do hope Elias is kinder to him tomorrow...or something.