The Perfect Stroke (Lucas Brothers #1)(121)

“Has the mighty Roman Anthes fallen for a *?”

“You heard me, Banks. You can push your weight around all you want, but you and I both know what a bottom dweller you are. Be careful you don’t end up at the bottom of an ocean.”

“Is that a threat, Anthes? Threatening cops can get you in deep shit these days,” he responds arrogantly.

“Not a threat. I don’t waste my time with threats. I’m saying you so much as sniff the wind in Ana’s direction and I’ll end you. Take that any way you want.”

“Maybe she’s the one sniffing in my direction. Trying to find a real man who—”

I strike out before he can finish, my knuckles crunching against his teeth. He goes down with a thud. Blood pours from his lip and I hope I’ve at least knocked his teeth loose.

“Ana is not on your radar. Ever. Consider this the only warning you’ll get, Banks. You might hide behind your badge, but don’t forget I know where you’ve f*cking buried the bodies.”

It’s a useless warning. He signed his death warrant when he put his hand on Ana. I planned on ending him for a while; I was just holding off, not wanting to draw possible attention as long as I was talking to Kuzma, but some things a man can’t ignore.

I walk away from Banks then, pulling my phone out and calling Bruno. “Banks has overstepped for the last time. You got the number of that guy we used near Orange County? Marcum?”

“Yeah.”

“Call him. I want this f*cker handled. Set up a meeting tomorrow. I have that damn charity dinner tonight.”

“You got it, boss.”

I click the phone off and walk out towards the limo. I need to find out from Ana what the f*ck is really going on because I don’t believe for a minute she’s let Banks between her legs. I hope like hell I’m not f*cking lying to myself.





Ugly. What just went on brought new meaning to the word “ugly”. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. The bad vibes Paul gave me when trying to force my hand the other day at my apartment were bad, but I didn’t think they’d go this far south. I never expected Paul to morph into someone I did not know. Someone I don’t want to know.

I’ll have to think about it later. What I need to worry about the most is Roman. What the hell am I supposed to do now? What did he hear? I don’t think I’m going to be able to distract him with sex this time.

Time for questions are over when Roman slides into the limo like a dark thundercloud.

“Roman …”

“How do you know Banks?”

“Roman. I—”

“Answer the question, Ana, and do us both a favor and don’t lie to me,” he growls.

His tone and words take me aback. I want to scream at him, but I can’t. It would be ridiculous, considering I’ve yet to tell him the entire truth since I met him.

“He saved me once.”

Roman’s face grows harder. “Saved you how?”

“I don’t want to talk about that.”

“Too f*cking bad. Tell me, Ana.”

“Fuck you!” I growl before I can stop myself. I’ve had enough. Enough of men putting pressure on me. Enough of this war going on inside of me, enough of everything.

“Fuck me?” he asks, seemingly astonished, and maybe he is. I doubt any woman has ever told him to go f*ck himself before. Roman’s probably got a long line of women who are ready and willing to say yes.

“You heard me. I’ve had it with men telling me what to do! That includes you, Daddy!” I punch the intercom button. “Robert, pull over.”

Roman’s eyes narrow and he pushes the button a second after me. “Robert, if you pull over, you’re fired. Take us to the apartment.”

“You can’t keep me here.”

“I can f*cking do whatever I want.”

“Fine! I’ll jump out!”

I’m acting unreasonable. I’m just so freaking close to my breaking point. I can still feel Paul’s hand gripping mine and hear his hateful words. I feel like I’ve lost someone dear, because he’s dead to me. The Paul I thought I had in my life obviously doesn’t exist anymore. I don’t even get to grieve that before Roman is upon me with his demands. I just can’t handle it. Not right now. I need to get away…

“The f*ck you will,” Roman growls, pulling me onto his lap, but there’s nothing loving about him this time. His grip and hold is hard. His arms are like a prison, locking me into him. I try to pull away, twisting and turning, bracing my hands on his shoulders to push away from him. His hand wraps in my hair and knots in it. I pull, ignoring the pain. It’s useless. He’s not letting me move. He pulls my head up and I’m trapped, not only by his hold on me, but by the look in his eyes. “You’re going nowhere, Ana. Ever.”

His words should fill me with fear. Instead it’s excitement.





I know I’m being irrational. I haven’t been able to be rational about this whole thing since seeing Ana with the one man I despise above all others. Seeing his hand on her and touching what is mine only made that feeling more intense. I’m charging at her instead of giving her time to talk and be rational. But being rational is beyond me right now. I’m one step away from the ledge and Ana is trying to push me over. I’ve been gentle with Ana. Way too gentle. In a way, today is my fault too. She forgot who is in control. Time to f*cking remind her.