The Perfect Stroke (Lucas Brothers #1)(129)

“Tell you what, sis. I’m feeling generous. You have forty-eight hours. After that, I’m singing like the caged canary I am.”

“Allen, I only want to help you. If you’ll just let me try and…”

“You should leave before I decide I’m being too agreeable.”

“I love you, Allen.” He doesn’t answer, but then I didn’t expect him to.

This seems so useless now. Why did I think this might be Allen’s rock-bottom? Why did I think he would accept my help now? Maybe I am as stupid as he keeps telling me I am. This is just one more thing to add to everything that’s been going on. I feel like a small fish being surrounded by sharks and completely out of my depth. I give up and leave because that’s all I can do. There’s more I want to say, but there’s truly no point. Too bad I didn’t realize that before I begged Paul to let me go undercover.





When Ana comes outside, she looks so heartbroken that I want to strangle her brother’s neck. I walk over to her and pick her up in my arms.

“Roman,” she gasps, but I ignore her. She’s mine. I might not be able to protect her from pain, but I can damn sure try to minimalize it. “Will you let me down? I can walk.”

“Shut it, Ana,” I growl.

Having her in my arms and feeling her ass pushing into my skin again, that’s what I needed. Last night was the longest f*cking night of my life. I’m not giving her room to get free of me. I was stupid to even allow that. She stays tense in my arms during the whole time it takes to get her back to the limo. When I slide inside, Ana still in my arms, I can feel tension leave her. It soothes over some of my anger. She lets her guard down when it’s just the two of us. I like that because f*ck if that’s not when I feel alive. If I had no one else in my life for the rest of my years but Ana, I’d be perfectly okay with that. Fuck, I’ve even decided to back out of the deal with Kuzma. He’ll still do his business, but it will just be away from my club. In return I’ll make sure my club is clean so he doesn’t have competition. It works better for me and it keeps that shit away. The things I deal with might be illegal as f*ck, but gambling and whores don’t usually have the blowback drugs and guns have. I want Ana pregnant with my child. I don’t want that shit touching her or our baby.

“He’s so angry,” she whispers, and it’s then I notice my shirt is wet with her tears. I hold her close.

“What’s his story?” I ask her.

I don’t really give a damn, but seeing the dynamics between the two, I know there has to be something between them. I find myself changing from wanting to kill the f*cking kid to trying to fix him. For Ana. Always for Ana. I’ve already accepted that this is my reality. I may never have planned on claiming a woman, but she’s mine and by God I will move Heaven and Earth just to make sure she doesn’t cry like she’s doing right now. I keep rubbing my hand back and forth on her arm, kissing the top of her head and just holding her close while quiet sobs shake her body. The interior of the limo is alive with her sadness. It’s killing me, but all I can do is let her cry it out.

“Remember how I told you about the man who thought he’d try to turn to me instead of—?”

“Shh… Ana, I remember,” I tell her, not wanting her to repeat it, not wanting to ever hear about it again. I had Bruno track down the f*cker who was arrested in the police raid that Banks was a part of. I sent the information to Marcum. He’s gone. I made his head top priority. I can deal with Banks breathing air a few more days. The thought of the f*cker who tried to hurt Ana drawing more breath is unacceptable. Completely unacceptable.

“I wasn’t his first choice. That night… wasn’t the first time it had happened,” she whispers the guilty secret.

“Ana?”

“I ran and hid,” she whispers remorsefully. “God, Roman. Paul doesn’t believe me, but I didn’t think he would. I mean I know now I was na?ve, but Allen was a boy. A little boy. What kind of sick monster would… Oh, God.”

“Ana, sweetheart…”

“I hid in a closet, not knowing that just a room over that monster was raping my little brother,” she confesses, crying. “When… when Allen finally told me, it had been going on for a week, Roman. A week.”

“What did you do when you found out, pet?”

“I tried to…”

“What, Ana?” Knowing what she’s about to say, the hate burning in my gut is threatening to explode.

“I tried to—” She breaks off, unable to say the words. Her face is buried so tight into my chest that her words are muffled. No one should live with the misery that my woman has locked inside of her. How did she get to be such a giving person? How did she rise above everything that is in her past? More reasons that Ana will always fascinate me.

“You tried to sacrifice yourself to save your brother, didn’t you, Ana? That’s when Banks found you.”

“Yes.”

“Ana, sweetheart, you did all you could do. You were just a kid.”

“Allen was younger. I should have protected him more. I should have known that a monster preys on all children, not just one because she’s a girl. I was stupid.”

“You were a kid. That’s all, Ana. Just a kid. If anyone is to blame, it’s that snake whose bills you’re paying in that nursing home.”