No, what I felt for him was deeper. It was real.
And I felt like he was trying to ruin it.
The door burst open in the bedroom, and I turned in time to see Lucas stagger into the room, placing a hand on the wall for support. Suppressing my own sigh, I walked back into the bedroom. “You’re drunk.”
“I’m sorry.”
I arched a brow. “What?”
Lucas’s jaw clenched, as if it was hard for him to admit when he was wrong. “I’m sorry for what I said, okay?”
I stared at him. There was no feeling in his words, no emotion registering on his face that he truly was sorry for what he did. “I don’t believe you.”
His eyes snapped to mine. Though they were still blurred from the alcohol he had consumed, I could see the flash of anger. Good. I was highly annoyed that he thought he could come in and throw out an apology like that and I would just melt. “Tell me what’s going on, Lucas,” I said, tamping down my anger. “Tell me what happened.”
Lucas let out a harsh laugh. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“I thought we were partners,” I argued, hurt that he would start to keep things from me now. I knew he was, my gut feeling telling me that he was hiding something from me.
“Partners?” Lucas repeated, his look incredulous. “Leda, we’re not partners. If you thought we were, then you were mistaken.”
Each word was like a stone thrown at the plate glass that was my heart. “You are partnering with my brother,” I said instead.
“Your brother, yes.” He nodded. “You? No. You were just the means to getting to your brother.”
This was going south in a heartbeat, and I didn’t understand why he was doing this. I hadn’t done anything but try to help him, try to get him the treasured title he loved so much, yet he was treating me like I had destroyed it all.
It made no sense.
Lucas started toward me before pausing, clenching his fists instead. “What I’m doing with your brother doesn’t concern any sort of feeling that you think I might have for you.”
The pain in my chest intensified, and I had to suck in a breath to keep from breaking down in tears. He was being deliberately cruel, and I didn’t know why.
But Lucas wasn’t done stomping on my heart. He moved closer, that taunting grin of his harder than I had ever seen it before. “This isn’t love between us, Leda. Did you really think that a monster like me would be capable of loving someone like you? Or that this could ever work?”
“You told me you loved me,” I bit out, hating the way my chest was caving in. “You said it yourself.”
“I did.” He shook his head, holding his arms loosely to his sides. “And I’d tell you that right now if it meant I could put myself between your thighs. C’mon Leda. You know that.”
“Lucas, stop!” I shouted, wanting to cover my ears with my hands. It was my worst nightmare, not being able to discern if what he was saying was true. I had thought this was love. I had thought he had finally let down his walls for someone and that I was going to be that person that could make him happy outside of the Mafia.
I thought he at least respected me, that he was thinking that I meant something to him and he was going to protect me. How many times had he told me that he was going to keep me safe from my father, from Adrian?
“Bringing your brother here made you more compliant, ,” he continued mockingly. “I needed you to quit giving me hell, and it worked.”
“I hate you,” I seethed, feeling slightly nauseated by his words. I hated the way he was talking to me, like he never cared. “Stop talking.”
Maybe he didn’t. Maybe he had told me everything I wanted to hear so I wouldn’t give him any trouble.
Lucas let out a laugh. “You wouldn’t be the first one to do so, sweetheart.”
“No wonder no one loves you,” I stated, wondering if his flinch was my imagination. “Get out.” I couldn’t stand to look at him any longer. He had destroyed me, destroyed anything I thought would be good between us, and I wanted nothing to do with him.
Nothing.
Lucas advanced on me, but I stood my ground. I wasn’t scared of him. No, I was scared for him. “This is my fucking house,” he stated firmly, his eyes growing hard. “My fucking land, my fucking bedroom, my fucking property.”
“Then I will leave,” I stated, emotion threatening to clog my throat. I didn’t want to be near him right now. He was hurting me for no reason, and I didn’t think that it had anything to do with the alcohol he’d consumed.