Ria spoke first, leaning forward, confusion writ large on her lovely face. ‘Pappa, you knew?’
Then Piers burst out, but his tone was tempered with anger.
‘Then why…? Why did you make Mumma suffer?’
Lucien sighed and looked away.
‘Your Mumma is a soft hearted woman.’ he said his voice cool, ‘She would only have felt sorry for that ba*tard.’
She is still innocent and believes the best of everyone, he could have added but he did not.
He sighed again noting the mutinous expressions on the faces of his eldest-born children, knowing that he had caused his Woman a lot of grief. But then, he was a man who saw the big picture.
‘Your Mumma will understand when I tell her.’ he went on, confident of his Woman.
‘You mean, you haven’t told her yet?’ shouted Piers, leaping up, his face red with anger.
His fists clenched, and Piers glared at his father. How could Pappa have put Mumma through so much pain? There were times when he sorely hated his father, and this was one such time.
They stared at each other, Piers doing his best to bring his rage under control. Ria tugged at her twin’s sleeve.
“PIERS!” she hissed.
They faced off for some time, the young man breathing hard, furious and his father, glaring at him.
“Sit down son.’ growled the Don and although he was breathing heavily with fury, Piers sat down.
Ria looked at her father, uncomprehendingly.
Lucien sighed.
‘I did not want to get your mother worried.’ he growled, voice rough with regret.
Then, raising his leonine grey head, he went on, the moment of regret having passed.
‘As long as Cole and that f*cking bas*ard, Paval, believe that I have swallowed that cock and bull story they had come up with, you were all safe.’ And he nodded to Philippe who stood by the door, his arms folded, at attention as he went on, his gravelly voice hoarse with anger.
‘Young Philippe here , had already begun to have doubts that Paddy was doing his own sleuthing. No one thought he would arrive at the truth so quickly.’
Ria glanced at Philippe, scowling at him. The large man did not look at her and she glared at him some more before saying,
‘Is that what you meant, that HE …’ here she jerked her head in a dismissive, regal way at Philippe, ‘He would come along with me?’
The Don nodded but he was also frowning at her.
‘My Capo is a man to be respected, remember that, daughter,’ he snapped in a low voice and she shifted uneasily, colouring in embarassment.
Schwartz stepped forward from the windows where he had been standing, hands in his pockets.
He had also known all along for Delano had brought him onboard at the start.
‘Now listen to your father carefully,’ he said and Ria looked at him. She had never heard that serious note in her Uncle Schwartz’s voice before.
He met her eyes and said quietly, ‘We think that the boy who is here, what was his name… Magnus?’
Schwartz glanced at Philippe who nodded an assent,
‘Well, he is using. And he might have dealings with the Rudenko dealers.’
Ria glanced at Piers in shock. Magnus De Luca, the son of that nice, if rather woolly-headed woman, was an addict? He was very young. Ria had not bothered much with the teenager who had seemed rather bad-tempered mainly because she was too concerned with her brothers, Claude and Paddy.
Schwartz nodded. “He is also, most likely to be contacted by Paval’s men or by Dusak himself, to find out what we know.’
‘How…how do you know all this?’ spluttered Ria in confusion and then , bit her plump lower lip as she realised that it was a stupid question to have asked. Unbidden, her eyes went to the unwavering dark gaze of the Capo who had been watching her. He stood in the shadows but his cool black look was focused on her. Ria felt something like a flutter in her belly, her womanhood. Luckily for her, her father was already speaking and she turned away quickly.
‘…to be prepared, just like they were using Cole to find out about us. Now we shall use this boy to find out more about that f*cking Monk and his nephew.’
Lucien did not let on that he knew the disturbing news he had received from another spy of his who had been killed brutally once he had been discovered. The news that Dusak , the nephew of Paval, was unhealthily obsessed with Ria.
It had made him furious to know that his beloved daughter was the centre of Dusak the One-Eyed’s obsession. He wanted to protect his eldest born daughter, she of the golden curls and the laughing eyes, f*ck, he would kill the bas*ard when he laid his hands on Dusak. But the young man had proved to be very clever, slipping out of his grasp on more than one occasion…
It was something that only he, Schwartz and Philippe knew. He had not been happy to let the younger man in on this news but since it had been a member of Philippe’s crew who had infiltrated the Dusak faction and had stumbled upon the shocking secret , there was little he could do.
Now his eyes slid to the tall, burly Latino who was watching him steadily.
“You go with Ria,’ he instructed, and find out more about what Paddy’s friend knew about this.’ And turning to Piers, he said, “I have another task for you, son.’
Ria rose, knowing she had been dismissed. With a small smile at Schwartz, she moved to the door, aware that Philippe was just a step behind her.
After Piers had also left, Lucien groaned. Now he had the worst task ever, before him. Telling his wife about the fact that he had been duping her .
He had done it to protect his Woman but he knew that he had made a mistake. Now, there would be hell to pay, he thought as he rose to his feet and shrugged, loosening his muscles