Diavolo

xi

Lotus replied she would be there soon to pick me up and I took the opportunity to reply to the rest of my messages. Beast and Finley had been worried when I hadn't responded for a few hours.

I notified her I traveled to spend some time with my family. It was more of an spontaneous trip; I hadn't even notified my mother I was coming but I knew going back home was what I needed.

Especially after the events and Silvio's involvement in my life recently.

I needed a few days away from him so I could think reasonably. He was now my fucking next-door neighbor who'd kissed me.

Fuck, it was a forehead kiss—the tiniest of kisses and if I wasn't paying close attention, I wouldn't even have known but it was still a kiss. And he was man with secrets in his past.

I could tell, I always knew there was something about that man since the day we met.

Especially since he'd planned to kill Jax and he didn't care much about the consequences of perhaps there was no consequences for him.

He seemed like a man who held power in every aspect of his life, a successful businessman it would seem. With this bad boy allure and a striking face. He wasn't normal, none of them were. I knew it.

Ever since Octavius took care of Enzo, I knew there was something dark and dangerous following that group around but I never wanted to seek answer because of the possibility I would be right.

Now, there was a need for answers.

My body's response to his actions was far too greater and I knew if I continued this past of self destruction I was on, it wouldn't end well for both of us.

When I would finally come up with a solution and return to New York, I planned to ignore and pretend he didn't exist.

I pushed my thoughts to the back of my mind when I caught a glimpse of bright purple curls—Lotus. The cracked windows of her small Toyata Corrola winded down and I lowered my head until she could see me.

A wide smile covered her face when she spotted me and she nearly flew out of the car. Rushed over to where I stood and flung her body over mine in her way of greeting.

The smell of her flowery, feminine perfume covered me in a sweet-scented hug and I accepted it.

Lotus Carmichael, lover of art and a menace at times. She was the opposite of me—literally. She preferred the hippy-chic clothes amped with bold prints, silver piercings looped around her nose and ears and couldn't go a month without dying her hair a bright and flashing color.

She wanted to stick out like a sore thumb in every way possible.

She released me, held tightly onto my shoulder and grinned. "Hi, big sis. Missed you."

"Yeah yeah." I rolled my eyes in pretense of not caring but pulled her against me again and just breathed her scent in. Lotus and I were close because of how we grew up, and it'd been a while since I'd returned home because of my mother.

Approximately four years.

I left Chicago the minute I finished high school, and traveled to New York for my Masters' and Lotus was about thirteen years old.

We often chatted through FaceTime whenever I got the chance but I'd gotten worse lately because of my work schedule.

And now here she was at seventeen years old, standing a few inches taller than me with a personality brighter than the sun.