Chapter 184: No Place Like Home
Selene’s POV
The people on the street were busy, rushing from one place to the next with their heads down. Not one of them spared us a glance.
The covering was something else. We walked right past them, close enough to touch, and they couldn’t smell us or sense us at all. It still creeped me out a little, being a ghost in a crowd.
𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
"You said the place is a mansion, didn’t you?" I asked Lucas.
"Yes, and it’s huge," he said. "You can get lost in that place if you’re not careful."
"Then don’t get lost." I held his gaze until he nodded. "Everything will go according to plan, because we’re sticking to it. You’ll enter alone while the rest of us stay close. We can hear you through the tag on your shoulder. Once you have everything we need, say ’get it done’ and we’ll be right behind you."
He nodded again. He understood. He used to be a criminal, so he knew how to read a room, how to move without drawing eyes, and how to make himself look like he belonged somewhere he didn’t. He was exactly the person we needed.
Fuck. Please don’t let this go sideways, I prayed in my head.
We got into the car while Lucas walked toward the mansion, and we let him go the whole way on his own. We parked far enough back that nobody would notice us, but close enough that my chest still ached at every step he took away from us.
I didn’t turn my head until I saw him walk through those gates.
After today, William will be proud of me. My husband was still in recovery, still fighting his way back to himself, and I needed one thing in this mess to go right for him. I needed to come home and tell him it was done.
The only problem was the earpiece. I could hear Lucas’s breathing, shallow and uneven, every breath dragged out of him. He was fucking tense.
And if he was scared, then I had every reason to be.
---
Lucas’s POV
How did I get into the mansion this easily? Something didn’t feel right.
I didn’t want to believe they had never logged me out, that they’d been expecting my return all this time. The thought made my skin crawl. I wondered what their faces would look like when they saw me.
Every door opened for me. The main building opened on its own, without a hand or a word from me. That was technology only Bernia had. It recognised my footprints and probably even the smell of my blood.
Damn.
I took several long breaths, in and out, before I entered the main room where the family always gathered. The door slid open and, as expected, they were all there.
"Oh my goddess, it’s Lucas!" Salvatore was the first to shout. He ran straight to me and wrapped me in a hug, the kind of thing only Salvatore would do. For a moment I forgot why I was there and almost hugged him back.
Everyone else stood frozen, except Valentina. She came to me with tears in her eyes and held on to my shoulders like I might vanish.
"Where have you been?" she whispered. "We’ve missed you."
I swallowed hard. She meant it, and that made it worse.
"Well, if it isn’t our runaway leader," Zeno said. "What are you doing back here, Lucas?"
I had known he would talk like that. Zeno had never respected me, and this was his chance to show it. Ciro didn’t say a word, and I was banking on that. He was the only one in the room who looked like I could trust him.
Draven was quiet too. I knew he would speak eventually, maybe he was still looking for the right words, so I went to him myself.
"Hey, Draven. How’s life been?" I looked him straight in the eyes and offered my hand. He took it, we shook, and we both smiled. Neither of us meant it.
Tony wasn’t in the room, but his assistant May was. "Hey, May. Nice to see you." She stared at me like she had expected me to be lost somewhere, dead and never to return.
"You haven’t answered Zeno’s question, Lucas," Draven said. "What are you doing here?"
"Can’t I come see my family? It’s been a while, and I missed you all." I turned to Valentina. "Right, Valentina? Didn’t you miss me?"
The silence that followed was awkward and heavy. The people I used to call family were looking at me like I was a piece of shit they had stepped on. I started to wonder whether I would be able to pull this off. The people from Icefang were outside waiting, and I had to deliver on our agreement.
"You’re not welcome here, Lucas," Draven said coldly. "You walked out of the game of your own free will. We’ve moved on."
I had known he’d been waiting for this chance to lead and to show his true colours. I wasn’t surprised. I just kept smiling.
"You can’t say that to Lucas, he’s family!" Valentina objected.
"He’s not family," Draven snapped. "If he were, he would have stayed with us from the beginning until now. Where was he when we went on the missions that almost took our heads? Where was he when we left not knowing if we’d come back alive? Family is earned, and you lost the right to call us that the day you left. So get out, Lucas!"
I could see the anger burning in his eyes, but I was waiting for Tony. Everything Draven said was bullshit as far as I was concerned, though some of it still landed.
"You’re saying all this because they gave you my position," I said quietly. "I was in your shoes long before you were, so you should know that. It hurt me too. You can’t tell me to leave this place. No, you can’t."
He smiled. "Watch me."
May stepped forward. "What are you really here for? You looked so promising the day you came through these gates. We never thought you’d opt out, and now you’re back, probably to seek redemption. But you don’t look the part. You look fresh, like you just came from a spa. So what are you looking for?"
"Where is Tony?" I asked.
I asked several times. Nobody made a move to go and get him, so I stood there for a few more minutes, looking like a man with no mission at all.
Until Tony walked in.
He saw me and didn’t look struck with awe or surprise. Not even a flicker.
"Hmm. The prodigal wolf returns," he said. "To what do we owe this visit?"
"I’m delighted to be in your presence again, sir," I said, lowering my head. "I want to be reinducted into the team. I’ve searched many other places, and I’ve realised there’s no place like home. This is where I belong."
The whole room went still. It wasn’t what they had expected.
Good. They also wouldn’t be expecting what came next.