THIRD PERSON'S POINT OF VIEW
"Never in my life did I think he'd be buying this kind of stuff, Kier."
"What?! I'm not overreacting if you were here, your jaw'd be on the floor."
"Go on then. Come here yourself instead of ordering me around."
"Fuck you, Kieran."
The car fell silent as Kidd let his phone clatter into the cupholder. He slumped in the passenger seat beside Lucian, the back of the sedan stacked high with cardboard boxes heavy enough to make the suspension sag. Ice cream tubs shifted with every turn, their plastic lids rattling soft against each other.
"Since when did you start liking sweets?"
Lucian rolled his eyes Kidd was back to prying, like a reporter chasing a lead he'd never let go of.
"Hey. Why won't you answer me? You hiding something?" Kidd leaned forward, voice thick with fake melodrama. "I know I'm not your favorite friend but I deserve to know what's eating you. You fly me back from Taiwan just to tag along for ice cream runs are you messing with me?"
Lucian shot him a sharp look as he eased off the gas to let an elderly couple cross the street, their hands linked slow over the hot asphalt. Kidd nearly tumbled forward against his seatbelt but kept talking anyway, his words rolling over the quiet hum of the engine.
By the time Lucian pulled into the mansion's gravel lot, Kidd was still going about business, about old grudges, about anything but the freezer boxes at their feet.
"That bastard's up to no good again, L," Kidd said, his voice flat now, all play gone.
The engine cut out. Heat hung thick in the car, smelling of leather and gasoline and the faint sweet chill seeping from the back. Lucian stared out at the mansion's front doors, silent as stone.
"Let him be," he said at last. "Karma'll take care of him soon enough."
Kidd laughed a short, rough sound. "Yeah, and pigs'll fly."
They climbed out together, and a pair of guards moved to help with the boxes. Both waved them off.
"Can't you see these guns?" Kidd flexed his biceps with a grin, the tattoos on his right arm curling over muscle like inked rope. "I could carry a sixty-kilo corpse if I had to."
The guards winced but stepped back he wasn't lying. Kidd was built like a tank, his left eye hidden behind an eyepatch that only sharpened the set of his jaw.
"Luciannn oh! Kiddeon!"
Madamé Cathy's voice cut through the afternoon air, bright and loud as a bell. Lucian rolled his eyes she always went soft as a teenager when she saw his friend.
"Kiddeon! I thought you weren't coming back till next year!" She hurried over, her hands outstretched, then poked at his arm playfully. "I've missed you, dear."
"Still as gorgeous as ever, Madamé." Kidd took her hand and kissed the back of it, his smile warm enough to make her giggle. She swatted his shoulder like she was scolding a boy, not a man built like a mountain.
"Move it before it melts," Lucian said, clicking his tongue.
Kidd rolled his eyes this time, pointing at Lucian as he headed for the kitchen.
"Bet he was grumpy even as a baby, wasn't he?"
"Oh, you have no idea!"
They laughed as Kidd hauled his box to where Lucian was sliding tubs into the walk-in freezer, arranging them by flavor like he was organizing stocks for one of his companies.
"Hmm." Madamé Cathy stepped close, eyeing the rows of vanilla and mango and ube. "I never thought I'd see you buying sweets yourself. I thought you hated them."
Lucian said nothing, his hands steady as he stacked the last tub. She smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners she'd always known when he was holding something back.
"Ugh! I've been asking him all day and he won't talk!" Kidd dropped his box with a thud, shaking out his arms. "Can you believe it? He flies me back just to hit a convenience store for ice cream. I mean wow."
Madamé Cathy laughed again, already putting it together. She nudged Lucian's elbow with her own. "Is this for Sera?"
Kidd froze. "Sera? You mean Shein? That crazy best friend of his?"
He'd known Lucian nearly a decade knew every empty bed, every fleeting date, every woman who'd tried and failed to stick. The idea of him tied to anyone was impossible to square.
"Oh, you didn't know?" Madamé Cathy cleared her throat, gesturing to her grandson. "My cold, handsome grandson is married now."
"What?!" Kidd's jaw dropped, and for once he had no smart comeback. He stared at Lucian, who was wiping his hands on his jeans like arranging ice cream was the most important thing in the world. Madamé Cathy just nodded, grinning at the shock on Kidd's face.
"Yep. And I bet all this ice cream's for her." She shook her head teasingly. "What's this are you trying to win her over with sweets?"
"Win her over? How?" Kidd sputtered, pointing at Lucian. "What insane woman would agree to to"
Lucian rolled his eyes, mouthed Overreacting, and turned to leave. But Kidd grabbed his arm, his grip tight.
"No way. Why didn't you tell me? I need to let the others know shit"
Lucian caught Kidd's face in his hand, pushing him back gently but firm. "Stop being dramatic, or I'll pluck out your remaining eye."
Kidd scrambled back, holding both hands up. "Okay, okay got it."
Lucian turned to his grandmother. "Why are you here?"
She raised an eyebrow, her voice light but sharp. "Oh, am I not allowed? This is my house too. Am I unwelcome, grandson?"
He sighed, heavy and deep. "That's not what I meant. Forget it. Where is she?"
Madamé Cathy laughed between her and Kidd, Lucian looked like a man holding back a storm. But she knew him well: Lucian Vitale had iron patience, until it ran out.
The two followed him upstairs, Lucian's steps quiet on the marble. It was afternoon now, and Sera hadn't left her room since morning. Had Shein's outburst shaken her that badly? Did she hide the truth because she was scared?
He shook his head. Why was I worrying? He was supposed to care for her not fret over every little thing. She wasn't a child who needed watching.
"Fancy door for a room," Kidd muttered behind him. "Doesn't look like a woman lives in here."
Lucian spun around, his brow raised. "Give me one good reason you're still following me."
"Uh as your friend?" Kidd shifted his weight, nervous now. "I'm supposed to meet your wife, right?"
Lucian said nothing. His silence stretched long enough to make Kidd back away, then force a laugh.
"Ah haha! I think I'll head downstairs. Starving." He lied, then bolted down the hall like he was running from trouble.
Lucian watched him go, shaking his head at his friend's antics.
"Why did it have to be him?" he muttered.
He'd been expecting Kier Kidd's twin brother, the calmer of the two. But Kier was busy in Hong Kong, and Kidd had shown up uninvited. He knew how nosy his friends could be; it was only a matter of time before they all descended, asking questions he didn't want to answer.
He let out a slow breath, his hand resting on the doorknob of Sera's room. What was she doing in there? Sleeping, maybe? Should I bring the ice cream first, or check on her?
The indecision was new he'd never struggled with something so simple. What the hell is wrong with me? He wasn't supposed to feel this way.
He ran a hand through his hair, his fingers catching on the short strands, then tapped his cheek to pull himself together. Without thinking twice, he pushed the door open.
"Sera"
The word died in his throat. She was standing by the window, bare as sunlight on skin, her hands just starting to reach for a shirt draped over the chair. The afternoon light caught the warm brown of her shoulders, the curve of her waist, the soft line of her thigh every inch of her so real it made his chest tight.
"Holy shit." He clamped a hand over his mouth, biting down on his fingers to hold back the urge to pull her close, to press his lips to the curve of her neck, to feel her against him.
"H Hey! Who's there?!" Sera shrieked, one arm flying to cover her chest, the other to shield herself lower down. She stumbled back a step, her breath coming fast and sharp.
Lucian groaned, the sound deep in his chest. He could feel himself hardening, every muscle tight and hot, all from the sight of her from the way she'd tensed, from the sound of her voice, from the simple truth that she was here, bare and real and his.