Lucas pov
The room was too quiet.
Not peaceful quiet in that way that made your bones feel colder, like the silence was pressing against your ribs.
Lucas sat on the edge of his bed, gloves still on, elbows resting on his knees. The curtains were half-open, letting in a faint grey glow from the outside lamps. His head hung low, eyes fixed on a point on the floor that wasn't really there.
He'd made decisions before.
He'd chosen men before.
He'd protected boys before.
And he had been betrayed before.
That tension tight, bitter, coiled crept up his chest again. Not regret. Never regret. Just fear. Fear of repeating the kind of mistakes that cost people their lives. Fear of trusting too fast. Fear of opening doors that enemies could walk through.
A soft knock interrupted the swirling thoughts.
Lucas didn't look up.
"Come in."
The door opened. The familiar sound of Matteo's boots entered first measured, heavy, anxious. Matteo stepped inside, arms folded, jaw tight. Ethan followed behind him, quiet but alert, eyes flicking to Lucas with a softness he tried to hide. The last to enter were Kellan and Elijah Kellan leaning against the wall like he owned the place, Elijah closing the door with controlled calm.
No one spoke immediately.
The silence felt sacred and sharp.
Matteo broke it.
"Lucas… you're thinking too much. And when you think too much, it usually means something's wrong."
Lucas lifted his head slowly.
Ethan stepped forward. "We're worried," he admitted. "About the boys. And about everything moving too fast."
Ethan paused but continued talking "Matteo is right, though he likes to sound like the strict parent. You're trusting them quickly. Neo especially."
Matteo ran a hand through his hair, restless. "Lucas… new people mean new holes in our walls. Holes we can't afford right now."
Elijah cut in trying to reassure the brothers. "Before we move with someone, every detail about them must be airtight. With Aiden and Neo,we've checked what we can, and their both truly clean with normal schedule and all normal boring teenage lives you see"
Ethan finished softly, "Danger doesn't care about innocence."
Lucas inhaled slowly, chest heavy with their fears pressing against his own.
"You think I'm not careful?" Lucas asked quietly. Too quietly.
Matteo swallowed. "You are. But you're human too. You've carried too much for too long. Trusting fast it's a comfort you don't even know you're craving."
Kellan added, less teasing now, "True talk there matteo" immediately he said this it was as though the whole roomed turned towards him "you're one to talk you're practically drooling anytime you see Aiden you've fallen head over heals for that boy and you're not hiding it one bit that's the fun fact" Elijah said in a bored tone "But I've not fallen at all infact not yet though I won't lie but he's truly an interesting little fellow that I won't mind playing with" "playing with?" Matteo arched a brow "oh your not playing at all, you don't get to play with anyone's feeling at all in this family" "yes sir" kellan said smiling "good now back to you Lucas"
Lucas frowned. "Neo reminds me—"
"That's the problem." Matteo's voice cracked slightly. "He reminds you of the past. And you're trying to rewrite it."
The room chilled.
For a moment, nobody breathed.
Lucas's throat tightened. The weight of leadership, responsibility, every death he's ever had to bury it pressed on him like invisible chains.
Ethan stepped closer. "We're not saying don't care about them. We're saying… don't let your heart move faster than your head both of you seriously"
Elijah added quietly, " True We've lost enough to know the pattern."
The memories blood on floors, names in graves flashed behind Lucas's eyes.
He looked away.
"I hear you," he whispered, voice rough. "But those boys… they're not threats."
"Maybe," Matteo said. "But neither were the others. Not at first."
Silence again. Raw. Heavy. Exposing.
Lucas stood slowly, sliding his gloves on tighter.
"I'll be careful," he said finally. "But I won't abandon them because they're playing a rather big role in this estate" "plan?" Ethan,Matteo and Elijah said at the same time "yes plan I didn't want to bring it out to the light of day because I didn't think you guys would think my acting was so good that you'd thought I had fallen again with the same pattern like last time" "I don't get so are you saying the boys are a threat or is there something am not understanding here" Elijah asked "That's the problem they don't look or act like threats at all but they came in the same pattern like the last ones even though it wasn't all about getting a job first this time it's different but yet it feels the same" "ok but what about neo what if he falls for you along the line" Ethan ask and the room drop dead "Neo is still a kid I can't let him risk his feelings for someone like me and he doesn't look like one to fall at least not for someone like me"
Matteo exhaled, defeated but relieved. "That's all we needed to hear."
Kellan smirked slightly. "So, I hope members of the jury I hope this is enough to convince you all that everything works according to plan we don't just move pieces without knowing the whole board " but Matteo just stared hard at him "you am not convinced at all I see it in you, your in love with Aiden" "believe what ever you want".
After the whole mini family gathering kellan remained as the others went back to their various duties.
Lucas's gaze hardened. The shadows around him sharpened like blades. "Kellan get ready we're heading somewhere" "where exactly" he asked
"To return a courtesy."
Kellan's smirk froze into a knowing smile.
"Darian?"
Lucas nodded once.
The room shifted instantly the brothers straightened, the atmosphere thickened.
Kellan grabbed his coat. "Just us?"
"Just us," Lucas said. "I don't need an audience."
And they left.
Darian's Mansion
The mansion looked like luxury had been forced to marry darkness.
Tall black pillars. Cold marble. Silence so deep it was practically breathing on its own.
Lucas and Kellan walked in unhindered, unafraid.
Darian was already waiting, lounging like a king on a velvet chair, leg crossed, whiskey glass swirling lazily in his hand. His lips curled into a smirk the moment he saw them but beneath that smirk was something sharp, uneasy.
"Lucas Luther" Darian said smoothly. "To what," he raised his glass, "do I owe the honor?"
Lucas stepped forward, posture cool, elegant, deadly. He took a sit opposite from him
"You came to my office uninvited," Lucas said calmly. "This is me returning the courtesy."
Darian chuckled, but the sound was too tight. "Oh come now, must everything be so formal? We're businessmen, aren't we?"
Kellan's eyes swept the room. Every hidden guard. Every shadow. Every movement. His stare alone made two of Darian's men hesitate.
Lucas didn't let Darian finish his drink before speaking again.
"You're getting comfortable," Lucas said quietly. His face changing ever so fast from the warm smile to a rather deadpan face "Too comfortable, for someone who knows exactly how thin his ice is."
Darian's smirk flickered. "Comfort is relative. And so is territory." He leaned forward slightly. "Speaking of… I hear your estate has new residents. Young ones."
Lucas didn't flinch.
Didn't blink.
Didn't breathe differently.
"Worry less about my people," Lucas answered, "and more about the rats in your walls."
Kellan's lips twitched at the insult. He knew how dangerously sharp Luca's words were sometimes it pushed people into doing what they would regret later.
Darian's polite façade cracked for half a second. "Careful, Lucas."
Lucas slid his gloves off, slow, elegant, deliberate. "Cross my line once," he said softly, "and my next visit won't end here, instead I'll be coming for a burial"
He slipped the gloves back on. Stood up
Turned.
Left.
Kellan followed, but not before giving Darian's guards that came subtle close trying to test their confidence a glare so cold their hands twitched away from their weapons.
The moment the door closed—
A crash echoed behind them.
Darian's voice roared with anger he had bottled up
"I WARNED YOU NOT TO MESS THIS UP!"
Lucas didn't even look back. He just smirked knowing that he had done what he did best provocating the prey from going into hiding.
Ethan's pov
Ethan sat in his office, glasses low on his nose, papers spread out on his desk. Overseas contracts, numbers, signatures, shipment protections. His pen moved smoothly, his expression calm, with full on concentration. Then,
His phone buzzed an Unknown Number.
Except…
It wasn't unknown at all.
His stomach dropped a little.
His pulse rose a little more.
He didn't save the number, but he knew who it belonged to.
Caelan Vortigern.
A man who had left him in conflict since their very first encounter they'd fought quite a number of times he'd been saved also by this same person they had both met a couple of times from meetings to dealings and also working together. They'd both said they hated each other's guts to the point others around them knew of their so called hatred for each other but still this man,
Stoic.
Sharp jawline.
With a lot of scars that cut down his neck all the way to his back like a warning but added to his features.
Eyes that made Ethan feel things he had absolutely no business feeling.
Ethan opened the message.
"Still alive, Pretty Boy?"
Ethan's breath caught.
He clenched the phone.
Damn him.
Then...
A memory flashed.
Their first meeting.
A hostile negotiation between the two groups, he'd been sent there with lucas to tidy up a negotiation with them that was were he saw him standing tall like a statue eyes sharp as though he didn't blink at all just stared straight at nothing
Tension sharp enough to cut air.
Ethan standing silent behind Lucas.
Caelan standing silent behind his superior
One moment just a second as though caelen had felt him staring for way too long their eyes accidentally met.
A look that lasted too long to be meaningless it was as though caelen was trying to read through him trying to know him on the spot.
Ethan had pretended he forgot.
Caelan had pretended it was nothing.
But Ethan dreamed of that look.
Dreams he wouldn't dare confess even to God.
And Caelan…
God help him…
Caelan kept texting him and last time he checked he hadn't given his contact out not to him or anyone.
The texts were short things. Teasing things. Dangerous things.
Things that fueled every forbidden thought Ethan had locked inside.
Ethan's phone buzzed again.
"You ignoring me? Or shaking?"
He threw the phone across the table and covered his face with his hands.
"Why can't he just let me be already what's with him why does he tease me this much and what's with my reaction I can't even breathe properly" he said out loud his face still in his hands
Lucas pov
The sun had given way to the moon a long time ago
Lucas was heading to his room when his phone rang.
Neo.
Lucas raised an eyebrow before answering.
"Didn't expect you to call this late," Lucas said, voice low.
Neo stuttered immediately, "I– I wasn't trying to disturb you...I just...just wanted to check if you were okay."
Lucas smirked, leaning against the wall.
"Worried about me?"
Neo sputtered, "N-no....I mean, yes? No...not like... I just meant-"
Lucas hummed softly.
"Relax. You sound like you're about to faint."
"I'm fine!" Neo squeaked.
Lucas chuckled, the sound rich and dangerous.
"Good. Because if you keep talking like that, I might start thinking you like hearing my voice."
Neo went silent.
Too silent.
Lucas's smile deepened.
"What d-do you mean by that don't say things like that to me" " or else what huh" Lucas said almost dropping his voice too low "I'll-i-"
"Goodnight, Neo." Lucas finally said after neo went silent for a while
"…goodnight," Neo whispered, voice small and flustered.
Lucas ended the call, a dangerous glint in his eyes.