Chapter Thirty

Every muscle in Luc’s body was tense as he waited for Kara to curse at him, hit him, anything. But she did none of those things.
Lucas looked at her and had to steel himself against the pain that wreaked his heart. God, the look on her face… He swallowed hard.
“Kara…”
She raised a hand in his face, cutting him off and he stared at her slender fingers, watched them tremble violently and ached because of it. He was going to lose her. She would hate him and he’d lose her. The panic began to fill Luc’s heart.
“Kara, please, just listen to…”
“Listen to what?!” she screamed, her eyes blazing from hot fury. Hot fury and the most heart wrenching pain, Lucas ever saw.
It killed him inside.
Her hands came up to clap loudly in his face.
“Well done, Lucas Cartier! Well fucking done! You’ve taken the ultimate revenge! I can safely say, I absolutely regret ever stealing from you. I regret ever meeting you!”
He flinched at her sharp words, reaching out for her but she jerked out of his reach.
“So you’re not just a rich man, hey?” Kara continued with a trembling but strong voice. “You’re a man like him?” She pointed at Markos who stood watching the scene with a puzzled expression.
Lucas frowned darkly.
“Don’t compare me to your…”
Kara raised her brows when he trailed off.
“Say it. My father! Yes, I’m the bastard child of Markos Vilmont, didn’t you know?! Or have you only recently heard the wonderful news?”
Lucas lowered his gaze as her sarcasm washed over him, drenching him in shame and fury at what he’d done.
“I think we should leave this place first,” said Raphaël quietly. “We need to leave Kara.”
She turned on him. “I’m not going anywhere with you or him! I’m sick and tired of being told what to do by men like you!” Kara turned back to Lucas with a glare. “All my fucking life has been a giant shit show because of men like you, Lucas, I’m done!”
Her breathing dragged painfully in and out of her lungs as she stared fire at him through her tears.
Vilmont was stunned at the back bone the girl had grown to speak to one such as Lucas Cartier in such a manner. And Cartier hadn’t shot her through the head yet. He was fascinated. Maybe if he kept the girl- completely against his own rules- he could use it to his own advantage.
He watched as his accidental daughter paced like a Tigress in the space between himself and France’s most lethal duo. If she came close enough to him, maybe Vilmont could get the gun to her head and get himself the hell out of there. But, he wouldn’t and he knew it.
Lucas gulped again as he watched Kara. She was beyond angry. Beyond hurt.
“Kara…”
“Stop saying my name!” she screamed, fighting against the tears blinding her. “Stop saying it! Why did you do this, Luc? Do you hate me that much?”
“I don’t hate you, Kara. I’ve ever hated you…”
“Then why?”
Her eyes stared at him with the same loathing and mistrust that Luc knew Kara felt for most men and his heart broke in his chest. He’d driven her to hate him. He’d lost her.
“I’m sorry, Kara. I’m so sorry”
She shook her head at him and slowly used her sleeve to wipe the tears off her face.
“S-sorry won’t cut it.”
Raphaël winced and glanced at his friend, actually feeling bad for him now. Lucas loved Kara, Raphaël knew that. But he wasn’t sure whether Luc knew it and he was certain that Kara had no clue.
He watched the walls come up between them and sighed.
This wasn’t going to get sorted out here, they had to leave.
“Patron.”
Everyone turned to the door at the new voice as a tall, dark haired man walked in.
Raphaël nodded and Lucas scowled.
“Gérard,” said Raphaël. “Where are the rest.”
Gérard made a circling motion with his finger as he studied the glare Lucas was giving him. “Checking surroundings.”
Raphaël nodded and turned to Kara.
“Kara. Please look at me.” Her pained green eyes lifted to his and Raphaël wanted to slap Lucas on the head for his stupidity. “Being Luc’s best friend, I’m probably the last person you want to listen to and I completely agree that he is the biggest idiot on the planet right now, but Kara, we need to leave.”
She studied him silently, eyeing the guns all three of them, including that Gérard, held.
Raphaël laid a hand over his gun.
“These are drawn for your protection, Kara. These bullets were meant for his head.” He pointed at Vilmont who darkened from fury and embarrassment. “We’re not going to hurt you, I promise.”
Kara glanced at the three men, avoiding Luc’s face. She didn’t want to look into his grey eyes for fear that she’d become overcome by her emotions. All of it at once, the fury, they betrayal, the anger, the hurt, the sadness… it would overwhelm her.
Slowly, she turned to look at the father who never was a father. Vilmont looked back at her with an expression that Kara thought was probably regret that he wouldn’t get to put a bullet in her head.
“You know,” she said. “We have the same eyes… and I’m so grateful… that that’s the only thing we have in common.”
Markos stood still, his gun still in his hand as he watched her turn away from him and approach Raphaël.
She was wrong, he thought. She had his dark humor, his stealth and his steel back bone too. But he didn’t say that. He was Markos Vilmont, a daughter meant nothing to him. So he let her walk away and in a deep part of himself, was grateful that she would be away from him and his toxic existence. Better yet, she’d be in the care of two men who’d definitely protect her from anything. The world was a bitch and he’d been willing to put a bullet in her to save her the trouble of living through it, and in his own fucked up head, that made sense.
He knew she thought different, but he was Markos Vilmont, he didn’t give a fuck.
“I’m not getting in the same car as him,” Kara said curtly, staring up at Raphaël, who glanced at Lucas and nodded.
“That’s fine. You’ll come with me and Lucas will travel with the guys.”
Kara said nothing and resisting the urge to look back at her father one last time, walked out of the warehouse on shaky legs.
She’d thought that she would be dead by now, sitting on a cloud with her dead grandmother, but as she stepped out and the sun kissed her skin, warming it, she felt the life course through her.
She was alive and still standing. No matter what shitty ball life threw at her, she batted it right out of the damn park and grabbed herself a damn homerun.
Raphaël walked past her, leading her toward his car.
She saw another car parked there and realized that was the one Lucas would go in. Averting her gaze when he came out of the warehouse, Kara followed Raphaël.
She swallowed hard when the tears jammed in her throat and her lip began to quiver. No, he meant nothing, he was nothing! She didn’t care! She was strong, she was phenomenal and a man wouldn’t break her down!
Huffing to strengthen herself and to hold off the damn tears, Kara got into the car as Raphaël held the door open for her. She rubbed her hands over her arms to warm her suddenly chilly body.
Luc remained standing outside the warehouse, eyes glued to the side of Kara’s face from where he could see her in the car. Never in his life had he ever hated himself more than in that moment. He almost had the most invaluable thing to ever appear in his life. Almost had her… then like the ass he was, he hurt her. His hands formed fists.
How the hell had he allowed himself to believe that Kara… with her bright smile and mischievous laughter, and her face that showed every single thing she felt… how could he have believed that she was the same as the filth of a man that stood in the warehouse behind him?
How could he have hurt her like that?
Lucas didn’t know what to do. How would he even begin to make things right? A helplessness fell over him and he put his back against a wall, watching as Raphaël drove the car out of the warehouse yard.
“Ça va?” asked a voice beside him and Luc turned to see Gérard giving him a wary look.
He felt his irritation with the man fade away. He could hardly blame him for anything when everything really was Luc’s fault.
With a sigh, he nodded and clapped Gérard on the back.
“Vilmont?”
Gérard nodded toward the warehouse entrance and Lucas started for the door. Stopping he turned around.
“The boxes?” he asked.
“Cocaine,” said Gérard, confirming what Lucas already suspected. “Thousands in worth.”
Luc nodded. “Get Jean down to Rein to get Vilmont’s girls out of that shit hole, you take care of his guards and then get the cops in this warehouse. I’ll handle Vilmont.”
When Gérard nodded, Lucas turned and went back into the warehouse, rolling up the sleeves of his bloodied white shirt.
Markos stopped pacing and grew pale at the sight of Luc. He’d been formulating a plan to get the hell out of there now that Cartier and Sauvage were gone, only to find out that, Cartier wasn’t exactly… gone.
He saw the clenched fists on the young man and grew tense.
“So…” said Lucas. “You like to sell out young girls, do you?”
Vilmont gulped. So Lucas Cartier, the merciless rehabilitator had finally gotten his chance with Markos Vilmont.
Resigned to his fate, Vilmont shrugged.
“They’re over fifteen.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he cursed himself. Luc’s eyes darkened from fury and he reached down, grabbing a steel bar that lay randomly on the ground.
“That makes it fucking okay? You worthless piece of shit.”
The words were quiet, but the magnitude of fury and darkness behind them had Markos gulping again. This was it. Lucas Cartier always let them go after torture, but Markos suspected he wouldn’t be walking out of this one alive.
Luc advanced, the bar held tightly in one fist, eyes focused on Vilmont’s face.
“Nothing in this world is okay…” Markos said weakly, eyeing the steel bar. He realized that what he felt wasn’t fear, it was hope. Hope that Cartier would go just a little further today. That he’d lose control and not stop when he was supposed to. That he’d save Markos the trouble of living through the world any longer.
Luc’s teeth clenched when he thought of all the years Kara had lived with the man. Five years. Five fucking years with the piece of shit that was supposed to be her father. Raphaël told him every single thing that Gérard had found out in the car.
The things the bastard put Kara through… the things he made her do.
The rage slammed through him and Lucas let his arm swing, hearing a crunch when it made contact with the side of Vilmonts jaw.
He breathed harshly, glaring down at the twisted human being who lay on the ground, groaning in pain and spitting blood.
“Was it fun while it lasted?” he demanded harshly of Vilmont. “Huh? You made her clean up murders! Made her slave away for you in that dump! She was assaulted, harassed, threatened, treated like an animal! Your own daughter!”
Another blow with the steel bar landed against Vilmont’s ribs and he groaned with the pain that turned his whole stomach upside down. He felt the fury in every word, every blow that Lucas dealt him. He felt it and he took it.
“She wanted a father in you, you sonofabitch!”
Luc’s arm swung back and he hit him again and again.
Breathless from the effort and the fury, he stepped back, pushing his hair out of his face.
Markos lay writhing on the ground, covered in blood. Lucas eyed him darkly, swinging back his arm to bring it down on his head, but froze in midair, remembering the words that always stopped him from crossing the line.
As always, Raphaël appeared in his mind.
“Keep clean hands, Cartier. Don’t stain your soul with their filthy blood,” he said.
And as always, Luc’s arm came slowly back down.
Vilmont’s green eyes opened and looked up at him and Lucas saw the plea there. Saw how desperate Vilmont was for him to end it. With an emotionless face, Luc let the steel bar drop out of his hand and it clanked loudly against the warehouse floor.
He glanced to the side where Kara’s bags lay. With a frown, he picked them up, unable to find any reason to explain how she’d managed to come with them. Unless she’d been about to run away when they took her. About to run away from him. Luc’s jaw clenched with sadness and regret.
With a final disdainful look at Vilmont, he turned on his heel and left the place in which he’d come so close to losing his Kara.
But he wouldn’t lose her, no. He didn’t know what he had to do, but he had to do something.
Luc walked out into the sunlight where only one car remained. No doubt Jean and Tristan bundled Vilmont’s remaining guards into their cars and drove them to Rein.
Only Gérard remained, leaning against his own car, waiting for Lucas.
When Luc reached him, Gérard cringed at all the red staining his white shirt.
Saying nothing, he got into the car and waited for Lucas to do the same. Soon they were driving away from the place and in the distance could be heard the sirens of police cars. Luc hoped the bastard would get life in prison.
“Didn’t kill him, did you?” asked Gérard.
Lucas glanced at him. “So Raphaël can bitch about me staining my soul for a fucking century? Wouldn’t risk it.”
Gérard’s mouth tilted in a crooked smile as he drove, ignoring the way Luc’s hands trembled violently in his lap. He was shaken and extremely charged. Luc always was after handling some piece of crap from Rein.
But this time it was different. This time, the piece of crap from Rein had been Kara’s father. Gérard knew he loved her, but he knew that wasn’t the reason why Lucas hadn’t killed Markos Vilmont.
He’d certainly wanted to, that much was clear, but Luc never would, just as he never could have let himself kill any of the previous ones. He could never become what he sought to change. And this time, he really hoped that the bastard would change. It would clean the streets, yes, but more importantly, he wanted it for her. For Kara.
“Where to?” asked Gérard.
Lucas wanted to say wherever Kara was going, but he didn’t know where she was headed. Neither did he want to face her in clothes covered with her father’s blood.
“Home,” he said simply and like the good friend that he was, Gérard knew exactly which one of Luc’s three mansions was home.

**********
Kara sat with her face turned against the window as ceaseless tears fell from her eyes and drenched her cheeks. She’d tried to be quiet, but realized she hadn’t been quiet enough when Raphaël handed her a box of tissues.
She studied the patterns on the tissues after she’d dried her face and guessed they were Isabelle’s. Her heart lifted at the thought of Raphaël’s wife. She’d make sure to see her and Celeste now before she left since she wasn’t running anymore.
A feeling of freedom encased her when Kara realized the fear she’d always carried for Markos Vilmont was no longer there. If he came for her, she’d have no problem handing him over to the police and giving them enough evidence to put him away for two lifetimes.
“Are you okay?” asked Raphaël suddenly.
She glanced at him, noting how uncomfortable he seemed. Poor guy, he’d had to endure her crying and blowing her nose. The situation made Kara smile, despite herself.
“I’ll be okay,” she answered. Truth was, Kara wasn’t certain if she’d ever be okay again. She’d always been her own strength, her own support, but ever since she’d allowed herself to let Lucas share a bit of her burden, she’d become used to his comfort. Used to his warmth.
Where would she get that comfort and warmth now, when Lucas was the one hurting her and being so cold? Kara sniffled, wiping angrily at her cheeks. She wouldn’t. She’d toughen up again and move on.
“Where do you want to go?” Raphaël asked. “Isabelle is at home waiting with a warm blanket and a bowl of soup. Not to mention endless hugs. Also, she’s probably got Celeste and François down there as well, waiting to welcome you.”
Kara cringed, but felt her heart lift happily at the thought of them gathered just for her. It made her feel… special. And guilty.
But, with a sigh, she shook her head.
“I must go to the ranch first, to collect a few personal belongings. Then we can go to your place so I can see them and say goodbye.”
Raphaël glanced at her. “Goodbye? But… where are you going?”
Kara smiled sadly. “Back home?”