Deathless & Divided (The Chicago War #1) (15 page)

“Serena—”

Laurent didn’t even get the chance to say another thing.

“Oh, shut up, Laurent,” Serena hissed, swiping her hand in her husband’s direction without a care. “We all know, don’t we? I mean, come on. Even she has to know.”

Lily stared at Serena through her dark lashes. Damian swore he saw her eyes narrow. “Know what?”

Serena laughed a high, sharp sound. “Really? You’re asking me?”

“You said it, didn’t you?” Lily asked softly. “I’m only asking for you to spit it out instead of chew on it. Whatever it is.”

Damian had to give his fiancée credit where it was due; Lily didn’t blink a lash at Serena’s behavior.

Serena attempted some odd cooing noise that came out entirely wrong. Instead of sickeningly sweet like he supposed she meant for it to sound, it rang like a garbled mess mixed heavily with her alcoholism. Most likely because she was three sheets to the wind and ready to topple over, Serena didn’t even understand the consequences of her actions. She usually had a little more control than she was showing now. Damian had enough and he wasn’t about to let Lily go through a round of his aunt’s abuse just because the bitch couldn’t hold her liquor.

Hell, she never had.

Damian still had a fucking scar on his pec to prove it.

Tommas had a few, too.

Standing from his chair, Damian offered Lily his hand. She took it without question, leaving her unfinished pastry on the plate and standing from her chair. “Sorry, Boss, but I think we’ll have to call it a night.”

Terrance frowned. “Yes, I—”

“You’re
running
, now?” Serena grinned wickedly, the wine in her glass sloshing as she waved at Lily. “Since when do you run, Damian? Didn’t we teach you better than that growing up? Don’t you want me to explain to the poor girl how terrible she’s making you look?”

“Serena, that’s damn well enough!” Laurent exclaimed, his face turning red.

Lily stiffened at Damian’s side and her hand tightened around his. “Me?”

The question had been posed with a dangerous edge, like Lily couldn’t believe what she had heard.

“Lily, let’s go,” Damian said firmly. “She’s not important and she’s drunk.”

“Which isn’t anything new,” Tommas muttered under his breath about his mother.

“Damian, I’m your
aunt
! And I expect you to treat me with respect!”

Damian snapped. Any and all control that he had managed to keep for the day was lost with three simple words. Turning on his heel to face the bitch across the table, Damian glared. Rarely did he show emotion in the presence of others and certainly not Mafioso. It was a dangerous game to play and while Damian was mighty good at his, he didn’t ever like to give someone an opening to one of his weak spots.

Serena Rossi just hit the right one on the goddamn head with a sledgehammer.

“That’s right,” Damian said, sneering. “You’re my aunt. My drunken, useless, bitch of an aunt. So fucking useless in fact, that you aren’t even capable of keeping your husband home. But you were mighty fucking good at spreading your legs and making children you didn’t want and couldn’t care for. A woman who couldn’t even be bothered to raise me and instead, handed me off to any and every person who would take me in. But not even me, no, your own kids, too. And when we were with you, shit … Tommas and I spent the majority of our time dodging your abuse and taking the hits in-between so Cara and Lea wouldn’t have to.

“Yeah, my aunt,” Damian repeated, spitting the words through his clenched teeth. He waved at Mia Conti, Serena’s sister. “You want to talk about how I’m embarrassing the family, huh? Why don’t we go straight for the fucking jugular and talk about how even your own goddamn sister doesn’t like to share a dinner table with you because you’re too busy trying to fuck her husband half the time?”

A sharp gasp sliced through the quiet dining area. Damian didn’t even know where or who it came from. He also didn’t care.

“If you think I give a single fuck about what you think regarding me or the deal with the DeLuca family, you are sorely fucking mistaken, Serena. Toss back another glass of wine, your blood isn’t sour enough, yet.”

Damian wished he could be surprised that not one person had stepped in to stop him from verbally knocking his aunt down a peg or two, but he wasn’t. Nothing he said to Serena was a lie. Shit, there was a hell of a lot more he left unsaid and probably for the better.

Even Lily’s uncle at the end of the table beside Terrance sat silent and stoic with his gaze down on the wine swirling in his glass. That wasn’t such a shock, either. Damian figured his tirade had been to Ben’s benefit, anyway. It didn’t exactly make Damian look good to be going off half-cocked in front of family and important men in the Outfit, not to mention the boss. Ben DeLuca played his part well, but chances were, he was scheming on Damian one way or another.

Fucking Christ, Damian didn’t even care at that moment. He just wanted to leave.

Lily had practically turned to ice at his side as she stared up at him with sad, wary eyes.

“Can we go now?” Damian asked her.

Lily nodded but she didn’t say a word.

Damian urged Lily ahead of him as he turned back to the table one more time. He owed one person at the table an apology and that was only for the sake of respect and little else. “Boss—”

Terrance held up a single hand. “Perfectly fine, Damian. I will see you tomorrow at tribute, yes?”

“Of course,” Damian said.

Damian hadn’t even turned away from the table completely before Serena let out a shriek. Her rage boiled over, pitching her voice high. Damian should have known better than to turn his back on his aunt when she was angry and drunk. Actually, he did know better but his concern about getting Lily out of his crazy aunt’s presence had been more important than the life lessons he learned growing up with an abusive alcoholic for an aunt.

“You … you little bastard!” Serena screamed.

Damian barely caught sight of the wine glass flying in his and Lily’s direction in enough time to react. He stepped in front of Lily as the crystal caught the side of his jaw, shattering across his face and splashing red wine and sharp shatters of glass along his cheek. Pain bloomed as something wet and sticky dripped onto his shirt and suit jacket.

“Oh, my God,” Lily whispered.

Damian blinked, stunned as Lily’s soft hands ghosted over his face. He could hear the sounds of his uncle and the others at the table finally starting to react to Serena’s very public display. While Laurent berated his wife’s bad behavior, someone else was demanding an apology.

Lily kept patting at Damian’s cheek with her fingertips. “Shit, you’re bleeding.”

Damian shrugged. “Just … let’s get out of here before—”

“Tell her, Damian!” his aunt goaded.

“Serena Rossi, you will shut your mouth or I will shut it for you,” Laurent ordered.

That threat didn’t stop Serena.

“Go to my car, Lily,” Damian said. “Please.”

Lily didn’t move. She was too focused on dabbing at the stinging cut on Damian’s cheek with the sleeve of her black dress.

“She’s always going to be that fool’s daughter, Damian,” his aunt warned. “She might be a DeLuca, but she’s still his daughter. A rat’s child—a turncoat’s seed. She’s got traitor marked all over her. It might as well be tattooed on her forehead. It’s in her blood and there’s no bleeding that out. How long will it take before she spills on you, too, huh? Her own daddy couldn’t keep true to the Outfit, what will she think of you when she finally gets a good look at who you are, Damian?”

Lily’s breath caught as her stare met Damian’s. Pain flooded her eyes as tears welled.

Don’t cry
, he wanted to tell her.
Don’t ever let a woman like Serena Rossi see you cry
.

Lily DeLuca was far better than Serena Rossi could even dream of being, regardless of her father’s past actions. Lily, Theo, and Dino weren’t their father. Sure, their parents had made them, but their futures weren’t dictated by past actions. Serena could spout her nonsense off all she wanted, but it wouldn’t make a difference to what Damian thought.

The Outfit was supposed to be about family. Lily’s father might have broken that rule a long time ago, but there were a lot of men—some closer than any of them knew—that worked goddamn hard to bring the Outfit back to what it was supposed to be.

La famiglia
.

The family.

Serena didn’t know the first thing about family. Not hers, the Outfit, or anyone else’s. She certainly didn’t know anything about Lily’s or how goddamn much that girl’s brothers cared and loved her.

Damian didn’t have to tell Lily a thing. She squared her shoulders, gave a single look behind Damian at a pissed off, red-faced Serena, and dismissed the older woman with a tick of her chin and the bat of her lashes.

That was it.

Lily didn’t say a word. Her indifferent, unfazed attitude was more than enough. Lily simply rejected Serena in a way that allowed her to keep her own dignity while stripping Damian’s aunt of hers in front of an entire table of people. Unlike Serena’s very vocal disdain, embarrassing and undignified, Lily’s was silent and a great deal louder. A good woman, a smart and strong one, didn’t need to make a scene to shame someone.

She clearly understood respect in a way Serena didn’t.

Damian appreciated that.

Wiping at the slice on his cheek with his thumb, Damian glanced over his shoulder at his aunt. Serena stood at the table, glowering and huffing like a pissed off bull. She looked like a damn mess. Drunk, foolish, and looking for another fight. Damian wouldn’t be the one to give her the battle she clearly wanted.

Everyone else at the table seemed to be having their own moment of shock, unable to speak or react. He didn’t blame them. Sure, they’d all witnessed one of Serena’s moments over the years, but never like this, in such a public place. It was only then he noticed the servers had rushed to the doorway of the private dining area as well.

“Let’s go,” Damian said to Lily.

Lily nodded. “Sure, okay. Let’s find a bathroom first. I’ll clean that mess off your face.”

Damian’s stance softened. She was genuinely worried about him and he wished she wouldn’t be. It wasn’t the first time something like this happened. Without another word to the people at the table, Damian guided Lily past the servers rushing into the room. Clearly their little scene hadn’t gone unnoticed by the regular patrons if the way they were stared at was any indication.

The first bathroom they came to happened to be for women. Lily didn’t seem to care as she pushed open the door and tugged Damian inside with her. A woman stood at the row of sinks washing her hands.

The woman squeaked and her cheeks reddened at the sight of a man inside the bathroom. It might have had something to do with the fact Damian was bleeding, had shards of glass on his shoulder, and his suit was wet with red wine.

Fuck. He smelled like a goddamn winery.

“Get out,” Lily ordered.

“This is a—”

Lily’s heel stomped to the tiled floor. “I said get out.
Now
.”

The woman rushed out of the bathroom, making sure to keep a wide berth between her, Damian, and Lily as she went. He didn’t fucking mind.

Lily crossed the bathroom to where clean, white facecloths were rolled into tiny folds and placed just so by the sinks. She waved a stoic Damian over and dabbed at his cheek with the dried, soft cloth to wipe off some of the blood dripping down his chin and neck. Once she wetted the cloth, Lily took her time dabbing at his wound, picking out pieces of glass from the slice, and brushing off the other bits on his shoulder.

“This suit is ruined,” Lily muttered.

Damian shrugged, trying to ignore the way her warm hands felt roaming over his skin. “Oh, well.”

“There’s blood all over the collar and on your shoulder. It’s not coming out.”

“It’s just a suit, little one.”

Lily’s eyes flicked away from his. “I’m not so little anymore, you know.”

Damian grinned, unable to stop it. “I’m very aware.”

“Did you call me that, too?”

“Once or twice. It fit, way back when. That age gap between you and your brothers sure made you quite a bit smaller than them in the grand scheme of things.”

Lily smiled. It came off honest and true. Damian could count on one hand the amount of times this woman smiled in his presence and really meant it. He liked it; he wanted to see more of it.

“I was the oopsie baby.”

Damian’s brow furrowed. “The what?”

“The oopsie baby,” Lily repeated, stilling dabbing at his cheek with tender swipes. “I remember Mom telling me once that after Theo, she didn’t want another baby because she was scared she’d end up with three boys raising hell.”

“And then you came along.”

“Just like a little oopsie.”

“Not a mistake, though,” Damian said with a cocked brow.

Lily laughed. “No, she never said that. She got her girl, right?”

“Well, she got you.”

“And I make up for everything,” Lily said with a roll of her pretty brown eyes. “What a shame, I liked this suit.”

Damian couldn’t help but notice the slight tremor in Lily’s hand as she tossed the bloody cloth to the sink. “Did you?”

“Yes.”

“Lily—”

“God, that woman is vile. How did you grow up in her house?” Lily asked.

“I spent as little time with her as possible but mostly, we were raised by other people. Listen, don’t pay her any mind.”

“Easier said than done,” Lily muttered.

“Hey.” Damian caught Lily’s cheek in his palm. He swept his thumb over the delicate line of her jaw and tilted her head up so she would look at him. The wetness gathering along her bottom lashes said Serena’s words had affected Lily a lot more than she was letting on. “That right there,” he said, still keeping a hold on her while pointing at the unshed tears with his free hand. “Don’t you do that, Lily. She isn’t worth a damn to what I or anyone else thinks when it comes to you. Serena thrives on her need to manipulate and create some kind of drama—don’t be one of her victims.”