Meanwhile, at the front of the warehouse, Raven was handling goons. There were quite a few of them, and they weren't making this easy for her. But she wasn't going to go down without a fight. She was dispatching them one by one when a new voice broke through the din.
"Need a hand?"
Raven halted mid-punch and spun to face Lucas—Dante's little brother—sauntering toward her with a huge smile. She blinked in surprise. The last time she'd run into Lucas, it had been a fleeting meeting at a meeting. They hadn't exactly gotten along.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, her eyes squinting as she swiped at the sweat on her forehead.
"Here to help," Lucas explained, cracking his knuckles. "Thought I'd save you the trouble of handling these thugs by yourself." He grinned, looking thoroughly amused.
Raven turned to look at him, then back to the thugs now eyeing him suspiciously. "I've got it covered."
"Yeah," Lucas said, rolling his eyes. "But I've got better moves than you. Watch and learn." And with that, he launched himself into the fight.
Raven snorted as she dodged a punch. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?"
Lucas shot her a wink. "I'm the good kind of idiot. The kind who gets things done."
She rolled her eyes but couldn't suppress the smile that pulled at the corners of her mouth. For all the circumstances, Lucas had a way of making everything. a little less burdensome.
"Okay, but don't get yourself killed, hero," she joked, tossing another goon to the floor.
"No guarantees," Lucas answered, punching another guy into a stumbling retreat. "But hey, if I get taken down, at least I'll be good-looking about it."
Raven dodged and twirled as another thug attempted to grab her from behind. She elbowed him in the gut, and he fell over. "You're really frustrating," she panted.
"You adore it," Lucas retorted, smiling.
But before Raven could turn to face another wave of foes, one of them caught her off guard—a punch to the side, causing a jagged pain to radiate through her ribs. She gasped and stumbled backward, losing her footing for a moment.
"Raven!" Lucas yelled, his face shifting from teasing to alarmed in an instant. He smashed a goon into the wall and sprinted over to her. "You okay?"
She gritted, touching her side. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little winded."
"Uh-huh," Lucas said incredulously, surveying her. "You sure? Because you don't look fine. You look like you've been struck by a truck."
Raven clenched her teeth, her eyes flashing at him. "I'm fine, Lucas. Get back to fighting before I actually do get struck by a truck."
He grinned but didn't protest, diving back into the fight.
Once Dante was done with Javi, he loomed over him, panting. The man was bound, bleeding, and shaking with terror.
"You actually believed you could pull this off, didn't you?" Dante's tone was a cold whisper. He grasped his knife, the blade shining in the dim lights.
"I—I didn't think you'd—" Javi gasped, tears welling up in his eyes.
Dante only smiled, cold and predatory. "You underestimated me."
And with that, he had the information he required. Then, as suddenly as he'd arrived, he departed Javi in the room—alive, but just barely.
Chapter 19: .But First, Ice Cream
Later, when the adrenaline had passed and they were sitting in a diner, tension between Raven and Dante had vanished, at least temporarily. Lucas had vanished after the fight, no doubt off to do. whatever Lucas did.
Raven shot a look at Dante, who was sitting back in his chair, drumming his fingers against the table.
"You know, you gotta break yourself of this whole 'torture first, ask questions later' business," she teased, curling her lips up into a mischievous grin.
"Hey," Dante chuckled, "it works. Besides, I didn't have a minute to talk."
She softly laughed and shook her head. "You're a piece of work, you know that?"
"Yeah, but I'm your piece of work." He smiled at her. "You're welcome."
She let out a sigh. "Okay, let's get ice cream. Before you get any stupider ideas."
Dante grinned. "Now that sounds like a plan."