by Bethany-Kris
It didn’t matter.
Dare had been right—The Elite finally figured out what was happening to each of their members and that every kill Penny had made up, including her last, was all connected to them, their organization, and their business of trafficking children for wealthy pedophiles.
It was too late to fix her mistake.
Her ignorance ...
In a split second, as both men reached for the guns hidden in holsters beneath their jackets, Penny was all too aware that she was in the final moments of her life. The men paid no mind to the people or the employees of the business. They were clearly there with a mission—a job to get done.
Chase hit her from the side when the first gunshots rang out. Glass shattered—likely the window behind them. The screams echoed.
Penny was already reacting even as her body crashed to the floor with Chase’s heavy body falling on top of hers. She grabbed the gun that she kept in the holster at her inner thigh and the one Chase kept at his side before he could reach for it himself.
With a gun in each hand, she aimed around the table and fired two shots. They both hit the man with the scar, straight in the face, marring him further and taking him to the ground.
“Move,” she snapped at Chase.
The only sound he made was a grunt when a bullet plugged into his back. She quickly realized it wasn’t the only gunshot he had taken. The one that ended up in his chest was bleeding through his button-down over Penny’s black dress.
He wasn’t dead.
Yet.
He would be.
Soon.
“Masters? Masters, look at me!”
Penny slipped out from under Chase on trembling legs as her adrenaline kicked into high gear. The only asshole left alive, while the few patrons scattered to the exit, was currently leaning over his partner in crime. As she stood to her full height, the guy finally realized she was still alive. His gun started to raise as she lifted her own.
Bang.
The bullet plugged between his eyes. He hit the ground, slumped over his partner’s corpse, but it wasn’t over.
Not even close.
All it took was Penny glancing to the side where the window had been shattered by an earlier bullet. She could have tried to help Chase. If it weren’t for the two men who rushed out of the backseat of the still-running vehicle outside. Like the men dead on the pizzeria’s floor, they also wore black suits. And had guns in hand.
She had hoped a girl waited there for her to save from a far worse fate—the same hellish existence she had been forced to live through for years. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Now, Chase was dying on the floor because of it, and her one option was to leave him there.
Penny headed for the back of the restaurant. Her companion would die alone; she would hear his final grunt for the rest of her life knowing it had been her fault, like so many other things.
What choice did she have?
It was her only chance to get out of this alive.
12.
Luca
LUCA had realized early on that bad shit was about to go down in the pizzeria. Long before he heard the sale of a girl-child mentioned between Penny and her associate. Before the bullets were shared between adversaries, he’d known. He couldn’t say why, exactly, but that heaviness in the pit of his stomach only grew in weight the longer he sat in his vehicle and waited for whatever it was to happen.
And then it did.
Fast.
Horribly.
Spectacularly.
Violence tended to be that way. Without warning and uncompromising. No prejudice and available to anyone at an unfortunate distance. He heard the shots second—the screams next. The first thing had been an unfamiliar voice crackling over the comm in his ear as he listened to the conversation happening inside the pizzeria.
A long time ago, Luca learned there were two kinds of people in the world. Those who ran away from danger, and the ones who ran into it. The people who sought danger had different reasons for doing so while the ones who ran from it only had one—to save their lives.
Luca didn’t like dangerous situations. He did have a sense of self-preservation despite what his profession and family legacy might suggest. And yet, often, he still found himself running into the danger instead of away.
Because he didn’t have a choice.
Especially this time.
The two men who stepped out the backseat of the black car that pulled up mere minutes after Penny and her associate had arrived didn’t notice Luca exiting his own vehicle. The men roughly shoved past the people flooding out of the pizzeria while he headed for the alleyway on the side of the business.
Chances were if Penny had made it out of the gunfight alive inside—and by the crackling voices in his comm, she had—then she wouldn’t take on another set of gunmen just for the hell of it. Even those who ran into the danger knew when to back down.
It was common sense.
So, Luca used some of his own, too. She might not want his help in this situation, but he also wasn’t going to give her a choice in the matter.
His mind bounced from one thing to another, desperately trying to catch up to speed with all the things he had learned in the span of mere minutes. This wasn’t at all how he thought the day would go down; he was only supposed to spy on a meeting, not this. Part of him thought it was just luck on his part but another believed someone—or something—had put him here today because he needed to be.
He could deal with it later.
Maybe.
Was the meeting a set up to draw Penny out? It sure seemed like it based on the things he heard and what followed. That assumption of his was only compounded when he rounded the corner at the end of the alley to find another man in a black suit. With his back turned to Luca and his finger pressing at the comm in his ear, it was clear the guy was backup.
Waiting.
For Penny, likely.
Just in case she came out the back—or her friend, even. He probably parked somewhere nearby and walked to his position, so he wouldn’t be seen.
Luca didn’t even think about his next actions. Drawing the gun he kept holstered at his back, the man didn’t even see the shot coming. The bullet plugged into the back of his head. At the same time his body hit the ground, the backdoor of the pizzeria flew open and slammed into the brick from the force alone.
She almost stumbled in her heels; damn near fell over the body when she took two long strides beyond the doorway. Her black wig was a tangled mess, and the red smears on her chest continued down the front of her dress.
Blood.
He didn’t have time to react; neither did she. Her icy gaze darted from the man on the ground to the gun Luca still had raised. He hadn’t even had time to lower it.
“Luca,” he heard her breathe.
Was that anger?
Shock?
Something else?
The shouts coming from within the pizzeria and the way Penny glanced back at the door just before it closed reminded him that he didn’t have the opportunity to think it over right then. They had to move.
And fast.
“This way,” he said to Penny, nodding straight. “Follow me.”
He was already passing her and the dead body by, but she didn’t move and inch.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I assume you want to live,” Luca replied, his stare locking onto her gaze, surprised to find brown eyes staring back at him instead of her usual bright blue. Contacts. It made the five feet that separated them seem a lot smaller in those moments. Her eyes were still the same; wide and bright despite the sadness that was ever-present. The demons that haunted her always showed there no matter how hard she tried to hide them. “And I know these alleyways better than anyone. Grew up on them, you know? I can help. Let me.”
Her unease at the very sight of him was obvious. No doubt, she wanted answers for why he was there or his motives. He understood but now wasn’t the time. She looked li
ke she was going to argue, but only for a second.
“We don’t have time for questions, Penny.”
Penny nodded once. “Let’s go.”
Yeah.
Before the assholes burst out of the door as she had.
They barely made it around the corner at the other side of the back alley into a new one before the bang of the metal door hitting brick echoed again. Penny had quite the talent for running in a pair of four-inch stiletto heels, keeping up with Luca’s pace every step of the way as he navigated the maze of alleys in the familiar area. Not that he had time to appreciate it.
Every time he thought they were far enough to take a break, he was proven wrong. Their pursuers were never too far behind. It wasn’t like the men were quiet about their chase, shouting orders back and forth while he kept moving forward with Penny right on his heels.
“Where are we going?” Penny asked when they rounded another corner.
“Not far now. Ditch the wig.”
“What?”
Luca ripped off his leather jacket and handed it over, barking, “Put this on and ditch the wig—now.”
She did as they came to a dank alley with only one door and several trash dumpsters. Moving in front of the dark green metal door that had clearly seen better days with all its dings and scuffs, Luca banged his fist five times against the middle. There wasn’t a handle on the outside but that was common for this place. There was only one official entrance but even that was hard to find.
Which was the point.
He banged on the door again.
To no avail.
Yet.
“This is a dead end,” Penny hissed at him.
“Only on the surface,” he replied. “Just trust me. We need a minute. That’s all.”
“We don’t have a minute. They were right behind us!”
“Quiet.”
She’d tossed the wig into a dumpster. His jacket fit her well, though. The shouts from outside the alley gave away the fact that the chase wasn’t over yet, and if he didn’t figure out something soon, then ...
Fuck it.
Luca banged on the door one more time and then he moved for Penny. He didn’t give her time to react before he reached down and ripped three holes into her black tights. Exposing her thighs and knees, he rubbed his hands into the dirt on the ground and marred her creamy, white exposed skin to dirty her up.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she asked, the pitch of her tone raising to a level he had never heard.
“Shut up and play along.”
“Play—”
He flipped up the hood of his sweater, thrust his hands into the messy braid that had fallen from her wig to mess it up even more, and then slammed her back into the brick wall of the building. The instinct of self-preservation kicked in for Penny, making her fist Luca’s sweater when her burning gaze met his.
Fight or flight.
He knew that all too well. Too bad he couldn’t give her the opportunity to do either.
Luca banged on the door right beside them one more time. “We just need another minute. That’s all.”
“You’re going to get us kill—”
No, he wasn’t.
Trust was earned, though.
“Hey, I hear something over here, man!”
Luca didn’t have any more time to prepare Penny for what he was going to do next, so he just did it. His lips crashed down on hers without warning. Her hands flexed harder into his sweater, simultaneously pushing him away but then pulling him closer when her eyes blew wide, and she realized what he was doing. The fast exploration of his hands down the curves of her hips came to a stop at the tight cinch of her waist, and he felt every single shiver that he earned from her for it, too.
He liked it.
Didn’t want to admit it.
But he did.
She tasted like pure heat and felt like silk. Even with the dirt on his palms as a barrier between his hands and her body. Even with her trembling lips working against his. Her shuddering breath let him deepen the kiss, make it look real.
Even if it felt that way already.
He didn’t have a choice. That’s what he would keep telling himself, anyway. They only needed another minute and—
“Yo—what the fuck are you two doing?”
One of the dumpsters had allowed Luca and Penny a bit of privacy from the two men standing at the end of the alleyway in the light. The shadows helped even more to keep them from further view.
He bared his teeth and glared. “Fuck off—I paid for this. Get your own.”
Luca knew how it would appear. A guy and a hooker in a dank alley next to a dirty dumpster. The dead end wouldn’t lead the pursuers to anything worth chasing. And those men weren’t really looking for him in the first place.
The two men passed a look between each other. Penny’s leg came up to hook around Luca’s hip, showing off one of the rips and dirt on her skin. Nothing else, though. It did, however, push their bodies closer together, doing nothing to hide the erection growing under his jeans.
Fuck.
Why was his throat so tight?
He swallowed hard. “You fucking mind, or what?”
At least, he hid the heat from his voice. The nerves, too. Barely.
“Sorry, man,” the guy on the left said.
“You see a bitch with black—”
“Does it look like I’m looking for other people?” Luca barked.
Both men flipped their hands high, a silent apology. They moved on out of view of the mouth of the alley without another word. The air he released felt like relief but did nothing to ease the pressure in his chest and pants.
He reached over and banged on the door one more time.
Come on, Freddie, he thought. Come on, man.
Under his hands that he still hadn’t taken from Penny’s body, he felt all of her tremors. Every single one. And the way it increased when his fingers flexed against her waist, holding her tighter.
He met her gaze again.
Wide, and unsure.
“Don’t be scared,” he told her.
For so many reasons.
Their current situation, the fact he was a man and touching her when he knew ...
“I’m not scared,” she replied through clenched teeth and a tight jaw.
In all the years Luca had chased after this girl—no, a woman now—he had pushed aside the knowledge that once, she had looked at him differently than she did other men. Her young crush on him, that even she admitted was silly, wasn’t something he could indulge back then. Or even wanted to when all he could see when he looked at her back then was a broken girl desperately trying to make it one more day. He’d been her friend; nothing more.
He couldn’t say the same at that moment. It fucked him straight up.
“I know,” Luca murmured.
He could still taste her on his lips, and the tightness of his throat only increased when he tried to swallow the feeling away.
Penny opened her full, pink lips to say something else but finally, the door opened at their right. The familiar face of a man Luca had been cursing for the last several minutes peeked out of the doorway. Freddie Jonesburg cocked a brow like he was the one being inconvenienced.
“Puzza—what the fuck do you want?”
“A favor,” Luca replied.
Freddie eyed the situation happening outside his door. Luca at least had the decency to put some distance between himself and Penny, even though he couldn’t help but keep one hand on her waist. “Like what kind of favor?”
“A room. Maybe for a few hours or the night, or—”
“You pay it back whenever I want?”
“Just ask,” Luca agreed, “and I’ll do it.”
Freddie nodded once and pushed the door open wider. “Come on in, then. Last time I saw you was what, last year when you were hiding out from some fuck in Brooklyn that you pissed off, right?”
“First of all, I didn’t piss him off. I just took something
that he took from someone else. He had it coming.”
Or mostly.
Luca entered the building first, but Penny soon followed. The dark hallway was dimly lit by a single bare bulb over the stairwell at the far end. Red walls. A metal staircase. It wasn’t much to see, but the exits of the underground haven rarely were to begin with. Equipped with everything from rooms to sleep in, and a bar to drink when one wanted, a guy could hide out for as long as he could stand to stay out of sight as long as he was willing to pay the price to stay. Although, with a recognizable face like Luca’s because he’d been around doing business here before ... he had a bit of pull in some cases.
Freddie was already climbing the stairs not even bothering to wait for the boarders he had decided to room without more than the promise of a returned favor in the future.
“What is this place?” Penny asked.
Luca shrugged. “It’s used for a lot of things. None of which we ask about.”
Penny followed behind Luca in silence; he was grateful.
All he could think was what happens now?
13.
Luca
THE room Freddie said he had available for Luca and his guest—he refused to give Penny’s name or even a fake one—wasn’t much to look at. A sketchy, queen-size bed with a bare mattress although a quick smell of the folded blankets at the foot said they had at least been washed.
By who, Luca didn’t know.
He also wouldn’t ask.
The singular dresser with five drawers had seen far better days. Dings and chipped paint weren’t a decorative touch he preferred but as he didn’t plan to use it anyway, what did it even matter? A small mirror with a crack in the bottom, left-hand corner hung over a steel sink that jutted from the wall covered in peeling, yellowed wallpaper. He wasn’t even sure the rusty pipes under the sink would work to bring water to the taps.
Under the soles of his feet, wood floors that had seen better days creaked with every step he took around the small space. The room couldn’t be larger than ten feet by ten feet. The tiny window over the lone piece of furniture in the room other than the bed—the dresser—wouldn’t even fit a small child through it.
