by Lux Miller
That last part I hadn’t known until I was abducted by Parker, and even then, he hadn’t mentioned that she was that far along or that they’d already named the baby. Matteo had been furious upon finding out that his sixteen-year-old heir had fucked around and knocked up the daughter of his sworn enemy. Knowing that Luca lost his girlfriend and his unborn son, especially at such a young age, is heartbreaking. Knowing he wasn’t even able to say goodbye to them because of a dangerous family feud is unfathomable. I now understand why he’s adamant that he doesn’t want children.
I pull away and offer him a small smile as I lick over the cut on my bottom lip. I grab both of his hands and squeeze them. “Let’s go inside. I’m dying to get a proper shower, and I know that you could certainly use one too.”
Luca chuckles, despite himself. He leans down and sniffs himself, then wrinkles his nose. “Damn, I do stink. Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
I shake my head and pull my hands out of his. “Because I’m just glad you’re alive. As stupid as it is and as weak as it makes me sound, losing you would have--”
Luca shakes his head and kisses me again, effectively shutting me up. I complain against his lips, but don’t make any motions to pull away. Luca finally tears his lips from mine, panting to catch his breath. Thank God we were able to at least brush our teeth between the police station and the hospital where we were both taken after being released on our own recognizance. I feel fortunate that Kyle was in charge of apprehending us, though he’d only been instructed to arrest Luca and Mike in order to separate them from the gaggle of goons rounded up that were under Parker’s leadership.
From what I’ve heard in snippets of conversation, Parker himself was arrested and charged with a list of crimes so long, he may never see the outside of a prison again. Drug trafficking, sex trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, attempted murder… that’s just the ones I can remember. Seems he’s embroiled as deeply, or possibly even deeper than Andre ever was in the underage prostitution ring that Kyle has been investigating.
It took Kyle himself to convince me to do the rape kit at the hospital. Despite my protests, the arresting officer wouldn’t believe a word I had to say about what happened during my captivity. Something about delusions of grandeur and my history of sexual abuse at the hands of those perceived to be in power over me. Kyle advised that if I submitted to the rape kit, and it showed that I hadn’t been forced to have sex, that it could expedite my release.
I agreed so I could get the hell out of there. And in the process, it exonerated both Mike and Luca from rape charges since neither of them had sexually assaulted me. In fact, Mike had prevented it from happening by giving me his gun. I made sure that the arresting officer knew that I’d been responsible for the shot to the groin, and that it’d been made in self-defense. I also took ownership of the auxiliary shots that had slowed Marco down enough for him to be subdued, even though I know they came from that cop, Rossi’s gun.
Mike refused to let me speak any further or take credit for the shots that sent Marco to his grave, nor did I attempt to take that away from Mike. I know it ripped his heart into shreds to shoot his brother in cold blood, but I think that somewhere deep down, he needed the closure and vindication that it gave him. It wasn’t my place to take that away from him, but I certainly hollered from the rooftops - okay, not really, but you know what I mean - that what Mike did was absolutely in self-defense and to protect me.
Since Luca was found bound and beaten, and because Parker is a well-known enemy to him, they let him go as well after he was tended at the hospital. He’s got a cracked rib, a split lip, and a black eye that I’m aware of. I have a feeling that when I see him naked, I’m going to find out that he was beaten far worse than I was. Parker wanted Luca to suffer as much as possible. There’s no way he didn’t get in a few kicks and sucker punches.
Luca sits back in his seat and looks me over as my thoughts wander. I’m vaguely aware that’s he staring at me, but I don’t look at him directly until he calls my name. “Emily…”
I blink, startled and look up at him. I can’t help myself as I bring a hand up to his face, my fingertips brushing along the angry purple skin around his right eye. The eye itself is bloodshot, but Luca has assured me that he can see fine and that the pain is minimal. He smiles and brushes my hair out of my face. “We should go inside. It’s ninety-some-odd degrees outside, and I already smell like a pig sat on me and farted. I’d hate to see how I smell once the heat starts to warm things up in here… besides, I have something for you inside…”
I raise one eyebrow and laugh softly at his very pungent description. “Yeah, I love you and all, but I don’t know if my nose could handle you smelling like the dumping ground of a barnyard. What did you get me? As you know, they found my ring in Marco’s car, and I’m just glad that you’re alive, so really… I have all I really need.”
Luca shakes his head. “Far from it. You deserve the world, but I can’t give it to you all at once. Even millionaires have to watch themselves and not get crazy with the spending. I actually have two things… the first is a request…”
I tilt my head to the side, “Luca. You know I’d do just about anything for you, unless you’re talking about kinky sex right now. I don’t think I’m ready to do anything wild and crazy with you yet. No butt stuff until I get the horrible visual of what Parker threatened to do to me out of my head.”
Luca frowns slightly, “I should have put that bastard in the ground when I had a chance to years ago.” He takes a deep breath and exhales it slowly. “I’m trying to work on anger management, so I’m going to pretend that you didn’t just tell me that Parker threatened to sodomize you in front of me…”
Luca motions at the house, “My request is that you learn to shoot a gun. For real. I want you to have your own. Whenever Mike gets home, he’s going straight back on your detail. You’re not going to be able to shake him unless you’re in my presence or Dante’s presence. But I want you to be armed too and know how to shoot to kill.”
I open my mouth to speak, but Luca shakes his head. “I’m serious, Emily. You don’t see the size of the target that’s on your back, but I do. I have enemies and this proves that they’re not above fighting dirty to make me play their games.”
I cross my arms over my chest and pout at him. “I understand your concern, Luca, I do. I know about Mandy… and your son. But I don’t think it’s wise to strap a gun to my side and tell me to defend myself. It wouldn’t have helped her, and it won’t help me.”
Luca frowns and I know I’ve hit a nerve. I sigh softly and squeeze his hands. “Look, teach me how to shoot. I can’t promise that I’ll be willing to let you stick a .22 in my bra, but I won’t protest you teaching me how to handle a weapon. That way, if I ever need to use one, I won’t take off a finger or two doing so. Okay?”
Luca nods slowly. “I want you to go today. You can go inside and get cleaned up, but I’m not going to delay this. You and Noemi both need to learn how to shoot immediately, before any of my enemies decide to move against me again. I will not let them use the women in my life as pawns in this war. Dante has agreed to shadow you until Mike can resume his duties, and Kyle has always kept Noemi out of trouble.”
I can’t help myself as I snort softly. If Luca only knew just how close an eye Kyle was keeping on Noemi, he’d have the man flayed open and left for the crows. But it’s not my place to rat him out. Noemi swears they’re being careful, but I have my doubts. She’s barely keeping her dalliance under wraps as it is. And I’ve never seen any condom wrappers anywhere in her room. I’m hoping that means she’s just tossing her garbage frequently to avoid suspicion, but something in my gut tells me she’s just being careless.
Luca nudges me, “I wish I could teach you myself, but as is the nature of the business I run, I’m needed. I’m entrusting this to the best marksman I know, and I know that he could teach anyone to hit a nail on the broad side of barn. My feelings for the man aside, I wouldn’t e
ntrust this to anyone else.”
I hear gravel crunching outside the car and look up, startled as the car door swings open. A familiar, ruddy face pops into my line of view, and I can feel my stomach plummet as bile rises in my throat. I find myself staring face to face with the corrupt cop who’s arrested Luca twice now in as many months.
I glance over my shoulder at Luca, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! You want me in the same vicinity as his vindictive ass… with a gun?”
The man stands up tall and lets out a bellowing laugh, “Circumstances change things dramatically Mrs. Barresi… and things aren’t always black and white. I’ve a history with Luca, Dante, and Kyle that spans more than a decade. Don’t think I’m switching sides just because I’ve agreed to this one thing. The line between good and evil, criminal and cop… they get blurred a lot as it is, but if I switch sides, you’ll know. By the way, I have a name… and it ain’t ass, dick, fuckwad, or any other cutesy nickname you may be thinking in your pretty, little head right now. It’s Leo…”
SIXTEEN
I don’t know what Luca was thinking putting me and the hot-headed son of the Chief of Police in an enclosed location with weapons, but it hasn’t been going well. Leo has a permanent glint in his eye that screams that he won’t hesitate to arrest me at the slightest provocation. Why the fuck Luca would want a cop to teach me how to shoot has me bewildered. Why couldn’t he just do it himself? If it was so important to him for me to learn, why did he leave the task up to someone who obviously hates him… and by extension, me.
If Dante wasn’t here, practically breathing down our necks, I never would have agreed to it. Even Kyle wouldn’t have been enough to convince me, and I know that man has military training. I saw the tattoo on his back when I caught him and Noemi in the middle of their… well, you get the idea. It’s a sight that’s burned into my eyeballs, and I refuse to dredge it back up from my memories to relive it yet again. Regardless, I’m only going along with Luca’s request, because Dante agreed to come along with us.
And he’s held true to his promise, watching Leo with eagle eyes that never drift over to where Kyle has assumed teaching Noemi how to shoot. I supposed Kyle must be a pretty good shot himself, but Noemi has done nothing but giggle the whole time. And every time Kyle touches her, she gives him bedroom eyes that would have Dante murdering Kyle in his sleep if he ever caught it.
One thing I’ve learned about Dante in the last nine months that I’ve known him is that he may come across as quiet and reserved, but that doesn’t mean that he’s complacent or accepting of things. I don’t know what’s going on with him lately, but before my abduction, he was coming in at all hours of the night. I even joked with him that he must be meeting up with some lucky girl somewhere. He didn’t find it funny, and now I wonder if I wasn’t closer to the truth than I thought.
For one, he hasn’t brought a single woman home in months. While he’s not quite up to the playboy status that Luca held before we began dating, Dante has his own reputation that’s been fairly earned. Let’s just say that while he may not be the pussy-master of New Orleans, he’s at least earned himself apprentice-status. And he has no shame in his game.
He’s a good-looking guy, and he’s always been friendly to me, despite his reputation among Luca’s men. Apparently, he’s something of a hard-ass on the job and he doesn’t let crap slip through the cracks. Which is impressive considering he’s a big ol’ goofball around me. I’m sure that has to do with some kind of psychological theory that one is more at-ease at home than at work. The house is home, and the family is work.
We may be best friends, but there’s absolutely no joking right now. He staring Leo down so intently that if looks could kill, Leo would’ve gone belly-up an hour ago. The man’s been surprisingly respectful so far. He’s kept his hands church-boy respectable, and he’s actually managed to get me to fire the gun at the target a couple of times. I haven’t hit much, but it’s not for his lack of trying. It’s just my lack of succeeding.
I got lucky with the shot I got off on Marco. I’m not a blubbering idiot when it comes to defending myself, but I’ve never really had to do it with a gun before. Mike raved about how amazing I was when I disarmed him, but I had no freaking clue what I was doing. I literally just grabbed it and hoped for the best. Looking back, I don’t think I even took the safety off. And here I am, holding a pistol in my hands as Leo explains for the umpteenth time how to use the sight to figure out where my shot is going to go.
What he hasn’t explained is how to stop the damn gun from recoiling. It’s damn-near popped me in the face more than once. Truth be told, I think he gets off on seeing others get hurt, so this is probably pure entertainment for him.
He sneers as I pop off another shot and miss the target completely. He yanks off the ear protection that makes me think of Mickey Mouse and looks over at Dante. He scowls as Dante pulls off his own silencing headphones. “What the fuck, Barresi? You told me the girl could handle a gun!”
Dante shrugs and looks at me apologetically before turning his gaze back to Leo. “I said she disarmed Mike and shot Marco. Did I forget to mention that there may have been a copious amount of luck involved?”
Leo growls and snatches the gun from me, turning on the target and emptying the clip. I stand there in stunned silence as he thrusts the empty gun back at me and storms off. Before my brain can fully register what’s happening, I feel strong, familiar arms enclose me in their warmth.
Dante’s voice is calm, but I can hear the underlying grit that he’s struggling to disguise. I’ve been a little jumpy since the whole ordeal with Parker, and I know that Dante’s first reaction is not to comfort me, but probably to wring Leo’s neck. Something he also knows would probably make me retreat back into my shell and act like a scared rabbit again.
Now that Luca is aware of the threat to me, he’s already amped up the level of protection on me. My personal shadow-guard may still be in prison for at least a few more days, but that hasn’t stopped Luca from assuring that I’m not even going to be allowed to pee alone. In addition to Dante and Kyle in our direct vicinity, Luca has hired at least another half-dozen guards to trail Noemi and I, and another half dozen are patrolling the house where Bianca is holed up like a hamster in a cage. She’s none too thrilled, but she, like Noemi and I, recognizes the threat to anyone Luca loves.
Truthfully, I suspect Dante is in as much danger as me, if not more. There’s been grumblings among some of the men, even before Luca’s suicidal surrender, that Luca may be planning to step aside in a few years and let his brother take over the crime family. I think those men are delusional. Luca was raised in the family to respect the family first and the personal self later. He’s already sacrificed so much for la famiglia that I find it hard to believe he’d willingly step aside.
Dante is arguably also tougher than me. After all, as far as I know, he’s never been drugged, bound, and gagged, then put on display in front of a horde of hungry men that look like they hadn’t been fed for days. I shudder as the memory courses through me, then fades into the warmth of Dante.
Dante chuckles softly and pulls back, pulling my ear wear off my head so that they hang around my neck. “There. Sorry he’s such a hothead. Kinda always been that way, I’m afraid. Even when we were kids fucking around the neighborhood. His service in the military didn’t help, either. I know he got kicked out. That’s common knowledge. What’s still kinda unknown is why. Kyle over there insists that Leo was a hero, but I just find that hard to believe. I’ve never seen that man do anything that didn’t have some kind of benefit in it for himself. Even as a teen. I think he probably kicked his commanding officer. It just seems appropriate.”
I nod blankly as my attention is drawn across the shooting lane where the target is still clinging to the stupid-looking dummy. I step out of Dante’s embrace completely and motion down the lane. “Can you pull that target up here?”
Dante glances down the lane and shrugs. “No need. I don�
�t doubt that he hit kill shots with every bullet. Leo doesn’t miss unless he intends to miss. There’s a reason Luca asked him to be the one to teach you how to shoot. It certainly wasn’t for camaraderie and friendship. There aren’t many men in this city that Luca hates more than Leo Rossi. In fact, I can count them on one hand… and half of them are dead. The short list of the living men that Luca hates more than Leo are Daniel Parker… and Angelo Rossi. Though I suspect the former has jumped from the hated list to the hit list.”
I gulp and nod in understanding. To be honest, I agree with it. Daniel Parker has revealed himself to be an maniac that’s hellbent on revenge at any cost. Marco lost his life while fueling the fire of hatred that burns inside Parker for Luca. And had Mike and Dante not been so stubbornly efficient in keeping track of Luca, Parker would have gotten his revenge.
I look down at the shiny gun in my hand and sigh, pushing it into Dante’s hands. “Looks like today was a total fail. I don’t think I hit the target one time, and Leo emptied the clip. Guess we’ll be heading home now?”
Dante snorts and shakes his head, reaching into his jacket pocket and producing a box that jangles as he shakes it in front of me. “If you seriously thought we didn’t come loaded with enough ammo to obliterate those targets, you’re sadly mistaken. We’re not leaving until you can hit the target. Obviously, Cassanova over there has zero people skills and no patience to teach you how to shoot. Luca suspected that may be the case, though.”
