“It looks just like yours and Nero’s, but flipped. There’s no reason to see it.”
“I’m sure it’s decorated differently, though. Has no one really seen it?” Lake asked, burning a hole through the door with her stare, like she was hoping to suddenly have X-ray vision.
“I’ve seen Sal come out of there before, but he’s the only one, and it was just one time,” Elle told her.
“Maybe he has a second entrance somehow?” Lake replied like he wasn’t even there.
Lucca gave Nero and Vincent a look of death.
“Clearly, Lucca likes his privacy, and we should respect it,” Adalyn stated.
He gave her a slight smile in return. “Thank you, Adalyn.” Hearing maybe a swoon or two, he began walking toward the elevator.
The girls all followed behind him as he got into the elevator, passing one of his men who was laughing as he watched the floor.
“We’re going to the diner to get something to eat if you’re hungry,” Adalyn offered.
“No thanks. I’ll fix something when I get home.”
Hurry the fuck up. He couldn’t punch in the code fast enough to take them to the first floor when Amo finally got his ass into the elevator.
“Hmm … That’s strange,” Lake whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.
Fucking hell, what now? It seemed like the doors would never come to a close.
“What?” Elle was curious, along with Adalyn.
“Probably that I make my own fucking food,” he mouthed off to the nosy girls. Chloe had practically been shocked he knew how to boil water.
“No.” Lake smiled a bit too evilly before she continued, “Your hair is wet. Who takes a shower at one of their houses only to leave for the other one? Must have gotten pretty dirty …” she trailed off, giggling.
“Hmm … What were you doing in there?” Elle giggled with her.
I’m gonna snap their little fucking nec—
“He probably does have that second entrance for his women,” Amo said in a low tone, but not low enough for them all not to hear.
Cutting a blind Amo’s throat with his pocket knife flashed before him, only to unfortunately disappear after he blinked it away.
“You should get one, Amo, so I don’t have to see the fucking trash you take to your place every night.”
The elevator went deadly silent at his words.
Amo didn’t open his mouth, clearly too pissed and shocked that Lucca had known about the girls he brought home in the middle of the night.
Lucca wasn’t done with him just yet.
Watching the numbers blink lower and lower, he knew the doors were about to open any second now. He waited until the very end before he looked at Amo one last time and asked, “How has Chloe been?”
You could practically see Amo killing him in his mind, just the way he had been. It was a question he wasn’t able to answer, considering Chloe’s phone had been with Lucca since he had taken her. Amo’s countless texts and phone calls had all gone unanswered.
Now Lucca was happy he hadn’t killed him. This was much better.
“S-She’s doing good.” Elle nervously tried to break the tension between the two.
At last, the doors began to open, and he gave his response to Amo as he continued to stare him down. “That’s good to hear.”
Lucca let the girls off first, and when Amo passed, a sinister grin came over Lucca.
When another vision appeared before him, it wasn’t of a horrific way to kill Amo. This one was altogether different. A vision that would soon come true, when Amo finally learned that, Chloe is mine.
After giving his order to the waitress, Amo’s appetite seemed to disappear. It had actually disappeared in the elevator with Lucca.
Sitting at the end of the table, he didn’t engage in the laughing from his group. He didn’t even particularly want to be here, but he had cancelled on them so many times since Chloe had left for California that he didn’t want them to think he had become broken. Even though he had.
It was like a piece of him had left with her, never to return until she did.
Amo replayed the night that went to shit over and over in his head. The night that only made her leave for California sooner…
Amo watched Chloe from the other side of the mall while she bought her suitcase. She was leaving tomorrow, and he hadn’t even told her how he felt about her yet. He was a dumbass for waiting this long, but he was terrified of scaring her away. It had to be at the right time.
Seeing Chloe begin to exit the store, he couldn’t believe he had spent three and a half years at high school with her and not once looked past her scars. He would regret those three and half years until the day he died.
He felt a moment of peace as he stared at her from afar. She took his breath away, but it was only for a moment.
Bang. Bang.
The calm before the storm had passed, and the beauty he had felt washed away. Now, all that was left was dread and terror…
He stood up abruptly, and the table went quiet.
“I’ll be right back.”
Amo headed out of the diner, needing fresh air on his face. As soon as it was, he felt like he could breathe again…
He opened his arms wide, watching Chloe run toward him. He was so close … so close to saving her. It wasn’t until her body collided with his that he realized he had been holding his breath.
Wrapping his arms around her was the first time he was blessed with being able to touch the girl who had stolen his heart. The storm had passed, and in its place was true beauty, the kind you never thought to exist.
He held on to her, planning to never let go.
“I’ve got you.”
This was the sign he had needed to tell her his feelings. She had chosen him…
The door opening beside him had him turning to see Elle coming outside.
“The food should be done any minute.”
“You go on in; I’ll be there in a minute,” he told her.
She didn’t make a move to go inside. Instead, she looked down at her feet. “I’m sorry she won’t talk to you.”
“It’s not your fault, Elle. It’s mine.” There was a minute of silence between the two before he spoke again, “Is she really doing okay?” It was killing him not knowing if she really was or not.
Her voice became pained. “I think so. I text her every day, but I can’t get her to talk on the phone with me yet.”
“You haven’t talked to her on the phone at all?”
Elle shook her head.
A small alarm went off in his head.
“Get her to talk to you on the phone. Make sure she’s okay.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Go on in; it’s cold out here. I’ll be right in.”
Going for the door, Elle then stopped with tears brimming her eyes. “I thought you were going to get her to stay. I thought you were actually going to do it when I failed. Turns out, neither of us were capable of saving her.”
He had to turn away, his own vision becoming blurry …
“Wait,” he stopped her from leaving his car so suddenly. “Stay and go to college here … with Elle and Lake. I can take some classes. Who is going to walk you to class when Elle or I aren’t there?”
Chloe wasn’t even able to look at him. “I’ll have to get used to being on my own.”
He tried again, “But if you stayed here, you won’t have to.”
“Elle won’t have to watch out for me anymore. She can finally enjoy school without me getting in her way. I want that for her.”
With each word she spoke, he was slowly starting to realize that whatever had happened back there, when she had run into his arms, it wasn’t turning out like he had thought.
“What about you? What about me?”
Still, she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. “I’ll adjust. It will be good for me. You have Nero and Vincent and your job at the casino to keep you so busy you won’t even remember m
e.”
“I’ll remember you …” He was barely able to speak.
The change in her started then. “That you walked me to class for a few months? That my best friend is your friend’s girlfriend?”
Slamming his hand on the steering wheel, it all started coming out. “You’re not like any other girl I know, Chloe.” He took a breath to calm himself before whispering why she needed … why she had to stay here with him, “I love you.”
Chloe jumped out of the car, running toward her front door.
“Fucking wait!” Amo ran after her. She had to listen. She had to stay!
“We’re friends, Amo. If I stay … I can’t. I will never be what you want. You need a girl like Elle or Lake. Even a girl like Cassandra would be better than me. You love being with your friends, and I like being alone. That’s why I’m leaving.”
It was an obvious lie. He knew it the moment it slipped from her lips. She was leaving because she was afraid. Afraid of this city. Afraid of whatever had happened to her four years ago. Afraid of him. Afraid that, for the first time in her life, she could be loved.
His voice went soft. “No one likes to be alone.”
“I’m not normal; I’m a freak.”
He could see it then. He had done the thing he had been afraid to do. He had scared her off.
“You said so yourself.”
Amo’s heart sunk to his stomach, thinking back to freshman year when she had come into the cafeteria with her fresh scars.
“Fucking freak!” he had yelled, making the lunchroom burst into laughter with the echoes of the word “freak.”
Now it was him who couldn’t look at her, too ashamed of the actions of his younger self. He hadn’t even realized she remembered it, or that it had been him who had yelled it out. She had trusted him; forgiven him for the sick comment when he had yet to forgive himself.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“What was I supposed to say?” Chloe began opening the door, ready to close him out. “Bye, Amo.”
He felt her slipping away.
With tears welling, he told her, “I didn’t mean it.”
“It’s okay, Amo. We’re even. I called you a beast.” Her voice came out calm as she went inside, even though he could see the tears beginning to touch her own eyes.
When she started closing the door, he knew deep down that it was going to be the last time he would see her. However, what he didn’t know was that it would also be the last time he would hear her sweet voice.
“I can’t be fixed. Not by you. Not by anyone. I’m just broken.”
Shutting the door on him was her shutting him out forever.
As the tears fell down his cheeks, he didn’t know who he was crying for more: himself or her because he hadn’t been able to save her…
Amo refused to let the tears fall from his eyes like they had that night. She’s gone, but she’s not gone forever. I will save her.
Twenty-One
Her Body Had Been Claimed by the Boogieman
Chloe sat there, frozen in place, as her world slowly came crashing down around her. She knew she had been missing something over the past seven months, and now it all made sense. It was like a puzzle she hadn’t been able to solve because she had been missing the final piece, and Maria had just given it to her.
She knew everything. How it all started with Elle, colliding them into the mafia world.
“This whole time, everyone knew but me?” she whispered, betrayal smacking her across the face. “Amo knew …? Elle knew, and she didn’t tell me?”
“She was protecting you. We were all trying to protect you, Chloe. We weren’t sure if you would be able to handle it,” Maria told her.
Hearing a door slam from downstairs, Chloe jumped.
Maria stood from the edge of the tub. “Lucca knows I told you, and by the sound of that door slamming, he’s not happy.”
The underboss …
Her body was now shaking as she tried to stand. “Don’t leave me alone with him.”
“I told you, he won’t hurt you, Chloe. I don’t think you understand what you mean to him.”
They could hear him coming up the steps now, only making the fear course through her faster.
“You have to tell Elle he’s keeping me.” But hell, after hearing what Lucca was, Elle wasn’t going to be able to save her. “Amo, tell Amo. He will save me. Please, Maria!”
Shaking her head, Maria didn’t give in to her pleading eyes. “I can’t.”
Yes, you can! She wanted to shake her. This was supposed to be her friend, but the girl before her wasn’t.
“W-What do you mean, you can’t? He’s keeping me hostage.”
The door handle began to jiggle.
“It’s not what you think. You’re here for a reason, Chloe,” Maria whispered.
“Open the door, Maria,” Lucca’s dark voice came from the other side of the door.
“What does that mean?” she whispered back.
His voice turned dangerously darker. “Open this door now, Maria.”
“I’m sorry,” was all Maria said as she went toward the door.
Please, no.
Maria’s hand twisted the lock, and the door began to slowly open.
His eyes landed on Chloe, his voice coming out in a commandingly low growl as he said, “Go downstairs and wait in my office.”
“She deserved to know. She wanted to hear it from a friend. You should have told her by no—”
He shushed his sister and growled, “Now, Chloe,” a bit harsher.
It was impossible not to obey him, and she hated that her feet began to take her out of the room.
Holding her breath as she passed him, she stared at his cold, blue eyes that made ice run through her veins. How did I not see it? The mafia practically oozed off him. The underboss screamed from him. The boogieman … Now she knew why they had given him that name.
When he finally moved his eyes from hers to Maria, she was able to pick up her feet faster.
Running down the steps, she was prepared to run out the front door, when an unhappy Drago blocked her way.
“Office,” he snapped at her like he knew exactly what she was thinking.
With nothing left but to accept her fate, she headed toward Lucca’s office, hoping he wouldn’t hurt his own sister and would let her go. Then maybe, just maybe, Maria would take pity on her and tell Amo about her kidnapping.
In his office, she sat down and began to wring her hands. Her hands were almost raw by the time the office door opened a while later. She didn’t have to turn around to know who it was. You didn’t need to see him to feel his presence.
Lucca took a seat behind his desk, silently staring at her.
Looking at the hands, she squeezed them with all her might. “D-Did you h-hurt her?”
“I thought about it,” he revealed. “But no. Drago is taking her home.”
Relief flooded her that Maria was okay. At the same time, she was terrified to hear him be so honest that the thought had occurred to him. She now only had one last hope, and it depended upon Maria. Please tell Amo. He must save me.
He leaned back in his chair. “Tell me, darlin’, why are you more scared of me now than you were before?”
“B-Because now I know the real you,” she whispered.
He raised his eyebrows. “Have I not shown you the real me from the moment I met you?”
Her eyes drifted up to look at him. His eyes had returned to the blue-green shade that had captivated her since their first meeting in the gazebo, just like his rough appearance had. He was unlike the others; darker than the others, and yes, she always knew that.
“But now I-I know the truth no one would tell me because they thought they were protecting me.”
No one is who they seem. She hadn’t felt this alone since she had first gotten her scars.
“All you had to do was ask. I would have told you everything and anything you wanted to know about me, about the family. I to
ld you I would never lie to you, and I meant it. You were just too scared to ask, because then it would have been real. That’s why I was waiting for you to ask me. I wanted you to be ready for the truth.”
Her eyes drifted back to her lap, knowing he was right. That was why she hadn’t asked him.
“And yes, they thought they were protecting you, but I didn’t agree with it. They lied to you; pretended to be something they weren’t. I never have. I’ve made it obvious who I am since the beginning. I’ve only ever wanted you to see me for who I am, Chloe.”
She remembered back to the night he had repeatedly slammed the bat down on the lifeless body, and how he had looked right into her eyes, showing his true self …
The thought that was meant only for her passed her lips, “You’re a killer.”
“Yes, I am. I have killed many and tortured more.” The dark voice filled the space between them.
Chloe kept wringing her now tortured hands at how visible the monster in him was. She needed to get away from him. Far, far away.
Trying to calm herself, she began repeating the words, “Amo will come for me.”
Lucca’s voice turned deadly. “He’s a killer, too, darlin’.”
She started shaking her head, not wanting to hear it.
“He’s killed, and so have Nero and Vincent.”
Shaking her head harder, she refused to believe it. “No, Elle wouldn’t be with—”
“She learned to accept it, just like you will.” He said it like it was a promise.
“Amo’s not like you.”
“No, he isn’t,” he agreed. “Amo pretends to be something he’s not with you.”
Again, she shook her head, not believing.
She repeated the words of her last hope, “He’s going to save me.”
Standing, he went to the other side of the desk, towering over her. “You think Amo will save you from me?” He took a strand of her hair, wrapping it tightly around his finger.
Her breath caught in her throat, her words no longer able to come out.
“Look at me,” he commanded.
When she didn’t, he tugged the dark silk he held captive.
Chloe raised her gray depths slowly, meeting his blue-green ones through her lashes.
Lucca (Made Men #4) Page 9
