Lucca (Made Men #4)

by Sarah Brianne

  The girl was starting to lose consciousness, and her now traumatized, gray eyes began to drift away. There was something he enjoyed about seeing the eyes change from the person they once were to the person they were after he was done with them. It was his mark; how he claimed them.

  He had taken away the young girl she once was and made her into his beautiful creation. Her body, her mind, and her soul belonged to him and always would … until he took away her last dying breath.

  Her eyes rolled to the back of her head before her eyelids closed.

  “Good night, my little girl.”

  The door opening had him turning his head to see his man pushing another man into the warehouse.

  “Oh God!” the man cried, trying to get to the little girl, but his men wouldn’t let him. “What did you do to her!” he screamed.

  Lucifer slid the knife over the unconscious girl’s body. I made her beautiful. “I warned you that the longer you took, the longer I would have with her, Maxwell.”

  “My daughter … How could you …? Why did you do this …?” The little girl’s father fell to his knees.

  “This city is in need of a change.” Turning, Lucifer wanted to see his face as he said, “Dante Caruso may have gotten you elected, but he no longer controls you. I do. You will do anything and everything I ask. Don’t”—he pointed with his knife to the camera that had been recording the whole time—“and I will happily remind you who you and your precious family belong to.” Walking up to the man on his knees, Lucifer touched the blood-dripping blade to Maxwell’s face. “Do we have an agreement?”

  Tears ran down Maxwell’s face as he nodded. “Yes.”

  Going back to the girl on the table, he picked her up, cradling her in his arms as she slightly started coming to.

  Leaning down, he whispered into her ear, “I’ll have you again, little girl. Next time, I won’t be giving you back. I’ll kill you, and then you’ll be mine forever.”

  Before handing her back to Maxwell, he held his new daughter to him tightly. A daughter who no longer belonged to Maxwell, but to the devil himself.

  Chloe’s mind flickered back to life when she heard a loud crash. The pain she felt was unbearable to her soul.

  Opening her eyes, she realized she was in her father’s arms as he took her down a hill to the wreckage of his car. Placing her in the wrecked car, he then pulled out his cell phone, dialing three numbers.

  Her eyes opened and closed, seeing the mangled car around her as she heard her father’s distressed voice.

  “My name is Maxwell Masters, and there’s been a terrible accident …”

  Forty

  Death Would Follow

  When the screen went black, it took everything in Lucca’s power to keep down the bile rising in his throat. He wasn’t a man with a weak stomach. He had inflicted some of the sickest shit you could ever see. However, it was something altogether different when he had to watch a helpless, innocent young Chloe beg and plead while she was marked for the rest of her life.

  The already shattered remains of his heart managed to shatter into even tinier pieces as he felt a pain unlike any before. It wanted to break even a man as strong as him, but he couldn’t—wouldn’t—let it. Chloe had lived it, and he had witnessed it. Now she could give some of her burden to him, and they could share it together.

  Pulling out the disk, he crumbled it in his hands. No one would be able to see its contents again.

  The phone ringing on his desk had him staring at the unknown number.

  Sal came in with his laptop then, having been notified of the call and telling Lucca exactly who was on the other end.

  Lucca picked it up and waited for Sal to give him the thumbs up.

  Sal nodded.

  Calmly, Lucca hit the answer button and put it to his ear.

  “Hello, Lucca. I have something of yours,” Lucifer mocked.

  A low growl escaped Lucca’s throat. “If you hurt her, I’ll fucking kill you and anyone else carrying the Luciano name.”

  “Hurt her? I need her. It was only a matter of time before you came for me, anyway. We both know that.”

  He did know.

  “Don’t worry; I’m not going to hurt her …”—Lucifer paused, his voice becoming proud—“like I did your mother.”

  The darkness in Lucca rose, grinning for what was to come.

  “That was all I was waiting for.”

  At Lucca’s words, the line on the other end went eerily silent before it clicked, ending the call.

  Lucifer had just sealed his own fate. The only reason Lucca had kept him alive this long was to prove the man had had a hand in his mother’s death.

  Getting up, he didn’t have time to waste. “Go fetch my dog.”

  “Where are you going?” Sal asked as he stood.

  His voice was grave and dark when he answered, “Suiting up.”

  Now he had grounds for war.

  He opened the door on the top floor of the casino hotel, not waiting to be invited in.

  Dante was in the process of bringing a full glass of dark liquid to his lips, but stopped the moment he saw his son entered his office. His cold, icy blue eyes became colder as he took in his son’s appearance, immediately knowing nothing good was about to come out of his son’s mouth.

  Lucca pushed back his freshly cut hair that highlighted his trimmed and shortened beard. Then he adjusted his all black suit while he stood menacingly in front of his father. You could practically smell the rage and thirst for blood coming off of him in waves. It was a rare and frightening sight for anyone to see. The image even gave grown men nightmares.

  It was never a good thing to see Lucca dressed in a suit and tie. When the boogieman did put on his black suit, it always meant one thing … Death would follow.

  “Explain,” Dante demanded.

  “You wanted proof before you wanted war …” The door opened again, and Sal brought in a bound and blind man. “Here it is.”

  Taking in the deformed and tortured man was another sight many weren’t ever privy to. Lucca’s masterpieces were works of art, and he was a true artist.

  Leaning back in his chair, Dante smiled. “This the man who broke into Nero’s, trying to get to Maria?”

  “Yes, but he wasn’t there for Maria.”

  An eyebrow raised. “Then who?”

  Lucca looked down at his malnourished dog that was silent. “Chloe Masters.”

  “Nero’s girlfriend’s scared little friend?”

  Lucca adjusted his suit again, those words pissing him off. “You will not speak about her in that way.”

  Dante saw it then. “You’re not fucking serious,” he scoffed.

  “I am very fucking serious.” The words were spoken in a low growl.

  “She’s still practically a child, Lucca.” His father’s face became furious, knowing the severity of how his son felt about her by the look in his eye alone. Dante was bewildered, which made him angry. Lucca didn’t express feelings toward his own family, let alone a girl. “You expect her to stand by you and handle the life you lead? She’s damaged and weak.”

  “I told you not to speak about her in that way. Next time, I will make sure those words are your last,” he warned him one final time. “She is neither damaged nor weak, and she will learn to stand beside me.”

  The boss shook his head, making it apparent he would never give his blessing. “You are forgetting something …”

  “What, that she’s not Italian?” Lucca smiled. “A rule that will end when I take your place.”

  “What did you just fucking say?” Dante’s icy eyes steeled into him.

  “You heard me. We’re getting tired of choosing women based on blood.”

  “You think I’m fucking stupid?” Dante huffed. “I know this, but the higher-ranking members in this family must always be full-blooded Italian men. You, most of all.”

  “We do not have time for this right now,” Lucca growled. He had wasted enough time getting to Chloe al
ready.

  Filling his father in quickly, he told him about Lucifer being the one to scar Chloe, him protecting her and keeping her at the house, Drago going down for her, and how Lucifer was now holding her captive.

  Dante listened to the story, realizing how far down the rabbit hole his son had gone, and all for a girl.

  “My men are not going to go to war for you right this second over some girl, not when we don’t even know if Drago is still alive or not!” He had raised his voice, hitting the table, before he got his anger back under control. “Even if I told them to, we’ve been at peace for years. They will not risk that and their lives. They would retaliate against us.”

  Lucca kicked the blind man at his feet. “Tell him why he marked her.”

  “Heee wanted Maxwelllll in his pockket, to give him information on youu orrr anything that coullld take you down.”

  The fury Dante held was now turning from Lucca to Lucifer.

  Lucca continued the explanation himself, “The only reason he hasn’t gotten to you yet is because Sal has outsmarted him and Drago has blocked him for all these years. We just never knew it was Lucifer then. When we suspected him, we needed the evidence.”

  “Fuck.” Dante took a swig of his drink, trying to simmer himself down. “We have to think carefully and plan even more carefully. I am not taking my men to war right this second, not for her. That’s the price you will pay for putting her above Drago and the rest of the family.”

  I thought he would say that.

  This was exactly why Lucca had needed the final piece, why he’d had to wait and plan carefully, just like his father had said. Otherwise, he would have made Lucifer’s death more imminent.

  His haunting voice gave the command, “Sal …”

  Sal pressed a button on his phone.

  “Don’t worry; I’m not going to hurt her… like I did your mother.”

  Dante leaned forward as he stood up, his ice-cold eyes promising retribution. “The Caruso family goes to war. Now.”

  Forty-One

  The Darkness in Its True Form

  Chloe was back where it all began four years ago, in the cold warehouse that sat in the middle of nowhere. The same men who had taken her before brought her here, except for one of Lucifer’s three men, the one who had worn the horseshoe ring.

  She’d had nightmares of this moment ever since he had first let her go. I always knew this day would come.

  Her wrists and ankles were tied with tight ropes. Her hands constantly moved, wringing, which only caused the ropes to burn her skin.

  The devil placed her freezing body on a chair that sat in the middle of the desolate building. As he stared down at her, she could see the victory in his sick, black eyes.

  “They’re here,” one of his men told the devil as she heard several cars pull up in a distance.

  “Lucca?” the little girl in her helplessly whispered for the only man capable of saving her.

  “You really think he’s going to save you?” Lucifer pulled a long piece of fabric out of his pocket before tying it around her head to cover her mouth as she struggled against him. “That didn’t work for you the last time, did it?”

  It was dangerous thing to have hope. For her to hope to be saved this time when no one had come for her the last. This time, however, she now knew a man like Lucca existed, and the feeling they shared kept telling her one word over and over. Believe.

  Lucifer ran his fingers roughly down her face. “I have dreamed of getting you back ever since I let you go. I’ve waited a very long time for you. Too long. I made myself sick over wanting you.”

  Chloe breathed so heavily she thought the fabric that was tied around her mouth was going to suffocate her. Every time he touched her, it left a trail of scorching fire that continued to burn her skin, unable to burn out. Feeling every touch he left on her, the pain of it started to consume her. She wanted to wash it away, yet she feared that soap and water wouldn’t ever fix it.

  He brought his hands to her hair, grabbing it so hard he was practically ripping strands out. “At first, I wanted to kill you. But when Lucca took you away from me, I realized I wanted something very different.”

  She didn’t think it was possible to see anything other than the nothingness in his huge, black eyes, yet she saw something different now—obsession.

  Chloe’s eyes teared when he brought his face closer to hers. When she closed her eyes, the pooling tears fell as she felt his disgusting, cold tongue lick the scar that rested along her cheek.

  “How does it feel to have three men want you? Me … Lucca … Amo …” When he uttered the last name, he could see the shock on her face. “Yes, you’ll have to remind me to thank Amo for leading me back to you. I might even let him live … if Lucca hasn’t killed him already.”

  Another tear fell down her cheek. She tried to pull her hands apart, wanting the rope around her wrist to release her.

  “Soon, I will have you, my little girl. I just have to take care of business first,” he whispered the promise to her before he released her.

  That was when the door to the warehouse opened.

  Lucca?

  Men started filing in. Men she had never seen before. She quickly realized it wasn’t Lucca or any of the Caruso family. These men weren’t dressed in fine Italian suits and shoes. Most of them were only wearing parts of a suit, like a jacket or slacks, but they weren’t made of fine materials. These men looked rough, almost like Lucca, but with a different quality to them.

  Three men approached the devil, two of them being twins. All three had tattoos and were wearing several rings on each of their hands. All of them had something to them that reminded her of him.

  “What’s going on, Lucifer?” the one who seemed to be older than the twins asked.

  Lucifer … That name gave her chills.

  “I’ve told you; the family is being threatened. That is all you or anyone else needs to know.” His voice had risen as he addressed all of his men, not just the one who stood before him, making them all scatter across the building to prepare. “Every fucking one of you will protect me and this family. No matter what.”

  The three seemed skeptical of Lucifer before they finally noticed her. They stared intently at her for a moment, their eyes gazing down at her scarred face.

  Chloe held her breath, unmoving, as the identical twins stalked toward her. The two then parted off at different times, walking around her slowly in a perfect circle, looking down at her like a hawk does before it strikes its prey.

  “Who is this?” one of the twins asked as he passed in front of her to walk around her back.

  Lucifer grinned evilly. “My prize.”

  The other twin passed her front while they continued to circle her. “We’ll watch over her for you then. Won’t we, Matthias?”

  “Yes,” Matthias agreed, smiling as his eyes swept over her body.

  The two were mirror images of each other, even down to their tattoos. She had no clue how to tell them apart.

  Chloe swallowed hard and deeply, her eyes travelling to the third guy who had first spoken to the devil. He hadn’t taken his piercing gaze off her, sending her already shivering body into more violent ones.

  He stalked close to her now, until he stood right in front of her, staring down, his eyes roving over her scarred face. This close to him, it was obvious to her exactly who he was. His beard had hidden his identity from far away, but up close, you couldn’t miss the fact that he was Lucifer’s son.

  When he walked behind her, she prepared herself for what he was going to do to her. Then she felt something warm over her shoulders, and then her arms.

  Looking down, she saw that he had placed his jacket over her. It was warm from being worn, and it heated her bone-chilled body, giving her some relief.

  All she could see was his back when he walked away from her, now jacketless, until he resumed his spot of watching her from afar.

  She looked down at her wringing hands and her wrists that were
becoming sore. The many men that filled the room with their guns made her feel a strong shift within herself, a feeling that intensified the strange thing between her and Lucca. It made her lose all hope of wanting Lucca to even save her.

  If Lucca were to come, it could cost him his life, something she wouldn’t be able to live with. Not only because she would hate herself for it, but because she now knew what it was like to be safe with him.

  Chloe shed one last tear. Don’t save me; I’m not worth it.

  Seconds seemed to pass into minutes, minutes seemed to pass into hours. She continued to sit there, her body becoming sore and frozen, her wrists becoming raw.

  The men in the warehouse only grew more antsy, while Lucifer only grew more crazed. Meanwhile, the three men continued watching her, the twins continuing to circle around her like a slow and broken clock as time crept on.

  Chloe could feel the energy of the men change in the room, one by one, as the sound of cars started roaring closer, headlights illuminating the bleak, abandoned warehouse.

  Looking down at her wrists, she could see trickles of blood flowing.

  The twins stood on each side of her now, closer than they had stood, as Lucifer came to stand behind her.

  The men all filed around the building, pointing their guns toward the massive door, with Lucifer’s son standing in front of the line.

  “You will await my orders. I have waited many years for this moment,” Lucifer proudly ordered. “Today is the day we take back our city.”

  The door flew open, revealing many clean-cut men in Italian suits.

  Tears brimmed her eyes. She could already feel the loss of him. Lucca, don’t!

  Gasps filled the air, and Lucifer’s men started backing up. Some of them were practically shitting themselves in confusion.

  “The Carusos! You didn’t tell us it would be them!” was heard whisper-hissed around the room.

  The intimidating suits split up, taking different sides of the room.

  Her eyes grew wide when she saw Nero, Vincent, and Amo standing in the middle. They looked different to her. Stronger, older, scarier. They didn’t even look like themselves.