When her eyes landed on Amo’s, she could see the pain in them, and the regret he felt for putting her here.
When the three of them split, they revealed Sal, who was holding a chain in his hand that led to a man who no longer looked human. He was just skin and bones, covered in dirt, burns, and both new and old wounds.
She and the Lucianos stared at him with the feeling they knew him, but his matted hair and disfigured eyes made it hard for them to tell who it was, until it hit them all at once.
“Holy fuck.” The men all took a step back.
She thought she was going to throw up from looking at him, seeing the finger that had once held his gold horseshoe ring was now gone …
She knew exactly who had made him this way.
When Sal pushed the tortured man down to his knees, Chloe’s breath froze with her body, not thinking it was possible to feel any number than she had felt before his blue-green eyes met hers.
Lucca …?
Her eyes roved over him, never before seeing him like this. Lucca’s hair and beard had been trimmed, and every part of the suit he wore was as black as night. His rough appearance now gone, in its place was something more menacing, frightening, and deadly. This was the darkness in its true form. The boogieman.
I’m going to save you, darlin’, his voice whispered through her mind as their eyes locked. Everything will be okay.
The feeling they shared grew stronger, wrapping around her and protecting her. She had waited four long years for this moment, for the moment she would finally feel … saved.
Forty-Two
A Power That Went Beyond This World or Any Other
Only one gun was held on the Caruso side, and it was in the hand of Lucca as he pointed it down upon the tortured man’s skull.
Chloe held her eyes to Lucca’s, too scared to look away from him, feeling safer with her gaze on his.
“Where’s Dante?” Lucifer spat from behind her.
Three men came from behind other suits; the same vision as Nero, Vincent, and Amo, except older. Dante stood between Vinny and Enzo, the three men protected by their sons and the other suits.
“I’m willing to give you one chance, Luciano,” Dante spoke with authority and confidence. “Trade me your man for the girl. No blood has to be shed.” His eyes went over all their sons, and then their families. “We both have a lot to lose here.”
“When did you become such a bitch, Dante?” Lucifer snickered. “I put the hit out on your wife, had her killed, and you are willing to let me walk away? You are a disgrace to this city.”
I’m so sorry. Staring into Lucca’s eyes, her heart broke for him. The man who had stolen her soul was responsible for stealing his mother’s.
The feeling and bond between them made more sense.
Dante flexed his jaw, taking a step forward, his voice becoming more powerful as he said, “The girl for your man, Luciano.”
Lucifer put his hands on Chloe’s shoulders, squeezing her harshly. “What do you want with her? She is nothing to you, nor does she belong to any Caruso.” He moved one of his hands, running a finger down the scar across her eye. “She has my mark. She belongs to me and me alone.”
The devil’s touch scorched her, but her eyes still didn’t waiver, finding strength in the blue-green eyes that didn’t move from hers.
“You took her from my home, my protection, and from my son.” Dante paused, his ice-blue eyes growing colder. “She belongs to Lucca.”
A creeping fear pulsing off the Luciano men filled the air the second he said Lucca’s name. They had all taken a step away from her, not wanting to be near her. The only ones who hadn’t moved were Lucifer and the twins.
“No! She’s mine!” Lucifer screamed.
“Chloe is mine,” a low, lethal voice filled the space, hitting the ears of every living thing in here until their blood ran cold, whispering over and over in all their minds. “Give her to me now, or I will blow his fucking brains out.” He pushed the barrel of the gun against the man’s head while the man kneeled, unmoving.
“There’s not much of him left. He’s better off dead.” Lucifer laughed. “He serves no purpose to me anymore if he can’t hold her precious body dow—”
POP.
Lucca had pulled the trigger, and the body fell forward to the floor.
Keep them to me, his eyes told her when she jumped from the noise.
“Kill them!” Lucifer demanded.
The room went silent. Lucifer’s men looked around at each other, trying to decide what to do.
“What are you doing? Kill them!” Lucifer crazily screamed again, pulling his hands off of Chloe to back up and look around at his men. When he did, the twins stepped closer to her.
Lucifer’s son, who stood in the front, hadn’t yet moved. He had simply kept his eyes on Dante. But now he finally moved them to Lucca’s.
“She’s yours?”
“She’s mine,” Lucca told him with certainty.
“Step aside, Dominic. Let us take those who should be held responsible for their crimes, and no one else will have to die”—Dante paused—“today.”
“I SAID, KILL THEM!” Lucifer was becoming deranged now.
Chloe’s chest rose and fell with the force of her breaths while all the other Lucianos waited to see what Dominic would do.
Dominic slowly put down his gun, stepping to the side. The air felt like it had been sucked out of the room. Then they all followed suit, dropping their guns to the floor and stepping to the side. You could practically touch the shift of power from Lucifer to Dominic, from father to son. Now, the air that had been sucked from the room returned in a whoosh that felt different.
A stunned and crazed Lucifer went for his knife before going straight for Chloe. The twins immediately grabbed him, pulling him back and away from her.
It finally hit Chloe then. They were protecting me … this whole time.
Lucca took a step forward then, the only one in the room moving as he came toward her. The Carusos followed behind him with every step he took to her.
As the boogieman’s blue-green eyes came closer to her, she tried to wiggle out of her bonds, tears falling from her eyes.
When he pulled out his knife, she didn’t move an inch. Not even her eyes moved from his as he brought it close to her face, cutting the fabric wrapped around her face and head, letting it fall to the ground. Then the boogieman fell to his knees in front of her, cutting the rope away from her ankles.
Her heart was pumping out of her chest, the tears still falling, when he finally and carefully cut away the bloody rope that had bound her wrists together.
There was this split second, a moment in time that surely stood still. A moment so powerful it had been stopped by an equally powerful force when the two of them looked into each other’s eyes. Only the two knew what was going to happen next, what they were thinking, how they were feeling. It was a power that went beyond this world or any other.
When time resumed, Chloe, who would have once run away, terrified of the dangerous being who stood before her, opened her arms and jumped into the embrace of the boogieman who kneeled before her.
It was beautiful.
“You saved me.” She began to cry into his chest.
“I promised to save you, darlin’.” Lucca held her to him with a tight force. “I will always save you.”
Picking her up and cradling her, he stood as she held on to him, keeping her eyes closed and her face pressed into his neck as fighting and screaming replaced the beauty of their reunion with horror.
She never saw the moment when Sal decided the fate of terrified men by a simple point of his finger.
She never saw the real, true heartbreak on Amo’s face when he had to watch Lucca pass by him, carrying out the girl he loved.
She never saw the daunting look Lucca had given Amo, promising to make true the threat he had given him.
Chloe never saw that the exact moment she had finally been saved was the exact moment Lu
cca had been saved from his own nightmares.
Forty-Three
A Soul That Could Only Be Returned to Her by Him
Lucca carried her up the steps and into the house, passing the doorframe where Drago’s blood still stained the floors.
“Is he …?” Chloe swallowed, unable to say the words.
“We’ll talk about it later, darlin’.” Holding her tighter, he started packing her up the stairs.
She slammed her eyes shut, putting her face into the crook of his neck, her legs and arms wrapped tightly around him. Drago had given his life for hers, something I will never, ever be able to repay.
Reaching the top of the stairs, he smoothed his hand up and down her back, trying to comfort her while he took her into his room, passing through to the bathroom where he placed her on the vanity counter between the two sinks. When he stood between her legs, Chloe kept her eyes on his chest.
The softness in him seemed to disappear as he looked over her disheveled body, removing his black suit jacket from her shoulders. “Did he hurt you?”
“N-No.” She found Lucca a little frightening. The darkness in him had yet to be released. “I-I did that to myself,” she said when he pulled up her sleeves, exposing the raw and broken skin on her wrists.
“Did he touch you anywhere I need to know about?” Lucca growled, his possessiveness showing.
Knowing what he meant by that, she shook her head, hoping her answer would ease him just a little and shoo away the darkness. However, as she looked down at her lap, she could still feel the trails of fire where the devil had touched her.
Lucca put a finger under her chin, lifting her head and making her look up at him. “What is it?”
“I-I-I still feel him,” she confessed. All over me.
He turned away from her then, and she didn’t know if her confession had broken him or if it had made him more furious.
Leaving her on the vanity, he went to the glass shower and turned the water on before he returned right back to her. Then he pulled her off the vanity and to her feet, telling her, “You’re going to let me help you.”
“W-What?” She grew nervous, which made her body shake. She had felt like her frozen skin was finally beginning to warm, only to go back to feeling doused in ice.
“I will not touch your skin, nor will I join you, even though it kills me not to.” There was slight pain in his commanding voice. “But you will let me help you undress and dress. I can’t leave your side right now, Chloe. I just can’t.”
I don’t want you to leave. She couldn’t take not being with him, either, not after what had just happened. Slowly, she nodded her head.
When Lucca grabbed the hem of her sweater, gently removing it from her body, his eyes went directly to the scars on her arms. Then he gazed over the ones on her stomach he hadn’t seen before.
Even though she wasn’t able to look in his eyes, she could feel how hungry he was.
When he went to unsnap the back of her black bra, she became increasingly nervous. The scars on her body weren’t her only insecurity. She had grown into her body early, having a womanly figure at a young age that she had never been able to hide. Her short stature didn’t help; it only exaggerated her already overstated hips and breasts.
As soon as the bra fell away, she covered her heavy breasts with her arms, becoming embarrassed. Why am I doing this? The old part of her wanted to run, while the new side wouldn’t let her.
Lucca could see her second-guessing and didn’t waste any more time. He went to the hem of the black jeans around her hips, removing them and her thin underwear altogether.
“Shower,” he gruffly ordered.
She ran to the safety of the shower as she held herself, trying not to die of embarrassment. When she closed the shower door behind her, the steamy warmth of the air gave her more privacy.
The second the water hit her skin, she felt like she could melt away. It was so warm, heating up her body that had been frozen for hours.
Lucca hadn’t moved an inch from his spot, his eyes never leaving her silhouette behind the glass shower door. “Clean your wrists.”
Listening to his command, she held her wrists under the water, watching the blood wash away and how the water turned slightly red before it cleared. Then she picked up the soap bottle and squirted some into her hands, lathering it over her body and trying to be careful not to get it on her sores.
Turning around to let the water run down her back and hair, she saw Lucca through the glass and froze in place. It was evident through his starving, fully blue eyes that he was in agony. Chloe could see how badly he hated that he had said he wouldn’t touch her or join her. It was so bad that it looked like he was about to jump in here at any second.
Suddenly frightened that he would, Chloe quickly tried to finish, putting some shampoo into her hair and rinsing it out. Then she poured just a bit more soap into her hand and scrubbed at her face where Lucifer had touched her the most.
Get off, get off, get off. The feeling of him licking her still lingered, but with each scrub of Lucca’s soap, the lingering feeling disappeared, replacing the devil’s touch with Lucca’s intoxicating clean mint smell.
When she was sure the devil’s germs were no longer on her, she turned off the hot water and opened the shower door to grab the towel hanging outside of it. Then she hurriedly wrapped it around her body.
Lucca still hadn’t moved.
“Come here,” he ordered.
Hugging the towel around her, she shakily walked back over to him, her chest heavily rising and falling.
When he reached out, she didn’t know what to expect; all she knew was that she completely and undoubtedly trusted him.
Lucca picked her up, placing her back on the vanity. Then he started pulling things out from under the sink, getting supplies to bandage her wrists.
While he began the process of taking care of her wrists, it was hard for Chloe to look at him. The pain of fighting the darkness back was so visible on him. And by the time he had fully bandaged her up, it was now killing her to see him like this.
“I-I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I-I wish I could, but-but—”
“I want you so fucking bad, darlin’.” He leaned down, resting his head on hers as he softened. “But I know you’re not ready. I have waited over eight months for you, and I will wait forever if that’s what it takes.”
A single tear escaped her eye, feeling his emotions as her own.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and moved her head, positioning her face for him to kiss her.
Lucca looked down at her, wiping away the tear. “I’ve never seen you cry before today. Not even when you scream in your sleep.”
“I-I haven’t. I thought all my tears had dried up.” In reality, they had just needed to be started back up again. They had needed a reason to run.
Leaning down closer, he claimed her soft lips with his, taking her in a passionate kiss that was most definitely not like the others. This kiss heated her from the inside, warming her low belly and then down to her femininity when he pulled her closer. Their breathing synced, both of them lost in one another.
“Open,” Lucca rumbled over her lips when she wasn’t getting the hint from his tongue.
Parting her lips from the vibration alone, she let his tongue enter her, creating a whole new sensation that she had never experienced before. She felt it hadn’t lasted nearly long enough when he pulled his lips away.
Moving her damp hair behind her back, he placed light kisses from her jaw down her neck, his tongue picking up the droplets of water as he went.
Chloe quietly moaned when he licked at a sensitive part on her neck. She was burning up now.
He suddenly stopped and picked her up, holding her by her curvy ass as he carried her into the bedroom before setting her down on the edge of the bed.
Different emotions hit her—from confusion to neediness to worry—as she stared up at the dangerous, hungry being.
“I have t
o stop. Otherwise, there will be no forever if you need it,” he strained to get out.
Her eyes grew wide, realizing she had been playing with fire.
He then hurriedly went to his drawers, grabbing one of his shirts, then returning in front of her. “Remove your towel,” he demanded, staring down at her.
Biting her lip, her body obeyed, parting the towel and letting it fall to the bed, giving him a full view of her large breasts.
Lucca leisurely took his time placing his shirt over her head and down her chest while she raised her arms. His knuckles lightly grazed her peaked nipples so fast she wasn’t even sure if they had or not.
The hunger was still there. The darkness right under the surface. He was a dangerous man even more so tonight, yet she still found herself safe in the boogieman’s presence.
He’s so beautiful, she thought, looking up at the haunting man who she was seeing dressed in a full suit for the first time. It somehow made him extraordinarily more handsome. It was a dangerous and scary thing for a man with his looks to look like that.
“You’re staring, darlin’,” he warned her, still trying to calm himself and keep himself from touching her.
She blushed, quickly looking away. “I-I’m sorry. I’ve just never seen you in a suit before.”
“Do you like it?” he asked, placing a hand over her throat to get her to look back at him.
“Y-Yes,” she nervously admitted, even though it made him look scarier and more intimidating.
“I guess I’ll have to wear it more often for you then.”
That sent another flame of heat to warm her body. Her eyes roved over his cleaned-up appearance, or cleaner, that was. He still had a beard, unlike the rest of the family; and his black-brown hair might have been shorter, mostly on the sides, but it was still just as wild, even when he slicked it back.
“You trimmed your hair and beard, too.”
He smiled, his hand still firmly wrapped around her neck. “Do you like that, too, darlin’?”
Lucca (Made Men Book 4) Page 19
