Maybe it was just knowing she was his that had done it. It didn’t matter anyway. She was here now and he knew her.
Luca got to his feet. Slowly he walked toward the men in his living room. Bowie was first. “Bella, I want you to meet my friend Bowie. You met him yesterday. He would never hurt you. Do you understand that?”
Bella looked up at Bowie and studied him for a moment, then she slowly nodded.
He walked over to the next man. “Sweetheart this is a man we like to call Recon. He’s really good at finding things that are lost. He would never hurt you either. He’s daddy’s brother.”
Bella took a moment to study Recon then she nodded at the man.
Luca walked to the next man. “Honey this is Tracker. He’s kind of funny. He likes to tell jokes but he’s very good at what he does too. He and Recon find things together. He would never hurt you sweetheart.”
Tracker smiled at her and Bella smiled back a bit.
Her eyes weren’t as haunted as they had been a while ago but they still held a touch of fear in them.
Luca went down to the next man. “Honey this is Shooter and he wouldn’t hurt you either.”
Shooter smiled and winked at her and Bella smiled back.
He continued down the line and when he came to the last man standing there, he grinned. “Sweetheart this is Boner. He’s another of daddy’s brothers.”
Boner leaned forward and whispered something in Bella ear.
Bella giggled a bit and looked back at the man. Reaching out her hand, she patted his cheek lightly.
Sunshine walked over to them and smiled at Bella. “Sweetheart, these guys may be big and tough looking but none of them would hurt you. We met yesterday, do you remember me?”
Bella nodded.
“We brought you some toys and games, would you like to see then while the guys are busy?”
Bella nodded again and this time her eyes lit up. She was free of the fear she had earlier and she looked at her dad and motioned to get down. She took Sunshine’s hand and allowed her to lead her away.
When they were out of the room, Bowie came up to Luca and asked, “What the hell was that about?”
Luca shrugged. “I have no idea. I have a feeling something happened when she was with Frannie. She was fine this morning and fine when I got home. It was only when everyone came in the living room she freaked out.”
“Has she spoken to you yet?” Bowie had to ask.
“No why?”
“Because she didn’t say a word to anyone at all yesterday,” Bowie commented. Shrugging he told the other man, “Oh, she played with the other kids and ate pretty well but she didn’t say a word to anyone.”
“Yeah, I’ve been noticing that,” Luca admitted. Running his hand through his short hair he added, “I don’t know what kind of house she grew up in for the first six years of her life but she’s here now. She’s mine and I’ll take care of her. I’m gonna show her she’s safe here.”
Bowie grinned at Luca statement. “Hell man, all you gotta do is show your kids you love them and that you’ll always be there when they need you. That’s all your kids want from you. You do that and they will have value as human beings.”
Luca nodded and stared at his little girl. He would give her value and he would give her whatever she needs, hell he would lay the world at her feet if that’s what she wanted.
Chapter Five
Luca hated to have to hustle everyone out, especially after they busted their asses to furnish his house, but the last thing he wanted was for that fucking, tight-ass social worker seeing a bunch of burly bikers hanging around when she pulled up. Luca shared a look with Aiden before he was dragged off with Bowie when everyone left. They would have some more words together real fucking soon, but that was a problem for later.
One trainwreck at a time, Luca thought, forcing himself to put on a better mood so he could play with his daughter without frightening her. They played together as Bella excitedly tried out all her new toys.
When Grace Ricco finally arrived, it was well into the evening. About a half hour later and immediately, Luca became anxious. He steadied himself, tussled his daughter’s hair, and answered the door. He had a lot of questions for the social worker.
“Hi,” Grace answered curtly when she saw Luca. She wore slacks and a white, silk blouse that had the sleeves awkwardly rolled up. Despite how well she’d hidden behind her calm, stoic exterior Grace looked exhausted. “I’m here for—”
“I know why you’re here,” Luca interrupted, opening the door wide and reluctantly extending an arm for her to come in. As Grace walked past him, Luca got a whiff of something. The scent was something he couldn’t put his finger on. He blinked and shook the sensation away. “Bella’s still alive, despite being in the hands of a dangerous ex-con.” He couldn’t help but give her a little dig.
Grace flashed him a look that said she didn’t appreciate his tone, but stayed quiet and entered. Walking slowly and deliberately Grace scanned the house with the practiced eye of a private investigator. On her way into the living room where Bella was, watching YouTube videos on the big flat-screen TV Grace searched for drugs, weapons, and potential hazards that might be dangerous to a child.
“You’re late,” Luca grumbled, leaning against the wall with crossed arms. With narrowed eyes, Luca stared at Grace’s short, curvy form as she searched.
Who was she to threaten to take his kid away?
“You’re not the only case I’m working,” she replied coldly, before laying a manila envelope down on the nearly empty book shelf that lined the wall by the door. Flashing those hard green eyes at him again, she added, “This is all the paperwork we could find on Bella. Her mother didn’t leave us with much.”
Luca grumbled at the mention of Frannie and shook his head. Of course she didn’t. Fucking bitch. He lowered his head to keep from cursing aloud and frightening Bella in the other room. When he looked back up, he caught Grace looking at him.
Her eyes are such a pretty shade of green.
Luca realized he wasn’t scowling at her anymore, now he was just watching. Fierce, defiant and unrelenting, all things Luca found extremely attractive. Grace was so unlike all the women at the club that hung out to be fucked by the members and before that, he was in prison and didn’t see any women that weren’t on TV and before that… Luca thought long and hard as he studied every inch and curve of Grace. He couldn’t recall ever knowing a woman like Grace and couldn’t help but find that attractive.
Yeah, if only she wasn’t trying to steal your kid.
“Hey, Bell- Bell!” The ice Grace had worn over her demeanor fell away in sheets as she smiled wide and greeted Bella with open arms.
Bella’s face lit up with soft warmth as she ran over and threw herself clumsily into a hug.
The affectionate display made Luca smile but he quickly caught himself and forced his face back to passive sternness. He didn’t want to show a woman like her any weakness, because he was worried it’d be used against him.
That was a trait that’d been drilled into him while he was in prison.
Luca couldn’t help but notice with a frown the radically different reaction Bella had to Grace than with the rest of his club. His little girl had been terrified before he’d personally introduced her to everyone in the safest way he knew. With Grace, it was totally opposite. Bella trusted Grace right off the bat.
Grace hoisted Bella up into the air and they both laughed. Grace asked simple questions like “was she tired?”, “did she eat enough for dinner?” and “did she have a good day?”
Luca noticed they were all questions that Bella could either nod or shake her head to.
Did Grace know why Bella didn’t speak?
Luca let Grace carry Bella through the rest of the house while she did her inspection. When they got to Bella’s admittedly empty, but at least fully-furnished room, Luca began to get his daughter ready for bed. Bella silently protested at first, but was quickly calmed down wh
en Luca offered to read her a bedtime story.
Bella only agreed after dragging Grace back into the room to sit on her bed.
“Alright. Looks like you’re getting an audience, Munchkin.” Luca sighed sitting on the opposite side of the bed. It was an adult sandwich with Bella in the middle.
He was a little anxious having never actually read to a child before, but realized he probably couldn’t fuck it up too much. Luca glanced over at Grace whose own demeanor had softened just a bit, shrugged and began reading one of the kid’s books Sunshine left him.
About a half hour in, surrounded by people she trusted, Bella finally fell asleep.
For a moment, Grace and Luca watched the little girl sleep.
Bella had suffered so much in her short life that something as simple as feeling comfortable enough to go to sleep was a big deal.
The adults shared a telling look of concern for the little girl. Luca had finally begun noticing Grace not as an obstacle, but as another person. That’s also when he saw something wrong. Grace’s subtle mascara was touched up perfectly, but it couldn’t fully hide the red-rimmed puffiness around her beautiful smoky emerald eyes.
Had she been crying?
Luca’s gaze then drifted down to Grace’s sleeve. It had unrolled over the course of him reading to Bella and was torn by the cuff. He asked with his eyes, “What happened there?”
Grace glanced away instead of answering, then quickly rolled her sleeve back up. She cleared the fallen strands of hair from her face, and walked out of the room.
Luca kissed Bella’s forehead lightly and followed. “You all right?” he asked at length closing his daughter’s bedroom door to a sliver.
“What do you care?” The words came out harsher than she’d intended, but she didn’t feel the need to apologize. After all, he was just an ex-con biker. What did he care about the woman who jeopardized his ability to hold onto his daughter?
“Hey. I think we got off on the wrong foot,” Luca put out a hand to grab her, before catching himself and pulling away. They weren’t there yet. He looked her over seeing her clearly for the first time. What if she did only want what was best for Bella? “You’ve obviously had a long day; I don’t want to be the guy who makes it longer.”
“I just… I’m fine.” Grace struggled against the urge to open up for a sympathetic ear.
“It’s cool. You don’t have to tell me anything.” Luca walked toward the kitchen. “But you should stay and have some food.”
“I’m not hungry,” Grace replied automatically.
Luca chuckled sliding a tray of Lasagna —courtesy of Sunshine— out of the fridge and preheated the oven. Luca woke up this morning and didn’t have a refrigerator. Fifteen hours later, he’s pulling a tray of homemade food out of one that was delivered and set up for him without or any strings attached.
People always got it twisted when they thought about motorcycle clubs. Yeah, Steel Veins did some illegal shit, but that didn’t make them any worse than any other fraternity. Man for man there were probably more shitbag, corrupt cops than members across all MCs. At the end of the day, knowing you had thirty plus people having your back was an incredible feeling.
“That’s not what your stomach was saying in the Bella’s room,” Luca smirked, poking his head out of the kitchen and into the living room where Grace was idling.
“You heard that?” Grace’s face flushed with embarrassment. When was the last time she actually ate something? She’d been so busy today that she had trouble immediately recalling. Maybe this morning? Was there something after that bagel and cream cheese she ate on the way to her first case?
“I think it set off car alarms down the block.” Luca walked over and handed her a bottle of water. Grace was hesitant and about to wave it away when Luca raised an eyebrow. “It’s sealed. I didn’t poison it.”
Grace reluctantly took the water. Now that she had it in her hands she realized she’d only drank coffee today and was suddenly feeling dehydrated. She opened it to take a small sip and ended up draining three-quarters of the bottle.
“Are you always this untrusting of people?” Luca asked, taking a much smaller sip of his own water.
“In my line of work you have to be.” Grace tightly rolled up her torn sleeve again. “There are a lot of monsters out there. I tend to deal with people who aren’t all that trustworthy like thieves, drug addicts, rapists, sadists…”
“And bikers?” Luca finished her sentence when she naturally let the words drift off.
“Yes. And bikers,” Grace replied almost immediately. She wasn’t cowed or shamed at being called out. That ruthless adherence to her admittedly stereotypical biases had saved her ass more than a few times. She didn’t care what Luca thought of her, or if she might hurt his feelings. “All I want is for the kids I work with to have safe, healthy lives. I don’t get what I want often.”
“I take it today was one of those days.” Luca looked her over, seeing the weariness behind her stone-faced stoicism. When Grace’s seemingly perpetual frown deepened, he realized he was right. That wasn’t a shock to Luca; he always had a gift for reading people.
That’s what made him a great criminal.
Again, Grace didn’t answer.
“You are allergic to small talk, aren’t you?” Luca asked with a smile after sliding the lasagna into the oven.
His smile only deepened Grace’s frown further. She stuffed the bottle into her purse and turned for the door. “I didn’t find any safety violations so I’m going to head out. For now.”
“Whoa. Hold up a sec. I have some questions.” Luca jogged out of the kitchen stopping her before she could leave. “This isn’t a one-way road.”
Grace exhaled crossing her arms, that ice shield around her demeanor was back up.
For civility sake, Luca bit his tongue and just asked his question. “How long has Bella been with you? You two seem to get along pretty good.”
Grace frowned as if she was unsure of how to answer his question. “She’s been in my custody for almost a week now while we tracked you down. We didn’t know you were in prison until three days ago. When we found out you were being released we decided to wait until you got out to do anything with her.”
Luca nodded then had to ask, “What’s the deal with Bella? I mean, what’s really going on with her? Is she mute, can she talk?”
“We’re not sure.” Grace looked over at the envelope on bookshelf. “Everything I’ve been able to find is from government and hospital records. Birth certificate, shots and all that. We can’t even find Frannie to ask her. When she left Bella in our office she just disappeared.”
“Still fucking blows my mind that she could abandon something as special and amazing as Bella.” Luca’s fists tightened. “Who does something like that, y’know? It’s fucked up.”
Grace nodded mournfully. Doubt darkened her resolve about the man Luca was like clouds before the sun. Maybe this wasn’t a show? Maybe Luca did care about his newly discovered daughter as much as he let on?
But then again, Grace had been fooled once before and that cost a little boy his life.
She wasn’t taken any chances. Not this time, not ever again.
The oven’s timer dinged cutting through the tense silence and Luca walked back to turn it off. When he opened the oven the open flowing nature of the rooms layout caused the whole house to suddenly smell like melted cheese, baked hamburger and rich tomato sauce. The heavenly scent nearly made Grace double over with hunger pangs.
The hunger only got worse when she saw the food. Despite her initial rejection, Luca put two heaping plates of steaming lasagna down on the modest dining room table. She could practically see the savory flavor wafting up off the comfort food she’d always loved as a little girl.
“You’re not going to make me eat alone are you?” Luca asked, sitting down and sliding the wooden chair into the table. “I’ll just end up eating both of them and feeling like a fat fuck. Nobody wants that.”
; Her body betrayed her and walked toward the mouth-watering meal. God she was hungry, and this looked way better than any fast-food place on her way home.
“Thank you.” Grace offered a conservative smile and sat down opposite Luca, who’d already dug into the dinner with eager forkfuls.
“It’s all good.” Luca nodded with gooey strings of cheese hanging down from his stubble. Cleaning himself up he saw with amazement how Grace was demolishing her food. “Guess you were hungrier than you thought, huh?”
“Sorry,” Grace said through a mouthful of delicious homemade goodness, struggling to regain her composure. Maybe it was because of all the late nights lately and the fact that most of what she ate came out of boxes from her freezer, but this was the best meal she’d had in such a long time. “I guess so.”
“Don’t sweat it. It’s not your fault. I’m pretty sure Sunshine bakes cocaine into sauce.” Luca muttered through a mouthful of his own. When he saw Grace’s eyes widen and her immediately stop eating, he nearly laughed the half-chewed bite out of his mouth. “Joking! I’m just joking. There’s no drugs in the lasagna I promise.” Pausing for effect, he added, “That’d be a waste of perfectly good cocaine.”
Grace raised an eyebrow at him skeptically and shook her head, but still smirked from the joke.
“I don’t want whatever this is between us to be antagonistic,” Luca said after finally laying his fork down on the empty plate. “You wouldn’t be here afterhours after such an obviously long day if you didn’t care about Bella. For as uneasy as I was at first, I respect your dedication. I want to work with you to give Bella the best life she can have, not against you.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Grace swallowed the last of her lasagna and wiped her mouth. “That poor girl has been through so much. She deserves people who give a damn.”
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