Lucca (Made Men #4) Page 3

  That’s exactly why I need it. However, the details couldn’t be given to Dante just yet.

  “When the threat is gone, you, Maria, and Leo may come back.”

  Dante slammed his hand down on his desk. “Fuck’s sake, Lucca! Threat? What fucking threat?”

  Hitting his ashes out in the ashtray, he figured he was going to have to give up something for now. “I got Luciano’s man to talk.”

  “Shit.” Picking up his liquor glass, his father drained the contents, knowing exactly who Lucca was talking about.

  The Lucianos were another family who owned a small portion of Kansas City, and up until seven months ago, the two families had been at peace. Recently, one of the casino hotel’s penthouses had been under attack when Luciano’s man broke in. He thankfully had been unsuccessful in targeting Lucca’s sister, Maria.

  They couldn’t taint the Luciano name by throwing out accusations without any evidence. What they needed was a rat that squealed.

  “As your underboss, I’m telling you that the less I tell you, the better. The penthouses are now the safest place for everyone. Stay here until it’s over.”

  Rubbing his temples, Dante finally nodded in agreement. “Does anyone in the family know about this?”

  “Two do. Sal”—Lucca took a hit off his cigarette, knowing his father wouldn’t be surprised with Sal’s name but would likely with the next—“and Drago.”

  His father’s icy blue eyes flashed at him. “Goddammit, Lucca, you’re taking him from me, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” he gave the grave answer his father didn’t want to hear. “You will have all the rest of your men protecting you, Maria, and Leo here. I’m asking for just him. I need his help and his protection elsewhere.”

  He could see his father contemplating on whether he was going to allow his most skilled and deadliest man to leave his side to join Lucca’s. Dante, as the boss, and Lucca, as the underboss, both had to have men by their sides at all times; men they needed to command and ask things of they themselves couldn’t fulfill.

  Lucca’s right hand was Sal. Not only was Sal his best friend who was like a brother to him, but he was skilled in different ways than Lucca. Lucca never needed protection, being deadly enough of his own accord. What he did need was information, and Sal was gifted with a brain that didn’t work like any others in the Caruso family. He was a highly intelligent individual, able to hack into any computer in under a minute. To put it simply, Sal was irreplaceable. However, Drago was something completely different.

  Dante was the highest target on the family tree. He didn’t need a man; he needed a tank. A tank that could take several bullets without flinching and still move forward to kill the men who stood in his way. Drago was a skilled killer of the deadliest kind. The kind who had no weaknesses. The kind who would never greet death because … he was Death.

  Lucca sat somewhere between those two men, having the skills and intellect, but it was his sadistic, twisted, demented mind that made him the worst of all. With him commanding the two men under him, there wasn’t going to be anything or anyone to stand in his way. The three together could desolate all of Kansas City if that was what he wished.

  Dante nodded once more, agreeing to let his right hand go until the job was done.

  It didn’t matter much to Lucca if he had agreed to it or not. Drago was only going to be under his command. And Lucca would have done whatever it took to make it so. Even if he had to put a bullet in his own father’s skull, he would have … to protect her.

  Putting his cigarette out in the ashtray, he got up to leave.

  “This is going to end in war, isn’t it?”

  Lucca’s voice went cold as he looked back over his shoulder. “The war started years ago; we just didn’t realize it.”

  “Where is she?” Lucca asked the moment Drago entered the living room.

  “She’s still in her room.”

  Lucca stared at him, dumbfounded. “She hasn’t left it?”

  Drago shook his head. “No. She’s just staring at the wall.”

  Furious, Lucca went into his office, shutting himself inside.

  Fuck! He slammed his hands down on his desk before angrily swiping the contents off and smashing them onto the floor. He was trying to be as nice to her as he could, letting her come out on her own after she was comfortable, but she hadn’t come out in two days. The only time she had come out of the room had been on the morning of the first day.

  He wanted her to be comfortable here, to be comfortable with him, but Chloe was making it difficult.

  A knock sounded on the door.

  “Come in.”

  “Everything all right?” Drago asked, opening the door.

  Nodding, he almost let Drago close the door before he stopped him.

  “I need you to do something for me.”

  Taking up the whole double-door doorframe, Drago waited for his order.

  “Tell her, if she wants dinner, she has to come downstairs.” Lucca paused for a brief second, deciding to continue his order. “Tell her that if she wants to eat again, she has to leave that fucking room.”

  Drago nodded before leaving, closing the door behind him.

  Over the last two days, Lucca had seemed to forget that he wasn’t going to baby her like the rest of her little friends had. Being nice never worked for me, anyway.

  Six

  Playing With Fire

  Chloe sat on the bed, staring at the wall, her stomach growling even louder now. She hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday and had only been able to eat a couple of bites of her sandwich then.

  If you’re hungry, you will eat downstairs from now on, her mind repeated the words the huge man named Drago had said.

  She felt like she would rather starve than have to leave the safety of her room. It was strange, but something in her told her that, as long as she was in the room, they couldn’t harm her, like they were giving it to her as a safe haven. She had come to this conclusion over the course of the three days because she hadn’t been touched, and now Lucca was trying to draw her out.

  Yep, I’ll starve.

  There was a knock on the door before Drago entered. “Dinner is ready.”

  Chloe held her arms tighter to her. “N-No, thank y-you.”

  Hearing him sigh made her look over at him. No emotion had been shown by the man. Every time he had come in, he had simply said in very few words that food had been prepared, only for him to leave right after.

  “You’re playing with fire.” Drago’s brownish-red eyes glowed at her. “You’d be wise to realize this door doesn’t lock from the inside. Even if it did, it wouldn’t stop him from coming up here and beating the door down if you keep disrespecting him. If you’re smart, you will get your ass down there while he still has a little patience left.”

  The door slamming behind him made her practically jump off the bed.

  You’re playing with fire.

  Her eyes moved to the doorknob that held no lock, proving to her that she wasn’t as safe as she had thought she was in this room.

  She didn’t know what to do. She was just trying to figure out which option gave her the best chance of survival. In the end, though, she knew Lucca was going to get what he wanted from her, and it wasn’t going to matter if she was on this side of that door or the other.

  Taking a deep breath, she followed the path to her captor, taking her time as she slowly dragged her feet. With each step, she could feel the life she thought she was going to have in California slip through her fingers.

  Downstairs, she lifted her eyes to see Lucca sitting at the dining room table. With the slight smile he gave through his eyes upon seeing her, she felt that life fully slip away until it was just a dream.

  Lucca motioned for her to join him. “Sit down, darlin’.”

  Looking at the table, she saw two plates already filled, one in front of Lucca, who sat at the head of the table, and the other in front of the chair next to him. Chloe was going to have to sit c
lose to him, and by the look on his face, that was exactly what he wanted.

  I should have … She realized her mistake then; that her chances were better off in the room.

  “Sit.” His voice came out harsher.

  She could no longer feel possession of her own feet as she walked up to the table, following his order.

  His eyes turned green for the briefest moment as she stared down at him, holding her breath, while carefully taking the chair. It was almost like looking into the eyes of a different man. She saw something unusual in them, but before she could figure it out, they flashed and his normal shade of blue-green was back.

  She looked down at her clutched hands in her lap.

  “Thank you for joining me for dinner. I’m not sure what foods you like, but I hope you like this.”

  She glanced at her plate of chicken parmesan and noodles, then back up at him. He seemed proud of his dish.

  “Y-You made t-this?”

  Lucca smiled as he picked up his fork and knife. “Yes. Why do you look surprised?”

  “S-Sorry. You just don’t look”—her eyes drifted to his black T-shirt that hugged his broad muscles before she snapped her eyes back to her plate—“l-like the cooking type.”

  “I got sick of ordering pizza after my mother died, so I taught myself to cook.” His voice seemed to have turned somber.

  Although Nero had told her once that their mother had died, she felt like Lucca had just revealed something very personal to her. Why?

  “Is something wrong?” he asked.

  She realized she had picked up her fork and began picking at her food.

  Setting the fork back down, she could barely get the words out, “W-Why am I-I here?”

  “I already told you.”

  I brought you here … to save you. Seeing that he still believed that made her realize he was even more insane than she had ever thought. Lucca needed to be the one locked up, not her.

  She couldn’t understand the point in keeping her here. She just wished he would do what he wanted to her already and put her out of her misery.

  “You’re just going to keep me locked in that room forever?”

  “I never said you had to stay in that room, darlin’. You can go almost anywhere in the house. Drago will tell you when you can’t go into a room.” Lucca cut deeply into his piece of chicken. “You can even go in the backyard if you like.”

  Admittedly, she didn’t know that.

  “S-Still, you just expect me to stay here and do nothing for the rest of my life?” If she were able to cry, she would have. “I was going to college.”

  Setting down his fork, he pointed toward the living room’s coffee table. “Do you see that laptop over there?”

  Chloe turned her head to see the silver laptop sitting there.

  “If you had come down today, you would have been told that I got all your Stanford classes changed to online courses. That laptop is yours, and you will find everything to complete your courses on it.”

  Shock was her only response. He did that?

  That was when she grasped just how long he planned to keep her here. Long enough for a semester, at least.

  “So, you do plan to keep me here for a while, don’t you?”

  “Yes.” He told her like it was.

  “They’re go-going to know something h-happened to me,” she whispered.

  Lucca shook his head. “Who? Your parents? Elle? You left them behind when you decided to leave early to California. As far as they know, you got on the plane. I saw to it.”

  She was sure her parents were celebrating her leaving after she had left them a good-bye letter. They weren’t coming to find her, but …

  “Elle. She will know something is wrong if I don’t talk to her.”

  Reaching into his dark jeans pocket, he pulled out a cell phone and set it on the table. Her cell phone.

  “I’ve been texting her for you.”

  Her nails dug into her palms. No one would know the truth. No one would know that she wasn’t a million miles away in California, but instead she was right here, in Kansas City, trapped. Not my parents. Not my best friend, Elle. Not even …

  “He keeps calling you.” Lucca’s eyes turned blue to match his cold tone. “What does Amo have to be sorry for?”

  Chloe’s mouth dropped open, remembering the first tear that had fallen in years after breaking Amo’s heart just nights ago. She had killed their friendship after he had spilled his feelings for her, yet he was the one trying to apologize for something he had done years ago. Something she had never judged him for.

  “H-He w-will … He will come for me.”

  Lucca’s eyes got bluer, his tone colder. “No, he won’t, Chloe. I promise you that.”

  Stumbling from the table, she ran as fast as her legs could take her up to her room. With each step she took, she was afraid he would snatch her up from behind until she slammed the door shut behind her.

  The invisible tears fell from her eyes, crying for her lost friends, her freedom, and the life she desperately wanted that had been stolen from her grasp.

  The darkness in him whispered, Run and catch her. Show her what a real prisoner of yours would be like.

  Staring down at the phone, he put it up to his ear, listening to the voicemail.

  “The moment I yelled “fucking freak” through the lunchroom, I regretted it, and I’ve done nothing but wish I could take those words back ever since.” Amo’s voice seemed to break toward the end before he steadied it once more. “If I scared you by telling you I love you, I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry for everything, Chloe.”

  Lucca squeezed the phone in his hand, making the screen crack.

  Seven

  Hey, Darlin’

  Seven months ago…

  When a black BMW appeared on his surveillance camera, Lucca had to do a double take to see if he was imagining it. By the time he watched her walk into the house, he realized that she was very much here. It worked.

  He had hoped Chloe might come to make sure Elle was okay after the attack. Something told him she would. It had been a long shot to get her here, and an even longer one to get a moment alone with her, but I had to try.

  Lucca needed her to know he existed. He wanted to see her face when she looked at him for the first time. He constantly imagined how their first encounter would go, and now he was closer than ever to living it.

  Taking advantage of the microphone placed on the cameras, he turned the volume up to eavesdrop. More importantly, to hear her voice, which he hadn’t heard since she had looked at the music box in the shop.

  When she finally spoke, it was just how he remembered: soft and unsure.

  Who the fuck did this to her?

  Realizing she stuttered out of fear and not because of a speech impediment infuriated him. At the same time, it broke a piece inside of him to see someone had broken a piece of her.

  He continued to watch her every move, having to switch between cameras when they went into a different room.

  Seeing Chloe inside the house he grew up in only amplified his feelings for her. He began to lose track of time from just watching her. That scary part deep down inside of him seemed to be satiated simply by watching her.

  Lost in an almost trance, he barely noticed her eyeing the back door over and over again. Something inside Lucca felt like this was it. Go.

  When that word popped into his head, he saw Chloe whisper something over to Elle. Then his heart started to pump slowly and steadily as he watched Chloe get up and head toward the big double doors.

  This was it. This was his time. His moment was here.

  Fuck, what am I? Nervous?

  Going out a different back door than she had used, he tried his best to keep his feet light through the little bit of dusted snowfall. He had to be as careful as possible not to let Elle get a glimpse of him, or worse, scare Chloe away before he even got a chance with her.

  Lucca knew he was going to scare her regardless, but he did
n’t want her too scared to let their first encounter be of her running away screaming. She could think he was scary, but he needed a few minutes with her so she could see something else in him. What a girl like Chloe was going to see, he didn’t know.

  Going around a corner, he saw her sitting perfectly still on the bench in the middle of the lighted gazebo, making him stop in his tracks. Never had Lucca thought anything like love or soulmates existed, yet now he was sure of it.

  All his nervousness seemed to slip away as he looked at Chloe. Finding his purpose, he took a deep breath.

  Waiting until the perfect moment to let her know of his presence, he stalked toward her, caging her in like an animal.

  “Hey, darlin’.” Lucca had anticipated her wanting to run, but she didn’t. Instead, he watched her jump at his voice, then freeze. Something about that didn’t sit right with him, yet he continued on up the steps. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Chloe still didn’t move a muscle.

  Leaning against a pillar to block her exit, he took in her appearance. This was the closest he had been to her. Her black dress and tights hugged her body, but her pale, scarred face was what stood out against her black hair, giving him a perfect view of her scars. Finally looking deeply into her eyes, he wished he could say the word out loud. Beautiful.

  It was almost like she could hear his thoughts as her eyes dashed to her lap, and she began wringing her hands.

  “I’m Nero’s brother, Lucca. I would shake your hand, but you wouldn’t shake it, anyway.” He wanted her to know he had been listening to their conversations.

  Chloe’s eyes darted back up for a second then back down. It was obvious she was silently wondering how he knew that.

  “I overheard that you’re apparently germophobic.” He hoped he had emphasized apparently just enough to gain her understanding that he didn’t buy it. He had watched her for a week now, not seeing any signs of her caring what she touched, not showing any traits of a real germaphobe. The only thing he saw was that she didn’t like human contact.