Salvatore(48)

“Just checking in on Lucia. Since she wasn’t feeling well and all. She looks good to me, though, considering.”

“Get the fuck out of here, Dominic.”

Dominic shrugged a shoulder and glanced back at me after taking a step toward the door.

“If you ever need anything, Lucia…”

“She won’t be needing anything from you.”

Salvatore stalked toward me, the look in his eyes chilling me as he squeezed my wrist and took the card from my hand. He didn’t look at it. Didn’t need to, I guessed.

Dominic walked out the door. Salvatore kicked it shut behind him, his hand still gripping my wrist.

“You’re hurting me, Salvatore.”

Anger, frustration, I don’t know what it was, but whatever he was feeling, it rolled off him and slammed into me.

“It seems that’s all I can do.” He dropped my wrist. “We’re leaving.” He grabbed the suitcases and walked into the hallway.

I followed him out of the bedroom, wanting to be away from this house most of all, yet fearing Salvatore. Uncertain now if would save me or destroy me.

We didn’t run into anyone as we left. Salvatore’s car waited just outside the front doors. The man who must have brought it around handed him the keys. Salvatore loaded the bags into the trunk and opened my door, not waiting for me to get in before he moved around to his side. He was clearly as anxious as I to leave.

We didn’t speak for the first twenty minutes of the ride back. Salvatore’s tension literally rolled off him.

“Dominic will fuck with you. You’re not to have anything to do with him, understand?” He didn’t look at me but kept his eyes on the road.

“Is that an order?”

That made him turn his head toward me. “Yes.”

“Or what, you’ll whip me again? Doors open this time?”

His grip on the steering wheel tightened, his knuckles going white. “Don’t push me, not now.”

“What the hell happened back there?” His face tightened even more. “I heard, Salvatore. I heard you stand up for me. I heard your father lose his shit.”

“Then you didn’t learn your lesson about snooping.”

“I wasn’t snooping. I was coming down to have breakfast, show my face. Show him he hadn’t won.”

Salvatore snorted and shook his head, the smile that appeared on his face sad. “You don’t get it, Lucia. He always wins.”

“I told you before, everyone loses sometime.”

“Not Franco Benedetti.”

There was such a weight to him, to his words, that it made me sad. Just sad. But I needed to ask one more question. I needed to know one more thing.

“He said something about taking care of Luke.”

Salvatore gave me a sideways glance. He didn’t answer my question, but he sure knew how to distract me.

“I’m going to let you out of your contract. Once all is said and done, and I’m boss, you’ll be free, Lucia.”





13





Salvatore




I couldn’t win. No one could. What I said to her, I meant it. Franco Benedetti would win. And everyone else would lose.

Lucia went straight to her room when we got back to the house, and I shut myself up in my study. She hadn’t talked to me the entire ride. Probably pissed at me, which I expected. I would deal with that later, though, because as soon as I booted up my laptop, I saw an e-mail from Roman regarding Luke’s activities.

Luke had been busy indeed, meeting with various members of the Pagani family in the tristate area. We knew that, though. That wasn’t new. It was the next part that intrigued me.

He was spending his nights in Isabella DeMarco’s bed.

That’s why it so surprised me to learn that I was wrong. That he wasn’t Effie’s father.

But that wasn’t the strangest thing. In fact, what I saw made zero sense.

I picked up the phone and dialed Roman, but before he could answer, the door burst open. Lucia stood in the doorway, looking pissed off.

“So are you just going to lock yourself up in here and not talk to me at all?” She walked inside. “Because you’re giving me fucking whiplash.”

I put the lid of my laptop down just as Roman answered the phone. “Let me call you back.” I got up and closed the door. “You ever hear of knocking?”

“What the hell is going on, Salvatore? What happened this morning? You were fine. We were fine. Then you had that breakfast meeting, and I don’t know. It’s like you keep pulling the fucking rug out from under me!”

“I told you, I’ll give you your freedom as soon as I can. I thought you would want that.”

“This isn’t about that. You can’t just throw that out there. And besides, how long until you’re boss? And what if you change your mind?