For Fallon (21 page)

Luca

As soon as we arrive back at the house that evening, I sprint to the second floor with Adriano to find Camilla behind the bar. She’s visibly upset. Not bothering to sit, I immediately ask, “How did it go with Fallon?”

Camilla cuts her eyes from me to Adriano and back. “She’s hurt.”

“What did she say to you? Did she ask for help?” I’m almost positive that Fallon must’ve asked for help. Camilla’s answer will let me know if Fallon has gotten to her. Camilla knows insignificant matters of our business. She’s never been involved in any activity until today, which will reveal a great deal of our Mafia business once Camilla starts connecting the dots.

“No,” she counters resolutely.

I signal to Adriano to walk me out, and as he falls into step beside me, I share my thoughts. “There’s a very small chance that Fallon did not ask for help, but I can’t imagine Fallon not acting on her first instinct to escape. Talk to Camilla.”

I
continue on to my private room where Damian’s outside my room sitting in a chair.

“Did she eat?” I ask.

“No. She had a tantrum, threw all the food around the room. At least it was all wrapped in paper and plastic,” he jokes.

I scowl at him.

“I didn’t do anything. Camilla asked her if she wanted a drink or anything to eat.”

“You can go.”

He hands me my room key. Unlocking the door, I see Fallon lying on her stomach on the bed. Her favorite position to sleep is lying on her stomach. I take the chair into the room and place it at the window, facing the bed.

After I check her face, I let my fingertips trail over the slant of her neck and back. The swelling has subsided and seeing
that she’s lying with her knees touching the bed, the scrapes must hurt her less too. Dancing my fingers over the soft skin down the small of her back, I can’t contain myself and bend forward to place a kiss above her behind and rest my forehead on her lush body. Tightly shutting my eyes, I whisper her name in the dark to nobody, “Fallon.” And I palm her ass softly. Having her this close and yet so far is conflicting. I’m too fucking conflicted most of the time when it comes to her. Her association with me has changed her life and will affect her future. She offered me love, and I gave her hurt and danger in return.

When she suddenly stirs lightly under my hand and I hear the tiniest, gentlest moan from her lips, all the blood rushes from my brain. As much as I want to fuck her, I know chances she’ll slap me are higher. “Fuck,” I mutter harshly.

I can’t take her home now. She’s in more danger at home because Leggia’s started the war.

I strip out of my clothes quietly and slide into the chair. My hands rake through my hair to temper my outrage over
Leggia’s proposal. My new plan with Fallon is full disclosure.  I’ll fill her in on everything tomorrow. Everything. She has to know how much danger she’s in, or else she’ll never agree to stay here, but I won’t pose it as a question. If she knows she can leave, she will take that option. Leggia’s a great threat to us, and I don’t know what James will decide regarding the trade.

Fallon’s eyes slowly open and they land directly on me while she sits up. I see that she looks much better than this morning - the swelling under her eyes has lessened, but she has a faraway look. “I read once that the first twenty-four hours of being kidnapped are crucial. Most people who aren’t found in those first twenty-four hours are never found.” She lies back down. “My twenty-four hours are up.” Her head falls to the side on the pillow, glaring at me with bleak eyes.

“I’m trying my best to protect you.”

“Then explain it to me, Luca. I think you owe me that. All you’re doing now is scaring me by leaving me in the dark.”

She’s desperately trying to find a way out of here. She was lethargic this morning and was angry later this afternoon. Silence is all I can give her now because I have no plan at this moment. The emotional turmoil in her lithe frame is shining through her eyes.

Fallon gets up and removes her shirt and boxer briefs in front of me.

My hand shoots out to touch her soft skin.

She crawls on
to my lap and straddles me. Is she going to seduce me in the hopes that I will release her?

I place my hands on the armrests and clutch them tightly because I want to touch her instead.

“You love me, Luca.” Not a question but a statement. She rubs herself over my boxers while streaming her nails up my chest, over my shoulders, and down my arms as she rotates her hips and moans quietly.

I’m hardening underneath her and hold in
a deep growl while our eyes are steadfastly fixed on each other.

Which one of us will end this game first?

Fallon pries my fingers loose from the chair and places my hands over her rounded breasts. I grip their softness and leave a wet trail with my tongue over one without losing eye contact.

She exposes my already raging hard-on and grinds her wetness all over me. 

Fuck. I want to lose myself in her warmth.

I squeeze her breasts hard as I watch her sliding over me.  But when I look up, I’m confronted with our situation and bitterly thrown out of my need to fuck her. Her e
yes aren’t filled with lust; she’s staring at me with a calculated look.

What was her intention? Did she even have a plan?

I cup her ass and rise quickly while her arms drape around my neck and fall back on the bed as I push us into the mattress.  I widen my legs, forcing her knees apart further and growl while pushing against her. With my elbow on the bed, my left hand rests next to her head, I skim my right hand over her knee, slowly up the inside of her thigh until the tip of my thumb flicks her core. I take her chin between my fingers and thumb, and I tug her head to have her eyes on me. She wants me to fuck her so she can hate me. I capture her lips with mine, prodding my tongue between her parted lips while panting furiously.

Fallon’s calculating look has been replaced by anxiety.

I pull back an inch, keeping us face-to-face. “I do love you. I’m risking everything to keep you safe. You just want to validate that all I want is to hurt you. You want a good reason to end this relationship when all is said and done. I’m not like that guy who forced himself on you yesterday.”

“You’re not? What is he? Isn’t he one of your
men
?” she spits.

“He was,” I explain.

Her eyes turn to slits.

“Did you think I would allow someone like that in our Syndicate? You know nothing of us. And you don’t know me at all if you think I would accept someone coercing himself on a woman,
let alone you.” I pause. “He’s been taking care of.”

“What does that mean?”

“He isn’t among us anymore,” I confess. Appalled and stupefied, she goes still underneath me. I swear I saw a flicker of satisfaction cross her face. She understands that I mean we killed him. “You don’t look saddened by that. As long as we only kill bad men, it’s fine?”

“He tried to rape me,” she cries and
stops sharply after her reaction sets in. Fallon didn’t deny my question. Softly, she adds, “You killed him?”

Point made. “
You
are the one who will regret it in the morning if we fuck, and
I
won’t do that to you.”

I get off
of Fallon to lie beside her and adjust my boxers. After a few minutes, she turns on her side with her back to me. I move in behind her and let my hand rest on her stomach, pulling her to me - my favorite position. She makes an effort to push me away, but I hold on to her firmly.

I barely sleep for the second night in a row.

Fallon

A ray of sunlight illuminates the room. I’ve been awake for hours. So has Luca. Tomorrow is Monday. If I’m not at work, people will start to ask questions.

He’s right. I wanted him to be forceful so I could hate him. My mind is angry, but my heart still loves him. My body still wants him. I don’t hate him. I hate that I felt relieved after hearing that blond guy has been taken care of. I hate that in my confused state I mistakenly thought I could seduce him into letting me go. The sheer fear I felt that first night has been quelled by Luca’s presence. There’s something much bigger going on. I’ve known it for weeks, but I didn’t listen to my gut instinct.

Luca sits on the edge of the bed, his head resting in his hands. “I’m going to tell you everything. You need to listen and understand what I’ve been doing and why it’s important for you to stay here with me.”

I sit up too and clutch the sheet over my naked body.

Luca sighs. “You have to listen to me, okay?”

I don’t think I have a choice. “Okay.”

Luca swirls his body to me. I’m in the middle of the bed and he’s on the edge opposite me. “Danny used to work for me.”

My ex-boyfriend?
“Danny Mancuso?”

“Yes.” Luca swallows heavily.

“For the Syndicate or your company?”

“The Syndicate.”

“Danny was our hacker. He betrayed us and has been hiding for months. I have been looking for him ever since. I found out he was hiding in The Loop. A quick search showed me his only connection there was his ex-girlfriend: you.”

This revelation has me gaping at him in bewilderment. I know Danny’s a hacker. “Wait, you planned to meet me?”

“No, let me finish, then you can ask all your questions,” Luca says as he holds up one hand. “I was following you that night into the club. I was not supposed make contact, but you literally made contact with me. I wanted you from the moment I saw you in the club, Fallon.” He scoots a little closer.

I’m too shaken to move. He has been lying from the start about everything. A horrible feeling of being punched in the stomach overwhelms me.

“On our first date, I saw that he tried to call you. Your phone rang when we were talking.”

I’m searching my mind about our first date. “When did he call? When we were at the restaurant?” My brows furrow in thought.

“No, our first date was the first time I met you in the coffee shop,” he explains.

He sees that as our first date? Danny did call me. I never called him back. “So you followed me to the coffee shop as well? It wasn’t
a coincidence when we met there?”

“Yes, I followed you. I knew your routine. I knew I could find you there in the mornings. After that first time, I knew you would be of no help in finding Danny, but I was attracted to you. I didn’t want to walk away when I met you. I fell in love with you, Fallon. However, a hacker betraying us is a serious crime in my world. I needed to keep you safe
, and you being linked to me would put you in danger. One of the other bosses has been out to get James and me. He had a guard following me when you were with me. Sometimes I’ve had someone watching over you to make sure you were safe when I wasn’t with you. This other boss, Leggia, has been waiting for the opportunity to use you against me.”

I’m silent as my gaze bores into him. As if my life is ending, every piece of information flies through my mind. Because he was looking for Danny, he met me. He’s an underboss of a powerful and influential Syndicate - they must be powerful because they’re functioning completely under the radar. He sells drugs, kills people, and deliberately kept his criminal life a secret by stacking lie upon lie while letting us grow closer.

What have I gotten myself into by getting involved with this guy?

“At Lake Forest…” He pauses to meet my eyes. “There was a guy following you. It was
Leggia’s man. He has also been taken care of. The priest - I know you saw me with him. The priest is Leggia’s priest. I’ve been gathering information on him to make Leggia back off.”

I was followed and didn’t even realize how much danger I was in. And he knew all along I spotted him at the church? All the pieces are starting to fall perfectly into place. “That’s why you called that day and showed up at my apartment.”

“Yes, I was expecting you to start questioning me about the priest. You didn’t ask, though. And I didn’t know how to react in that moment. You have been slipping away from me for weeks, Fallon. I’ve felt the disconnect between us.”

“I felt like you were slipping away from me.” My accusing glare targeted on him. “But I never had you to begin with.”

“That’s not true.” He waves his hands around. “This doesn’t define me. I’m still the Luca you fell in love with.”

“How can you say that? Of course this all defines you. Do you even realize how differently you think from other, mundane people? No. Yesterday you just pragmatically confessed you killed another person. All you know is Syndicate life. I’m not used to being around people who kill, for god’s sake! I’ve never been subjected to criminals or any criminal activity. I’m a simple girl who never thought she would become mixed up in this…this mess. You have no idea how it all affects me. You live in a completely different world than I do. People are dispensable in your world of violence.
A world outside the law.”

A condescending snort escapes him.
“The law? The law is also us,” he enlightens me. “The Mafia is everywhere. We have people in the police.
You
can’t go to the police because the Syndicate will know. You are under Syndicate protection now - as my girlfriend. And what would you accomplish by going to the police? They’ll draw up a statement and never look at your case. The guy who assaulted you has been dealt with by me. Don’t people go to the police looking for justice, looking to have the accused punished for his crime?”

His logical explanation is disconcerting me because I have no retort.

“Your boss is also connected to us. Alex has been borrowing money from
us
for his charity. He has also embezzled money from said charity. You were already indirectly tied to the Syndicate.”

I rest my palm on my forehead. “This has to be some kind of nightmare I’m about to wake up from.” The sheet has fallen in a pool around my hips, and I tug it up again.

Luca continues. “If I let you leave now, I don’t know how to protect you. One more thing: Leggia has Danny. I was planning on taking you home last night, but Leggia wanted a meeting with us. He had someone watching you Friday, and he knew you were taken by our soldiers. Leggia’s determined to break this Syndicate apart because he wants more power, the kind of power and influence James has. He has offered to trade Danny for you.”

My eyes snap up and I jump from the bed. Terror has found its way back into my being with that last sentence, and oxygen isn’t filling my lungs as I gulp for air.

Luca immediately mirrors my action and closes the distance between us. His hands are on either side of my head. “Look at me, Fallon. Breathe calmly, in and out. Nothing is going to happen. Breathe
dolcezza
.” Luca inhales and exhales slowly with me until my gasping subsides.

My panic regresses as time ticks by slowly. I rest my cheek on his chest and pull back instantly because I don’t want any of his comfort. “What does he want with me?”

“Nothing, he’s only out to rile me up.” Luca walks us back and sits me down. I cover my trembling naked body with the sheet when he crouches before me. “James and I will find a way to eliminate Leggia.”

Suddenly a thought arises and I shoot up again. “What about my parents? Are they safe?”

He guides me back on the bed by my shoulders to calm me down and resumes his position. “They’re fine. Leggia isn’t stupid enough to have a civilian lawyer involved in this. That will create too many questions.”

This is so much information for me to take in. The situation is an even bigger mess than I ever anticipated. His rival has Danny and wants to trade me for Danny, which would mean I would be a captive of another Mafia boss. The enormity of my dire situation dawns on me. I fell in love with a man I don’t know at all. I fell for what I thought he was. I’m in way over my head in a world I never
realized existed so close to me, and he brought me into this dangerous world. “You never once said you were sorry.” I catch his pained eyes.

“Sorry for what?”

“For bringing me into this.”

“Would it have made any difference?”

I avert my gaze. “No.”

“For your own safety, you need to stay here a couple more days. Fallon, do you trust me?”

No.

“I don’t know. I’m hurt, disappointed. I’m mad at you. This is all too overwhelming and so…so surreal.” Currently,
my best option is to let Luca believe he has convinced me. Hopefully, Camilla will have to bring me food again today, and I can try to talk to her once more.

Luca rests his head in my lap. “You know what attracted me to you?
Your serene appearance. In that club with your loud-mouthed friend jumping around you, you carried yourself with grace and a quietness that was simply stunning.”

I avoid touching him.
“Stop. I don’t want to hear this now.”

I’m inclined to believe him.

I’m inclined to distrust him.

Luca raises his head. “What are you thinking?”

“Have you told me everything?”

“Yes, full disclosure. I took a risk here too by telling you. I vouched for you. If you go to the police and anyone in this Syndicate finds out and tells James, you and I and your family could be in far greater danger.”

My face contorts as I allow the first tears that have been burning behind my eyes to wet my cheeks. “This is such a…”

“
A cluster fuck. I know.”

“Am I to stay in this room?” I’ll let Luca believe I’ll be cooperative.

“No, you can walk around. I’m trusting you not to run. Do know there are guards, Fallon. You can’t just walk out the door here.”

“I figured that. And after this business with
Leggia is over, am I safe to go home? Is my family safe?”

“Yes, but your life will forever be connected to me. I will look after you.”

That’s what I’m afraid of. “Is that a threat or a promise?”

Luca winces. “Not a threat.”

Should I tell him?

If I can walk around, I can find Camilla. “How many people are in this house?”

“Not many. I’ll make sure as few people as possible will be here as long as you are. No one will bother you. If you want to leave the room, you can. If you want to stay, I’ll bring everything you need here.”

“I’m overwhelmed. I don’t know what I want.” My empty stomach rumbles and clenches.

“You need sustenance, Fallon. You have to eat something.”

“Fine,” I snap. He’s a Mafia underboss who kills and has lied to me from the beginning of our relationship. I don’t trust him.

I need to get out of this mess.