Chapter 83

LUCA

Veda had been gone for five days, and I was losing my fucking mind holed up in this house “for my own safety.” Nothing helped. Not drinking. Not working. Not even beating the fuck out of the bag in my gym, like I was doing now, until my knuckles were bloody and bruised and I could barely stay standing.

My phone vibrated where I’d left it on top of the small fridge. I almost didn’t hear it as I pounded the bag, and when I did, I seriously considered not answering it. But maybe it wasn’t my father calling to berate me some more. Maybe it was news.

I grabbed my towel and wiped my face and chest as I strode across the room and picked it up. The number was private. My gut clenched with foreboding, and I tapped the green phone button, lifting it to my ear. I didn’t say anything, just listened as I fought to catch my breath.

“Hello, brother.”

The sound of his voice caused a flash of red-hot rage to rush through my bloodstream so fast it made me lightheaded. I gripped the phone hard, surprised it didn’t crack apart, but then the fog cleared away just as fast as it had hit and my focus became razor sharp.

The son of a bitch better not have harmed a single hair on her head. I forced myself to sound calm. Unconcerned. He already knew I couldn’t end the game the way I had planned. I needed to play this off. If he knew exactly what she meant to me, how it fucked me up inside that he had her, there was no way she would survive this. “What do you want, Mario?”

“I thought you might be interested to know that your little game piece here is still alive and well. But I can’t promise you how long she’s gonna stay that way.”

I grabbed a water from the fridge and took a long swallow, purposefully making him wait. “And why would you think I care? You won. Again. It’s over.”

“Ah, come on now, Luca. I saw your face when you were pointing that gun at her. Heard the way she spoke to you. You really think I don’t know what’s between you two?”

I had to play this oh so carefully. “So, I fucked her. And I decided her cunt was worth more to me than your life, so I shot you instead. Not because I feel anything for her, but because I care so little about you. Was there something else you wanted? I’m in the middle of a workout.”

That threw him off for a second. Then I heard a scuffle on the other end of the line, and I heard Veda cry out.

Breathe. In. Out. In. Out. Slow and steady.

“So you wouldn’t care if I put a bullet through this imposter’s eye?”

I wasn’t surprised that he knew who Veda really was. I never expected him to be so stupid that he wouldn’t figure it out real quick. I knew I would have only a few seconds to pull everything off without him realizing she wasn’t his fiancée brought back to life.

And I’d paused. Everything that happened afterwards was on me. My fault. But I wasn’t going to have her death on my conscious. I would get her back. But I wasn’t going to walk into his trap to do it. “Do what you want. I really don’t give a fuck.” I held the phone away from my ear and stared at the screen for a moment, gritting my teeth as I fought the urge to reassure her. Then I tapped the screen and ended the call.

As soon as the screen went black, I ran out of the room and headed to my office. Enzo was already there when I arrived. “Anything?”

Something dull and heavy crushed my insides when he shook his head. “No. I’m sorry. We couldn’t get a trace on it.”

I threw the phone to the floor, where it bounced once and hit the leg of one of the chairs that sat in front of my desk. “Fuck!” Hands in my hair, I began to pace back and forth, my bare feet silent on the hard floor. “What have I done? What the fuck have I done?”

“He won’t kill her,” Enzo reassured me. “He’d only kill her if he thought you gave a shit about her. I was listening in on the call. You were completely convincing.”

I didn’t believe him. “No. He’s going to kill her. She’s no use to him now.”

“He won’t. Remember, I know him almost as well as I know you. He won’t be convinced. He’ll try to think of a way to use her to get to you. His first plan didn’t work. He’s going to move on to plan B.”

I stopped in the middle of the room, my eyes on the floor. Enzo was right. Mario wouldn’t give up this easily. If nothing else, he was tenacious. Like a dog with a bone when he thought he had something.

He had to be fucking right.

“LUCA, you need to get some sleep.”

I ignored Tristan’s well-meaning advice as I had been for the past three days since I’d gotten Mario’s phone call. Along with Enzo’s nagging. How the fuck did they expect me to sleep when she was with my brother? The same guy who’d put a bullet through the last woman I cared about without one ounce of remorse. And I didn’t know if she was alive or dead or…

Something far worse.

Enzo and Tristan believed I’d played it off well. But I knew my brother.

And worse, he knew me. He knew that in the short time she’d been here, Veda had managed to worm her way under my skin, burrow through the bone and muscle, and forge her way through the impenetrable wall around my heart.

He knew. He had to know.

“Are you sure you don’t want to ask Luigi for help with this?”