29: Clean and Dirty

Liam's POV

The night air was cooler than I expected when I stepped out of the bar. The city buzzed quietly in the distance, and the horns of a waiting car reached my ears before I saw it. 

My friend, Marcus, leaned on the hood, arms crossed, eyes sharp as always.

"Is she the one?" he asked as I walked up.

I gave a short nod. "Yeah. It's her."

He raised a brow. "Did she say anything about Luca?"

I hesitated, then nodded. "She mentioned a 'him'. Said someone was helping her look into an attack that happened in her apartment. Didn't say a name, though."

Marcus pushed off the hood. "Could be him. It makes sense. Why would anyone come after Maria if it wasn't because of Luca De Rossi?"

I opened the car door and paused before getting in. "Exactly. That’s why I want to look into it. Even if someone else is helping her, I need to know what’s going on. Besides that could help me get to spend some time with her.”

Marcus looked at me, his voice low. "Just take it slow, man. You don't want her getting suspicious."

"I'm careful," I said, sliding into the passenger seat. "Besides, I think she still has a little something for me."

Marcus scoffed as he started the engine. "Yeah? She's dating a mafia rich guy now. You really think she'd risk all that for Liam from the force?"

I smirked. "Only one way to find out."

He laughed and shook his head. We pulled off into the night.

*********

It was late when I got home. The silence in my apartment greeted me like an old friend. I dropped my bag by the door, kicked off my shoes, and walked straight to the shelf where I kept my files.

I pulled out the one I needed. It had Luca De Rossi's name printed on the cover.

I sat down and flipped it open. Flight records. From New York to London. Two tickets. One for Luca. One for Maria. That alone raised questions. But then the photos.

I stared at them for a long time.

Maria. Stepping out of a private car in London.

With Luca.

And another one of her getting into a different car. With him again. That same day.

There was no record of both of them flying back to New York. At least nothing official, anyway.

I dropped the file and leaned back into the chair.

I couldn’t shake the image of Maria tonight. She looked... different. Better. Stronger.

More confident than I remembered.

I could tell she now wore expensive clothes. Her perfume lingered. Her skin glowed in a way that told me she wasn't working long shifts anymore.

She’s been in his bed.

She’s been living his life.

But the question still burned in my mind: does she even know who he really is? Or is she just pretending?

From what I knew about Maria, she was the type to believe the best in people. Sweet. Innocent. The kind of girl who’d see red flags and still give you the benefit of the doubt.

Maybe that’s what Luca was doing. Feeding her lies. Telling her his hands were clean.

And she believed him.

Then there was Alexa. I hadn't heard it seen anything about in a while.

One minute, she was everywhere with Luca. The next, she vanished.

Did he get rid of her? Or did she run?

I stood up and headed toward the bathroom, ready to clear my head with a hot shower. But before I could make it there, my phone rang.

I glanced at the screen. A number I hadn’t seen in months.

I picked it up. "Yeah?"

"Liam. It’s Deeks."

My spine straightened. Deeks worked higher up in the agency. Higher access. Higher connections.

"Hey, man," I said quickly. "Sorry I haven't called since we last spoke. Been a little caught up."

"No stress," he said. "Even if you had, I wouldn't have had anything useful... until now."

I was quiet. I waited.

"We found a body," he said. "In London. Took a while to ID her, but it's confirmed now. Alexa Romano."

My heart dropped.

"Dead?"

"Yeah. Overdose. But there were signs. Bad ones. We have reasons to believe she was assaulted repeatedlyby multiple men."

My grip on the phone tightened. "Jesus Christ."

"I thought you should know. You were following her connection to Luca, right?"

"Yeah," I breathed. "Thanks. Really. This... this means a lot."

We hung up, and I sat there frozen for a beat.

So Luca went to London.

And now Alexa's body turns up there.

I picked up my phone again and called Marcus.

He answered on the third ring. "Yo. What's up?"

"Alexa Romano's dead."

Silence.

"Overdose. But also signs of assault. Multiple men. She was found in London."

"Damn," Marcus said quietly. "You think Luca had something to do with it?"

I exhaled slowly. "I don’t know. But he was in London. That’s not a coincidence."

Marcus let out a whistle. "This just got a lot darker."

"Yeah," I muttered. "And Maria’s right in the middle of it."

“What are you thinking, man?” Marcus asked, sounding really concerned.

“Honestly… I don't know.” I said, exhausted. “But we've always knew Luca De Rossi to be ruthless but this is actually the first time we have something linking him directly to murder.”

“Yes but that's not enough to arrest him.”

“But it's enough to bring him in for questioning.”

“Then let's bring him in for questioning.”

“You know I can't be seen by him,” I said to Marcus, “espcially since I want to get closer to Maria…”

“I understand.” Marcus said, “I'll get to it tomorrow. You rest up.”

We hung up and I relaxed on my chair.

As I stared at the pictures of Luca in front of me, I thought to myself: "Luca De Rossi, how clean and dirty you are is still one of the biggest mysteries of my career."