“Jasmine,” he said sharply and grabbed her arm. She tried to tug away but he held on. “Please understand. I’m not who you think I am.”
“So, who are you?”
“It doesn’t matter. But you? You are...” God. What could he tell her? The truth, for once?
“Jasmine, you have this exceptional capacity for love. You need to go and find someone who deserves you.”
It was the best, most honest statement Luca was capable of making. And what did he get for his effort? A slap across the face.
He stumbled in shock and then grabbed her hand again, needing to...what? Straighten things out? Explain?
What?
“Let go of me.” She tugged but he wouldn’t let go.
Suddenly people were running out of the police station. Police officers had guns drawn, shouting to get down. Luca pulled Jasmine into his arms, an automatic response.
“What’s going on?” she shouted.
“I don’t know.”
More officers, maybe ten in all, surrounded him and Jasmine. All with guns drawn. All pointing at them.
What the fuck?
“Laissez-la partir!”an officer shouted. Let her go.
“Luca?” She searched his face, panic written all over hers.
“It’s okay. It’s okay,” he reassured her, though there was not one part of him that believed things were okay.
“Luca Legrand, laissez-la partir, maintenant!”
“You need to go to them,” he said as calmly as possible. He dropped his arms from around her and gave her a gentle push toward the nearest officer. Jasmine glanced back with a worried expression before slowly walking away. The officer jumped up, ran to cover her and then scurried her away.
What happened next happened so fast, Luca couldn’t process it. The officers pounced and he was forced onto his stomach on the pavement. A knee was pressed into his back, the cold clasp of handcuffs were forced onto his wrists and an authoritative voice said, “Luca Legrand, you are under arrest for the kidnapping of Jasmine Sweet.”