Page 2 of De Luca: The Saint

They probably do other things, too, but they didn’t tell me what those things were. I surely wasn’t going to ask, “So what do you do other than snuff out lives?”

I snort at my ridiculous thoughts as I approach a table of four men who have been drinking non-stop for the last two hours. How anybody can drink that much, I’ll never understand.

“What can I get you gentlemen?” I ask with a smile on my face.

They’re all dressed in black pants, with matching black shirts. I wonder momentarily if they work together.

“Troy, she thinks you’re a gentleman,” the one directly to my left snickers as he sets his empty glass back down on the table.

The man, I’m guessing to be Troy, smiles, “Come here, Sweetheart.”

I walk around to the other side of the table, “What can I get for you?”

The sides of his lips lift slightly, but it’s not a smile. It’s threatening. Every alarm in my body goes off, “I know exactly what I want,” he says while his eyes trail my body causing my stomach to roll.

Before I even have a chance to process this creep's words, he pulls me down onto his lap. The notepad and pen in my hand go flying across the room. He wraps his left arm around my abdomen, holding me tight as he runs his free hand up my black skirt and attempts to get inside my panties.

I struggle to get away from him, squirming in his arms, I can’t break free, his grip is too tight. “Let me go,” I yell as I continue to struggle in his strong grip. A giant man approaches the table, grabs Troy’s hand and pries it off me effortlessly, then grips me by the shoulders, and pulls me off his lap. Tears roll down my cheeks as I tremble. My mind is reeling with fear of what’s about to happen, what my customer almost did to me, as I stare at the stranger that carries himself with an air of violence. Something about him screams danger. The mystery man grabs Troy by the back of his head and slams his face onto the table, causing drinks to spill and a few glasses to hit the floor. I open my mouth to scream but the sound is trapped in my throat. Blood pools on the tabletop. My heart pounds in my ears as I watch the mystery man beat Troy.

Finally, I will my legs to move, and back up, falling over an empty table and land on the floor.

The bartender comes over and reaches his hand down to help me back onto my feet, “Are you okay?”

I nod silently, still watching the mystery man beating the hell out of Troy. He pulls Troy’s face from the table by grabbing the back of his head, his fist flies to Troy’s face repeatedly, the anger bouncing off him in waves. This man whoever he is has no intention of stopping until Troy breathes his last breath.

“He’s going to kill him.”

Cole laughs, “Yeah, probably.”

I might be an idiot, but I can’t let that happen. I won’t watch some man die because of me, even if what he did was wrong. I run up to the giant and push him, or at least try. My hands land on his hard chest.

He doesn’t move an inch but stops and stares at me with a ferocious look. Perspiration covers his brow line, his expression filled with rage. Still, he doesn’t move. His gaze stays fixed on mine. It’s dark, powerful, and terrifying.

“Stop,” I speak low, but I know he heard me.

Without taking his eyes off me, he presses his hand on Troy’s throat, squeezes hard and growls, “Get the fuck out. If I see you here again, you die.”

The giant lets go of him, and all four men hurry to their feet and all but run out the door.

His hand touches my face, and with the pad of his thumb, he gently wipes my tears away, “You must be Katherina.”

My gaze lands on his as I gasp, “Who are you?”

“Damian De Luca,” he smiles, the kind of smile that could bring peace. It’s soft, sweet, and completely at odds with a mobster. At odds with the man I just witnessed beating a man to within an inch of his life because of a woman he doesn’t even know.

“Nice to meet you, Damian, but you didn’t need to do that. Your reaction was a little over the top.”

He steps back like I’ve smacked him across the face, “I see. So, I should have stood and watched while he finger raped you?”

I turn my head to avert his gaze, “No. I-I-I just-” I ramble before taking a deep breath, “You can make someone stop what they’re doing without killing them.”

His gaze searches my face almost like you would if you saw a creature for the first time, never knowing they existed, then he smirks at me, “Here’s the thing Kitty Kat. A man like that has probably raped a woman before and will do it again. I can guarantee you, it won’t be in this club. He will never come back here again.”

Damian goes to walk away but then turns back to me, “In the future, when someone stops you from being raped, thank you is an appropriate response.”

Before I can argue that I was not almost raped, he makes his way across the club with his insanely long, muscular legs and is climbing the stairs.

So now I’ve met three of my four bosses. I much prefer the first two over this one. Walking over to the bar, I grab a towel and a spray bottle to clean the tables in my section.Taking a deep breath, I attempt to shake off the surge of fear and calm my still racing heart.

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