Page 80 of Play With Me

“TheGrand Room, huh?” Her cadence takes on a sarcastic lilt. “It’s a wonder he kept this place from me for so long, isn’t it? Tell me, Carmela, how many years have you two been fucking here?”

“Look, if you want to talk to Mick about what goes on here, go ahead. I have somewhere to be.” I lean over the corner of the desk and grab my purse from my chair.

“You mean like going to see your and Mick’sdaughter?” Kate grits out.

Purse forgotten, I face her again, my surpriseevident. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Goosebumps break out along my arms, and suddenly, I feel very much like a rabbit that just fell down a snake hole.

“Can you even imagine the amount of embarrassment I felt when I found out about your love child? Mick sure did pay a pretty penny to keep you two a secret, didn’t he? It wasn’t enough to be his mistress—you had to go and give him a child, too. You always wanted to be his favorite.”

Is she for real right now?

“Kate—”

“And to have to find out from a member of themob? You know, when we teamed up to take you guys down, I told him to hit you where it hurt, but damn, Carmela. You’re lucky I found out about the kidnapping when I did.I’mthe reason she came home unharmed. Even I’m not that much of a monster.” I’ve never heard her curse before, and the word twists her lips into a snarl.

The longer she talks, the more unhinged she’s starting to sound.

Red-hot rage zips from my stomach to my chest. “The letters. They were from you, weren’t they?”

“Clever, don’t you think? Came up with them all on my own, too.” She looks down to retrieve something from her clutch. “However, I had a little help in delivering them. The roses weren’t my idea, though. Personally, I think they were weird. Everyone is soobsessed with you, aren’t they?” She takes a few steps forward to throw something on my desk.

A black matte metal card with a shiny gold feather embossed on it.

Luca’s membership card.

“No…” the word escapes between my lips in a whisper. “He wouldn’t.” I replay the conversation I had with Vinny at his restaurant weeks ago. All the talk about how much better his security is. Thesuggestionthat Mick should retire. I even joked that this was an elaborate ploy to push me into Luca’s arms. “So, what? Vinny sought you out to blackmail us?” I seethe.

“No, notMr. Morroni.” Kate smirks.

Time moves in slow motion as a shadow emerges from the dark doorway of the bathroom where he must have been waiting to make his grand entrance.

My chest grows tight, mouth falling open in a ragged gasp as the bitter sting of betrayal expands up my esophagus. “Luca?”

He averts his gaze toward the floor, but he looks so guilty, and I don’t know if it makes it worse or better. “I’m sorry, Carmela. I didn’t think it would go this far,” he says remorsefully.

“Oh, of course you did, kid,” Kate chides, turning to him. “As a matter of fact, I remember you being the one to suggest getting your dad involved. Did you really think he would take it easy on them?”

“How could you?” I question, hands clenching into fists at my side. “I trusted you.”

“No one was ever meant to get hurt. It was only meant to scare you into letting my father back into the club, and yes, I acted purely for selfish reasons. I thought you’d want me to stay by your side if you thought you were in danger.” Luca tries to approach, but I quickly step away, shaking my head in disbelief.

“No one was meant to get hurt?” I parrot back. “What do you callmurderingpeople, Luca? What do you call attacking me in the alley?” I reel back in alarm. “Was thatyou?”

“No! I’d never hurt you!” he bellows. “My father sent one of his men to rough you up just to scare you. The men I killed were ones my father dealt with when he was a partner here. They owed him, and they were doing a damn good job of dodging the attempts to collect,” he explains in earnest. He sounds like he truly believes that killing someone is a perfectly normal way to deal with a bad debt. It makes me wonder if he’s always been this naïve, and I just chose not to see it.

“I wonder how your detective fudged that one up so badly,” Kate intercedes. “Sure, the evidence was buried in layers of paperwork through shell corporations, but it was there. I guess he was too distracted, huh?”

Ignoring her, I keep my gaze locked on Luca,feeling like I can’t take in enough air to fill my lungs. “Why?”

“Because every time I thought I had you, you’d run back tohim! And then that fucking smug son of a bitch detective showed up, and suddenly you didn’t give a single shit about me,” Luca snaps, pounding a closed fist against his chest.

“You let them take my daughter!”

“I called it off after that,” guilt seeps back into his voice. “I didn’t know you had a kid, Cara. I swear.”

“Halloween happened after she was kidnapped,” I piece together. “You saved me from the person that grabbed me.”

His eyes drop to the floor, but not before they flicker to Kate. She looks between us before raising a hand. “Oh, that was my call. He had nothing to do with that one. I thought if you got shut down, maybe you’d run away with your new boyfriend. And look what happened. It worked.”

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