Page 29 of Darkness and Duress

I stood there, still hunched over the sink, as Bran left the room. I stood there listening to muted voices from the kitchen. I remained there long after the sound of the door closing in the distance blanketed my home in dangerously loud silence. Only once I was absolutely sure they were gone did I finally move, intent on one thing and one thing only.

I crawled back into bed and pulled a pillow to my chest, burying my face into the downy softness and clinging to it likea lifeline.Hispillow. The one that smelled like him. The only bright spot in an impenetrable darkness I didn't think I'd escape.

Chapter Fourteen

Henny

“All right, so what’s the game plan?” Luca strode alongside me down the hallway with Nico and Essa following close behind.

“We let him sleep it off while we handle this shit.” I waved the index cards I’d poached from Marco's coat pocket while helping him undress the night before. Thank God for Damiano’s old school organizational methods—every job on the list was written out in chronological order with names and addresses included.

“Luca… wait, no.” Nico’s hand appeared, latching onto Luca’s bicep and stalling our progress. “We talked about this.”

“Yeah, but it's Marco. I gotta help.” Luca’s free hand flew to his hair with a rough sweep through the shaggy curls. “I gotta.”

“Babe… please?”

My gut twisted with guilt. I glanced between my best friend and his husband as they got locked in the feedback loop of silent conversation carried out through eye contact alone. Gianluca had made it clear he was getting out of the game. Nico was ahuge driving force behind that decision. And here I was, pulling him right back in.

“It ain't forever. Nico, I promise, we’re done. After this is settled, we’re out. But I gotta help him. It's Marco.” Luca settled his hands on either side of Nico’s neck and pressed their foreheads together. “He's my brother, babe. Our brother.”

“Fuck you for that,” groused Nico in reply. “Low blow.”

“Nicky, baby, honey,” I interjected, tugging him from Luca’s hold and turning him to face me. “One day. It's just one day. We’re just driving around and talking to some shit heads and then we’ll be back.”

“You seem to forget that every time you all drove around to ‘talk’ to people, someone ended up hurt. Every. Time.” Nico fought my grip for all of two seconds before relenting with a sigh and folding himself into my arms. I loved this man like he was my own flesh and blood. My arms tightened with affection as I held him close.

“Dead ass, hand to God, I won't let anything happen to him.” I kissed Nico’s temple and gave him another squeeze.

“This family is so fucked up.” Despite his bitching, Nico squeezed back just as hard. He stepped away with a pissy sigh. “How can I help?”

“Distract Ma and Pa. Take them to lunch or something.” Luca pulled his wallet out and retrieved a black credit card. “Ma loves shopping. Pops loves making Ma happy. We just need to handle today’s shit without them realizing Marco’s lost his fucking head.”

“I'm buying myself something too,” Nico muttered with a huff as he snatched the card, scowling in that way that only he could make look sexy as fuck.

“Bitch, that’s the whole point.” Luca rolled his eyes and scoffed. They were exactly what I had always wanted in a relationship but never allowed myself to hope for. The hope wasthere now, though. It was shaped like a certain surly member of the d’Ambrosio family who clung to me just a few hours earlier as if his life depended on it. Part of me wondered if it did.

Luca gave me a knowing smirk before ravishing his husband with a kiss that was too racy for this time of day. Only once Nico was completely breathless did they part from one another. Glances were exchanged all around before Luca and I turned one way and Nico turned the other. I paused for a second as the dog loped away, hot on Nico’s heels.

“Wait, she's not coming?” I turned to Luca with an arched brow.

“Hell no. She never leaves his side.” Luca tracked Nico and Essa as they disappeared down the hall with a dopey grin on his face. “Wouldn't have it any other way.”

I cocked my head and grinned. “Bro, you have no idea how happy I am for you two.”

“I do. You say it all the fucking time.” Luca captured my neck in his arms and jostled me down the hall in a headlock. “You're next.”

“Yeah, when it rains cows and I shit kittens.”

“Bull-fucking-shit. Despite popular belief, I ain't stupid. I saw you two together last night. And I know you've been in his house before. You knew where everything was. Did he finally admit he ain't as straight as he claims?” Luca finally let me go at the elevator.

“Um… no. Not technically.”

“Close enough?”

“Man, I really don't know.”

Luca squinted at me like I held the answers to the world’s greatest questions on my forehead. “Well, he sure as shit didn't seem eager to let you go, so take it as you will. I've never seen Marco that fucking clingy with anyone.”

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