Page 69 of Luka

“Luka…” I don’t realize my eyes are welling with tears until his image blurs. When a tear falls onto my cheek, his eyes follow it. His face, hard and expressionless, gradually softens as the seconds tick by until he’s slouching with defeat.

He takes my shoulder and drags me to his chest, wrapping his arms around me while I seek sanctuary with him. I can feel his pity for me, similar to what I felt for him back at dinner. I don’t know when we started being human beings to each other, but it was long enough ago that I can’t put my finger on it.

“Come on,” he says, his hands running down my back just before he pulls away from me. He takes my hand and nods toward the exit. “Let’s get out of here.”

“And go where?” I ask, too scared to take so much as a step in his direction. The threat of the cartel feels heavier than it has the past week. Here with the Bratva, I could almost forget about them.

Luka shrugs. “North, maybe. You up for a drive?”

North.

Away from Vegas.

Footsteps sound behind me before I can make a decision, but when I look back, my stomach clenching, it’s just a guard. He gives Luka a friendly look as he passes.

The tension I feel makes my decision easy. I’m ready to leave this place too. We were never going to be able to stay forever.

I nod at Luka and try to relax as he squeezes my hand and leads me back to his car. It’s funny. When we drive away from the compound, there are no more guards with guns, no more walls to keep the enemy out.

But I feel just as safe.

20

LUKA

We drive all night.

It’s sixteen hours before we pull into a cash motel outside Seattle. Lucia is fast asleep, and I’m half tempted to just shut off the car and close my eyes instead of waking her. The sun is bright above our heads, but I don’t imagine she’d wake-up before it set.

I stare at her sleeping form, her face soft as she dreams. The first night at the mansion, I hardly slept with her tossing and turning, her limbs absently swatting me. She didn’t strike me as a peaceful sleeper then, but watching her now has my chest tightening. I don’t know how she could ever be at peace sleeping next to me.

“Hey,” I whisper, my palm covering her shoulder as I gently nudge. “Wake up, Peach.”

Her eyes flutter open as she stirs and leans up in her seat. There’s no fear in her eyes when she looks at me. No surprise at seeing me next to her. I can’t peg the moment I stopped being her monster, but it feels wrong somehow.

“Where are we?” She tucks her hair behind her ears as she takes in the shoddy motel.

“Home… For the next couple days, at least.”

Her mouth covering a yawn, she nods. “Charming.”

My lips lift with a slight chuckle, and I climb out of the car to go pay for a room. As soon as we get inside, my muscles unwind. It smells in here, but it’s homier than the mansion could ever be.

“I’m gonna take a shower,” I say, my hand grazing Lucia’s back. The action isn’t conscious until she turns her head toward me with an expression I can’t immediately decipher, but it isn’t disgust. For a moment, our eyes stay locked.

I pull my hand away and clear my throat. “You should get some rest.”

She nods, turning toward the bed, and I take the opportunity to escape. Escape what, I’m not even sure. But I feel my heart beat faster, my skin flush. I spend the entire shower steadying my breath and trying to convince myself her coming with me means nothing.

When I step back in the room, Lucia is peeking out the window. She doesn’t flinch when I come up behind her. Doesn’t even turn around.

“What are you looking at?”

She glances at me and steps to the side, pointing at the glass. “Is that a stadium?”

“I can’t believeyou’ve never been to a baseball game,” I say, my hand hovering over Lucia’s lower back as we make our way to our seats. The game is well underway in the second inning, but she doesn’t complain.

This was her idea, though I think she might already be regretting it. Now that we’re exposed in the open, she keeps her ball cap low and looks around like the cartel is there to scoop her up.

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