Page 129 of Luca
Once they were all taken out, I stepped into the room.
My eyes roamed over my husband’s naked body. He only had his black briefs on, his arms and legs tied. Bruises and cuts covered almost every inch of him. My heart clenched at seeing him like that.
There was a table in the far right corner, full of grizzly tools. Some still had blood stains on them. Luca’s eyes peeled open. Those eyes I had dreamt about for the past three years met mine. They stole my breath from my lungs.
I guess some things never change,I thought to myself.
A dark smile twisted Luca’s mouth. An emotion I had never seen in his gaze before twisted my stomach. It was contempt. Disappointment.
“Hello, Wife.” His words came through a rough cough. Luca regarded me quietly as his eyes slid down my body to my hand that still held a gun. “Came to kill me yourself?”
Something about his accusation sliced through my heart. But then what did I expect? I left him. Almost three long years ago.
I sank down to my knees in front of him, kneeling on the sticky floor, my jeans soaking in his blood. His eyes came back to my face, regarding me with that inquisitive way I had come to know from the moment we met. The same curiosity I saw in my daughter’s eyes every single day.
“Where is my daughter?” he asked.
“She’s safe,” I told him.
“You stole her from me.” The accusation in his voice, even in his battered state, was staggering. “You stole my daughter, Margaret. Three fucking years.”
“You fucking sold her,” I accused back, keeping my voice low.
“Three years.” God, the look he gave me just about broke my heart. “Not knowing whether my daughter was alive or dead. Do you know how that feels?”
I leaned over him and started working on the rope. There were no words I could say that would make it better. I was scared for our daughter because of a promise he made to a stranger. It all led us here.
“You two will have to work that out later,” Cassio hissed. “Now is hardly the time.”
“I should have known her brothers knew all along,” Luca accused, glaring at Aiden. My husband must have not been mortally wounded if he still had the energy to throw blame around and glare at my brother.
“We didn’t know where they were,” my brother spat while Luca stiffened. “But I’ll be damned if I’ll waste a single minute bickering about it. They are back. You two work your shit out. If not for you two, then for my niece. If I miss another day of her life, I’m going to kill you both myself.”
My eyes shot to my brother. “Geez, thank you,” I grumbled dryly.
“Marriage, a glorious affair,” Luciano hissed. “I’d like to get back to mine. I’ve been gone for days without my family.”
“Just get me out of this fucking place,” Luca grumbled, ignoring them all. “I want to see my daughter.”
“How badly injured are you?” I murmured, eyeing him as I sliced his ropes. “Can you walk out of here?”
“It’s not too bad.” His voice was hoarse, his hand shaking. My throat tightened and my fingers trembled as I reached into my raincoat pocket. I pulled out the syringe.
“It’s adrenaline,” I told him softly as I pointed it at his thigh. “It will give you a boost until we get to Nonno’s place.”
I ignored Aiden’s eyes, boring into the back of my head. He assumed I’d go back to New York. That wasn’t an option. It would bring war and put a target on everyone around us.
Luca nodded, and when I hesitated, he just rasped, “Do it.”
I injected him with it and instantly he shuddered. When his eyes met mine, his pupils were dilated, the hazel of his eyes almost completely gone.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Sasha urged.
I worked on his bindings at his ankles next with Cassio’s help. He took my knife, wedging the blade under the rope, cutting through it when I heard the creak of the door. I shot to my feet, blocking Luca with my body.
The adrenaline had to be the right call, because he stood up, tall and strong, like a god of vengeance covered in blood. But I knew it was just a perception. He was tired. We needed to get out of here fast.
“Ah, Mrs. DiMauro. Welcome.” Marchetti sauntered into the ghastly room looking like he just stepped off the runway in his expensive suit, his hands tucked in his pockets while two men trailed behind him with guns pointed at us. “I wondered when you’d make your appearance.”
