Page 130 of Luca
He stopped two feet away from me.
“Get the fuck away from her,” Luca growled at the same time that Aiden cursed in Gaelic, Sasha in Russian and the rest in Italian. It was an international affair.
“Touch my sister, and it’ll be the last thing you ever do, you fucking Italian.”
Lovely, we were already at name calling. Of course, it was a moot point to tell Aiden he just saved Luca who happened to be an Italian too.
All the men attempted to shove me and Luca behind them by forming a wall.
“Stop it, you four,” I snapped. “You can’t fix this for us.”
“Let me just kill him.” Sasha seemed pumped on adrenaline, and he hadn’t even gotten the injection. Maybe he was just pumped up on the Nikolaev psychotic gene. After all, their unhinged ways were world famous.
Marchetti didn’t seem worried, his eyes locked on Luca and me.
My fingers curled around the gun, barely on the trigger.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Marchetti drawled, the hint of his Italian accent my only warning that he wasn’t as calm and unaffected. “I’d hate to tell your daughter I had to kill her parents when she weds my son. Your brothers and her are currently surrounded outside.”
Our eyes locked. I released the safety on the gun. “You can’t have her,” I whispered. “It’s wrong to force our children to marry. Or pay for their parents’ sins. They-” I swallowed a lump in my throat. “They deserve more than that.”
Marchetti regarded me curiously. “So you ran off because your husband and I came to an arrangement about our children?”
Before I had a chance to answer, Luca did. “Our marriage issues are none of your concern, Marchetti.” Luca spit on the floor, wiping the blood off his mouth with the back of his hand. “By the way, your marriage counseling skills suck.”
The corner of Marchetti’s lips tipped up. Nice to know we were amusing him.
“Listen, I’m going to take my sister and her husband home,” Aiden chimed in, his gun pointed at Marchetti. “This arranged marriage between your children can be discussed for the next twenty years. Penelope is two, for Pete’s sake. It wasn’t as if she’s ready to marry anyone anytime soon.”
“Unless these old fuckers prefer to send their kids to church to get married instead of a playground to play,” Sasha sneered.
“I wouldn’t put it past them,” Aiden snarled. “As old and fucked up as this place is.”
Marchetti’s eyes remained locked on me, not even bothering to acknowledge my brother nor the other men. His eyes remained locked on me. There was something he wanted from me. My gut feeling told me the only way to get out of here was to give it to him. Or I’d cause the death of my husband, his friends, my brother, possibly others, and me
“Last chance, Mrs. DiMauro. Give me the truth on why you vanished, and why did your husband, your family, and your friends pretend you never left?”
Dread filled my lungs. Fear swam through my veins. The future seemed dimmer than ever.
“You want Penelope dead for what Luca’s family has done,” I rasped. The accusation was unmistakable. “For the set up. You don’t give a shit about the wedding arrangement.”
Marchetti’s face remained an unmoving mask but his eyes flickered with something dark. Something dangerous. And my heart raced so fast, I’d fear an oncoming heart attack if I didn’t calm down.
“Elaborate.”
One word. One demand. One mistake.
I knew without a doubt that Marchetti didn’t know Benito set him up until I had just uttered those words. My gaze slowly shifted to my husband, then to my brother. Aiden was just as confused. Luca wasn’t.
My husband staggered to stand in front of me, blocking me from his view. Although it wouldn’t be hard to get to me. Still, his attempt at protection moved me. Maybe he still cared.
“Marchetti, your anger is with me,” Luca said, his voice hoarse. “Not my wife. Not my daughter.”
“Unless you want your wife, brother, friends, and brothers-in-law dead, you will let your wife speak.” Marchetti’s voice felt like a cold whip. Luca wouldn’t stand for it.
“And you will watch what you say,” Luca growled. “Nobody threatens my family and friends.”
My brother was the one that finally stepped in. “It only took three years for you to call me family,” Aiden noted, narrowing his eyes on my husband. “Considering she disappeared for three years, without a word to anyone, I’d like to know what the fuck is going on too.”
