Page 8 of Sweet Union
CHAPTER5
Natalya
While Luca waits in the living room, I pack up the few pieces of clothing my mom had picked out for me when I’d come to stay with them. I wasn’t ready to see him yet, so she’d gone for me. Now, she’s helping me get ready to go home with him again.
“I’m glad that you two were able to patch things up,” she says, folding one of my shirts.
“I guess. There are still things we need to talk about, but … I’m hopeful. Luca misses me, and I really miss him.”
She runs a hand over my hair, just like she used to do when I was a kid. “Then it’s for the best you return home to him.” Her smile becomes a little sad. “It’s still strange thinking of his home as being your home now. I’ll always think of this as your home.”
“Both are my homes.”
She pulls me into a hug. “I just want you to be happy.”
“Me, too.”
Once we finish packing, I meet Luca in the living room. “All set,” I tell him.
My dad and Luca are standing next to each other, tensely, of course. They give each other a nod before Luca walks over to me and grabs my small suitcase. “Let me help you.”
Together, we walk out of the house and to his car.
“It’s nice to see you and my dadnotfighting.”
“After the police took you, we decided to put aside our differences and work together. Doesn’t mean we like each other.”
“But at least you’re trying. I like that.”
We’re quiet as Luca drives us home. There are a lot of things we need to discuss, but for now, it’s nice to just sit next to Luca and feel a little bit of hope.
… that is until Luca tenses. “There’s a car following us.”
I look back, but I can’t see anything worrisome about any of the cars behind us. “Which one?”
“The white one about three cars back.”
I spot it. It’s a simple car, nondescript. It blends in. “I’m amazed you spotted that.”
He smiles darkly. “It’s me we’re talking about.”
I smile in return.
Luca remains calm as he drives, keeping an eye on the car behind us.
“What are we going to do?” I ask.
“I’m thinking. If this is Romeo, then he knows where we live. We can’t go back home. I have a safe house we can go to that no one knows about. The trick is getting away from this car, so they don’t follow us there.”
In a sudden movement, another car pulls up next to us. The passenger window rolls down, and a man leans out, pointing a gun at us.
“Luca! Watch out!”
He curses and tries to swerve, but that only makes us bump into the car on the other side of us. They honk their horn.
The man with the gun starts firing, landing bullets all along the side of our car. Luca’s window shatters as a bullet pierces it.
“Get down!” he shouts at me. I lower myself in my seat, covering my head with my hands.
