Page 65 of His Game (His Obsession 1)

VEDA

Four days.

I only had four days to make Luca change his mind.

I paced the hall upstairs, the book in my hand forgotten. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was something else they were talking about. It was totally possible, right?

But no, I'd distinctly heard Mario's name. And how many Marios could there be?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

Taking a shaky breath, I peered down over the railing, looking for Lisa, but I didn't see her. Hoping she'd gone on an errand, I snuck quietly down the stairs on bare feet and tiptoed down the hall to Luca's office. As I approached, I saw the door had been left open and I could hear voices inside. I stopped as soon as I was close enough to overhear what they were saying, balancing on the balls of my feet and ready to run into the closest room to hide as soon as they stopped talking.

"...sure we can trust your connection? He’s not bringing an army with him?” Luca was asking.

"I would bet my life on it," Tristan answered. "Matteo has his own reasons to take Mario out."

"What would those reasons be?"

"I'm sorry, Luca. It's not my place to tell you what they are, but I trust him completely."

There was a pause. "Then that's all I need to know," Luca said.

If I lived through this, I was going to find out who the hell this Matteo dude was and make him rethink his life choices.

"So, we get there a little early, scope out the place," Tristan said.

I could tell by the change of volume in his voice he was looking in my direction. My pulse pounded in my ears, making it harder to hear. Sweat trickled down my spine, and I had to fight the urge to flee. He couldn't see me. And I heard no footsteps. He was probably just confirming with Enzo. But my muscles stayed tense. Ready. Just in case.

"We'll let you know when it's safe to come in with Veda. And at the appointed time, you come in and do what needs to be done. You know the rest.”

Ididn't know the rest. What the hell is the rest?

My heart was now beating so loudly that I was positive they could hear it. Surely, this couldn’t be happening. I firmly believed that Luca was not as cold-blooded as he tried to make everyone think. Even though he'd been pulling away from me these last few weeks, I've seen him. Really seen him. Deep down, he feels things. He was not a monster.

I had to believe that. I had to believe that, or the terror would overwhelm me.

"I'll be ready," Luca tells him. "And so will she."

No. No, I won't. My feet were moving, heading toward his office, not bothering to try to be quiet anymore. I found myself standing in the doorway.

Three sets of eyes swung my way, but I only saw Luca. "What exactly is it that I'll be ready for?" I asked him.

"Leave us," Luca told Tristan and Enzo without taking his eyes from me. "Take the night off. We'll talk about this more tomorrow."

They walked out of the office without a word, Enzo closing the door behind him. "But who will watch me tonight?" I asked him. "Aren't you afraid I'll throw myself from the balcony or something?"

"I will," he told me.

I walked closer to him, stopping just out of his reach. "What's happening in four days, Luca?"

He stared at me in silence, his blue eyes cold as steel. No matter how hard I searched, I couldn't find any part of the man I'd gotten to know within them.

I shook my head, refusing to believe I'd been so duped. He was in there somewhere. He had to be. "You can't really mean to go through with this." My voice was little more than a whisper.

"I told you what this was right from the beginning," he finally said. "Don't stand there and act like you didn't know this was coming, Veda. Nothing has changed."

I took a step closer. The book I’d found was still in my hands. I wanted to knock him over the head with it. "How can you say that? Everything has changed."

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