Page 80 of Forbidden Mafia Prince

CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOUR

DOM LET OUT a low whistle through the crack of the door. When Joe came around the corner alone, Dom opened the door wide.

“You two going somewhere?” Joe asked, eyeing the bag Luca shouldered.

“Cat and Tony were attacked. Boss ordered everyone to the compound, but we’re gonna have trouble waiting for us once we get outside. You’re on backup.”

“Shit. On it.” Joe didn’t waste any time leading them to the private elevator and hitting the down button. As they stepped inside, he said, “Tony and Cat. They okay?”

Dom nodded. “I didn’t get details, but Tony got them to the compound.”

“I’m loaded up, so those fuckers can bring it on.”

Luca was white-knuckling the strap of the bag and chewing on his lower lip. Sometimes Dom forgot this wasn’t something Luca had ever experienced, the cat-and-mouse game between families. It was Dom’s reality, but Luca hadn’t asked to be brought into this mess. That was what he’d been saying all along, but Dom hadn’t listened.

“It’s going to be fine,” Dom said, for some reason feeling like he needed to reassure Luca nothing would happen to him. Nothing Dom could control, anyway.

Luca looked up at him, those eyes full of alarm. But he nodded.

There’d be no threat of escape tonight, not with the way he stood so close to Dom. Part of Dom wanted to reach out, to touch Luca, but there was no way to do that without calling Joe’s attention.

As the brawny man went to hit the button for the main floor, Dom said, “Not that way. Down to the basement.” He felt the way Luca stiffened. “We’ll cut through to the garage without having to hit the casino.”

Joe frowned but hit the button for the basement. “You think they’ve infiltrated the building?”

“I don’t know. Better to not find out around an innocent crowd spending their money.”

Joe gave a clipped nod and then faced forward as Dom moved to the back of the car. Luca stood frozen in place as the elevator began its descent.Dom glanced in the kid’s direction to make sure he wasn’t about to start running his mouth or do anything stupid, but Luca’s eyes were full of fear and hope. The fact he was pinning the latter on him made Dom antsy.

He didn’t want Luca building some sort of foolish fantasy around the fact he was being taken out of harm’s way. Dom needed his captive to realize they were doing this because they’d been ordered to, because they needed Luca alive. Because when the time came for their final play to be put into action, no one would be able to save him—least of all Dom.

“When we get to the garage, you’re going to go straight to the passenger side of the vehicle and get in the back seat, where you’re to lie down toward the center, you hear me?”

“Lie down?”

“Yes. I need your head out of window range.”

Luca’s eyes widened, and he reached up to touch the back of his neck.

“Exactly. The goal here is to keep it on your shoulders. So don’t fuck around out there, okay?”

Luca nodded and went back to gripping the bag as the elevator finally reached the basement. The doors slid open and Joe walked out first, gun in hand, eyes alert. He scanned the hall and, when he was satisfied all was clear, held the door open for Dom.

Dom walked out, ready to get the fuck out of there, but when he was several feet down the hall and realized Luca wasn’t behind him, he stopped and turned to see Luca standing just outside the door. His eyes darted around the dimly lit corridor, and as the elevator shut behind him and Joe nudged him in the back with his gun, Luca practically jumped out of his skin.

“There a problem?” Dom marched back to where the kid stood paralyzed despite having a Glock pointed at his spine.

“I…” Luca’s face was suddenly white as a sheet.

“You what? We haven’t got all day here, Luca.”

“I just— This is where they walked me up to the suite. This is where you kept me that first day.”

They didn’t have time for this, not here, not now. But it was clear Luca was having some kind of fucking freak-out, and the sooner he got over it, the sooner they could get moving.

“You already knew that. So what’s the problem?”

“I knew, but…I’d never seen it. Just the floor.” He looked down at the concrete beneath his feet. “The floors had drains in them.”

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