Page 38 of Loving Lucia

Lucia’s brow furrows, like she’s trying to figure out if I’m being serious or not. “He deserved worse than that,” she mutters. “He was making me kiss his fucking feet. His feet, Angelo!”

I bark out a laugh. “And I bet he was so smug, right up until the point he realized what you did.”

She smiles a little at that. “He was,” she agrees. The smile fades. “I still don’t understand why he didn’t just yell for someone when he realized it, though. He just… went to sleep. I could’ve slit his throat.”

“Too tired? Or…” I trail off, thinking about how we’d found Victor. The events after the date are a bit hazy in my memories, mostly just a lot of anger. I know I’d gone to the gun range to empty several magazines’ worth of bullets. “Who knows. Victor’s never letmeknow his motivations.”

“You sound bitter,” she notes.

“Yeah, well. We both have reason to distrust Victor,” I say. “But you’ve got more pressing problems. Like this wedding of yours.”

Lucia’s expression saddens. “Yeah.”

After a few beats, I say, “I could probably get you out of here. I’ve got cash and a few fake IDs. I know where we can get one for you. We’ll go on a road trip, cross the border to Mexico…”

But she shakes her head. “I can’t leave my mom and Nessa here. It’s not a plan if they’re left behind.”

Nice to see that she has some loyalties, at least. I can’t fault her for her sentimentality, not when it comes to family.

“So what do you want to do? I might besafe, but Pavone’s not going to let me join you on the wedding night.”

“Kill him,” she whispers, her eyes finding mine in earnest. “I want to kill him.”

My eyes widen, then I grin. “Yeah? Then what? Rossi takes power, and he’s not going to care about what you say anymore.”

“So maybe I kill him too,” she retorts. “I don’t care what happens to these men. I just want them away from my family. If I can get rid of them, I can access Daddy’s money and get us the hell out of here.”

“And what’s in it for me?” I say with amusement. “You get daddy’s money, and I’m left getting blamed for all this shit? There’s going to be a lot of people who will want revenge if Pavone and Rossi kick it.”

“You can come with us,” she offers, which tells me just how serious she is about all of this.

It’s a little surprising. Sure, she’s seen death before, and she didn’t even flinch when I killed her father, but becoming a mass murderer?

“What a very generous offer,” I tease. “Quick question, how are you going to access your father’s funds without the feds noticing? I think a mass murder in his home might draw some attention.”

Lucia falters at that. “I don’t know. Suggestions? I’ve never planned a murder before. I’m a little bit of anamateurto all of this.”

I shrug. “That’s why I keep cash on hand. If you want access to bank funds, you’d have to ask Saint. Who, by the way, is not a fan of mine right now.”

“What’d you do to him?” she asks.

I give her an incredulous look and gesture around us. “I’m here, aren’t I? He might have been delusional and thought you were in love with him, but he’s not going to forgivemydefection so easily.”

She blinks at me. “...He thinks I’m in love with him?”

I nod. “Oh, yes. You loved all of us, according to Saint. It’s just that Victor was such a big meanie that you… his story got confused here; sometimes you were kidnapped by Pavone, sometimes you ran away because of Victor. Oh, and he’s definitely not even the slightest bit bi. Which is a change from before, when he’d be happy to exchange handjobs or blowjobs as long as he got to pretend it didn’t count because balls didn’t touch.”

“Well, then we make amends with him, too,” she says—recklessly, I might add. “He can handle the money and security problems, you can help me get rid of Pavone and Rossi and get rid of the bodies, then we’ll all just… vanish.”

It’s such a cute fantasy. I laugh a bit, which has her tensing up.

“What?” she asks. “What’s wrong with that plan?”

“You think Saint’s going to dump Victor?” I say, patting her thigh. “That’s adorable.”

Scowling, she retorts almost sullenly, “Well, Victor… Victor can’t come. I don’t want Victor.”

She sounds like she’s trying to convince herself, but I’m not going to call her out on that.

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