Page 20 of The Gambler

Tess got up. “Good. After that, I have to get back to my apartment to get my stuff. It’s going to take a while before I find this Cruz guy you’re looking for.”

“You find me Cruz, and I’ll give you anything you want.”

“First, we need to get my dad.”

After that, I seriously need to reconsider my life choices.

CHAPTER 10

LUCA

He was going to do whatever it took to make Tess help him find Cruz. A small part of his soul, the part that wasn’t smudged in darkness, felt like an asshole for not helping her out before. There had been a time in his life he would’ve helped her just because she’d helped him. Because he was grateful she’d set him free. But he no longer was that man.

Tit for tat. Everything comes at a price.

The old Luciano Detta was dead.

Cruz.

Grace.

Cruz and Grace. Except, Grace wasn’t alive anymore. Her body had fucking dropped out of his pantry. Someone was trying to put him back in jail by planting a body in his house. Or perhaps send him a message. Several scenarios went through his head, but he came up empty. He would know more once he’d found his ex-partner. He must have killed Grace. Perhaps she’d threatened to speak and tell the truth after she’d learned that Luca got out. Who else but Cruz would have a motive? That was something he would have to worry about later. First, he had to get Tess back into the game.

Meanwhile, he unfortunately also had to deal with Damon’s threat looming over his head. It just was bad timing. He had other things on his mind than to duck a fake marriage. Finding Cruz and bringing him in for Grace’s murder had just become more imperative. He’d known Cruz to be a backstabbing asshole, but a murderer? That was low, even for him. Except, it made sense if he was covering his tracks. Hector’s team didn’t come up with any more info on Cruz than he already had, so right now, Tess was his best option.

There was more to her than met the eye, he’d known that from the get-go. It was the reason why he needed her help. But now, not only did he need to convince her of helping him out, he actually had to keep her alive. Not just because he owed her his freedom but because she was the key to his revenge.

Also, there was the bet with Angel. It was a dick move on his part, but he had to keep her with him anyway, right? Being a nice guy had only given him grief. Making her fall for him would make her more cooperative. It wasn’t like she was a Detta. He didn’t owe anybody anything, unless they were family.

Protect and provide.

He remembered his father’s words. He barely remembered his parents, but Gio had told him about his father’s mantra many times. How a man was supposed to protect and live for his family. But his father had never been betrayed by a woman. Their mother had worshiped the ground on which he walked, she hadn’t stabbed him in the back. Their marriage had started out as one of convenience but the second their father had spotted their mother, it had been one of love. They had never been a day apart since the moment they said their vows. Their mother had been their father’s wild flower, his biggest supporter. Luca had believed he had found his flower in Natasha.

Sadly, she turned out to be a thorny rose, one that had made him bleed over and over again. No, women were not to be trusted, he had learned his lesson. The marital bliss Gio and Hector had found was a once-in-a-lifetime deal. He knew that now. Part of him envied them for it, another part knew that his heart, like a flower bereft of water and sunlight, had withered and died. Tess was just a means to an end. No one would stand between him and his vengeance. Anyone who tried, he would reap with a scythe. For in his heart was darkness, and in his veins, there was fire. Not even a unicorn had the magic to cure that. Even if Tess was an innocent bystander in all this.

Remember when you once thought your fiancée was innocent as well?

It was odd how, when playing cards, he could read a table like the back of his hand, but he’d been fooled by a woman wearing a poker face. Her mask hadn’t slipped once in the year they had been together.

“So, you found out how we’re going to save my dad?”

Right, her dad. She must be really close to her father. He didn’t remember his father much, but for Tess, it would be different. She was the type of person who made transactions with a loan shark to save her dad.

He frowned. What kind of a father would give up his daughter as collateral to someone from Brian’s crew? The man made women work for him on their backs. For some reason, it didn’t sit well with him that her loyalty was repaid like that by the one man who was supposed to protect her from scum like Brian.

From scum like you who want to use her.

He immediately shut up the voice inside the one bright corner of his mind. A little corner that was still good. The small part that wouldn’t do anything and use anyone just to have his way. She was right about some aspects of his life. He was used to getting what he wanted. He was used to having women fall at his feet. To have people at his beck and call.

Gio, especially, had shielded him from the ugly parts of his life. He and Jackson had had a preppy upbringing. The best cars, the best school, the best clothes. All paid for with the family business. He knew Gio had made a way for them in more gray areas, and they had all reaped the benefits of it. Perhaps that had been his biggest mistake—not taking his brother’s money to build his own empire. To want to go at it alone. To team up with Cruz, someone he’d befriended at boarding school, who ended up stabbing him in the back.

He blinked when Tess waved her fingers in his face.

“Hello, Earth to Luca Detta. My dad. Mick the Dick. Remember?”

Right. Just one more thing he had to take care of before Tess would be totally free to help him out. Thing was, Mick was just an enforcer. He wouldn’t do anything without his boss’s knowledge. Not if he wanted to live. Irish Brian was an Old Testament kind of guy, taking an eye for an eye literal. If he wanted to make Mick back off, he had to go to the hand that held him by the leash.

“Let’s go find Irish Brian.”

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