Page 1 of Wicked Knight 2

CHAPTER1

Wait For Me

Luca

A year ago, Brooklyn, NY

The persistent heat of the sun kissed her cheeks, giving them a happy glow. When she smiled, I returned the gesture, even though she couldn’t see me. My chest tightened as it did every time I was reminded that Donata Salvatore wasn’t mine anymore.

This was us now—Donata having lunch with Enzo while I spied on her from a distance, hiding like the wanted man I had become.

A whole year had gone by since the last time I was in her bedroom—since she asked me never to return. That night, I had agreed to let her go because I was determined to end this relentless feud with Uncle Jimmy. Back then, I had no idea the kind of hell that was coming for me and my entire family. How could I have known that Uncle Jimmy’s enemies would spend the next twelve months hunting us down like animals. Did he deserve what he got? Absolutely. He was stabbed thirteen times and left for dead in Hell’s Kitchen.

“Why do you do this to yourself?” Alfred, my trusted friend, and the reason I was still alive, spoke into my earpiece. His tone was laced with all kinds of disapproval. I supposed he’d earned that right. “I told you she was fine. She moved on, Luca.”

“I know.” I fisted my hand, then released it. I shouldn’t be angry that Donata was happy. She deserved a happy life with all the things I couldn’t give her, like a home and a family of her own. “I needed to see her.”

I needed to taste her and feel her in my arms again. The idea played in my head like a movie, like it had done countless times in the past year. I dreamed of showing up at her penthouse in the city and spending the day buried deep inside her. Fuck. I rubbed my chest to ease the numbing ache that had settled there since I’d agreed to walk away.

I had to find the people responsible for murdering my family. Until I figured that out, Donata and I could never be together. Revenge was the only way back to her and the life we almost had. I wasn’t ready to give her up.

Wait for me, Donata. One day soon, I’ll come home.

“Why are you here, Alfred? I told you I needed a walk. Alone.”

“I knew you’d go looking for her. It’s time to let her go, Luca. It’s only a matter of time before your enemies realize Donata is your Achilles’ heel.” His breath crackled in my earpiece. The long silence that followed had me thinking he had hung up on me. When he spoke again, he didn’t sound so annoyed. “New York isn’t safe for you anymore. There’s still a price on your head. The message board on the dark web was updated again. Only a handful of names left. Your cousin Mikey was shot at in Atlanta a few months ago.”

“Was it the Irish?” I asked.

“No, a local gang that runs illegal drag races.” Alfred cleared his throat. “He survived if you can believe that. Last I heard he was in Ibiza, still on the run.”

“It doesn’t make sense. First the Russians, then the Irish, the Mexican cartel, even the fucking FBI. Because of Uncle Jimmy, the entire world’s looking for us. What the fuck did he do?” I scratched my cheek, going against the grain of my beard. I let my gaze shift back to Donata’s beautiful face. “Her hair is shorter.” I mused aloud without meaning to.

“You saw her. Let’s get you out.” He typed with renewed purpose on his laptop. “I’m not far.”

With my attention zeroed in on Donata’s hand over Enzo’s, I left the safety of my hiding place inside a cigar shop across the way. I couldn’t stand being this close to her and not touch her. Who knew how long it would be before we were in the same space again. If another year went by without her in my arms, I was sure I’d go insane. As it were, I already felt like I was on the brink of losing my mind.

Living with a target on my back for so many years would do that to a person. At first, I was running from Uncle Jimmy. He wanted to punish me for exposing his plans to kill one of the Dons. Not that it mattered, the board members leading The Society didn’t believe us. Uncle Jimmy didn’t care that our efforts had failed; he still wanted revenge. For five years, he hunted me. After he was murdered, I thought I could finally come home. But when I did, a new threat showed up. His enemies wanted not just me dead, but my entire family.

Yeah, the madness had already set in.

I stepped onto the curb and pulled down my baseball cap. The long hair, beard and sunglasses did a good enough job of making me invisible. No one ever paid any attention to the homeless. When I followed Donata earlier, I was very careful not to let her see me. But now, I didn’t give a shit. In my head, I kept seeing Donata’s blinding smile, her hands on Enzo, and just because I was a masochist, I let images of the two of them together in bed play in my head several times.

“Luca, stop. Do not go in there. There are eyes everywhere, you know that.”

“I want her to know I’m still alive. I want her to know she can’t give up on us just yet.” My heart rate picked up the pace because I knew without a doubt that if I didn’t show myself now, Donata would truly move on.

“Wasn’t that the plan? For her to give you up? For you to do the same. Luca, she could get hurt because of you. You promised Signora Vittoria, you would let her be.”

I stopped, both feet planted on the asphalt while cars sped by me. Alfred talked fast in my ear, reminding me why I couldn’t go to her now. Round and round he went telling me things I already knew—Donata’s safety, my promise to her, my own life. The assholes hunting my family would never let me be.

When I reached the sidewalk on the other side of the street, mere feet away from Donata’s table in the small coffee shop, I stared at her openly, silently begging her to look at me. She did, and my heart did a somersault. Her gaze on me was fleeting. Two seconds was all she allowed herself before she turned her attention back to Enzo.

“She didn’t recognize me.”

“I hardly recognize you.” Alfred released a breath.

The screeching of tires and stench of burned rubber sent a rush of adrenaline through me. When I made to bolt in the opposite direction as Donata, a black SUV cut me off at the intersection. The driver had that familiar hateful tinge in his eyes. He was here to kill me.

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