7. Seven
Seven
Luka
I kept watching her. Stealing glances when I slowed the car. I tried to gauge if this was the shock talking, or the woman who ran the city talking. She knew I was doing it. She sensed the way my eyes analyzed her every movement. Her cues were dismissive. What did I expect? She had come face to face with the trauma that had terrorized her years ago. Amara wasn’t going to just stare at the blade. She was going to grab it and turn it back on the person who inflicted the pain. I had no fucking clue which family it was that she would go after, but they had to know what would happen next. They knew they had taken a gamble, trying to grab her off the street. It wasn’t going to pay off for them.
I turned into the front gate of the Amato compound and parked in the garage with her instructions. I tried to lift her from the car, but she was insistent that she could hobble through the hallways on her on. I shook my head. Within minutes we were inside the kitchen and Amara stormed through the house with a heavy limp. I followed closely and watched as she sat behind her desk.
“Aren’t you going to go pack?” I asked.
She rustled through papers in the drawer. “I have work to do.”
I folded my arms. “I didn’t agree to work. I agreed to letting you pack a bag and getting you out of here. Somewhere much safer. This is far too dangerous. I’ve told you, kotyonok.”
Her green eyes flared. “I’m going to find Enzo first. I’m not going into hiding.”
She was being stubborn. “We can do that at the same time as when you’re in a place where no one can find you.” I let my arms drop to my sides and edged closer to the desk. She had practically turned the entire thing inside out. “What are you looking for?” I asked.
“I know it’s here. It is. I put it here myself,” she muttered.
I placed my palm over the top of her hand. “Hey, just stop for a second.”
“No. I can’t stop.”
I pressed with firmness. The tops of her knuckles were cool. “Amara. Take a breath. You’re not in control like this.”
“What do you want me to do? Do you want me to give up? Just hide away with you somewhere and pretend this didn’t happen?” I wondered if that was what I truly wanted. I knew she was capable of many things, but that didn’t change the fact that now I was back and I was going to be the one to protect her.
“No. Of course not,” I answered. “I would never expect you to give up. On anything.”
My fingers drifted to her wrist. I lifted it in the air and made room so that I could wedge myself between her body and the desk. I didn’t want her to grow colder. I didn’t want her to drift away into the distance. I couldn’t watch her fade behind her walls and shields. This couldn’t be the thing that pulled her out of my reach. I wouldn’t let it happen.
“You’re freezing.” I softened my approach. I rubbed her hand between my fingers. She started to tug it from me, but I kept going. Her wrists, her arms, her shoulders. She was shivering. “You’ve done this by yourself for a long time. I know that. You’re not a rookie mobster’s daughter. I get it. You’re in charge of Enzo’s return. I’m not arguing with you about that, but I’m here now. And I’m going to take care of you. We’ll go after this family together. I’m here this time.”
Her body leaned into mine. I wrapped my arms around her. Her hands circled my neck. I didn’t know if she was desperate for the warmth or needed me. It didn’t matter. I wouldn’t let go until she was ready. I’d never let go.
* * *
A mara was in the shower. I assured her I wouldn’t leave her room.
Nik had arranged for Dochev to meet us at the compound. He left twenty minutes ago after sealing the bottom of Amara’s foot with liquid stitches that were waterproof. She had been hesitant at first to let him help her, but finally allowed him to treat the cut.
I hoped the shower would relax her.
With the door closed and one eye on her, I tapped Katya’s number on my phone. Fuck. I dreaded this.
“Hey.” She sounded happy.
“Can you talk? Privately,” I added. “No one can hear this. No one, Katya.”
“Hold on just a sec.” There were muffled voices in the background. “Okay, I’m back,” she announced. “I was talking to Andrey’s mother about dinner tonight.”
“Are you alone now?” I was worried her reaction would cause problems if anyone witnessed it.
“Yes. What’s wrong with you? You seem like you’re in a terrible mood.”
“Katya.” I inhaled. “There’s no good way to say this, but…are you sure no one can see you or hear you?”
“What the hell is it?” she demanded.
“It’s Enzo. He was kidnapped.”
There was an eerie silence on the phone, as if a blackhole had swallowed my sister whole.
“Katya, are you there? Hey, I need to know you’re okay.”
“Mmmhmm.” I was sure it was all she could do.
I caught a glimpse of Amara’s back in the shower when she turned toward the rush of water. I leaned against the doorframe. “I don’t know who has him, but we’re going to find him. Amara was attacked too.”
“Oh my God.”
“She’s okay. I’m with her now. We’re going to use every resource to bring Enzo home.”
“I-I can’t breathe. Where is he? Who has him?”
Shit. “Katya, just try to stay calm. Deep breaths. Can you sit down for a minute?” I could picture her sapphire eyes welling, her lips trembling.
“I can’t stay here. I have to go find him. I’m coming to where you are.”
“No,” I barked. “You have to stay exactly where you are.”
“Are you insane? Enzo is missing,” she hissed. “I’m not staying.”
I pressed my fingers between my eyes. “Where is a place the Petrovs wouldn’t look for you?”
“The stables,” she answered without a second thought. “They hate it there.”
“Okay. Let’s meet at the stables.” I knew then I couldn’t drop this bomb information on her and expect her to walk through the smoke unscathed. She needed to see me.
“I’ll leave now.”
Amara turned off the water in the shower. I saw her graceful arm gather a towel from the rack. “I have a few things to take care of on the way over, but I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
“Hurry, please. I just don’t know what I’m going to do if?—”
I cut her off before she could start the spiral of what ifs. There were too many possibilities. Too many outcomes. The only one I could let her focus on was that I was going to take care of her.
“Take your time. Drive slowly,” I reinforced. “If anything changes, I’ll call you as soon as I know something. Okay?”
“Yes. Okay. I’m on my way.”
I hung up and waited for Amara. She ran a towel over her wet hair. “Was that Katya?” she asked.
“Yes.” I closed my eyes, wondering if I had done the right thing. I could have waited until we at least had some information to give her. I had nothing. Not a fucking thing I could tell her.
“Is she okay? How did she take it?” Amara walked past me into the bedroom. “Did she know anything? Had she heard anything?”
“I’m going to meet her at the stables. I think she’s pretty shaken. No, she didn’t know anything about it. It was a surprise. A nightmare, actually.”
“All right. Then I’m going with you. Maybe I can help reassure her that Enzo is going to come back. As soon as Ciro is here, I know we’ll be able to find him.”
I winced at the mention of the bodyguard. “About him…”
“Yes?” She spun around, dropping the towel on the floor. My entire body reacted. My fingertips fired with the urge to pull her against me and absorb every drop of water on her body.
She lifted a lingerie set from the bed she had laid out before the shower. It was almost painful to watch her cover her body. I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to say about Ciro. I thought about taking her to bed. Pulling her under me. Kissing her until she fell asleep in my arms.
“What about him?” she prodded.
I shoved my hands in my pockets. “I called him.”
“You did?” She stopped dressing with one arm in a sleeve.
“I didn’t know where you were. I’d run around the block ten times. I called him.” I didn’t know if I was admitting my weakness or showing I’d put her ahead of anything, even my pride.
“Is he coming back?” she asked. “What did he say?”
“Nothing. I hung up when you walked off the elevator. He knows you’re back, so he probably thinks it was a false alarm.”
She shook her head. “I need him here. He has to run point on this.”
I groaned. “Where is he?”
Her eyes flashed. “Working on something.”
“But he’s not in the city?”
She tugged on the shirt, covering her navel. “No. What are you implying? Or suggesting? It’s not the first time you’ve hinted at it today.”
“Nothing at all. But he’s not here right now and we have to do this on our own.” I pushed down the arguments against Ciro. I wasn’t going to start a fight with her.
“I’m calling him. He should be here. There’s no one I trust more to handle it.” She pulled out her phone. There was nothing I could do to stop her.