29. Luca
TWENTY-NINE
LUCA
I hadn’t slept in weeks.
Couldn’t focus on anything except him. The way he’d looked at me that night as he said goodbye, like I wasn’t enough to hold on to. Maybe I wasn’t.
I shoved a pile of books off the table, ignoring the dull thud as they hit the floor. GED prep materials, all highlighted and dog-eared from weeks of trying to be more than a fuckup.
The test was in a week. Santino kept reminding me, like that piece of paper would fix everything. My brain couldn’t hold a thing right now. Every time I sat down to study, I stared at the same page for hours, my thoughts spiraling back to Dominic. When I wasn’t drowning in grief, I chased ghosts.
Alexei.
The bastard was like smoke. Every lead I followed vanished when I got close. I’d spent weeks combing through dark web forums, calling in favors, even tracking down people who owed me nothing but would do anything to avoid the Bratva.
As long as he was out there, I’d never feel safe with Dominic. Alexei knew what would break me. He’d done it before, back when I was just a kid.
The memory hit hard: Alexei standing over Yuri, his smile cold and sharp as he pulled the trigger. A man who begged for mercy, who bled out on the floor while I stood frozen.
My phone buzzed, snapping me out of it.
Santino
You’ve got this, Luca.
Dom hadn’t answered my texts. Not a single one. I needed to let him go. Texting him over and over made me feel pathetic. Like that asshole Frank. Dominic had made it clear he was done with me, but there was nothing left without him.
I smoked in the yard. The nicotine hit my lungs, a dull warmth that didn’t do shit to ease the knot in my chest.
“Luca?”
I glanced to the right. Mrs. Peretti stood in her backyard, wearing a thick robe.
I stubbed out the cigarette. “Hey, Mrs. P.”
She squinted at me. “You look like hell.”
“Thanks. Just what I needed to hear.”
Her gaze softened. “Where’s that handsome friend of yours? The one with the nice suits and the fancy car?”
My throat tightened. “He… left.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You have a fight?”
I shrugged. “Something like that.”
Mrs. Peretti tutted. “That’s a shame. He seemed good for you, Luca. Kept you out of trouble.”
“Yeah, well. I wasn’t so good for him.”
“Was he your boyfriend?”
I froze. “What?”
She gave me a knowing look. “The way you two looked at each other, honey. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.”
“He’s a friend.”
“Uh-huh.”
I swallowed hard, my chest aching. Even my neighbor had pieced together the truth.
She sighed. “You know, I’ve lived a long time, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that people come and go. But the ones who leave a hole in your heart? They’re worth fighting for.”
I stared down at the stub of my cigarette. “He wants nothing to do with me.”
“You sure about that?”
I blinked. “He’s made it pretty clear.”
“Did he? Or did you convince yourself of that because it’s easier than trying?”
My throat burned. “I’ve sent him a million texts. He didn’t answer a single one.”
She waved her hand in the air. “Men are stubborn . They get hurt and clam up like a turtle in its shell, even when they don’t want to be alone. Maybe he’s not texting back because he’s waiting for you to show up first.”
I stared at her. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
She laughed. “Love doesn’t make sense. But if you care about him like I think you do, stop expecting him to do all the work.”
My jaw tightened. “It’s not that simple.”
She shrugged, tucking her robe tighter around herself. “You already know he means something to you, or you wouldn’t look so miserable. Stop overthinking it. Show up. Prove it.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “Maybe he’s done with me.”
“Maybe he’s sitting alone, staring at his phone, wishing you’d walk through the door.”
I swallowed hard, my throat tight.
“Sometimes the people who love us need to know we’re willing to fight for them.”
I couldn’t look at her.
Fuck, she was right. Dominic had fought for me over and over. He’d shown up every time, even when I pushed him away. Now it was my turn to do the same.
I nodded. “Thanks, Mrs. P.”
She smiled. “Go get him, kid. Before he decides you’re not worth the wait.”
She gave me one last look before shuffling back inside. My chest felt heavier, but a knot loosened enough to breathe.
My mind circled to Dominic—the way his voice could cut through my defenses. How I missed him like a phantom limb, aching even when I wasn’t thinking about him.
I couldn’t keep smoking my way through sleepless nights. If my neighbor could see right through me, what the hell was I hiding from?
I grabbed my jacket off the railing, heading for the street. Dominic hadn’t texted me back because he didn’t know I was still fighting.
But I could fix that.
I would fix that.
I parked outside the casino, waiting for Dominic.
The parking lot was quiet except for the faint hum of a nearby streetlight, its glow casting long shadows across the asphalt. My stomach churned, each minute reminding me how insane this all was.
Stalking a guy who ignored my texts.
Pathetic didn’t even begin to cover it, but I couldn’t leave. Not until I tried to fix this. I glanced at my phone. No reply. Nothing but the silence I’d been drowning in for weeks.
I wasn’t sure if I could handle seeing him walk out of that casino, his face as unreadable as it’d been that night he left me standing there like an idiot.
I took a drag from the cigarette.
Dominic wasn’t a guy you let slip through your fingers. He wasn’t replaceable. Hell, he wasn’t even manageable. He was like a goddamn force of nature.
I exhaled. “Get it together.”
The doors to the casino swung open, and my chest tightened.
Dominic walked out. He wore a dark coat over his suit, his expression sharp and focused as he glanced at his phone.
I got out of my car. He headed toward his. I stepped forward, my chest tight. I just needed… a sign to know he wasn’t as done with me as he seemed.
Shadows shifted between the parked cars. I froze as three men headed straight for him. My stomach dropped. Dominic’s stance stiffened, his head turning as the first one swung a fist at him.
I sprinted toward them.
He tried to dodge, but there were too many of them. One grabbed him from behind, locking his arms, while another landed a punch to his gut. I saw him buckle, saw him fight, but the bastards were all over him, not giving him a chance to breathe. I recognized one of them—Sergei.
What the fuck are the Bratva doing here?
They dragged him to a van parked at the end of the alley, shoving him inside. Dominic fought back, managed to throw an elbow into one guy’s face, but it barely slowed them down. My heart pounded as I sprinted toward them, desperate to get to him.
But the van’s door slammed shut as I closed in, and with a screech of tires, it was gone, leaving me in the dust. My mind spun, panic clawing at my throat.
I fumbled for my phone. My hands shook so hard I nearly dropped it. I dialed Santino, barely able to see straight as the line rang.
He answered. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Santino, they—they took him! Three guys jumped him outside the casino!”
“Luca, slow down. Who took who?”
I swallowed. “I was… I saw it happen. They grabbed Dominic and threw him in a van?—”
“Who did this?”
“The Bratva. I recognized one of the men.”
“Where are you?”
“Casino. They just left. I don’t know where they’re going, but I have to find him.” My voice cracked. “I have to get him back.”
Santino paused. “You know the Bratva better than anyone. Think. Where would they take him?”
“There’s a place in Providence.”
“Then that’s where we start,” Santino said, his voice hard. “Get your head on straight. We’re getting him back.”
I tightened my grip on the phone, a strange calm settling over me as I thought of the house. I knew the way those bastards operated. I could practically see Dominic in its basement. He wouldn’t break easily, but he would eventually. They all did.
I texted him the address. “Meet me here.”
“Understood,” Santino replied. “Don’t do anything till I get there.”
We sat in the car, parked in a dark alleyway near the Bratva safehouse we’d been staking out. The house in Providence was nondescript, blending in with the other run-down buildings in the area, the van parked in the driveway.
I glanced at Santino beside me. He was focused, his eyes scanning the house. I nodded toward the door where the guards stood.
“Two on the front.”
Santino grunted. “One in the back, too. Can’t see his face, but he’s posted near the alley.”
I squinted, trying to spot the guard. There. A flicker of movement, the faint glow of a cigarette in the dark. “Yeah, I see him.”
“You ready?”
“Yeah. I’ll pull the one in the front, you take him out.”
Santino gave a curt nod before slipping out of the car, moving silently into the shadows near the side of the house. He melted into the darkness.
I got out, keeping my movements slow until I reached the edge of the street where the light from the streetlamp barely touched. One of the guards looked half asleep, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he leaned against the railing of the front steps. The other was alert but distracted, his attention on his phone.
I raised my head. “ Ey, Ivan! Ty tam? ”
The guard straightened, frowning. He muttered something to his buddy. The guy I called out to squinted. “ Kto eto? ”
I stepped into the edge of the light. “ Eto, Sergei. Nuzhna pomoshch’ szadi .”
The guard hesitated. With a grunt, he nodded to his partner and started down the steps toward me.
As he approached, I kept talking. “ Ty slyshal vystrely? ”
The guard shook his head, stepping closer.
He was almost on me when Santino moved from behind the house, his arm snaking around the guard’s neck in a sleeper hold. The guard’s eyes bulged as he clawed Santino’s arm. I took out my knife and stabbed him in the chest twice. Santino’s palm muffled his screams, and the guard’s body sagged.
I stepped back, watching as Santino lowered him to the ground.
“Next one. Let’s go.”
The first guard was down, slumped in the shadows. The second guard lingered by the front door, distracted by his phone. Santino nodded, and we moved.
Santino went low, creeping toward the guy while I circled wide, keeping my knife hidden. The guard’s head snapped up as Santino lunged, grabbing him by the throat.
I closed the distance, the knife in my hand flashing. The guard’s eyes widened as the blade sunk deep into his chest. He jerked once, a gurgling gasp leaving his lips, and then he went still, slumping against Santino’s grip. Santino tossed the body aside.
I wiped the blood from my knife on the guy’s jacket, and then we dragged him into the shadows, hiding the body next to his partner. We didn’t have much time.
“You ready?” Santino asked.
I took out my gun. “Let’s go.”
We made our way to the front door. The house was dark, the only sound the distant hum of traffic from the street. I led the way down the narrow hallway.
As we crept toward the kitchen, dishes clattered. I signaled to Santino, who stayed close behind me, his gun raised and ready.
We rounded the corner, and a Bratva thug, mid-thirties, stocky with a scar running down the side of his face rummaged through the fridge.
He turned, his eyes widening. His hand darted toward his waistband. I aimed my gun, firing twice.
The first bullet hit him in the stomach, spinning him back against the fridge. The second slammed into his chest. Blood sprayed across the white appliance in jagged streaks, and he collapsed.
The fridge door swung shut from the force, leaving a smear of blood on the handle. I darted forward, my gun trained on him, but his hand fell limp, his head lolling to the side.
A basement door flung open.
Two Bratva thugs appeared at the top of the staircase, weapons in hand. My shot clipped the first one in the chest, and he crumpled with a grunt, tumbling backward. The second guy fired blindly, his bullets tearing into the wall near my head.
Santino put two clean shots in the guy’s torso. He dropped hard, his body hitting the floor with a thud.
I rushed to check their faces, my breath ragged. Neither of them was Alexei.
Damn it . “Let’s move.”
We crept down the narrow stairs, the dim light swinging at the bottom casting jagged shadows on the walls. As we descended, muffled voices sharpened into words, their tones edged with panic.
“Did you hear that?” one of them hissed.
“Yeah, I heard it,” another man snapped. “Shut up and keep an eye on him.”
We reached the bottom of the stairs, and the scene made my blood boil. Dominic was tied to a chair in the center of the room, his head slumped forward, blood streaking his face and pooling beneath him. Two men hovered nearby. One paced. The other leaned over Dominic, gripping his hair.
The pacing man, lean with slicked-back hair, glanced toward the stairs. “I told you this would go south!”
“Shut up!” The other man was stockier, his dark features twisted in frustration as he shoved Dominic’s head back. “We need to get the hell out.”
I stepped off the stairs.
Both men whipped around. The stockier man straightened, his hand inching toward a knife at his hip, while the other one froze.
“Who the fuck are you?” the lean one stammered.
“Drop the knife,” Santino said.
The stocky man’s lips curled into a snarl. “You think you’re walking out of here alive?”
“Not a thought,” I shot back, stepping closer. “A fact. Now step the fuck away from him.”
My hands were steady. The Bratva had trained me for moments like this. They taught me how to rip through anyone who stood in my way. I hated every second of that training.
But now, I didn’t hate it
I wasn’t fighting for them. I was fighting for him .
The lean man edged toward the wall. “I told you this was a bad idea!”
“Shut your mouth,” the stocky one barked.
Dominic’s head lifted, blood dripping from his mouth as his eyes met mine. “Luca…”
I took another step forward. “You have two choices. Leave him and walk out of here alive, or you don’t leave at all.”
The stocky man snarled, raising his knife. “Like hell I’m walking away with nothing?—”
I fired, and the stocky man jerked back, clutching his chest before crumpling to the ground.
The lean man bolted for the stairs. My shot caught him in the back. He stumbled, hitting the stairs hard before sliding to the floor.
I rushed to Dominic. He slumped in the chair. His shirt was torn, and his hands were bound tight. I tore the ropes off, my hands shaking.
“ Dom . Are you okay?”
His eyes opened slowly. “You’re here.”
I cupped his face, my thumb brushing over his flushed cheek. “What the hell did they do to you?”
He grimaced. “Just another day in the life, right?”
It tore me up to see him like this. My hands tightened on his face, and my relief that he was alive broke me. I leaned in, pressing my lips to his.
Dominic stiffened, then melted into it. His lips parted as he kissed me back. Every inch of him was battered, but his hands slid over my shoulders and held me. Somewhere behind us, Santino coughed.
I pulled back, breathing hard. “I thought I lost you.”
He smiled. “Not that easy to get rid of me.”
A raw laugh escaped me, and I wrapped my arms around him, holding him tight. “I swear to God, Dom, I’d tear this place apart if it meant keeping you safe.”
He pressed his forehead to mine. “Guess you already did.”