Between Fire and Frost (Crimson Ice #3)

Chapter 1

One

Luca

She fucking left me.

I’m sick to my stomach with dread, anger, despair as I crumple the note and throw it in the garbage bin.

“I can’t believe she broke up with me in a note.”

Anger boils in my blood and I yank my bowtie off, undoing the buttons on my tuxedo.

There’s not going to be a wedding today.

Dante will be thrilled. He didn’t even want me to marry Harper.

He tried to get her to marry Ashton.

I’m, however, crushed. I’m not sure running away is the better of two options: marry Ashton or flee, because marrying me must have been horrifying.

I feel like I might actually vomit.

I turn toward the door, brushing past Ashton as I storm out of the room. The house feels incredibly small and I hurry outside, needing air to breathe.

Fresh air isn’t enough, but the chill numbs me and dulls my senses. It doesn’t lessen the ache in my heart.

Tears threaten my vision, but I don’t want anyone to see them, not Ashton, not Kensley, and certainly not my father.

The door swings open behind me.

I don’t dare look to see who is chasing after me.

I’m raw inside.

I’ll never forgive Harper.

She can run, but she can’t hide.

Like a blizzard, I tear back into the house, demanding my father. “Dante!” My voice bellows with a roar as I feel the anger flowing through me.

Heat radiates from my body. My bowtie is gone, the jacket unbuttoned, and I’m still sweating.

Dante hears my voice, or maybe it’s the hurricane that follows me as his men swarm like I need help.

I don’t have to say it.

Dante stares at me, and it’s like he knows.

Does he know because he figured it out on his own or had he been told?

“I want Kensley detained,” I growl and point at the girl in the dark-purple dress standing just a few feet away.

“What?” Her eyes widen, and she takes several steps backward but knocks into Moreno.

He grabs her by the arm, dragging her down the hallway.

“Please, no!” she screams, fighting for her life.

I’m fighting for mine.

For my wife.

Correction.

For the wife I should have had and the boy who was to become my son.

Ashton steps closer. “Are we sure we should be doing this now?” he asks into my ear.

“This is on you.” I glare at him. “If you hadn’t demanded she marry you, maybe she wouldn’t have run away.”

Ashton shuts up.

Dante’s gaze flits from Ashton to me. Clearly, he’s surprised I’m privy to what goes on under his roof.

Turns out, we all have secrets.

Kensley is dragged down to the basement holding cell, kicking and screaming.

No one stops them or helps her.

I glance around and see no sign of Harper’s parents. The only guests here today are all aware of whose house they’re in—the mafia’s.

They’re family friends, not acquaintances. The wedding guests are either those who work for Dante or have come at his insistence.

They all know he’s mafia.

None dare to intervene.

They’re not foolish enough to think they have a shot in hell at calming down a mafia boss. But Dante is relatively calm, and I’m the one fueled with anger and betrayal.

Hatred burns brighter and hotter than love.

Betrayal burns my skin, licks my tongue, and fills me with hate.

I storm down the basement stairs, finding Kensley secured to a metal chair, her legs and arms already bound. Moreno was quick with the ropes and chains. It’s not his first interrogation, although Matteo is our typical interrogator.

But I want to be the one questioning Kensley.

I deserve to be the one doing the interrogating.

“Please,” she pleads with Moreno, and I gesture for him to step away.

“Give us a minute,” I say and nod for him to take the stairs and go back up.

There are tears in Kensley’s eyes, and she struggles to catch her breath. Her cheeks are flushed, her body trembling.

Moreno heads up the stairs, leaving me alone with Harper’s best friend.

“Please, you have to help me,” she pleads.

I kneel beside her, reaching her eye level. “Why would I do that?” I seethe, my fists clenched tight at my sides. “You knew Harper’s plan.”

She’s silent.

Seems I’m right.

“How long has she been planning to leave me?” The words cut like a knife into my heart as I say them out loud.

“I don’t—she didn’t want to, but your father.”

I shake my head, not believing Kensley. “My father didn’t send her away. She chose to run. To embarrass me on my wedding day.”

Kensley’s brow pinches. “She loves you. It’s why she left. You read the letter.”

“I read that she wanted to end things, that she doesn’t want me to chase after her. Where did she go?” I growl and lean closer, tipping the chair backward. My hands grip the metal, keeping Kensley from falling.

Her eyes widen as she gasps for air. “I don’t know! I let her use my credit card,” she admits far too easily. “You really are mafia.”

My gaze tightens. “Did Harper tell you that?” I tilt my head, replanting the feet of the chair back onto the cement floor.

“She told me everything,” Kensley whispers, staring up at me. “But she left out the part where you’re the monster.”

Her words cut deeper than the betrayal of Harper’s leaving.

I never wanted to become my father, but torturing Kensley, the anger burns through me hotter than fiery coals in a roaring flame. “She shouldn’t have run.”

“You don’t love her,” Kensley says, refusing to back down.

I see the fear behind her pale-blue gaze. I’ve frightened her, but she doesn’t cower.

She straightens herself in her seat, defiant. “She left because she loves you.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” I growl at Kensley. I tip her chair back, and her eyes widen.

She knows if I let go, she’ll smack into the cold concrete, likely hit her head. She’s leaning forward, trying to brace herself for the moment of impact.

But I don’t remove my hands from the metal chair.

“She didn’t want to force you into a life with her and Zeke.”

“But I want that life!” I shout at Kensley, as if he she can somehow tell Harper while being restrained on the metal folding chair.

I slam the chair back down on all fours, and she bounces but doesn’t fall over.

Kensley is breathing hard, her body trembling from the adrenaline.

“I shouldn’t have trusted Harper to keep our secret.”

“I swear she only told me because she knew she could trust me,” Kensley says, defending her.

“She should have trusted me!” I shout.

“Your allegiance is to your father, your family. She told me everything about how you’re being forced to work for your father. Harper was trying to give you another life. A better life.”

I step back, needing to get away from Kensley. “It’s all lies.” I can’t listen to her. She’s trying to get into my head, confuse me, make me see things that aren’t as they are.

“I swear to you, she loves you. That’s why she did this—she’s throwing her college education away, her stability. She has nothing while on the run.”

I head for the stairs, taking them two at a time, leaving Kensley restrained.

“I have to find her.”

I need to find her before Dante or his men track her down.

They’re not going to be as forgiving.

“Did you get anything out of the girl?” Moreno asks as I step out of the basement.

I hesitate, deciding whether I want to do this alone, but think better of it.

Anything Kensley told me, she’ll easily reveal to Moreno or any of the soldiers who question her.

“She gave Harper her credit card. Run the information, we’ll be able to locate her.” I don’t divulge that Kensley knows about the family business. At this point, bringing her down into the basement, tying her up, she’d have figured it out on her own.

I glare at Nova as she comes racing around the corner. Apparently, she’s gotten wind of what’s happening.

“Are you okay?” she asks, looking exasperated.

“No,” I growl, my gaze tightening on her.

Nova and Harper had become friends over the past couple of months.

“Did you know?” I snarl, stepping into her personal space.

She shoves me backward. “No. Harper kept me in the dark about her plan.”

Moreno watches the exchange between us for a moment before he and Dante hurry down the hallway to his office. I’m sure they’re planning on tracking Kensley’s credit card. Harper would need it if she were planning on staying at a hotel.

“Really? Because you two have been pretty cozy lately. Best friends, if I recall.” I want to believe Nova, but right now I don’t trust anyone.

Nova rolls her eyes.

She’s not the least bit afraid of me. She folds her arms across her chest. She’s dressed in the same matching gown as Kensley, deep purple with black trim. They were both to be bridesmaids for our wedding.

It burns my insides, realizing that there won’t be a wedding.

I didn’t even want to get married, but the rejection, the humiliation, it aches in every ounce inside of me.

I had an out.

Harper could have married Ashton.

It’s what my father wanted, demanded of Ashton, but instead, she chose herself over me.

There’s no relief, just melancholy.

“Get over yourself, Luca.” Nova doesn’t back down. “The wedding was a foolish idea from the start. You only agreed to it to keep her alive. Don’t forget that!”

What started out solely as an act of protection became so much more.

Harper means so much more to me than just keeping her alive.

I wanted to marry her.

To spend the rest of my life with her.

Yes, there were times I was distant.

It’s hard to be thrust suddenly into parenthood.

She has a son, and that mere thought, let alone the act of taking care of another person, a child, terrifies me. I never want to become my old man.

I’d tried to keep some distance from Zeke and from Harper.

But every time we fell back into patterns, climbing into bed, kissing, touching, I fell deeper, harder, faster, for Harper.

And now she’s torn out my heart and left me with a fucking breakup letter.

“Go get stuffed,” I growl at Nova and storm off to find Dante.

Hopefully by now, he’s come up with Harper’s location.

I waltz into his office without so much as a knock, as if I own the place.

One day I will, but not today.

Dante raises an eyebrow, surprised, but he doesn’t scold me.