Chapter Eight
Luca
Having Rowan back home, safe and sound, I feel like I can finally take a deep breath, filling my lungs with the air they’ve been needing for a while. I watch her from my office window as she jogs around the property.
I was constantly alert while we were at Matteo’s, never feeling like I could relax. But now, on my twenty acres, knowing she is safe, I can.
From my office and bedroom, I get a full view of my land. Not all of it, but enough. Enough to have a warning, time to prepare. I have trail cams sporadically placed. I know we’re never truly safe, but I’ll do what needs to be done to make sure we have a fighting fucking chance.
In my line of work, you can never truly let your guard down. No matter the due diligence I take to cover my identity, there is always a way for someone who wants to find it.
Damian will take up residence in the apartment above Hard Knocks, which used to be my home before the house in the woods.
Those long nights of staying awake, going over every piece of evidence I could find about the fraternity, the people involved—it was a never-ending cycle.
On the rooftop was where I finally had to burn the photos of Lauren's autopsy.
The feeling of her finally being released.
Now, with the fraternity and those who were involved burned to the ground, maybe we can get back to normal… or whatever normal is.
I had to take a step back because I was becoming my father, a man I used to look up to, who had become a shell of a man. Losing his two women, his daughter and then wife, changed him forever.
The man who taught me to be the killer I am is forever gone. Eaten away by haunting memories and alcohol.
The day my mother died of cancer is the day he packed a bag and left the States.
Leaving me with everything. He didn’t stay to tell my mother goodbye.
And I know mentally he couldn’t, but I don’t think I’ll ever forgive him for leaving me alone to take care of it all—no matter what age I was.
Sitting alone in that front row pew cracked my already fractured heart even more.
He calls every few months to check in, a few words, and then the line goes dead.
I used to wait with bated breath for those calls, to know he was still alive.
To know I wasn’t alone in this world, but now if they come, they come.
He left me alone. I have every resource to find him and monitor him, but I don’t.
I refuse to be weighed down with worry about him.
Rowan has given me a reason to make my life more than it was.
More than the Delta Alpha Pi, Briggs, Lauren, and the tomb.
More than the need for payback. She’s given me a reason to be Luca, once again…
or to at least find out who Luca is. Because in truth, I don’t really know who he is without the thought of a constant need for revenge.
The smile that overtakes my face when I see Rowan peek over the hill feels foreign to me… I stop when I spot something behind her. The hair on my arms stands up. Alarm bells are sounding. In a second, I’m standing at the window; the next, I’m running down the stairs and out of the house.
“Rowan!” My scream doesn’t alert her. Her fucking earphones, which she now proudly wears both. A testament to her healing.
Running to her, my voice continued to scream her name.
Her eyes become wide when she spots me, yanking her earphones out.
“What!” she calls in confusion as her jog slows.
I stop, and in that moment, I want to slap myself for overreacting. Trotting behind her is a big dog, looking anything but menacing, as I thought it was as I looked out the window.
Rowan’s eyes notice mine looking behind her.
“Awe,” she coos to the dog as she falls to her knees, hands out.
“No, you don’t know if it’s dangerous,” I tell her as if she’s a child.
“It’s not,” she grumbles to me as her hand lands on top of its furry head. Immediately, the dog closes the gap between her and it.
I slowly walk behind the dog, but it takes note, the hair on its tail standing, and I get a glimpse of what I needed. It’s a female German Shepard.
Rowan speaks quietly to it as she sits on her ass in the gravel dirt. The dog, with no worry, lays down next to Rowan, rolls over, and gives her its stomach.
Blue eyes… Two pairs of blue eyes look up to me, as if asking permission.
Shaking my head, I turn around. “I thought you were fixing to get attacked by some rabid wolf.” Looking at her over my shoulder, laughing out, my heart returning to its normal pace.
“There is nothing rabid about her.” And as if it knows what Rowan is saying, the dog's tail slaps the gravel ground, as if telling me, ‘see’. A puff of dirt filters off in the slight breeze.
“So?” Rowan calls after me.
I don’t stop walking. “I think you already decided.” I smile because I know she has.
“Come,” I hear Rowan behind me before she jogs past the dog right on her heels, following her obediently.
Entering the kitchen, Rowan and the dog are already sitting on the tile floor, a big bowl of water, most of it now on the floor.
“We need dog food and a bed.” She pauses while looking up at me. “Oh, and toys!”
“Okay, baby.” The way her face is lighting up, I can’t tell her no.
Her hand disappears into the dog's mane as she pets her. “You know, I never had a dog.”
I bend down, moving slowly to let it know I’m not a threat, and pet her. “You do now.” I smile at Rowan, and her eyes become glassy before she leans up and kisses me.
Leaving them in the kitchen, I make my way back to the office. Now that we’re back home and everything is semi-normal, that means jobs start back up again.
I’ve thought about leaving that life. I've only ever known that life, and I was bred for it, but something inside me needs that outlet. I need to help bring semblance to others’ lives, to give them the retribution they deserve. Because in every word, I am an angel of Death.
Falling into my office chair, the leather creaking with my weight, as if welcoming me back home, I open my laptop, and I feel the slight shift from Luca to the killer.
The need to transform when I’m working is important.
Before Rowan, I carried him constantly; now, with Rowan, I’ve learned and am still learning how to shift from both facets.
I’ve kept my father’s rules before me. Never a woman or children. No matter what. Now, are all the men I’ve killed bad guys? No, but that’s not my worry. I’m just doing my job.
My father's assignment was to kill my mother, but he fell in love with his job. And that’s the reason his rule became what it was and still is with me. And it will forever be.
Instead of killing her, he killed him. My family originated from the blood of another man, but I am very lucky because of that. Even if my family disintegrated the way it did, those first twenty-something years were amazing. I was lucky; we were lucky. And I’ll forever cherish those memories.
Before Rowan, I didn’t have anyone. After Rowan, I feel like I have it all because of her loving me. And I’ll forever and always protect her, even with my last dying breath.
I wait patiently while my laptop comes to life, the first time in weeks I’ve opened it.
As I wait for my emails to load, I turn on my burner phone, and notifications ping immediately.
Scrolling through my calls, they’re all unknown numbers.
I’m recommended by word of mouth. It’s insane how far you can grow with just that.
You have to have a reference from a previous client to be able to broach the subject of a job.
I vet, because one thing I will not do is to be used and locked away for someone else’s benefit. And that’s why we have rules in place.
Pushing call on a number I know by heart, I wait until the other end picks up.
“Brother,” comes out gruff, and I can tell he has me on speakerphone.
“Off speaker,” I tell Thomas, as I lean back in my chair, knowing he knows better. My interest is piqued.
“Hey. Sorry about that.” I can tell he’s walking by the sound of his words coming out.
“You know better.”
He sighs deeply. “I know. Won’t happen again.”
“Who is she?” I know it’s a woman who has him fumbling, because nothing else would.
His deep laugh comes through the speaker. “Ah, that’s for another day.”
That’s the only confirmation I needed to know it’s a woman.
“Head back in the game, because we’re back in business.”
“Got ya.” And I can hear the moment he’s back; it’s like a lock engaging for us. Thomas is my intel, finds anything and everything I need on the job, and sets everything up. So, I just have to get there and snuff them out. We’re a well-oiled machine.
“While I have you, Damian will join us. I haven’t come to him yet, but once he gets settled into the apartment, I will bring it up to him, and I know he’ll take it. He needs an outlet, and this will be it for him.”
Thomas clears his throat. “I think it’s a good idea.”
“Send me details on the next job, and let's get it going quickly. I’m feeling antsy.” I tell him truthfully. Thomas is my best friend and knows as well as I that I need to keep busy.
“Got ya, boss. I’ll send everything over now.”
“Thanks,” I pause for a second, “Thomas, send her home.”
The line goes silent before I hear his reply. Curt and quick. “Okay.” He doesn’t say goodbye; the line goes dead.
Breathing in deeply, I store away the phone.
Did I cross a line? Maybe, but I have to make sure we’re protected.
I know Thomas isn’t stupid; he’s had women, but with him answering my call on speaker, I can tell his head isn’t all the way there, and I need it all the way in.
It’s life or death. “Fuck.” My hands comb through my hair, pushing my hair back, over and over.
I grab my regular cell and have to send Thomas a text.
*Hey. Look, I’m sorry. But we have to be smart about this. I trust you, but I don’t trust everyone else.