Chapter 12
LUCA
I run my hand through my hair for the hundredth time tonight. It’s probably messy and unkempt, and I hate being messy. I hate feeling out of control, and ever since I saw Sophia again I’ve felt…unstable.
I should kill her. I should go right back in there and put a bullet in her skull, but I can’t. I can tell myself it’s because I don’t kill women as much as I want, but I know it’s something more. It’s because it’s her. If it were anyone else…
I collect myself, straightening my shirt sleeves, before going outside to meet with the others.
Alfonso, the one who she’d gotten away from, walks up to me, his chest puffed. “Who the fuck is this bitch?”
My hand strikes out to slap him so quickly even I’m surprised. The crack sounds too loud in the quiet night. The thing is, I’m not sure I would have hit him if he hadn’t called Sophia a bitch.
He stumbles, holding his cheek and looking at me with wide dark eyes.
“Have I ever given the impression to you…” I pause, spreading my hands to gesture to all of them. “To any of you…that you could question me?”
No one speaks.
“Leave. All of you,” I bark. Alfonso goes first, with his tail between his legs, getting into his car and roaring off into the distance.
Everyone leaves, just as I’d ordered, except for Diego.
He leans against the Escalade, muscular arms folded. He looks up at me as the cars drive away, his dark eyes flat. But then again, they always are. Diego has one hell of a poker face. The only reason I know he’s curious is because of the set of his shoulders, the way his eyebrow is raised slightly.
When you’re friends as long as me and Diego, you pick stuff like that up.
“Don’t start,” I mumble, and he raises his hands.
“I didn’t say a word.”
“You didn’t have to.”
He reaches into his back pocket for his cigarettes, lighting one and taking a drag. My hands twitch. I want one badly, but I’d quit years ago.
There are enough ways to die in this business without making more for myself.
I settle for smelling the tobacco. It’s oddly soothing to me, since I’ve been around it my whole life. Reminds me of when Diego and I were kids, sneaking my father’s cigars and his mother’s cigarettes.
“Blow it out the window, you idiot,” I’d groaned, and Diego blew smoke straight in my face.
I came at him and we wrestled around until Father heard us and came looking. Diego had the presence of mind to toss his cigarette out the open window.
I, on the other hand, was struck stock-still and terrified, because Father wasn’t afraid to use his belt. I knew the buckle’s imprint by heart.
Father’s footsteps got louder and louder and I just stood there, frozen.
Diego snatched the cigarette from my fingertips just as Father opened the door.
He looked my father right in the eyes as he took a puff, and Father beat him bloody for it.
Diego never said a word.
“Who is she?” Diego asks quietly, startling me out of my thoughts. He takes another drag.
I’d told them not to question me, but Diego knows he’s earned the right to ask questions.
The others haven’t. Besides, some of them are skimming money from Nico’s fighting ring.
I know it. I just haven’t punished them yet.
That’s supposed to be Nico’s job, but he’s too drunk and high these days to do it.
“I told you. She just showed up pretending to be a model.”
“Gotta say, Caputo. I don’t believe you.”
I groan and run a hand through my hair again before I can stop myself.
“Alright. Fine. She’s a girl I met a while back.”
Diego grins slightly, raising an eyebrow. “Oh? Boss is finally gonna start getting laid?”
I scoff. “I get laid.”
“Not much. But I since there’s more to this story, otherwise you would have just taken her home instead of ordering me to grab her.”
I look at him for a long moment.
“You can’t tell Father. Or Nico,” I warn.
Diego makes a motion of zipping his lips. It was a stupid warning. I know Diego won’t say anything. I know he’s loyal. But I had to make sure. Because if this gets out…I won’t have to worry about whether or not I’m going to kill Sophia. The decision will be made for me.
“She’s a cop,” I say in a low voice and Diego doesn’t react other than a widening of his eyes.
“Fuck,” he responds, and I nod, sighing heavily.
“Fuck is right.”
“So what, you have feelings for her or something?”
I bristle. “No. Of course not. Why would you even ask that?”
He stares at me incredulously, uncrossing his arms and dropping them to his sides.
“Because you let a cop see our safehouse? Because you took her?”
I growl. “You don’t get to tell me what to do or what not to do, Diego. You may be my friend, but I’m still—”
“You’re still Caputo, I know,” he says quickly, frowning. “But at the same time, when you put us all in danger—”
“I’m not putting us all in danger!” I insist, my voice raising. “Nobody knows about this safehouse but you and me.”
“And now two more,” he points out. “Do you know you can trust them?”
“I trust all my men,” I say, but it sounds weak even to my own ears. Diego knows there are cracks in my exterior lately.
“They report to Nico, don’t they?”
I draw in a sharp breath. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Diego shakes his head. “Nothing, Caputo. Just…be careful. With this cop, with Nico…with everything.”
His words are cryptic, but I know what he means.
“Nico’s my brother. He’s loyal,” I say, and I know that much. Nico wouldn’t go against me, no matter what. He’s just distracted by the drugs.
We’ve all experimented, but it’s becoming a problem for Nico. Something I wish I could get our father to understand.
“I can take the first shift,” Diego offers, and I shake my head.
“No. This is my mess. I’ll clean it up,” I tell him. “I’ll find out what she knows.”
“And then what?”
I rub a hand across my face. “Then I’ll handle it.”
Diego looks at me for a moment longer and then shrugs. “I trust you, Caputo. Call me if you need me.”
He gets into the Escalade and drives away, leaving me there alone with Sophia.
I roll my shoulders, feeling tense, and walk back into the house, grabbing a chair from the kitchen and planting it right in front of Sophia’s room—the only bedroom. The other room in the house was used as an office when my mother lived here.
My mother and father lived separately my whole life, and I never thought it was strange until I started having sleepovers at other kid’s houses.
She lived in the cottage, and Father lived in the mansion.
Nico doesn’t remember, but we spent our summers at this cottage. I have nothing but happy memories here.
And now that’s all changed. Now I might have to kill a woman that I…
I frown at my own thoughts. That I what?
I’m not in love with her. That would be ridiculous. But I can’t deny that I feel something for her, however confused it might be.
But for now, I cross my arms, staring at the door. I’ll keep watch, won’t sleep. It’s the only way to make sure that slippery pixie won’t try to escape.
I trust the deadbolt, installed it myself, but still, who knows what tricks she has up her sleeve? She’s a cop, after all.
I have to find out what she knows. And after that…try to live with whatever I have to do.