Chapter 31
SOPHIA
I don’t have much time. Any minute now, Scott could be coming for me. He would have brought the cavalry, and I have to get Luca and Diego out of here.
I can’t let them get arrested.
“Caputo?” Diego calls and then a grunt and the slam of a body against a wall alerts me that the cavalry is here. I’m out of time.
“Luca, listen to me,” I say, cupping his face. He tries to wrench away from me, but I keep him there fast, staring into his eyes. “I have to tell you something. It’s important. It’s so important, Luca, and—”
The SWAT team bursts in through the windows, making me jump. I scream and watch in horror as Luca reaches for his gun. It’s instinct. I don’t know if he even would have fired it, but it doesn’t matter.
Gunshots ring through the room and Luca’s hit, blood spurting all over me as the bullets penetrate through him. Three, in a small ring, right around his heart.
“No!” I scream, placing my hand over one of the wounds but blood spurts through my fingers and Luca gasps. There’s blood on his teeth. “No, no, fuck, Luca—”
“Sophia,” he sputters. “Pixie.”
Then he goes down on his knees, slumping over and I scream again as the uniformed men come at me.
“Back away! He might have a weapon!”
“Fuck you!” I yell, fighting the officers, struggling to get to Luca. After a brief moment they let me go and I crumple to the ground next to Luca. “Baby listen, you have to listen to me.”
“I never got to tell you,” he says slowly, coughing and spitting up blood. My heart races. How bad is it? Is he dying? Is he dying right here? “I love you. I’m crazy about you, Sophia.”
My heart clenches in my chest. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening, because he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know a beautiful little girl named Rosa Bianchi exists, and he can’t die before he knows that. Before he meets her.
“We have a daughter,” I rasp out, my voice weak. His green eyes are looking up at the ceiling, barely focusing. I shake him and he lets out a weak cough. “We have a daughter, Luca. Her name is Rosa and she has your eyes and you can’t die because you have to meet her! You have to—”
But his eyes are drifting shut and another SWAT officer comes up to me, tugging off his mask to reveal that it’s Scott underneath.
Some insane part of me wants to ask when he joined SWAT, but words won’t come out as I clutch at Luca. They probably let him on the team just for this mission. It’s amazing what you can get done when you’re part of the Chicago Police Department.
“Medic,” I whisper hoarsely, then my voice cracks as I yell it louder. “Medic! Scott, please!”
Scott barks out something and a few EMT’s come on the scene, rushing to Luca. In the distance, I notice someone putting Diego into the back of a cop car.
God. What have I done?
Scott has to pull me physically off Luca and I scream and fight him.
“Hey. Hey, Soph, let them work.”
“Lost his pulse,” one of the EMTs yells, and my breath catches in my throat.
“Starting compressions,” the other says, pushing down hard on Luca’s chest. I struggle in Scott’s arms but to no avail. He holds me tight against his chest.
“Let them help him,” he says quietly, and I lose it. I dissolve into sobs, my knees buckling but Scott holds me up, murmuring sweet nothings against my ear.
He tries to lead me out of the building, but I won’t go. I’m too focused on the EMT giving CPR to my father’s daughter, to the man I’m in love with.
“He’s not going to make it, is he?” I ask in a broken voice, and for the longest time Scott doesn’t answer.
“I don’t know,” he says finally, voice flat, and the scream that comes out of my throat burns on its way out.
I start losing time. One moment, I’m standing in the mansion, staring at Luca’s prone form as the EMTs work on him. Next, I’m in the back of an ambulance with someone taking my blood pressure. Scott snaps in front of my face, bringing me back.
“Soph. Are you with me?”
“I’m here,” I say shakily. “Luca?”
“On his way to the hospital. Soph, I wouldn’t have ordered him shot but—”
“I know. I know, he went for his gun.” I rub a hand across my face, unsurprised when my palm comes away wet with tears.
“Did anyone hurt you?”
I shake my head. “No.”
“Soph, what happened?” Scott’s voice is low, plaintive. I do owe him an explanation.
“You were right,” I say, barking out a humorless laugh. “You were so right. I should have never gone to the fight that night.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“I need to see Luca. I need to go and get Rosa and we need to see Luca,” I say stubbornly, and Scott frowns.
“It’s four in the morning—”
“It’s four in the morning and she’s never met her father and he might be dying so you have to let me get her!” I yell, breaking down in sobs all over again, and Scott pulls me into his arms.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. We should…we should go to the hospital first, Sophia. Just in case…”
In case he doesn’t make it.
I lose time again, and suddenly the bright lights of the hospital are beating down on me as Scott and I walk through the corridors.
Yelling sounds in the background, beeping, a flatline.
They’re still working on Luca. His heart still isn’t beating.
“We have to go get Rosa,” I breathe, and Scott listens but he doesn’t move, standing with his arm around me as we look through the glass.
“I’ll have her brought here,” he promises. “But not now, Soph. Think about it. If she shows up and sees him like this…”
I squeeze my eyes shut against the burning of tears. They slip down my face anyway.
“You’re right. You’re always right, Scott.” There’s some resentment in my voice and I hate myself for it. It isn’t Scott’s fault. I’d asked him for help and he’d given it, and it’s all I could have asked for.
“Soph—”
“Just leave me alone,” I snap, and his face falls. I soften, patting his cheek with one hand. “I love you, Scott, but I need you to leave me alone. Just for now.”
Scott stares at me for a moment longer and then nods, dropping his gaze from mine and leaving the corridor into the waiting room.
I stand there, watching them pound on Luca’s chest, shock him.
“We’ve got a pulse,” I hear, and all the sound seems to go out of the world. My ears are ringing and my vision blurs in and out. I don’t realize I’m fainting until I’m crumpling to the floor.
When I come to, I’m lying on one of those hard hospital couches and my neck hurts. Scott drapes a cool rag over my forehead and my head pounds, but I feel more awake, more present than I have all night.
“There you are,” Scott says softly, smiling at me.
“Luca,” I gasp, and Scott frowns slightly.
“They won’t tell me anything but that he’s in surgery.”
My heart falls, seeming to drop into my stomach. “Still? What time is it?”
“Daylight,” he answers, and crouches next to me, looking into my eyes. “You know I need a statement, Soph.”
“I know.” The words come out thick and I clear my throat. “Where do I start?”
Scott tugs a small notebook out of his back pocket with a pen, taking notes.
“Night of the thirteenth. Saturday. Start there.”
“You know what happened. Luca and Diego…they took me.”
“On Luca’s order?”
I nod, feeling defeated, my shoulders slumping. There’s nothing I can do to shield Luca from this. He’s fighting for his life in that operating room and I’m damning him.
But the jig is up. I can’t keep lying, not to Luca, not to Scott, and not to myself.
“I’m in love with him, Scott,” I breathe out, and Scott looks away then back at me.
“Kind of gathered that much.”
“I’ve been so stupid, Scott. I didn’t want to be detective. I just wanted…”
“To make your father proud?”
I nod slowly. “I guess that’s it. But he’s not just a mobster, Scott. He’s a man, too.”
My man.
I don’t exactly know how to tell Scott that I went to be with Luca whether he’s in prison or not, but I’ll figure it out. Doesn’t have to be right now.
“Can I borrow your phone? Rosa will be getting up soon.”
Scott fumbles around in his pocket and hands me his phone.
I dial Agnes’ number and she picks up on the second ring, reading the caller ID.
“Scott! Have you heard from Sophie? Rosa’s getting a little antsy.”
“It’s me.” My voice is ragged and tired, but Agnes doesn’t seem to notice.
“Oh, Sophia! It’s you! Are you with Scott.”
“I am. Listen, Agnes—”
“I know. She’s right here.” I swallow hard as a shuffling sound breaks through the air.
“Mama?”
Tears rush down my face, and I don’t try to stop them.
“Rosie girl. Mama misses you so much.”
“I miss you too, Mama. Are you coming over for a sleepover?”
“Not exactly, but I’m gonna see you real soon, honey, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Are you being good for Agnes?”
“I’ve been such a good girl, Mama. You wouldn’t believe it,” she says proudly, and my chest feels like it’s swelling with love for her.
“I’ll see you soon, baby. I love you.”
“Love ya, too.”
She hangs up and I wordlessly hand my phone over to Scott.
“I was serious about going to get her. If he makes it through this…”
Scott nods. “We’ll find a way to get her here, if he makes it.”
If.
A man in a lab coat, presumably a doctor, comes into the room, taking my chart and flipping through it quickly.
“I’m Dr. Moreno. You’re dehydrated,” he says flatly. “But you don’t seem like you’re suffering from malnutrition, so we’re just giving you some fluids.”
“And the loss of consciousness?” Scott asks, voice irritated.
The doctor looks up at him, eyes slightly widened. “Are you the husband?”
“Best friend. You can tell him anything,” I tell the doctor.
“Probably just all the stress plus the dehydration. We’ll keep her overnight for observation, but as far as I’m concerned, she can go home tomorrow as long as she keeps something down.”
I nod, my stomach growling. It’s been a lot of hours since Diego prepared me a meal.
“I think I could eat.”
“I’ll have the tech bring you a plate.”
He exits the room and I look at Scott, exhausted.
“So we were at Saturday. After they took you.”
I take in a deep breath and continue.
“I’m not sure how many days went by. They fed me, gave me water, all that jazz.”
“No one hurt you?”
I shake my head. “They just trapped me. Nobody hit me or anything.”
“Did he interrogate you?”
I hesitate. “Not in so many words.”
Scott groans and runs a hand through his hair.
“Just tell me what happened.”
I open my mouth and the words come tumbling out—everything. How I lied about Scott’s death, how Luca and I started to fall in love, even what a good guy Diego is. I tell him everything I’ve been feeling over the past week and Scott just listens, like a good friend does.
“Do you hate me?” I ask in a broken voice after I’m done.
“I could never hate you, Soph. I love you,” he says earnestly. “But you’re in a mess. I won’t put all this in the report. Just the highlights.”
I breathe out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
“I’m not doing it for you,” he warns, and my eyes snap to his. “I’m doing it for Rosa. She doesn’t need to read her parents’ love story in some dossier.”
I smile despite myself. “You think it’s a love story?”
“A really fucked up, toxic one, but yeah.” He smiles back.
I throw my arms around him.
“I’m glad you’re here, Scott.”
“I’ll do anything I can to help you and Rosa,” he says firmly, and I know what that means.
Scott has my back. He always has.