Chapter Twenty-Six
Lucas
My hands tighten on the steering wheel as my Range Rover speeds over the highway.
I hate leaving the town, leaving her. But business called and I had to forsake the bliss of watching the first sunrays caress Chiara’s skin for the stark reality of my world when it caught up on me.
I had to sneak out at the break of dawn to get back to my hotel room to shower and get dressed before driving back to Boston.
Her matchbox of a place is too small and too fucking inconvenient for us living together.
I gnash my teeth. She needs to move out and into our new house as soon as possible, and I vow that I’ll make it happen the second I’m back from Boston.
She will fight me, of course. She always does.
And as much as I should be annoyed by her resistance, I have to admit that on the contrary, it thrills me to no end.
She has been hiding this side of her, and now that I’ve seen her defiance and strength, my obsession has expanded to alarming heights.
And the fixation is not only emotional. I realize that the physical response she pulls out of me is staggering.
I can’t get enough of her scent, of the feel of her skin against mine, of her sweet pussy gripping my cock.
I’m hooked on her like a junkie on a potent drug, craving it, hating it, and fully aware that withdrawal might lead to a painful death.
I know I was rough last night. I’ve pushed her farther and farther, not leaving her any reprieve, taking mercilessly, staking my claim, making it clear that I am the only one for her.
Until she passed out. Fuck, I’ve always been a tender and considerate lover, I was never ruthless or impulsive in bed.
But somehow, Chiara makes my sanity fly out the window and turns me into a snarling beast. As soon as I feel her against me, as I smell her sweet scent, a primal part in me takes over and there’s nothing I can do to stop this vicious urge to take and to possess her.
I’ve never felt this need to be with a woman, this possessiveness eating me alive, this hunger that only she can alleviate.
When I step out of my car in the underground car park in D’s office building, I already feel on edge of being far from her.
I push the feeling down, needing to focus on my role.
I know I have been slacking on the job for the last few weeks.
I’d managed things from out of town for most of the time, driving back to Boston only when it couldn’t be helped.
If D wants to give me shit about it, fine.
I’d rather quit my job as his second than leave Chiara alone.
I grit my teeth. If it comes to that, I’m ready to face the consequences.
I walk out of the elevator and greet the receptionist with a nod before stepping into his office without knocking.
He and Teo look up from their conversation and study me with level stares.
I give them a nod and step to the concealed mini fridge to get a bottle of water before plopping on my usual chair by the conference table where they are sitting.
As soon as I’m seated, Teo drawls, “Well, look who crawled back from his love nest.”
“Fuck off,” I mutter, leaning back and uncapping the bottle to take a sip.
“What?” He gives me a level stare. “Left your sense of humor in that backwater hole?”
Before I can go for his throat, D falls in, never even looking up from the paperwork he’s shuffling. “He’s not wrong, Luc. You’ve been MIA. And last I checked, second-in-command doesn’t get vacation time.”
“I was busy,” I reply with a shrug.
D looks up from the papers with a slight lift of his mouth. “Busy? That’s what we’re calling it now? Chasing after the woman you swore was only a friend?”
“I wasn’t chasing,” I snap, a bit too defensively. “Just busy.”
“And since she’s not back with you in town, it means you’ve not been able to persuade her to give your sorry ass a chance, am I right?” Teo’s enjoying this way too much and I am this close to punching the fucker in the face.
“Fuck off, asshole,” I snarl, losing my calm.
He shakes his head with a smirk. “I’m stating the obvious, that’s all.”
“I’ll give you obvious if you don’t shut your fucking mouth.”
“Luc, we know what you’re going through. We’ve been there.” D’s low voice is placating. I look out the windows over the city, jaw working, not ready to face their gazes just yet.
“Our women are strong and stubborn, there’s no denying it,” he goes on, “but if you’re not serious about Chiara, leave her be.”
I bolt up and slam both fists on the table. “Not serious? How can you even imply this? You think I’d hurt her?”
He stares at me for a beat, then shakes his head. “I can only guess, dickhead. I’ve seen you burn through women like a lit match through paper. But Chiara, she’s my sister-in-law. If you hurt her, you’ll answer to me, not as your boss but as her family.”
Anger surges, hot and consuming, and I exhale, willing my racing heart to slow down. “I’m not hurting her,” I grit out through my locked jaws. “She simply…needs time to get used to the idea of us. But she’ll have me whether she realizes it yet or not.”
They are both silent for another second, then Teo lets out a breath. “Jesus, you hear yourself? That’s obsession.”
I drop back into my seat and send him a glare over the table. “Call it whatever you want. I’m not letting her go.”
D looks at me for several seconds. “She’s family, Luc.” His voice is serious. “If she comes to me and even hints she needs help getting you off her back, I’ll make it happen. Don’t put me in that position.”
His words land like a punch. He holds my gaze, unblinking, until I force myself to breathe.
I finally manage a clipped, “Not gonna happen.”
D doesn’t blink. “See that it doesn’t.”
I am fucking done with their grousing. “So what is so important that you need me here in person?”
Without a word, D slides the open folder toward me and I leaf through the content. There are surveillance shots, pictures and daily log sheets of our docks.
“We’ve been chasing ghosts. They’ve kept quiet again for months.
Every time we think we’re closing in, the ring vanishes.
But now?” He taps one of the photos with his finger.
“They’re moving again, someone slipped, or something shifted.
Something’s happening in our city, and it’s bigger than the scraps we’ve seen before. ”
I study the pictures, my jaw tightening. They show cargo ships, shipping manifests, shadowy figures captured by the dock’s surveillance cameras. “What are they doing?”
“Nothing too obvious for now, but they’re getting bolder. They are running their shipments through our city, probably thinking that we are getting careless. And Teo’s got ahold of more active exchanges.”
Teo nods. “We intercepted communications on the darknet implying that they are preparing to make a move. But we’ve not been able to determine what or where, and of course, we couldn’t trace the trail back to whoever posted it.”
“Fuck.” I exhale. “What’re our options?”
D leans back with a heavy sigh. “For now, we wait. That’s why we need you here, you read the streets better than anyone.”
I smirk with a chuckle, though inside the gears are already turning. “So you miss me.”
Teo scoffs. “Don’t flatter yourself, you’re just better at catching the undercurrents of this city. You sense when something’s off before we do.”
He’s not wrong. That’s why I’m D’s second.
I’m a people reader, I can sense and predict the currents shifting before anyone catches on, while he’s the strategist and Teo’s the blade.
Our dynamic has proven deadly and effective through the years.
And now, I’ve upset the equilibrium by staying away.
A sharp pang of guilt slices through me, but I ruthlessly push it down.
I’ve given my whole life to the famiglia, it had shaped me, made me the man I am.
But now I need to be just me, not the second, not a Mafia man, only Lucas.
And the famiglia is damn well going to give me this.
I clear my throat. “I know I’ve been slacking.
” I give my two brothers a look, I hope conveys my emotions.
I need them to understand that this is something I’m doing for me.
“Give me time, a couple weeks, a month tops. Have my back on this one.” My throat constricts from the weight of what I’m about to say.
“If you can’t, then fuck it, get someone else for the job. ”
They both inhale audibly.
“You’re our brother,” D says quietly. “There’s no way in hell we’ll willingly let you go.”
A weight lifts from my shoulders.
“But,” he goes on. “If you feel like this is too much and you need a break, you must tell us. Lives are on the line.”
I nod. “Understood.” Then, needing to lift the mood. “Now tell me everything I need to know before I drive back to that backwater hole people rot in.”
“More like drive back to the woman who’s got you acting like a goddamn lovesick teenager.” Teo smirks.
“Fuck off, dickhead,” I mutter, but this time, we all chuckle quietly.