37
LUCA
“ W e have some things to discuss,” Luca announces to Sera and Levi.
I stand stoically by the wall, as far away from the group as I can, but still allowing me to step in and do my job if the situation calls for it.
“Like?” Sera asks, crossing her arms and legs as she leans back into the couch.
She’s looking more casual today, opting to wear denim shorts and a t-shirt instead of her usual business attire. I guess with the weather only getting hotter as the summer passes by, comfort is a preference for her.
“Like your birthday?” Levi announces.
Sera slams her fist into Levi’s side. It’s so fast that not even Levi anticipates it, coughing and spluttering while rubbing his ribs.
“No!” she barks sternly, something darkening her brown gaze. It’s almost unrecognizable, like an old wound reopening. She winces, suddenly remembering the company she’s keeping, righting herself immediately.
Luca frowns, seemingly just as confused as I am at the display. “Wait. It’s your birthday? ”
“Not for another month,” Sera replies. She twists her body, pointing a finger at Levi beside her. “Anyway, the answer is no!”
“Spoil sport,” he mutters under his breath, even though we all heard it clearly.
“What’s wrong?” Luca asks her, but she’s already past giving them both her time on the matter.
Levi answers for her, his disappointment lacing his words. “It’s an occasion she spared only for Enzo.”
“Spared?” she snaps.
Levi’s hands shoot up in surrender, barely able to conceal his fear that he might get punched by Sera again. “I know it won’t be the same, but we can do something together.”
I’m still confused. I don’t know what Enzo had to do with her birthday, but it’s something she doesn’t want to share with anyone else. Maybe it’s her way of remaining close to the one thing she lost? Or maybe it’s a way to keep her focused and remind herself of what she needs to do?
“We could definitely all do with blowing off a bit of steam, especially once all this shit is done.” Luca sides with Levi, tossing Sera a wink that starts to make her blush.
I’ve rarely seen Sera get heated about something so minor. Birthdays are birthdays, though the more I think about what Levi just said, I understand the weight of guilt preventing her from being happy.
Happy.
I’m pretty sure this morning, while she was crying out Luca’s name, that she was happy. There was no way I couldn’t hear her as I passed the stairway to the den. She might have closed the door for privacy, but her cries of pleasure weren’t as concealed as she thought. Whatever Luca was doing to her certainly had her sated by the time she reappeared with a blissful grin on her face.
“The answer is no!” She glares at Levi. He seems to be the one at fault right now and I should feel sorry for him. However, he doesn’t seem in the least bit deterred by her anger. “We already talked about this. Anyway, we’re going off topic. What did you want to discuss?”
Luca’s attention is back onto serious matters. He shifts in his place on the couch adjacent to Sera. “Firstly,” he says, clearing his throat and casting a wary glance at me. “The mole situation.”
“We have a mole situation?” Levi questions in surprise.
“Possibly,” Sera murmurs, but that’s all she’ll give away at this point.
Suddenly, the room feels a little hotter, a little more intense. All three are glaring at each other, and I’m pretty certain my presence might be the reason they are holding off on saying anything else. It’s smart, but I’m definitely not the one leaking secrets to anybody.
Luca nods, continuing his list of problems, which only now seems to be two other things. He leans forward, elbows resting on his knees as he looks at his leader directly. “Secondly, we weren’t alone the other night at the warehouse, Sera. Someone else was there.”
Sera’s brows furrow with confusion. I’m having a hard time keeping a stoic expression when my thoughts start running with Luca’s words. What does he mean ‘someone else was there’?
“We don’t know why or what they wanted but?—“
“We were about to attack and bam, men were dropping around us like flies!” Levi cuts in, spreading his arms for dramatic effect.
Sera shakes her head. “I’m still not following. Somebody else attacked the compound?”
“More like somebody was helping us to.” Luca sits back. He seems more relaxed now that the information is out. Sera isn’t pissed, but intrigued, and rightly so.
It doesn’t add up, but then again, does anything lately?
“We were taking men out, but someone else was looking out for us.” Luca smooths his hand over his slicked-back blonde hair, a scowl forming on his face.
“Do you think this has something to do with the mole?”
“What mole?!” Levi exclaims, seemingly not managing to keep up.
Sera turns to Levi. I can see how hard she’s trying to keep her cool, but her frustration only has her clenching her fists. “Somebody told my father about the agreement with the Vultures.”
Levi whistles loudly, “Shit.”
“Exactly. ”
“Anyway,” Luca huffs. “I doubt they’re the same person. Someone ratting you out to your father doesn’t have your best interests in mind. Someone taking out the guards at the warehouse while we retrieved the girl is probably someone we can trust.”
Sera looks exasperated now. No matter how hard she tries, she never had a good poker face. “So why don’t they show themselves? We can become allies.”
“People hide for different reasons, Bianchi.” Levi shrugs his shoulders. “Not everything is as black and white as we would like to think.”
Sera sighs, slumping back on the couch. “So we have a mole and a mystery ally?” She slides her fingers through her hair, the look of defeat warring with her determination.
“There’s one more thing,” Luca adds, earning a questioning look from Sera. She already looks pissed, I don’t think she can take much more bad news. “The girl, she insinuated that there were more like her. I don’t think she was just leverage to use against The Vultures.”
My blood runs cold and a foreboding chill travels up my spine. I’ve worked with plenty of monsters in my time, but someone who deals in the flesh trade deserves a fate worse than death. I can already tell that’s the direction Luca’s theory is going.
Sera huffs, seemingly exhausted by the onslaught of information. “Do you think we can trust Raf enough to do some digging?”
Luca nods, certain of the answer to her question. He doesn’t even need to think about it. “I think Raf has already proved where his loyalty lies.”
“What do you want to do going forward?” Levi frowns, tugging his phone out of his pocket. He’s immediately distracted by whatever he’s reading, his brows knitting together.
“Business as usual,” Sera answers firmly. “We’ve got the girl, The Vultures are on our side. If Raf can find the mole or the ally, then we will need to discuss that in more depth. I’m not making any decisions until we know what we’re dealing with.”
“So?” Levi asks, eyes still glued to the screen.
“So now we go for the jugular. ”
Luca starts to rub his hands together, a sinister smile creeping over his lips. “Take the Verdis out.”
It’s what he came for in the first place. The dynamic of the Mafia has always been odd, but I can’t fault the way it is run. Their structure is like a tree. Branches spear off in various directions. Families run their own businesses. But if it jeopardizes the integrity of the trunk of that tree, the man—or in this case, woman— take matters into their own hands. Gone are the days where families were always fighting for territory. The organization has developed a lot in the last few decades.
Of course, there will always be feuds, it’s natural. But the final say comes from up top. In this situation, though, it’s not that simple. The feud built by the Verdis is aimed at the person up top. Even with all my years doing this job, it’s a situation I’m not familiar with.
“I want their livelihood destroyed,” Sera growls. “I want the Verdis so lost they won’t have anything, no one to turn to, nowhere to run, no money to pay anyone. I want them to cower when the darkness comes, so they can see what they have forced upon themselves.”
In this moment, she looks every bit the ruthless leader men work so hard to perfect; she’s calm but deadly. She’s her father through and through, and I’m sure he’d be proud to see her like this.
“I’ll ask Raf to track their movements.” Luca stands, staring down at Levi with concern. “With the Vultures on board, that’ll make things easier. We’ll use Raf’s intel to take out the other warehouses. The last one had over seven million dollars worth of coke and dirty money. Who knows what these other compounds carry.”
Sera nods in agreement, turning to follow Luca’s gaze. “What’s wrong?” she asks.
Without a word, Levi reaches for the TV remote. The sound of a news reporter captures our attention. We all turn to watch, the screen filling with the recording of dead bodies being wheeled across concrete, the shipping docks in the background signaling to where it’s being filmed.
“It is believed to be connected with the Bianchi family, the leading supporters to Governor D’Angelo. Right now, the docks have been closed pending an investigation into the sex trafficking reports. ”
“The fuck!” Sera shoots up from her place on the couch. Her face contorts as anger rages through her. I can already feel the torrent of emotions battling inside of her, but I’m faced with more complex feelings.
I stare at the screen longer than necessary. Bodies are being wheeled all over the place, dead bodies, bodies in bags. I gulp trying to hold back the disgust, but the look on Sera’s face tells me this has nothing to do with her.
Someone is setting her up.
Luca turns to Sera. “Now would be a good time to call in a favor from the governor.”
“No shit!”
“There are over two hundred reported dead so far. While coroners work on identifying the bodies, we understand that this is part of a traffic ring. Some as young as six years old have already been confirmed as being among the dead, with the ages ranging as far as twenty. We’ll have more news in an hour.”
Bile rises to the surface. The heat crawling up my neck now wraps around my throat, making it so damn hard to breathe. My fears and doubts start creeping in as endless possibilities war with what I’m hearing. I can’t take it anymore.
I storm out the back door without looking back, without acknowledging that I’ve left my mark to calm myself down.
Before I know it, I’m inside the pool house, reaching for the sink. I splash my face with cold water, hoping to extinguish the raging inferno inside of me. I already know what’s coming, the prospect sits at the back of my mind constantly, and I know that this isn’t Sera’s doing, yet she’s being blamed for it.
A soft tap comes at the door to the pool house. Cautiously, I move towards it, taking every step slow and determined to douse the anger.
When I open it, Sera is standing outside, her arms folded over her chest. A worried line works its way between her brows while she chews her lip.
I step aside. She recognizes the gesture and enters the pool house, taking in her surroundings. I suppose, since I’ve never seen her use the pool, that she rarely comes in here. That, or she’s surprised at the state of it.
It’s a studio type layout. A bathroom is tucked away in the corner, separate from the bedroom, with a hallway opposite that leads to the front door Sera just entered through. It’s small, cozy, but I like it. Exposed wooden framework lines the ceiling, supporting beams on either side of the bed, presenting the image of a four poster without the other two posts. It’s elegant in a simplistic way, giving it a subtle beach vibe at the same time.
“Is everything okay?” she asks.
We’re not close, not in the way I wish we were anyway. She was always my mark first and foremost, but I can’t pretend that the moments where it is only us don’t hold more meaning than just a boss and her bodyguard. I’ve subtly comforted her, calmed her with just a touch that I know is overstepping. But Sera never seems to mind, and I think those moments alone are what drives us closer.
I’m not expecting there to be anything else but a bond where she can fully trust me. At this point, I believe it’s something we both need because the battles I’m facing alone are starting to hurt and I’m not sure how much more I can take.
“You know you can come to me for anything, right?” The leader that was just threatening the end of a family name has swiftly been replaced with a woman who cares. She cares so deeply about those around her that to anyone else, it would be seen as a weakness. I know people out there who would use that against her, too. But if anything, it’s the reason she wants to continue. To seek revenge, to exact it in the most fitting way.
I realize my thoughts have taken over, and Sera is still waiting for a response. I nod, taking a seat beside her.
“You know that ring has nothing to do with me?”
I frown at her, not sure why she feels the need to justify herself to me of all people. I’m just her guard at the end of the day. She rules the way she wants to, and I protect her while she does it.
“I can tell that something is bothering you. I don’t know what, but you can trust me to listen.” Sera squeezes my hand. It’s the most contact we’ve had; lingering touches, hand squeezes, longing gazes that I can’t quite decipher from her.
After a beat of heavy silence, Sera sighs. I can practically taste the disappointment from her.
I’ve given her no expectation that I would ever talk, but she seems to still hold out hope that she can break my mold. At this point, it’s not that I don’t want to. I’ve spent the last two months watching her so closely that I’m finding as each day passes, I want to know more about her. The only way for that to happen would be to talk to her, but that comes at a heavy price.
One I’m not willing to pay.
“You don’t have to talk, Gio. But if you need someone to sit in silence with, you know where to find me.”
She goes to stand, but I reach forward, my fingertips grazing hers. She freezes, turning around to face me as I stand to my full height.
I tower over her, but she’s not intimidated by it.
Her brown eyes seek mine, an expectant smile teasing the plump lips I’ve shamelessly thought about on more than one occasion. It’s hard not to when you’re in my position, standing idly to the side, hearing her enjoy herself with someone else— two someone else’s.
Reaching forward, I brush the strand of hair that has made its way out of her ponytail. My fingers stroke delicately over her cheek, and I hear her suck in a breath at the contact.
My hand stops as soon as I realize it’s more than an instinctual gesture, dropping my arm away.
“Gio—“
My phone rings before she can say another word. I step away from her.
The moment is broken now, and though I am disappointed, I know it’s for the best.
What would I do anyway? She’s my boss, my mark. I have to protect her, not fall for her.
Sera steps towards the door, pulling it open and glancing once more at me over her shoulder. “The offer still stands,” she says before closing the door behind her .
I let out a breath, tugging my phone from my pocket. I know who it is without looking at the screen. At this point, it’s the only number that calls.
I wait until I’m sure Sera is back in the house before perching on my bed and clicking ‘answer’.
The monotonous voice sounds out through the speaker, and all the good I’ve been drowning in around Bianchi dissolves in an instant. “I’m sure you’ve seen the news, Giovanni.”
My stomach churns, and almost immediately, a cold sweat sheens my forehead. “I have,” I answer.
“Good. I need an update.”
I lean forward, resting my elbows on my knees. I wipe away at the beads of sweat, attempting to coax away the irritation and nerves, but it’s no use. “I don’t have anything for you.”
A huff brushes loudly in my ear, forcing me to wince. I don’t need to be a mind reader to know that my response isn’t the expected one. “They’re discovering new bodies every hour. I’d hate for them to discover the wrong person.”
I don’t miss the message. It’s loud and clear, serving as a warning. And I believe it. My fists still curl up. My knuckles still whiten until I can feel my fingernails digging into my palms. “I swear to god,” I grit out. “If you fucking touch her?—“
Maniacal laughter effectively cuts me off. It’s brutal, callous, a definitive threat that I can’t escape. It continues for what feels like minutes, though I know that’s impossible.
I’m about to bark more expletives, cast the asshole down for their threats, but the laughter dies when the phone cuts off and I’m just left with my own pitiful rage.
“ Fongoul !” My phone smashes against the wall from where I’ve thrown it. It clatters but doesn’t break, a grand symbol of how my heart feels inside. Helpless.