“Release her?” I whispered.
“Locked her in the car.”
As he walked out he raised his mobile to his head. “Romero? Yeah, I need you to come over.”
I stared down at the carpet with the bloodstains. Luca’s blood.
“Aria!” Gianna’s scream made me jump and then she stormed my way, hair wild and nightgown half-torn as if she’d struggled, and flung herself at me, hugging me so tightly I couldn’t breathe. She shook against me, and something wet hit my throat.
I touched the back of her head. “Shh. I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not,” Gianna whispered as she pulled back, her eyes raking over me before they moved on to the mess on the carpet. “Did he hurt you?”
I shook my head even as my heart clenched tightly.
“I thought he’d kill you. I wanted to warn you but Matteo, the asshole, didn’t let me.”
It felt like part of me had died, but Luca would never kill me.
“Matteo tried to save your pretty ass,” Matteo said to Gianna. “While something stops Luca from snapping Aria’s neck, it won’t stop him with you, trust me.”
“I’m not talking to you,” Gianna said sharply, and this time it wasn’t a game.
I touched her leg. “He wanted to protect you. Don’t be mad at him, please. It’s bad enough that I destroyed my own marriage; I don’t want to be responsible for another one.”
“Luca will come around,” she said, but her words lacked conviction.
The sound of the front door opening and closing filled me with hope but when Lily and Romero walked in, not Luca, I deflated. Lily also came over to me and hugged me tightly, her arms trembling. Her eyes were red from crying. Guilt crashed over me.
“We were so worried about you,” she said. I raised my eyes to Romero, who stood beside Matteo and listened to him, but Romero’s eyes were on me. Pity showed in his, not anger as I’d expected, and for some reason that made things worse.chapter 18MATTEOI tried calling Luca on his second mobile again but he didn’t pick up. Where the fuck was he?
My eyes slanted over to Aria, Gianna and Lily.
When I’d entered the mansion fifteen minutes ago and seen the bloody handprints on the door and bloodstains on the marble floor, I was sure I’d find Aria dead, and ultimately also Luca, because killing her would have been his end, but she was miraculously unharmed.
Fuck, Luca, where are you?
He was out for blood, no doubt. What if he was on his way to Chicago? What if he was trying to kill Dante on his own?
Fuck!
I took out my second mobile and called Orazio then hung up, waiting for him to call me back in case he couldn’t talk freely at the moment. It took five minutes before he called me back, and I was in my car by that time and heading for New York. I needed to find Luca before he got himself killed, or caught by the police while killing others.
“Matteo, what can I do for you?” Orazio said.
I’d never been more relieved that Orazio was our spy in the Outfit. He had been working with us for two years now and had never let us down. “In case Luca shows up in Chicago, make sure you knock him out before he gets near Dante.”
“What?” Orazio muttered. “What do you mean?”
“Never mind.”
Orazio was silent. He wasn’t a very communicative man anyway.
“I need you to find someone for me. It’s a photographer. I sent you an email with the details. Get him as fast as possible and ask him who paid him to take the photos of Dante and Aria.”
“Wait, what? What photos?”
“Read my fucking email. And when you’re done asking him, you will take him to New York.”
Silence. “You want me to come to New York?”
“Not for long. You will return to Chicago once you’ve handed over the photographer.”
“Will do,” Orazio said, but I could hear a hint of hesitation in his tone.
“You’ve been working for us for two years,” I reminded him. If Dante found out, even Orazio’s status as Valentina’s brother wouldn’t grant him a quick death.
Orazio got the unvoiced threat and hung up. He would bring me that photographer, and then I’d have a very long, intense conversation with the fucker.It was evening when Demetrio called me over my headset. He was Luca’s and my cousin, Gottardo’s bastard son. “What is it?”
I still hadn’t found any trace of Luca, and I couldn’t involve anyone in the search except for Romero. If word got out what had happened, things would get uncomfortable in the Famiglia. “Someone slaughtered every member of the Jersey MC.”
My foot on the gas eased up. “Where?”
“Their clubhouse. I’m there. Orfeo and I were supposed to meet their president to give them a warning, but someone got to them before us.”
Fuck. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”