Oh god. He sounded so…cold.
Still crying and sniffling, I lowered my hands to see a box of tissues on the desk in front of me. I pulled out a few and wiped my face and blew my nose, a welcome sense of numbness coming over me now that my initial panic attack was passing. When I was finished, Luca dropped down to his haunches beside me, resting one arm on the desk and one on the chair seat next to my thigh. His fingers played with the hem of my shorts.
“Veda, I need you to be honest with me and tell me what’s going on.” A spark of hope burned in my chest when I thought I heard a slight tinge of warmth. Enough to make me think that maybe he’d listen and let me explain.
I glanced over at him, gauging his expression, but it was carefully neutral, his blue eyes giving nothing away. “I’m so sorry,” I told him. “I didn’t have a choice.”
“Sorry for what, exactly?”
“I had no choice,” I repeated, my eyes pleading for him to understand. “I did it to protect you.” I still sounded like I was on the edge of panic. I couldn’t help it.
He cocked his head, much like Tristan had done. “What exactly did you do?”
“I thought I was safe, once I was back here. I thought he couldn’t get to me. But he did. He did.” A note of hysteria had entered my voice. “He found me in my apartment that day. And the other day when we went to the lake.”
His eyes narrowed and I could see his sharp mind going through everyone who was with me those days. “Who did?”
“I don’t know his name,” I whispered. Then louder, because I couldn’t lie to him, “He came into my room while I was in the closet packing my clothes. Enzo can tell you who he was.”
He was quiet a moment while he thought about that. “And he was on the boat the other day?”
I nodded.
“No one spoke to you on the boat other than me.”
There was note of disbelief in his tone, and I felt my chest crack wide open as my throat constricted. I barely managed to get the words out. “It was after we got home. He brought the cooler in.”
A knowing expression bloomed on his face. “Okay,” he said. “And who is he working for?” He cocked his wrist and his fingers brushed over my nipple. It hardened instantly as my breath caught. “Or do I even have to ask?”
“He works for Mario,” I told him.
I shivered as the temperature in the room seemed to suddenly drop, even though Luca made no indication he’d even heard me.
Oh god. I was going to die.