You didn’t even ask who the fuck it was, I hissed at myself as the lock turned and the door flew open under the immense pressure of the visitor in the night.

  I jumped back and yelled in protest, but three men poured into my apartment in a cacophony of shouts and commands. They were armed, though their guns weren’t in their hands. They warned me, yelling, that that would change if I didn’t cooperate.

  They had flashlights that blinded me temporarily and I saw nothing except the mass of bodies surrounding me suddenly.

  “I’m cooperating. Fuck.” I was yelling, trying to show I could stay calm, but it was as though dark winds fell over the land and threatened to whisk me away.

  “Nobody will hurt you,” one of the men was saying loudly, harshly, as the other two pushed me to my knees. “Stay calm. On your knees. Don’t speak. Don’t say a word and you’ll be fine.”

  I yelped when my vision was blocked and I realized they pulled something over my head. It was soft and allowed air through, but it blocked my eyes.

  They twisted my arms behind my back, harsher than Luca had just the night earlier, and I obeyed their commands. I listened and moaned in pain, then bit my lip hard to keep myself quiet.

  The two men lifted me back to my feet, telling their leader I wasn’t armed or dangerous.

  The leader was saying something fast that I didn’t pick up over the tight fabric moving against my ears. I was dragged out of the apartment and down the stairs as much as I was carried. My feet hovered over the stairs as two beefy men strained to carry me down. Then, cold winter air washed over my bare arms, and the warmth of my bed disappeared. I considered myself lucky, in all this hell, that I had worn my pajamas this night.

  As soon as the lighter thought crossed my mind, I scolded myself and remembered to panic. “Where are you taking me?”

  “Shut up,” someone growled.

  The world tilted and something landed against my side. And when the sound of a car door closing reached my consciousness, I realized I had been thrown into a car’s backseat.

  “Keep your mouth shut or I’ll shut it for you,” another man threatened, pushing me around the back of the car until I knelt on the floor and my torso rested on the leather seat.

  I did what I was told, but an occasional whimper of pain and shock erupted from me. It was usually followed by the tightening of the man’s grip on my wrists.

  The car moved quickly. Dangerously quickly.

  My heart finally found time to thump loudly in my chest and fill my ears with its beating. Everything made less and less sense the more I tried thinking.

  And if I asked them a question, they would hurt me, I knew.

  What was this about?

  Luca had told me what his family business was about. But…

  How did that make me a target? I didn’t know anything other than what Luca had said.

  “If you want money…” I whimpered.

  My arm twisted until I cried out and the man snapped at me to shut it. I did and his grip relaxed a little. Just enough so that the searing pain subsided.

  So, not the money, I deduced.

  But what else could make me valuable to anyone? Unless I was never supposed to know what his family did. But he had told me this in confidence and in the moment of passionate panic that I would leave him. He had admitted it pleadingly.

  This made no sense.

  It seemed ages before the car came to a halt and I was dragged out into the cold that woke me up completely if the heated car ride had managed to make me sleepy at all. I was dragged over snow and frost, my feet kicking into something like stone, and the creaking of hinges made me think we were entering some cold, dark place. Some warehouse where they would beat me, torture me, and kill me.

  Would they?

  They could have done as much an hour ago.

  I tried to keep the voice of reason loud and clear inside my head, but it was drowned by fears that lurked from all sides.

  And when I was thrown from the firm grip of the man who had led me in, the last thing I expected was to land into a big, soft cushion. Even less did I expect what was revealed to me when the black textile was pulled back from my head.

  Lit by the fire in an open fireplace and lamps built into the rustic walls, the room was warm and dim orange. The furniture appeared old, but well kept. The silence was deafening.

  There were footsteps behind me. It was the man who had blindfolded me and dragged me inside. I jerked my head to look at him, making another stupid mistake in the process. His hand was firm and heavy on my shoulder when he pushed me back into my seat. “Sit or I’ll tie you, I swear to God.”

  The growl was enough to make me think twice before making another move. I sat tight and focused on breathing. Breathing was good. I needed to breathe.

  The door flew open and someone stormed in. I didn’t dare look. Instead, I stared at the elaborate weaving of the thick, old carpet that was soft under my bare feet.

  “Where is he?” the man yelled as he stormed in, then stopped abruptly when he presumably spotted me. He slowly approached me. “That’s him? The man who was in his apartment tonight?”

  The man behind me said a single, flat ‘yes.’

  The other man leaned in, then grabbed my chin in his hands. I had never wished for Luca to be near me as much as I did now. Although there always existed a part of me that wanted him close by my side.

  This guy that was leaning in was tall, handsome in a strong and fiery fashion. He wore a suit and guns strapped under his arms. He was dominant in every way I could imagine; from the posture, to the way he breathed slowly, to the way he narrowed his dark eyes. “Who do you work for?” he dragged out darkly.

  “Freshly unemployed,” I said, lifting my chin in a stupid moment of defiance.

  The handsome man looked over me to the beefy one behind me and gave a quick jerk of his head. Whatever the other man had suggested to do to me, I was spared.

  “I’ll ask you again,” the handsome one said. “Who do you work for?”

  Did he want Luca? Through me? He wasn’t getting him. If only I could figure out a way this all connected. If only I could know for sure what this man wanted with Luca, then I could start planning how to protect my man.

  Because that was my only option, right?

  I’d run out of luck tonight, but only after I got the best fucking thing I could have ever hoped for. Luca was my boyfriend.

  I’d had my life saved once.

  I owed a debt to the universe. I had been rewarded for this and it was time to pay up.

  “I’m not telling you anything,” I growled back at the man whose dark eyes flashed with anger.

  “You have no idea what kind of mess you got yourself into. Tell me who you work for. Tell me where they are. Tell me every goddamn move you made tonight or I swear to God I’ll watch this man behind you break your fingers.” There was so much venom in his words that I was tempted to believe him.

  Don’t, I whispered to myself. If I let him scare me even a little, my resolve would fall apart. And I wasn’t intending on betraying Luca to this maniac.

  So, I bared my teeth, since I couldn’t trust my voice not to crack.

  Rushed footsteps outside the door alerted everyone in the room except me. I glanced at the window, planning an escape route instead. As if I could run away.

  I nearly chuckled bitterly.

  My stupid brain was planning ways to protect my body from the shattered glass if I jumped through it. And I didn’t even have a pair of fucking slippers. I wasn’t walking out of this one. Or talking my way out, either.

  The door of the warm, rustic room they had assigned me to lounge in flew open and my jaw nearly shattered against the floor. The familiar face was horrified when his gaze caught mine. “That’s his lover, you morons,” Jack Holloway whined. “What the hell did you do?”

  The only thing I could focus on was the fast tightening of the knots of fate. Was Luca in danger? These men wanted him and Jack was helping them.

  The traitor!

  “Are you fucking kidding me, Albie?” Jack demanded of the other man, then looked at me. “Are you alright? Did they hurt you?” He rushed across the room and pushed the man he had called Albie out of my face. “If there’s a hair missing from his head, Luca’s going to break your neck.”

  “Is he?” The Albie person demanded. “Because where the hell is he?”

  Whatever I had assumed was happening, wasn’t. All I thought I knew was falling apart. “Jack?” I whispered.

  “Shh,” Jack said, lifting my chin and examining my face. Worry on his face somehow spread and infected me like the plague.

  Something bad. Something very, very bad had happened.

  That was as much as I could tell from Jack’s weary gaze.

  “You said lover,” Albie growled, crossing his arms.

  “Yes,” Jack snapped. “Your brother is gay. Which you would know if you spent one minute with him without challenging him.”

  “Watch your tongue, Holloway,” Albie snapped.

  “Brother?” I gasped. Luca’s brother had dragged me out of my home? “Why would Luca do this?” I whispered in panic. It made no sense. And where the hell was he?

  “He didn’t,” Jack told me, ignoring Albie now. “Listen, Austin. These idiots made a mistake. They took you for a spy because all they think about are the goddamn Bond movies.” He shot a look at Albie, who protested.

  “Don’t talk about my guys like that,” he growled, powerless. He paced around the room, waiting, giving Jack some time for…what? I didn’t know.

  “Where is he?” I asked, gaze darting around the room, panic seeping from my heart and straight into my voice.

  “I’m sorry, Austin. He’s missing.” Jack’s lips curved down and a frown shattered the little composure he had had on his face upon entering the room.

  “Missing?” I hissed. Dread uncoiled in my guts. Luca was in danger and every fiber of my being became restless. If he was missing from his apartment, it meant he hadn’t been…No! I would not think about that. “What do you mean? I was with him this evening.”

  Jack shook his head. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out. The security camera caught you leaving the elevator downstairs, coming from Luca’s level. They said a man. I didn’t realize it was you. I’m sorry.”

  “You’re my brother’s lover?” Albie growled.

  Even now, his look in my direction provoked fear. So, this was the crime prince of the DiMarco clan. This was the reason Luca had been adopted and raised to serve. This man? To serve him? I couldn’t imagine such a thing. Luca didn’t need to shout or twist arms in order to command.

  “I am,” I said with pride.

  “He is,” Jack said. “And you got the wrong guy.”

  “He could still be the traitor,” Albie said, but his voice lacked the seriousness it had had before.

  “I’m not a fucking traitor,” I snapped back. With anger at the suggestion and all the fears that were creeping up and up my spine, I took a breath of air and spilled the truth. “I love him.”

  Albie winced at that and went quiet.

  “How is he missing?” I demanded. Somewhere in my darkening soul, a flicker of stupid hope was blooming. Maybe he had just gone out for a walk. Maybe he had run out of snacks at midnight.

  I knew these were silly thoughts, but I clung to them.

  Until Jack spoke again. Sitting down adjacent to me, he rubbed his eyes. “Apparently he had a falling out with his father, who called Albie. Something about leaving the, ah, business.”

  Guilt roared in me. If he had done that tonight, I was the reason. There wasn’t a shred of doubt in me.

  “Albie called several times, but couldn’t reach him, so he called me.” Jack shrugged. “I’m the only friend who has the elevator code. As do Martin and Anna.”

  “And me,” I whispered.

  Jack lifted his eyebrows.

  “He gave it to me. Tonight.” I didn’t care if it implicated me in something greater. I cared that I was Luca’s closest circle.

  Jack shot a look at Albie. “Well, we know how they got in,” he insisted to Albie, then looked at me. “I found Anna on the floor, unconscious. She will be alright when she wakes up. Hit to the back of her head. Unpleasant, but not dangerous.”

  I winced.

  “They must have threatened her to bring them inside,” Jack said. “We can only hope she wakes up sooner rather than later and tells us something useful. The basement camera showed us too little to put anything together. They wore masks and they were armed.” Jack shrugged. Again, he looked at Albie. “And why your chimps thought Austin was important is beyond me. But it’s a good thing he is here.”

  Before he could continue, Albie demanded: “Why?”

  “A. He deserves to know,” Jack said, patience drained out of him. “B. He is safer with us. If someone is making moves, starting with Luca, they could make the same mistakes your cronies had. They might be going to Austin’s place as we speak.” He looked at me. “Does anyone live with you? Do you have anything valuable?”

  “She’s sleeping at our friends’ place,” I murmured. “I need to tell her.”

  “You will not tell her a goddamn thing,” Albie said firmly.

  Jack shook his head. “He’s right. You can’t. But we’ll keep an eye on your place.” He sighed and rubbed his temples. “Austin. I need you to think about this. Was there anything — anything at all — that was unusual in the last few days? Anything that seemed out of place? Was Luca acting any differently? No matter how small or unimportant it seems, it might give us a clue as to who did this.”

  I hated the way he phrased it. ‘Did this,’ seemed so final.

  No. My mind secured walls around itself and staved off all other thoughts. I could do nothing about my ripping, beating heart, but I could ignore the thoughts of the worst.

  I thought about it.

  I thought hard about everything that had happened in the past few days. We had realized there had been a time in our lives that we had been alike. Two orphans; one doomed to a life of struggle and the other placed into the greatest of dangers camouflaged by all this wealth.

  I frowned and went over every detail. We’d fought and Luca had told me things. Things I wasn’t supposed to know. “He was…stressed,” I said faintly. “About some deal that went wrong or…I don’t know. I don’t know what happened, but he said it could have been avoided. Something about bad choices.” I lifted my gaze at Albie and pierced him with it. “Brother’s choices, he said.”

  Jack sucked his teeth and turned his attention at Albie, who pursed his lips and stiffened his jaw. “Motherfucker,” he grunted. “I know who took him and I know why.”

  Chapter fourteen

  Austin

  I followed Jack.

  In the whole damn mess that was spinning out of control, he was the focus of my attention. He was Luca’s friend; the only person I could trust in this goddamn house. I never once let him out of my sight and, somehow, I thought he knew. He didn’t object to me trailing him.

  In fact, he often turned around and glanced at me.

  When we crossed the entire house that was far larger than I had imagined, we found an older man in his office, his face in his hands. His eyes were sunken when he lifted his head. “News?”

  “It’s Miller,” Albie barked. “That goddamn son of a bitch. I should have dealt with him…”

  The older man slammed a fist against the desk far harder than I had imagined him capable of. “Your dealing with Miller brought this on us,” he roared.

  Albie bared his teeth, but quickly looked down at the floor.

  “My son,” the older DiMarco whispered.

  My heart cracked. The fear I saw in his eyes made this the first moment I truly believed Luca was in real danger. So far, the shock had shielded me, but seeing an old man near tears over his son’s fate broke through the shields.

  My Luca, I whispered to myself, shivering. There is so much I still need to tell him. So much to make right.

  “The maid?” Mr. DiMarco asked gruffly, then cleared his throat. I knew what unshed tears sounded like. There was no mistaking them.

  “She will be alright,” Jack said.

  “Is she awake? Has she confirmed it was Miller’s men?” the man demanded.

  “No,” Jack said. “Luca confided in Austin earlier. From there, Albie put the pieces together.”

  The old man looked at me for the first time. It was a measuring look. “You had information about my son?”

  “Dad, Jack’s saying this guy is Luca’s…”

  “Lover,” the old man finished with a nod. His lips twisted in what I first thought was disgust. But his eyes shimmered and I choked up. “He called me just tonight. He called me to say.”

  I watched a man who Luca considered the head of the family and the clan break into an emotional pile of anxiety and regret. Gone was the idea of some big, bad criminal mastermind that I had come up with yesterday. Albie was ever so slightly more fitting in that image. Here, there was only a father worrying about his son.

  But I sucked in a shallow breath of air in surprise. Luca had told his father about me.

  I didn’t ask. I didn’t say a word.

  Mr. DiMarco lifted his desperate gaze to his son. “He wanted my blessing to step away.”

  Albie frowned.

  “And I denied it,” the man growled bitterly. “Fool. What a fool.”

  Silence settled as an old man tried to come to terms with his regrets and everyone watched. The awkwardness dispersed only when Albie whispered: “It’s my fault.”

  Nobody said a word.

  “It’s my fault that Miller came after us. Luca warned me and I didn’t listen.” He crossed his arms tightly on his chest.

  Anger flared in me, but before I could ask the question, his father did. “And what will you do about it?”

  Albie paced the office. “I’ve got my people going over everything. They’ll know the most likely places Luca is being held. Have we had any calls? Demands?”

  The father shook his head gravely.

 

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