Page 61 of Wicked Tricks
He nodded furiously, clapping his hands together, “oh thank you,” he cried, “thank you. I’ll leave, straight away, I swear.”
“Not straight away,” I shook my head, walking towards the door away from the men. Luca watched me with a confused expression.
“Dimitri,” I said, and his expression perked up like a puppy dog, “you can go first.”
“Yes!” he hissed, punching the air excitedly.
“Fuck,” Angel complained, flicking his cigarette at Luca on the floor.
“Boss likes me better,” Dimitri teased, before pulling his elbow back, and landing a shattering punch on the side of Luca’s jaw.
15
Chapter 15
Rome
My hand gripped the steering wheel and I stared straight ahead, the white lines on the road blurring as they passed us. I looked in the rear-view mirror, at the girl in the small car seat that we had picked up before we left town. She was still fast asleep with her mouth hanging open and her head tilted to the side.
“OK,” Grace said into the phone, “we’ll see you soon.”
She wiped the tears from her face after admitting to her sister what had been going on. With no family around, she was able to lie easily and hide the truth about her situation with Luca.
Grace sighed, tucking her phone back into her pocket.
“Thank you again for this,” she said, “my sister said I can stay with her for a few nights, and then we’ll find somewhere new for me and Elle to start again,” she turned around, peering at her baby in the backseat with a small smile.
“It’s probably best to move on straight away, especially if Luca knows where they live. It’s the first place he’d look.”
She nodded, looking out the window, “what do you think Antoni was going to do with him?”
I sighed and shrugged. I had no idea.
All I knew was that he was furious when he left. I didn’t know if it was because of Luca, or me. It was my recklessness that had gotten him hurt, after all.
He had warned me to calm down, to stop, but I didn’t listen.
“Are you involved? With The Family? You seem to know your way around a gun, and you sure took Luca down easily.”
I chuckled, shaking my head, “no, I just work at Lilith’s. I’ve been with Diana since I was seventeen.”
“Really?” she raised her eyebrows, “I’ve heard she’s quite the ice queen.”
I smirked, “yep, she can be. But she took me in when I was living on the streets - I owe my life today to that woman.”
“I understand. I was living on friends’ couches until I met Luca. My parents kicked me out at fifteen because of the boyfriend I had before him.”
“It’s rough,” I said, and she nodded in agreement.
“What about you?” she asked, and I raised my eyebrows, “how did you end up on the streets?”
“Uh,” I hesitated, always fearing the pity when I told my sob story, “typical foster kid story, I was passed around until I was eventually adopted.”
She nodded, “are your adopted parents still in Melbourne?”
My hand gripped the wheel tighter and I swallowed, “no.”
I could feel her eyes still trained on me, waiting for me to elaborate.
