“Come on,capo. We gotta go.” Tony yanks on his boss’s arm.
Luca’s hand finds my cheek, his rough thumb drawing a slow circle. “Please, come back to me,amore.”
Pressing my lips into a thin line, I dip my head. Everything is too raw, the wounds too fresh. I don’t trust myself to speak.
Tony jerks Luca off the floor, and he drags him across the warehouse to the back door. The thick metal slams shut, and for an instant, there’s only silence. I glance down at Dante’s pale face and wait for the anger, the revulsion. But it never comes. Instead, I only see an older version of Luca. A dark and broken man.
A second later, the police arrive with guns drawn. “Hold on, Dante,” I whisper as they surround us.
CHAPTER45
LOVE KILLS
Luca
“I don’t give a fuck about the optics, Jones. Dante’s my brother. I’m going to the damned hospital to see him.” I jab my finger at the red button and shove my phone back in my jacket pocket. The warehouse incident was a complete bumblefuck. If Tony hadn’t called in a favor with the mayor last night, Dante’s name and as a result, mine and King Industries would’ve been plastered across social media with mob implications.
Jones managed to play off the concerned bystander angle, but the rumors about my brother only echoed the truth. I’d managed to keep Stella’s name completely out of the story. It had cost me a pretty penny, but it was worth it. I didn’t need her reputation dragged through the mud along with the rest of us.
A seed of dread takes root in my gut. Bo, his cousin Feng, and three other Red Dragons are dead. It’s only a matter of time before Jianjun retaliates. The kid might have been asfigato,but he was the old man’s only son.
I drag my fingers through my hair and heave out a weary breath.
Magda glances up at me from behind the marble island in the kitchen. The aroma of roasted coffee beans hangs in the air. She’s perfecting my cappuccino, pouring the frothy milk over the double shot of espresso as I trudge toward her.
“How is Signor Dante?” she asks.
“Still in the Intensive Care Unit but stable.”
She releases a soft sigh. “I’m happy to hear that.”
A rueful smile lifts the corner of my lip. “You don’t have to say that Magda. I know he’s always been acap ‘e cazzoto you.” A total shithead.
“Yes, but he’s still your brother, and I was asking for you, not him.” She hands me the warm cup and wipes her fingers on her apron. She watches me, wringing her hands as I take the first sip.
Magda has worked with me for long enough now that I know there’s more on her mind. She’s a delicate and respectful girl and knows when to hold her tongue. “Is there something else you’d like to say?”
A hint of crimson blossoms across her cheeks. “I was only wondering about Signorina Stella …. Will she be returning to the penthouse?”
Well, that is the fucking million-dollar question, isn’t it? When Albie told me she’d been taken, it was like getting shot all over again. I’d never felt so powerless than in that instant. If anything had happened to her, I wouldn’t have thought twice about ending it. I couldn’t live without her.
As much of abastardoas I am, I know she’s a hundred times better off without me. What’s that damned saying? If you love something set it free …. I’ve never loved anyone like I love Stella, but all I’ve brought her is misery and pain. Love is gentle, love is kind, but my love kills.
I swallow down a gulp of the cappuccino to buy myself more time to reply to a question that has no good answer. “I don’t know,” I finally murmur. Finishing it off with another gulp, I place the empty cup on the countertop. “I’m going to visit Dante then to the office. I won’t be home until late so don’t bother preparing dinner.”
She nods. “Very well, signore.”
The drive to the hospital passes in a blur, my maddening thoughts swirling. My heart and my head battle it out in an unending standoff. There’s nothing I want more than to run to Stella and beg her to take me back, to forgive me for all the bullshit I put her through. But my mind, the rational, logical one knows that letting her go would be what’s best for her.
But how could I lose the one good thing in my life? Stella is the other half of my heart and soul. Losing her would be like cutting off a piece of me. I’d done it before when I was young and stupid, and I’d regretted it every day since. How could I walk away from her again?
My thoughts race back to last night, to finding her beaten and half-naked in that warehouse. She’d almost been killed again because of me, and I’d been too weak to save her. If Dante hadn’t rushed in, we’d both be dead. Myrompicoglionibrother had saved us both.
Talk about a fucking twist. My brother the hero.
The car slows, and Albie’s voice drifts to the backseat. “We’re here,capo.”
I smooth down my tie and draw in a steadying breath. Two reporters are camped outside the doors ofNYU Langone, only the best hospital for myfratello. Albie opens the back door, and I slide out. The reporters are on me before I make it halfway up the sidewalk.
