by Bethany-Kris
Right, well—
Before she could finish her thought, let alone reply to Luca, a knock echoed on the door of their room. In the many days that they had spent in the underground haven, not once had someone came to their room. Not even Freddie.
Luca passed Penny a look, asking, “Do you want me to get it?”
“I think I can handle it.”
“Just saying. The offer is there.”
Mmhmm.
If there was anything this man should know about her by now, it was that she could certainly take care of herself when the situation called for it. Penny was far from helpless. She would never be the damsel in need of saving.
Wasn’t her style.
She lived that life once.
It was enough.
Pushing out of the bed when the knock echoed again, she grabbed Luca’s shirt from the floor and pulled it over her head. Punching her arms through the sleeves, she gave him a look over her shoulder, pointedly.
With a roll of his eyes, he covered his nakedness with the blanket. Although it did nothing to hide his sexiness, or the way he stared at her like he wanted her back in the bed as soon as possible. Damn. She felt the same.
“Better?” he asked.
“Barely,” she replied.
Luca grinned. “Right.”
The prick.
He was too cocky for his own good. And she liked it.
Too much.
That was the problem.
Refusing to let her thoughts dance near that danger, Penny reached for the doorknob while she pointed her finger at Luca in warning. He made her stupid; not that he could possibly know it. She made dumb choices with him involved.
Even now.
She had opened the door and didn’t even look to see who was waiting out in the hallway until she heard a male chuckle.
“Did I interrupt?” came a voice she knew.
Not well.
She did know it, though.
“Renzo,” Penny said, facing their guest.
In the hallway, Renzo Zulla leaned a bit to the side, staring past her at the man in the bed. She hadn’t seen the older League assassin in a couple of years. He’d come in to help train a new recruit a little while back, but she was overseas during that time. Now based and living in New York, it made sense for Cree—or Dare—to send him to find her.
“Well, did I interrupt?” Renzo asked again.
Penny opened her mouth to speak, but Luca beat her to the punch as he reached for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter he had somehow managed to find over the past day. “Not at all, man. What’s up?”
She sighed, ignoring the gazes that came her way from both men. It was obvious what the two of them had been doing before Renzo came along. She wasn’t going to indulge these two idiots by saying anything about it. All one needed to do was look at what she was wearing and Luca’s lack of clothes.
Renzo smiled, clearly amused. “Penny, when you have a minute ... I’ll be downstairs. We need to have a chat.”
As she thought.
Her time with Luca was undoubtedly coming to an end.
“I DIDN’T REALIZE MY invitation extended to your ... friend,” Renzo said, eyeing the man who followed behind Penny when she approached the table inside the bar.
Luca grinned, passing the two of them by as he pointed at the booth a few feet away. “I’ll just be over there. Listening, of course.”
Renzo’s brow lifted.
Penny shrugged. “Hazard of my current situation. He kind of got stuck here with me. For the moment, anyway.”
“Mmm.” Renzo pointed at the chair opposite to his at the table. “Sit.”
She did.
Two glasses of water appeared from the man who served drinks like Renzo had planned for that. Penny didn’t touch hers while the man across from her downed half of his in ten seconds. She could get water anytime; right now, she wanted news.
“Well?” she demanded.
Renzo sat the glass down, glancing her way. “It’s like Dare suspected. Someone is onto you. The system The League has been using to track and dismantle members of The Elite is the same thing they’re doing to you right now. Every move you make in any capacity, they’re turning it around to their benefit. They had the chance to draw you out because you had already attached yourself to Elijah Smithenson with his murder, and so the bait was set.”
Penny’s jaw ached. She really needed to unclench her teeth before she broke a molar. Easier said than done, though.
“And that means what—”
“That we can safely assume any move you make after this latest attack will undoubtedly provoke another at some point,” Renzo interjected. It was clear he already knew her question, and the answer before she could even get it out. Obviously the man had been well briefed before he arrived to chat with her. No doubt, that was part of the reason why The League had taken so many days to track Penny down at her current location. “And things will have to change because of that.”
She wasn’t willing to accept that. They were too close to finally coming to a head with the wealthy, powerful pedophile ring to stop now because shit was getting dangerous.
“It was a one-time thing,” Penny replied, shrugging. “A stupid mistake on my part. I got into my feelings about what I thought was a situation I could help. So, we don’t do that again. Seems simple.”
“Highly unlikely—”
“We’re careful,” she snapped, her irritation spilling over at the very idea that her handlers—or even her boss—might call the entire plan off. She had worked years for this. Suffered her entire life to finally end this hell. “And we can be more careful. Make it harder to trace me. Use others in my place for a time. Things can be done.”
Renzo observed her in silence. He was just a messenger, she knew. One shouldn’t kill those, but she was seriously considering it at the moment. Some things just couldn’t be helped.
At Penny’s left where he sat with nothing in front of him, watching the scene unfold, Luca spoke up with, “If I could track you down, even by shit luck in some cases, then someone else can, too, sweetheart. Someone with more money, control ... access. You should consider—”
“Fuck off. Don’t talk on something you don’t know.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Luca’s brow arch.
“Ouch,” he murmured.
She would have apologized.
Except no.
He didn’t understand what was on the line. The guy didn’t have a single clue how much was at stake now.
“He has a point, even if you’re unwilling to listen,” Renzo said quietly. “The plan from here on out is for you to move a lot less than you have been—don’t be seen. At all. Nothing is to be done with your name, moniker, or otherwise, attached. Or The League. Not until the situation is under control and a better assessment has been done where all parties involved can make an educated decision on continuing with the plan. As of now, the plan is off—”
“No.”
Renzo dragged in a heavy breath.
Penny swallowed hard. “No, we’re finally making progress here. It would be stupid to give them time to protect themselves further than they already have. They’re weak. Now is the best time to finish it entirely.”
“Dare has made the call, Penny. Your directive is clear—if you don’t follow orders, then you know the risk you’re taking. Beyond just the consequences you’ll take from The League and your boss, you’ll put everyone who can be connected to you in danger.”
Luca.
Nazio.
Roz.
Little Cross.
Any Donati.
Probably Luca’s family, too.
She knew it.
And still ...
Nothing was simple.
This was also for them.
17.
Luca
LUCA was finally the fly on the wall in Penny’s life, gathering more information by the second to connect every dot he had ever missed, but he wasn’t
sure that he liked it. Especially while the conversation between her and Renzo continued at the table. He wasn’t stupid—the few things that had slipped from Penny over the time they were together added into what he already knew, and now piled onto the details Renzo gave about the situation ... it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure things out.
He could put two and two together.
This wasn’t good.
At all.
Penny also didn’t seem to care.
“So, what you’re saying is The League is going to force my hand one way or another,” Penny said, “because if a simple order isn’t going to make me follow along, then the subsequent threat will?”
Renzo sighed. “You know it’s not like that.”
“What is it fucking like, then?”
“Dare and Cree—”
“Have no bone in this fight but money. The money they get for every successful job I do, and you know it. Were you any different, Renzo?”
The man at the other side of the table from Penny didn’t blink a lash at her growing anger. “They warned me this might happen.”
Penny’s brow dipped. “Excuse me?”
“This,” Renzo said, gesturing between the two of them. “That you would put up a fight about everything. They planned for that, too.”
Now, it was Luca’s turn to worry about what he was hearing. He managed to stay quiet at his table but only because he didn’t think speaking up would help the situation at all when he still wasn’t sure what the entire situation was, to begin with.
One thing was clear, though.
Every single move Penny had made up until that moment had been done with a purpose for her work and little else. It was obviously the one and only thing that kept her moving. The very idea that someone planned to shut her down—even for a time—was too much for her to handle.
He supposed if the past five years of her life had revolved solely around hunting the same kind of monsters that had hurt her, it would be horrifying for someone to say they were going to back off. Allowing those same monsters to continue hurting others.
No wonder Penny had been able to pinpoint his obsession in finding her with such cruel precision. She wasn’t any different from him at the end of the day; her reason for doing so was the only major change from his own.
“And because they figured this is what would happen when I came to deliver to you the news,” Renzo continued saying, dragging Luca from his thoughts before they could spiral further. “Your handlers have arranged a private jet by your boss’s demand—”
“Who’s the boss, exactly?” Luca asked.
Speaking up before he could help himself.
Neither answered. In fact, they didn’t even look his way. If the small bit of information he had gathered on The League was true—their practices and members were infamous for being difficult to track or infiltrate; his work trying to find Penny proved both to be correct—then getting the name of the person pulling all of Penny’s strings would be impossible.
Assassins trained by The League were not owned by the organization but rather, whoever delivered them to their training. There were also rumors of auctions where assassins fresh out of the program were sold to the highest bidder to do whatever they wanted. Penny’s situation could be either of those things—or something else entirely.
He doubted she would tell him even if he asked.
Renzo continued speaking to Penny as though Luca hadn’t interrupted in the first place, explaining, “At the moment, considering everything that’s happened, they all think removing you from the state and taking you back to Nevada is the best choice. The only choice.”
“It’s not the only—”
“It is,” the man interjected, shrugging like nothing she said would make a difference. “You’ll be better protected where The League has more control and resources. Once Dare and Cree are satisfied with the new plan—whatever that might be—then, you can go from there. So far, you’ve done well by going underground like you have, but now they want you to do that at headquarters. Or at least, somewhere within their reach. I’m sure you understand.”
Despite her earlier anger, Penny reverted to a cold demeanor in a blink when she stood from the table and replied, “No, I don’t understand.”
Without another word, she stepped out from behind the table and shoved the chair in with a rough hand. She didn’t even glance over her shoulder as she walked away, sending Luca to his feet to follow after her.
The man at the table held up a hand, stopping him when he said, “Let her go. Penny has always handled her issues far better when she’s given the opportunity to do so alone.”
Luca wasn’t sure he believed that—no one wanted to be alone. Hadn’t Penny spent enough time without the comfort of people who cared about her?
Nevertheless, with the chance to speak to the familiar man without Penny close enough to hear his questions, he couldn’t pass up the chance. Instead of retaking his previous seat, he sat down in the one Penny had exited. Folding his arms over his chest, he observed the man staring him down.
“Renzo,” Luca murmured.
The man cocked a brow. “What about it?”
“Renzo Zulla. Husband of Lucia Marcello—daughter of the former Marcello crime family underboss. Niece to the previous boss and cousin to the current man sitting in the seat, correct?”
Renzo’s jaw tightened. “You know, when people start naming names in my personal life, I tend to take that as a threat.”
“Cut the shit,” Luca returned. “I recognize you. I’m sure you know who I am, too. Our connections intermingle.”
“And that means what to me, exactly?”
A lot of things.
Or possibly nothing at all.
Luca figured ... nothing ventured, nothing gained. It was a motto he could get on board with for his current situation. Penny wasn’t telling him shit about her work or the people pulling the strings. Nothing he hadn’t learned on his own. There was a chance he wouldn’t get anything from Renzo either, even with their mutual connections on the table as encouragement, but he wouldn’t know if he didn’t at least try.
“I heard your boss came from the Marcello family,” Luca said, smirking when Renzo’s gaze darkened. “Is that where hers came from, too? Is someone from that side of the city pulling her strings and calling her moves?”
The silence grew between the two. It continued long enough to tell Luca that the other man wasn’t going to feed into the conversation more than he had to.
Then, Renzo leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and clasping his hands together, never moving his gaze from Luca’s when he said, “I’m not sure what your business is with Penny—other than being a pest for her handlers when she’s trying to work—but it would be wise for you to mind your business. Before you become a problem for someone who doesn’t care about making you a sacrifice in this game.”
“People keep telling me to back off,” he noted, nodding to himself, “but every time I don’t listen, I keep finding myself right where I need to be.”
“Then, you’re a fool with a suicide complex.”
Not at all.
Luca pointed at Renzo, his fingers forming the shape of a gun. “And I’ll be following along to Nevada. Just a heads up.”
That had Renzo laughing.
“I don’t think so, man.”
“That’s funny.”
“What is?” Renzo asked.
“That you think any of you have a choice at this point. If I was only a pest for The League before where Penny was concerned, imagine the hell I can cause them now. The things I know ... what I’ve seen, well, it could make a big problem.”
“See, and that’s where the suicide complex comes in. They will kill you before they let you close enough to do anything, Luca.”
It was Penny’s approach, and her voice that stopped him from replying when she said, “No, I think he’s right. Luca will have to come along with me now. Better we can control what he�
��s doing and where he’s doing it than letting him run wild.”
Renzo glowered.
Luca just smirked.
“See,” he said. “She knows.”
He had to be smug about it on the outside. A rule he had learned long ago was that any show of weakness would be manipulated in their life. He wouldn’t give anything for Renzo to use against him or pass along to someone else, even if that something was just his worries about the unknowns ahead of him.
Of everything.
Would going to Nevada cause a problem? Probably. In more ways than anyone knew.
What was he going to tell Naz? As it was, he’d already been underground and unreachable for a week. He was busy, sure, but not so much so that his best friend or family didn’t hear from him for days at a time. How much longer was this going to take?
It didn’t matter.
Luca would lie if he had to—it was the only way he might be able to keep this charade up and see where it would end. Hopefully, with Penny coming home to the people who missed and needed her. Or at the very least, returning to their lives in some way. He could justify lying to his sister and Nazio—and anyone else that got in his way—if it meant succeeding in his goal.
Or ...
That’s what Luca would keep telling himself.
“Well,” Penny said, slapping her hands at her sides and giving Renzo a pointed look, “when are we leaving?”
“COULD I GET YOU A DRINK or any snacks—”
“You can get the fuck out of my face,” Penny snapped.
Her harsh words and the squeaky, unintelligible reply from the single flight attendant on the private jet had Luca turning away from the beautiful view beyond the porthole window. Three hours into their trip, and Penny had clearly hit her limit of patience and tolerance for the day.
It wasn’t the first time she had been nasty to the woman who was only meant to help them throughout the flight. She even brushed off the pilot when they first boarded the jet. The man had only wanted to introduce himself which was standard.
At first, Luca blamed Penny’s worsening mood on the fact this was happening at all when she had made it clear that she didn’t want to return to Nevada. Not if it meant being put into lockdown while other plans were pushed aside. But as she unbuckled her seat belt and clamored across the aisle to snap shut the port window for the plush seats next to theirs, he wondered if it might be something else.