Lucca (Made Men #4)

by Sarah Brianne

  Now as he alternated between holding and releasing her throat, it was tighter, rougher, forcing her to look into his blue-green depths.

  “I love you, Chloe.”

  She witnessed something different in him as she looked deeper into his eyes. Chloe had thought she needed him, that she depended on him more than he ever needed or depended on her. But that wasn’t it at all. Lucca needed and depended on her just as much as she did him. Their need and dependency were equal. The relationship between them was just as equal. One was not more important than the other. They both needed one another to survive.

  The chains that had captured her body, mind, and soul didn’t mean Lucca owned her. Now she could visibly see he carried his own chains around his body, mind, and soul. The same chains that held her, held him. They were held together … as one.

  That feeling, that bond they shared between them, she was now fully able to understand.

  We’re soulmates.

  Chloe felt a tear escape, running down her scar. “I love you, Lucca.”

  His eyes turned a striking shade of green as he tightened his hand around her throat and plunged into her tightness harder.

  “Again,” he ground out.

  “I love you!” she cried out as he gave a thrust that had her screaming as she fell into the abyss that was waiting for her. And Lucca was, too. It was like a beautiful nightmare she never ever wanted to awake from …

  Forty-Seven

  Reborn

  Now that Chloe and Elle lived right across the hall from each other, they were making up for the time they had missed over the past month.

  It was like a dream come true. For the first time in her life, Chloe felt like she truly belonged, which was right beside Lucca and only a few steps away from her best friend, the girl who had protected her with her own life.

  Chloe had already applied to the university here in Kansas City so she would start next semester. She was still trying to figure out what to major in. At Stanford, she had taken a bunch of different classes, trying to figure out what exactly she wanted to do. Lucca had assured her, however, that in time, she would know what it was. If that was to stay in her greenhouse all day, that was okay by him.

  The truth was that Chloe had never thought much about a future, because she never really felt like she had one. The only thing she had ever wanted in her future was to leave Kansas City, and college was the best way to do it.

  Even now, she didn’t know what the future held for her, but she knew, as long as it was with Lucca, then everything was the way it was meant to be.

  Her friend, however, still didn’t think that.

  “You know what it means, right? To be with Lucca …?” Elle asked.

  “I know,” she tried to assure Elle. Then she looked over at her strangely. “You do know who you’re with, right?”

  “Yes, but Nero isn’t the underboss.”

  Has he not told her?

  “Um, you do know he can be, right? When Lucca becomes the boss?”

  “Yes, but he will never be the boss.” Elle’s big blue eyes drilled into her. “And if Lucca has a son …”

  Chloe swallowed the huge lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. She couldn’t believe she had never thought of that. Oh, shi—

  Lake came storming through the door, slamming Nero’s door shut behind her.

  “What’s wrong?” Elle asked as their attention went to the tall, furious brunette.

  Lake fell onto the couch, crossing her arms. “I’ve told Vincent a million freaking times to make Lucca find him somewhere else to work. He says he has, but I think he’s lying to me.” She threw a pillow at a laughing Elle. “I don’t know why you think it’s so funny. Nero’s working down there, too!”

  Having dodged the pillow, Elle tried to sound confident when she said, “Nero promises he doesn’t watch the women.”

  Women?

  Lake rolled her eyes. “They aren’t blind!”

  “I don’t think he’s lying,” Elle said as she shook her head, but her confidence seemed to be leaving.

  “Trust me; they are.”

  “Maybe it’s important they watch the women,” Chloe said. Lucca had told her they were like bouncers protecting the workers.

  Lake huffed. “Yeah, it’s real important that Nero, Vincent, and Amo watch the women with skimpy outfits give lap dances.”

  What? “I thought it was an underground casino?”

  “It is. One where the dealers are all women in slutty outfits.”

  That’s why Amo loves it down there. Wait …

  “H-How do you know so much about it?” Chloe asked, confused.

  Elle busted out in laughter.

  Lake paused then dodged the question. “That’s beside the point. The point is that Nero and Vincent are down there right now, in a sea of practically naked women!”

  Elle’s laughter quickly died, which made Chloe burst out in her own.

  “You shouldn’t be laughing. Lucca practically runs it,” Elle snapped at her.

  Her laughter started to die. “H-He does?”

  “Yep.” Elle stuck her tongue out. “Lucca isn’t so perfect, now, is he? Bet his greenhouse ain’t so freaking grea—”

  “I trust him,” she said without a doubt. “He said he hasn’t been with a girl since he met me nine months ago. I don’t have a reason not to trust him.”

  Elle and Lake stared at her, blinking.

  It was Lake who spoke first, practically fanning herself. “I’m sorry, Elle. I can’t pretend anymore that I’m not team Lucca. Are you sure the greenhouse isn’t a sex dungeon?”

  “Team Lucca—What? No!” Chloe stared at the girls, who appeared a little warm.

  “Oh my God,” Lake whispered, her eyes getting a weird look to them as she looked over at Chloe, and then to Elle. The two of them looked like they knew what each other was thinking.

  Elle scooted closer to her. “I’ve changed my mind. Lucca is good for you.”

  I don’t like where …

  Lake scooted closer to her, too. “He will do anything for you, right?”

  Leaving Nero’s place, she was beginning to think being so close to Elle might not be such a good thing.

  When one of the guards by the elevator door shifted his feet, it had Chloe turning.

  Amo’s dejected expression remained lowered, not looking her way, showing her he knew she was in the hall.

  Biting her lip, she tried to decide if she should talk to him. Then, taking a deep breath, she walked down the hall toward him, stopping a few feet away and not getting close enough for him to touch her.

  “Amo, may I talk to you?”

  He kept his head straight forward, not looking at her. “I’m working.”

  “I-I thought you worked downstairs …”

  She could tell by the look that flashed across his face that he hadn’t realized she knew what that meant.

  “I have been moved up here.”

  “Oh.” She figured Lucca had taken the job he loved away to punish him.

  Seeing how much Amo was hurting, it hurt her to know she had done that to him. Regardless, there was nothing she could do. Her saying something about it to Lucca would probably only hurt him more, since Lucca was still very upset with him.

  Seeing the cast on his hand, her heart broke a little more. “I-I’m sorry about your hand.”

  Amo’s jaw flexed, the heartbreak and damage she had caused him so evident in his eyes.

  Realizing how much of a bad idea this was, she nervously turned to walk away, wanting to cry for what felt like the loss of a great friendship.

  She was halfway down the hall when she heard his yell.

  “Chloe!”

  Once upon a time, she would have kept running, but now she stopped, turning around to watch him walk up to her.

  “I’m sorry.” Amo raked his hand through his hair. “I’m sorry for so many fucking things that I wish I could take back. I was the one who led the Lucianos to you. I was the one
to call you a freak and not once take up for you in high school—”

  “Please, stop punishing yourself, Amo.” She had to stop him, unable to bear his regret. “I don’t blame you for any of that.”

  Amo looked at her, letting her see the pain in his eyes. “I have to. That’s the only way I can live with you choosing to be with him after he fucking kidnapped you. If he hadn’t, we would have been more than friends. You know that deep down.”

  “I left, Amo.” Her eyes started to water. She hated the way he always made her break his heart even more, but it was the only way she could ever get him to understand. “I was leaving you behind.”

  “I would have come for you.” Amo took a step toward her. “I was coming for you. I did come for you!”

  She had to look away from him. “I know, but it was too late.”

  “No, it’s not. It’s not too late, Chloe …” He took another step toward her, the hope in his eyes growing. He prayed she would change her mind and choose him.

  “It wouldn’t have been real between us. You changed around me, and I never changed around you.” She took a step back from him, looking him straight in the eyes. “We were just never meant to be. I know that, because I feel it in my bones. I’m meant to be with him. I am meant to be with Lucca.”

  Amo’s eyes became glossy, his vision going toward the ground.

  “I will always care about you, Amo, but as a friend … The same way I feel about Elle.”

  His fists began to curl at hearing the word ‘friend.’ “I fucking hate him for taking you from me.”

  Chloe shook her head. “Don’t blame him. Blame me. It’s not Lucca’s fault I’m not in love you.”

  Amo didn’t see the silent elevator doors sliding open, but Chloe did. Her eyes pleaded with the man getting off. Please don’t!

  When Lucca didn’t move, she looked back at Amo. “Do you like gardening?”

  “What?” Amo gave a frown of distaste, wondering why she had said that. “No.”

  Chloe gave a shaky laugh. “I do. I didn’t know I did, but I do now. Lucca taught me how.”

  Lucca’s harsh face relaxed while he remained silent by the elevator.

  “I have always loved looking at flowers, but I never realized how much work goes into creating a beautiful garden. You have to pull out the weeds to give the flowers’ roots room to grow. Lucca sat with me for hours upon hours, just helping me pull weeds.” Chloe tucked her hair behind her ear, letting her beautiful, scarred face show proudly. “One by one.”

  Amo looked up at her, his eyes travelling down her scars, seeing the difference in her now. She had changed.

  This was it. The moment when she would make her final choice once and for all.

  “I didn’t fall in love with Lucca because he kidnapped me. I fell in love with him because … he set me free.”

  Amo’s tight fist loosened. The heartbreak was still there, but that little bit of hope in his eyes shattered to where the hope was gone. It was to the point where she didn’t know which one was worse: to have some hope or none at all.

  “Good-bye, Chloe,” he said with finality, telling her in unspoken words that their friendship was over.

  It broke her heart to see him end it, yet she understood, seeing the pain it caused him to even look at her.

  “Good-bye, Amo.”

  Amo turned, coming face-to-face with a frightening Lucca yet again.

  She held her breath for a brief moment, hoping he would listen to her pleas and wouldn’t do anything.

  Lucca continued staring at a frozen Amo before he passed him, hitting him with his shoulder. “Back to work, soldier.”

  Thank you. Chloe let out her held breath as Lucca walked toward her, taking her hand. She pressed herself into him, letting him take her weight as they walked into their place. By the time he had closed the door behind them, she had fallen into him, sobbing.

  Packing her upstairs and to their bed, he let her cry into his chest as he ran his tender fingers down her back and twirled her tendrils of black hair.

  When the tears no longer continued to shed, she whispered into the room, “Why does it feel like he died?”

  “In a way, he did,” he told her regretfully. “But he will be reborn when he finds his new purpose.”

  Chloe raised her gray eyes to his blue-green ones.

  “It happens to every made man once. I thought it happened to me when I first became made, then when my mother died, and then when I saw you for the first time. But that wasn’t when it happened, either.”

  “W-When did it?” she asked when he didn’t continue.

  Lucca rubbed his finger down her scar. “Maybe I’ll tell you one day, but not today, darlin’.”

  She snuggled back into him, letting Lucca heal her broken heart. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too, darlin’.” Twirling a strand of her hair, he then dropped it to hold her close. “Is there anything I can do to make you feel better? I can cook you something.”

  A slow smile appeared on her lips. Raising her head, she looked back into his eyes playfully. “Anything?”

  Lucca stared hard into the two men’s eyes before him, the future of this family. He took a hit of his cigarette, letting the end burn bright, “You two owe me.”

  Nero and Vincent gave a sharp nod to their heads.

  “We three have the same problem.” He flicked his ashes into the tray.

  “What’s that?” Vincent asked.

  Nero’s emerald eyes narrowed knowing exactly what it was, “Our women are not Italian.”

  Lucca smiled, seeing the wheels turning in their heads. “They will give you an ultimatum; they will make you choose between the family and your girl. Our fathers have done it to others who will hold lesser power than us, and they will eventually make us choose.”

  Both Nero and Vincent’s jaws squared knowing it to be true.

  He could see the two men torn; one side of them who lived and breathed the Caruso family, and the other side finding true love. To make a man choose like that will surely kill him, no matter the choice.

  “I gave you both the girl of your dreams, and in return you will choose them when the decision has to be made.” An evil glow cast over his face. “As will I; then the Caruso future will be destroyed.”

  Nero grinned, “So you turn the tables and give them the ultimatum?”

  “An ultimatum with only one choice they can live with.”

  “Thank you, fucking God. I’ve been waiting for the day when you would finally fuck over my father,” Vincent began praying, a tear looking like it was going to stroll down his cheek. “And what’s even better… I get to help you do it.”

  Lucca stared at the blond dumbass who thankfully at least had his good looks going for him. “If you think you are going to be my consigliere, you are shit out of luck.”

  “I’ll be your consigliere,” Maria chimed in, smiling as she flipped her magazine and tapped her high heels.

  Vincent scoffed, “Like he would choose you over me.”

  “Over you, I would,” he told him with certainty, hurting his pretty-boy pride.

  “On one condition.” Maria smiled. “That I don’t have to be with a man of Italian blood, either.”

  Taking a hit, he blew the smoke at her, “No.”

  Her expensive heel stopped tapping the ground, “We’ll see.”

  Forty-Eight

  This is Your Final Purpose

  Maxwell poured another generous portion of liquor into his glass. He didn’t even look to see what he was drinking. As long as it gave him enough of a buzz to hide from the wretched mess he had made out of his life, it didn’t matter.

  He should have put a bullet through his head long ago, but he was too much of a coward. He also could have divorced his bitch of a wife, and not cared about the political power he had enjoyed the last few years.

  “Maxwell?” A woman’s sharp voice had him lifting his head from the desk he had been slumped over.

  “Wh-Wh
at?” He tried to focus his gaze on his wife as she walked into his office. Fucking bitch. “Is it dinner time?”

  Elaine curled her lips in disdain. “We had dinner four hours ago.”

  Maxwell tried to remember what he had eaten, but drew a blank.

  “I’m not ready for bed. You go ahead.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself. I don’t care when you go to bed.”

  “Then what do you want?” Maxwell reached for his glass, finding it empty. He started looking for the bottle of liquor, squinting his eyes as he looked around his desk, not seeing it. Then he searched where he must have left it after filling his glass.

  “Maxwell, can you give me your attention for one second?” His wife came to the side of his desk, picking up the bottle from the floor.

  “Go ahead. I’m listening.” He took the bottle from her and started unscrewing the top.

  “I just received an interesting phone call.”

  “Tell the telemarketers to call in the morning. Lana can answer their calls.”

  “It wasn’t on the house phone. It was on my cell phone.”

  “Then I don’t see what it’s got to do with me.” He poured another full glass, waiting for her to leave before drinking it. It wouldn’t be worth the bitch session if he drank it in front of her.

  Elaine moved the drink away. “Will you listen to me, you drunk?” Seeing she finally had his attention, she said, “I just received a strange call. The caller asked me if I knew where my daughter was.”

  “If she wanted to talk to Chloe, why didn’t she just call her?” he asked stupidly.

  “It was a man,” she revealed. “I told him she was at college.”

  “So?” He just wished she would leave. “Did he say what he wanted?”

  “No, he said, ‘wrong answer’ and hung up.” Elaine gave a slight shiver, though she was practically made of steel.

  Maxwell shrugged. “If you care so much, look at your recent calls and call him back.”

  “I did. No one answered, and it went to voice mail.”

  “I don’t know what the big deal is. It’s a fucking telemarketer. Block their call.”