There was a reason for her being here, something that had been made obvious by the select few who knew she was here, along with the feeling in her gut. Therefore, she would stay until she upheld her side of the deal with the boogieman. The problem was, when it came to an end, would she be able to walk away? Not even she knew.
She had grown used to many things, but the scariest one of all …
Lucca grabbed her by the wrist, stopping her from leaving the kitchen. “I want you to try something.”
Every day he touched her more and more, and she was getting used to it more and more. His goal of helping her overcome her fear of touch was working.
In the beginning, he had always asked permission or warned her of his incoming contact, but as the month progressed, every now and then he would touch her without warning. It scared her shitless at first, yet the more he did it, the better she recognized and committed his touch to memory. There was still a split second of terror, but then she would realize it was Lucca and her fear would subside.
The hand circling her wrist grew firm, reminding her it was only him.
“W-What is it?”
Leading her over to the stove, he then released her to open a pot. He dipped a spoon into the mixture then brought it to his lips, cooling the hot contents with a gentle blow.
“You made me chili?” she asked, surprised by the kind gesture.
“Don’t get too excited. I found the recipe online, and I’m not sure how good it will turn out.”
“It smells good.” She was warmer already by the smell alone.
When Lucca moved the spoon to her lips, she let him feed her.
The chili was warm, but …
Reading her expression, he asked, “Bad, huh?”
Yep. “N-No, it’s um … different.”
Putting the spoon back into the pot, he dipped out some more chili then took a bite himself. Immediately, he made a face.
“That’s fucking disgusting.”
Chloe started giggling.
Smiling down at her, he laughed with her. “What did I tell you about lying to me, darlin’?”
“I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to hurt your feelings. It’s okay,” she tried to console him. “You can’t be a master chef all the time.”
“Well, it’s good I made this for backup then.” Opening the oven, he showed her an incredible-looking homemade, chef-style pizza.
“Are you serious!”
Everything he ever cooked was beyond perfect and delicious. Well, besides the chili. That was made up for, though, by the pizza that looked worthy of a million-dollar chef.
Gardener, master chef, handsome … He’s almost perfect. Almost.
“Sorry, darlin’.” He winked. “It’ll be done in just a bit.”
Chloe playfully rolled her eyes before going to sit down at the kitchen island.
The phone in his pocket began ringing, and he pulled it out of his pocket. When he saw who it was, he handed it to her.
Smiling, she took the phone and answered, “Hey, Elle!”
“Hey, Chloe. How was your day?”
They continued to talk, telling each other about their day like they usually did.
Lucca had been letting her talk to Elle every night, putting just as much trust in her as she did him. It was a good trade off and helped make her feel more comfortable and less cut off from the outside world.
Her beautiful prison was beginning to feel more and more like … home.
Amo was at Nero and Elle’s place to see if they had made any dinner. It was becoming a habit to come over when he got desperate for food, having nothing at his place since he hadn’t been to the store in a while. He would play up just coming over to talk to Nero, and then, without fail, Elle would ask him if he wanted anything to eat. Amo was beginning to think that Nero was catching on, though.
When Nero had invited him in, Elle was talking on the phone. It didn’t take him long to figure out who she was talking to and begin eavesdropping.
He never thought Chloe would ignore him for this long. Not once since leaving had she sent him a message, let alone called him.
It doesn’t make any sense. Chloe wasn’t the type of girl to hold a grudge. She had proven that when he found out she had known it was him who had called her a freak.
A strange feeling had settled over him after she left, and it only grew stronger the longer she went without contacting him. He didn’t know what it was exactly—the answer just out of reach—but he would figure it out.
“It’s getting pretty cold here,” Elle was telling Chloe. Then her face started to change, a concerning look coming over her face as she listened to Chloe’s reply. “It is?” She paused, listening to the other end, now looking confused. Then she hurriedly said, “Oh, okay then. Talk to you later. By—” When she pulled the phone away from her ear, she stared at it strangely. “That was weird.”
Amo took a step toward Elle, uncaring if she knew he had been eavesdropping, every alarm in him going off. “What is it?”
“I thought California was flooding from all the rain?”
It had been all over the news that California was getting massive amounts of rain. He had even worried about Chloe being in it and had checked to see how much rain she was getting at Stanford.
“Yeah …?” Amo took another step toward her.
Elle’s eyebrows came together, still staring at the phone in utter confusion. “She said it was sunny and pretty.”
The wheels began to turn. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“She probably just didn’t want you to worry,” Nero pointed out.
He looked over at Nero, who didn’t seem worried, then back at Elle. “Did she say anything else?”
“No, she just said she needed to go because dinner was done.”
Amo and Elle clearly had the same thought. Chloe can’t cook. She had a housekeeper back home, Lana, who had made her every meal since her father had become mayor.
“I need to go.” He could almost touch the answer now.
“Elle is about to make some dinner; you sure you don’t want to stay?” Nero asked, stopping him.
Amo didn’t even answer his friend as he flung the door open and left. Picking up his feet faster and faster, he started running, the pieces falling into place around him.
I’m coming, Chloe. I’m coming to save you.
He just hoped he wasn’t too late.
Thirty
The Death of Amo
Chloe was sitting on the floor next to Lucca like she did every night, with his dark jeaned leg touching her arm—another thing she had grown used to over the course of a month. The activity that had started out with watching TV was now their talking time. She enjoyed listening to him talk mostly about his mother and family. His work, they would only talk about every now and then. Admittedly, the mafia fascinated her. A little.
They were talking about future plans for the garden when Drago came rushing into the room with a frightened look on his face. “Get her upstairs. Someone’s here.”
Lucca quickly stood from the chair, but stunned, it wasn’t until Lucca grabbed Chloe’s hand that she was able to move and get up.
The air around her seemed to change then, like she could almost feel the person was here for her. Who’s here?
Holding her hand, Lucca led her to the foyer and toward the stairs.
“W-Who is i-it?” she managed to get out.
“It doesn’t matter. I need you to go to your room and lock the door,” Lucca told her with urgency as Drago went to the front door and looked out the peephole.
“P-Please tell me who it is.” She felt herself dragging her feet, trying to slow Lucca down.
“You got about thirty seconds to get her the fuck out of here,” Drago announced.
Lucca swooped her up, cradling her to his chest as he easily scaled the steps two at a time.
She found herself wrapping her arms around his neck and slamming her eyes shut by how quickly he ran up the stair
s with her, afraid he might drop her. He never even came to close to it, though. His build and strength effortlessly got him to the top of the stairs. It was the first time she realized how strong and fit he actually was, feeling it in the arms that held her.
Chloe thought he would set her down when he reached the second floor, but he didn’t. He continued to hold her as he headed to her room. It all kind of seemed like a blur, until he kicked her door open …
Drago opened the door the second Amo stepped up to it. He was surprised, not expecting Drago to be on the other side.
Amo tried his best to look past the only other man who was bigger than him in the family. Drago only beat him because of his age, spending years upon years at the gym, making his muscles have muscles.
“I need to speak with Lucca,” he said when Drago didn’t move to let him in.
“He’s not he—”
A loud thud rang out that sounded like a door being thrown open.
“Yes, he is.” Amo shouldered past the big man.
Inside, his eyes followed up the staircase to the hallway the noise had come from. Adrenaline started pumping throughout his body. He could practically smell the tension in the room, his fear of being right coming true.
“Go wait in his office,” Drago said, closing the door.
“By all means, lead the way.” Amo motioned for him to go first.
Looking at him for a split second, Drago looked him up and down before walking toward the living room to take him to the office.
Amo slowly stepped toward the stairs as he watched Drago’s back progress farther and farther away from him. When he knew he could get enough of a head start, he dashed up the stairs with everything he had.
I’m here, Chloe!
“Lucca, please tell me who it is,” she begged as he carried her into the room.
“Drago didn’t say, and it doesn’t matter.” He placed her carefully on the bed then lightly grabbed her by the neck, forcing her to look directly into his eyes. “You’re my only concern, Chloe. No one can know you’re here.”
The hand he had placed around her throat was an act of possession, an act that should have terrified her, yet it didn’t. And his words had been said with such force that she knew her life depended on it.
That was the only thing that terrified her—the reason she had to be in hiding.
Understanding, she nervously nodded.
A look crossed his features when he released her, one she had never seen on him before. It was a look of … pain, so raw and real that it took her breath away.
Suddenly, they heard a commotion coming up the stairs, followed by an even bigger one.
“Stay here,” he whispered before shutting the door behind him.
“Where the fuck is she!” a familiar voice boomed through the walls.
Her hair stood up as she jumped off the bed. Amo!
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Lucca hissed at him from the other side of the door.
“Chloe!” Amo yelled even louder. “I know she’s here, you fucker.”
She moved to the door, hearing Lucca’s voice become deadly as he said, “What did you just fucking call me?”
She slowly reached out to the doorknob. He’ll kill him. Lucca will kill Amo if I don’t do something.
Amo’s voice was now on the other side of the door, clearly standing in front of Lucca. “You heard m—”
Chloe threw open the door, knowing if she let him finish that sentence, she would be hearing the death of Amo next.
Amo, who had gone toe-to-toe with Lucca, had a moment of complete and utter shock upon seeing the girl he had confessed his love to before his eyes slowly moved back to Lucca, pure rage seeping through his features.
He took a step toward him. “You motherfu—”
Lucca placed a strong hand on his chest, stopping him from coming any closer. “You need to get yourself under control.” His voice still carried the same deadly tone.
Drago, who had followed behind Amo and had been letting Lucca handle him, stepped forward, getting in arm’s distance of Amo.
Amo looked between the two men closing in on him, then to Chloe, who was staring in horror, squeezing her fists. He could see that Drago and Lucca wanted him calm for Chloe’s sake. If she hadn’t been here, though, he knew he would most likely be knocked the hell out by now.
“Are you okay? Has he hurt you?” He spoke directly to her, looking past Lucca.
Lucca swiftly moved, having reached his limit, and slammed Amo up against the wall on the other side of the hall. He held him by his throat, digging his arm into Amo’s neck. “You know more than anyone that I would never fucking hurt her,” Lucca told him in a deadly tone.
Chloe’s short nails tried their best to dig deeper than they already were into her palms, scared out of her mind that instead of hearing Amo’s death, she would now witness it with her own eyes.
Do something! That new voice she had only heard a couple of times rang through her head, giving her enough strength to muster up some words.
“L-Lucca, p-please.”
He didn’t move his arm from Amo’s throat, the darkness in him getting closer and closer to the surface.
She tried again in hopes to calm the darkness. “L-Let him go … f-for me.”
At that, Lucca lessened his hold, warning him, “You touch her, I’ll rip your goddamn throat out.”
Each word had been spoken with a lethalness she had never heard from Lucca before.
When Amo nodded, Lucca released him. Then, letting him walk past, he stood by as Amo slowly stepped toward her where she still stood inside her bedroom.
She started backing up when Amo reached the doorframe.
“Chloe …” He paused. “I’ve … I’ve missed you.”
She couldn’t help looking at Lucca, who stood behind him, waiting to hear what she had to say just as much as Amo. Then her eyes drifted to her wringing hands. “I-I’ve missed you, too,” she confessed.
Amo closed the distance between them. “I’ve called you so many times, and you never call me back.”
Chloe wasn’t sure what she could or couldn’t tell him, so she gave him a half-truth. “I wanted to, but I didn’t know what to say.”
It was obvious how much he wanted to touch her when he said, “I’ve been so worried about you. I knew something wasn’t right, and I’m sorry I didn’t figure it out sooner. I’m so sorry, Chloe.”
Biting her lip, she wrung her hands even tighter. She had waited for him to save her in the beginning, but now … now he was too late.
He held out his hand to her. “Come with me, Chloe. I’ll get you out of here.”
She shook her head. Please go. I don’t want to break your heart again. She wasn’t sure she would be able to handle it a second time.
“Why?” He took another step toward her, making her back up because of his closeness.
“I-I just can’t,” she whispered.
“Yes, you can, Chloe.” Amo continued looking down at the girl who was now hiding her face under her veil of hair. Her not agreeing to come with him was making him more furious, shaking with rage and the force it took to control it. “What is he doing to you? What has he done?”
She looked up at him, wanting him to know that Lucca wasn’t hurting her. “Nothi—”
“I know he’s done something!” Amo’s anger was full-blown. Unable to face the truth that she would want to stay with Lucca, he grabbed her. “I’m getting you the fuck out of—”
She instantly tried to jerk away, his foreign touch feeling like a sting, unwanted.
He took his hand off her the second he realized what he had done. “I’m sorr—”
Lucca didn’t even let him finish before he had stepped in front of Chloe and pushed him halfway across the room. “I told you what would happen if you fucking touched her.”
Somehow, Lucca was even more lethal than he was before. The darkness had fully reached the surface now as he stalked Amo. Chloe was sure
he would kill him. He had promised he would, and Lucca kept his promises. She either had to watch her friend die, or she had to try to talk the darkness in him down. Both scared her just as equally, but only one would end in death.
She feared the other would seal her fate forever.
Chloe began begging, “P-Please, don’t do it. Don’t hurt him.” Closing her eyes, she reached out, touching his arm. “Please, Lucca, don’t hurt him.”
Lucca stopped stalking him, but his heavy breathing, along with the heat that came from his body, showed her he hadn’t been persuaded yet not to rip his throat out. Therefore, she wrapped her hand around his strong arm as she brought herself closer to him, touching her body to his. She held on to him as hard as she could, hoping he wouldn’t move, afraid that the slightest movement would end in Amo’s death.
Finally opening her eyes, she saw Amo’s face from behind Lucca’s arm and regretted ever opening them.
Chloe had done it again, except much worse. Now she had completely shattered his heart.
“Take him to my office,” Lucca directed toward Drago. cutting his fierce eyes deeply into the man before him.
Stepping inside the room, Drago grabbed Amo roughly by the arm.
Chloe closed her eyes again, hiding behind Lucca, unable to look at how heartbroken Amo was any longer. She tried to melt into Lucca in hopes of disappearing.
She might have saved his life for now, but it sure felt like she had killed him, anyway.
I’m so sorry, Amo.
Amo had to look away from the girl he loved, unable to stand the fact she was touching another man. He had only touched her once before today, when she had run into his arms. Now she couldn’t wait for him to let go of her; couldn’t stand the feel of his touch. She had been completely repulsed, jerking away from him as if he had hurt her, as if he was a monster, as if I was holding her captive.
However, that didn’t happen when she had touched Lucca.
Lucca (Made Men Book 4) Page 13