For the Love of Luca

by Soraya Naomi

  CHAPTER 20

  Luca

  AS SOON AS FALLON EXITS the security room, I motion for Tez to come with me into Adriano’s office. I must know what she was doing alone with another man without my knowledge. Particularly because Tez has been too amiable to Fallon ever since New Year’s, and I loathe seeing them together.

  Furthermore, I know my wife, and the way Fallon fiddled with her fingers is a sign she was anxious. My gut instinct rears up and I’m not sure she was actually here to use the restroom.

  I claim Adriano’s seat behind the desk as he frowns, standing across from me at the door with Tez.

  “What did Fallon want, Tez?” I immediately ask, leaning back and crossing my ankle over my knee. “And let me remind you that dishonesty is punished severely.”

  Tez holds my steady glare for a second before he glances at Adriano, who doesn’t move a muscle.

  “I think you should talk to your wife,” Tez replies evenly.

  An icy jealousy rises inside me, but I school my expression. “I’m asking you, and I expect an answer. Now!”

  Adriano’s eyes widen at my outburst while a visible tremble fissures through Tez.

  “Okay, okay. She didn’t come for me – if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s just not my place to tell.”

  “Spit it out or I swear to god...” I let the threat linger.

  “She wanted me to check her phone to see if any messages were deleted this month,” he reveals, shocking me silent.

  I didn’t expect that response. In this moment, I figure out that she’s still trying to gather evidence to support her ludicrous tale.

  “And did you find anything?” Adriano inquires, but Tez shakes his head as I clench my jaw.

  Fallon deceived me. I truly believed I’d convinced her to obey me. Unexpectedly, it dawns on me how much craftier Fallon has become, and that makes me proud yet infuriates me at the same time.

  Why can’t she let me protect us?!

  “Is this the first time she’s come by when I haven’t been here?” I can’t contain the bitterness in my voice.

  “As far as I know, yes. She did go to see Henry a few weeks ago. That’s all I know.” He steadily holds my scowl, so I’m inclined to believe him.

  Christ! How did she manage to do all of this behind my back? I should be impressed, but my blood runs cold.

  Adriano then orders, “Tez, leave us. And not a word to anyone about this.”

  He nods before returning to the security room and shutting the connecting door.

  Adriano advances toward the desk, stopping opposite me. “What the fuck is going on? For two weeks, you tell me that she’s obeying you, but, in reality, she still believes her own story and is seeking proof! Where the hell is Michael?”

  “I don’t have the answers!” I rise as he grips the edge of the desk. “She...she’s become a very good actress.” Violently, I scrub my hand over my mouth. “Fallon told me she would drop it. I need to talk to her.”

  “Fallon can’t use my members, Luca. If the women seek information, they come to us. I don’t want anyone in the Syndicate thinking that we have issues with our underboss’s spouse.”

  “I know that!” I retort, my head reeling due to this turn of events, and I admit, “I need to see Fallon before I take action. She’s my wife.”

  “Fuck! Fine. But nip this in the bud, Luca. Control her,” he commands as I march out toward the exit to get into my car, fire up the engine, and pull onto the street with screeching tires.

  After I run a stoplight, I hit the gas, the rain spitting against my window as I swerve across the lanes while Fallon’s beautifully innocent face replays in my mind. She’s always been the one untainted thing in my life, but the mafia has changed her. I fell in love with her composed and graceful demeanor, yet it’s turned her into a shrewd liar.

  But you omit so much as well, a little voice nags. Nevertheless, being the underboss of the United States’ most powerful mafia, those words are easily forgotten.

  WITHIN TWENTY MINUTES, I park in front of the Blackhall and jump out, almost mowing over a couple who get in my way as I hurry to the elevator. After pushing the button insistently, I move inside and ride up for what feels like endless minutes.

  When the door slides open, I can’t believe the scene that’s unfolding. Fallon and Henry are standing opposite each other and she has her gun targeted at an unarmed Henry, who’s holding up his hands, a package in his left one.

  I glance back and forth between them several times in the span of a few seconds before marching inside to stop right next to them, barking, “What the hell’s going on here?!”

  Henry’s nostrils flare as he keeps his eye on Fallon’s Smith & Wesson.

  “Luca, he deleted the message on my phone!” Fallon jerks her gun, startling me with her vehemence, so I bring up my palms.

  And I temper my tone to avoid any unexpected movements. “Fallon, first you need to give me your gun, and then we can talk.”

  Henry gives me a worried look while Fallon’s arms tremble. Still, she keeps her weapon directed at Henry’s forehead as he edges backward.

  “No!!!” she screams, glowering at Henry. “He’ll just deny it, and, and...”

  Lightning fast, I firmly catch her wrist so that the gun falls from her grasp. Then I spin her around, trapping her within her crossed arms.

  As she struggles, I lift her up and she kicks air, protesting, “Luca, no!”

  Henry snatches the revolver from the floor and clicks out the ammo, which drops out and lands with a loud thud before bringing up his package in anger. “What the fuck’s wrong with her? I just came to connect the streaming box!”

  Fallon looks sideways at Henry while I keep her captive, and she hisses, “It’s much too coincidental that you’re suddenly here.”

  “Basta!” Enough! “I told him he could bring it over any time.” I secure my hold on Fallon and scowl at her. “You need to calm the fuck down!”

  The sharpness in my voice makes her go slack, and her amber eyes cast down.

  Meanwhile, I bite through my fury, leaning down to her ear, “If I release you, will you stay quiet?”

  She meets my glare and nods. In turn, I let go of her.

  Without preamble, Henry bellows, “She almost pulled the trigger!” And he tosses the revolver on the sofa as Fallon juts her chin out in defiance.

  I palm my forehead – I need to do major damage control, so I address Henry, “Fallon hasn’t been feeling well—”

  “I’m feeling fine,” she interjects, grinding her teeth.

  My eyes cut to her in warning, and she clamps her lips together, thank god, before I lose it. “Fallon’s confused and has been investigating on her own. I apologize for her behavior, and I can assure you that nothing like this will happen again, Henry. I’ll handle her.”

  Fallon looks heavenward, as if she’s praying for patience, but I’m just trying to keep my cool in front of Henry.

  His expression rages as he evaluates me, roughly brushing back his hair, and I add, “I outrank you. This concerns my wife, and I’ll straighten this out and talk to you later, okay?”

  “Does Adriano know what’s going on with her?”

  “Yes,” I answer. “But I want to be the one to update him about...this.”

  While shooting daggers at Fallon, Henry concedes, “Okay. Call me before the day ends.”

  “I will,” I promise and jerk my head to the elevator, gesturing for him to go, and when he presses the elevator button, it glides open instantly, and he steps inside.

  I turn to Fallon, who straightens as my stare pins her to her spot and wait until I hear the door closing before I roar, “Are you fucking crazy?!”

  “No, I’m not.” She indignantly points at me. “You’re all missing what’s going on here.”

  I switch the focus back to her, “No, we’re not. I know you asked Tez to check your phone.”

  Her mouth drops open.

  And I continue, “I knew you wer
e lying at the club, and I interrogated Tez after you left.”

  As she bites the inside of her cheek, it appears as though she’s contemplating something. With a deep frown, she asks, “So you know that someone deleted a text from my phone?”

  I throw up my hands in frustration. “What the hell are you talking about?” I grip her shoulders and implore, “What’s wrong with you? First, Noah gets hurt because of a so-called message. Second, you disobey me and pretend to drop the subject about the text. And third, after you go out to find proof on your own yet don’t discover anything to support your theory, you still stick to your story! Do you think I also don’t know that you asked Henry to check your phone a few weeks back? Two people have told you that the message isn’t there!”

  “No...no.” She wrenches free. “Luca, someone spoofed the message. Spoofing is how you can forge caller ID, which would explain what happened, and then Henry probably deleted the message. Tez found that on January tenth, someone deleted a text, and that was the day I went to see Henry.” A crease wrinkles her forehead. “But wait, did Tez tell you he didn’t find anything on my phone?”

  “Yes,” I confirm as I watch the bewilderment forming on her face.

  She starts pacing back and forth. “Wait. Henry did look completely confused, so maybe he is telling the truth. Then...then Tez is lying either to you or to me.”

  “So now Tez is lying?”

  Her entire frame becomes anxious.

  “Everyone’s lying?” I repeat sarcastically, my mood savage.

  “Yes. No!” She grips her hair in despair and violently yanks her purse off her shoulder, flinging it onto the couch. “Tez told me that someone erased a text right before you came into the security room. I swear it, Luca. M-maybe Tez is playing some game?”

  “Why? What’s his motive? Now you have another theory? Fallon, you’re making my head spin.”

  “I don’t know. But I went to find an IT guy because I remembered that the message stated dolcezza, which is a name only the high ranking men know about,” she reveals, but her entire story makes no sense since the text was never sent and her phone has been checked twice!

  “I recalled it because I realized that you haven’t once called me dolcezza since Noah’s accident.” Her eyes well with tears, pulling at my heartstrings, yet I’m unable to call her my dolcezza through a red fog of anger that’s caused by this clusterfuck of a situation. “It’s as if you’re still mad at me – because we don’t have answers.”

  I inch forward and stop in front of her so that she has to tilt her head up, and I almost soften when I’m confronted with her flawless, heart-shaped face framed by mahogany bangs that are brushed to the side. When her full, rose lips tremble, I want to embrace her and tell her everything will be fine, but I can’t.

  “Or are you lying?” I palm her cheeks in desperation, seeking the elegant woman I fell in love with. “Are you confused and conjuring up things because this mafia is darkening your way of thinking?”

  Her mouth hardens as she pulls my hands away. “No, you’re completely wrong! I’m not that naïve girl anymore.”

  “I don’t think you’re naïve at all. I think you’re more cunning than I ever imagined, because you defied me, and for two weeks, I believed you! However, we have two children to protect, Fallon!”

  “I did obey and would never put myself or the twins in any danger, but I couldn’t tell you because I knew you’d have this exact reaction. Without proof, you don’t believe me.”

  I fear that I’ve wholly underestimated Fallon’s muddled state of mind. Perhaps being in the mafia is screwing her up? Has she been exposed to so much brutality that she’s losing touch with reality and has a conspiracy theory for everything?

  “Why can’t you just believe me?” she mutters in a broken tone.

  “Because two people have told you that you didn’t get the message.”

  “No, only Henry did that. Tez told me something different from what he told you.”

  “È abbastanza!” That’s enough! “So again, we have your version versus another version? How are you sure that Tez said that to you – you’re seeing conspiracies everywhere. Regardless of that, what were you planning to do next?”

  “I was going to tell you everything: about the erased text, how I found out what spoofing is, and how it must be an inside man because the message stated the name dolcezza.”

  “Well, you’ve been busy. You’re stuck with a theory in your head and you’re not making any sense. Then, on top of it all, you lose it in front of Henry. Do you know the repercussions if you’d harmed him? He’s a high rank!”

  “I wasn’t going to hurt him as long as he didn’t hurt me, but I have a family to protect as well!”

  “Jesus Christ. You’re beginning to sound like a mafia member,” he counters.

  “You brought me into this world, and you’re being oblivious. Ever since we’ve had the twins, you’ve become overprotective to the point where you don’t see what’s going on anymore.”

  “I’d suggest you choose your words carefully,” I warn as emotions clash inside me, and I realize that, somehow, we’re on opposite sides.

  I walk to the island, gripping the edge before I swipe my arm across it, and the box, two candles, and a paperback tumble to the hardwood floor. Then I whirl around. “I don’t know what to do with you...”

  Fallon’s lips turn down. “W-what do you mean? Just try to keep an open mind. I am becoming confused now because things aren’t adding up, but no one believes me. From the moment I told my side of the story, you’ve all been treating me as if I’m crazy.”

  “Are you? Are you going crazy?”

  “No. No, I’m not. How can you think that?”

  “I’m grasping at straws here. Y-you’re out of control.” My voice breaks as Fallon approaches me, yet the vast distance between us widens.

  Her face pales. “No, Luca. You’re coming undone, not me. Okay, I tried to get my proof, but I’m not putting myself in danger, so why are you so livid?”

  “Because you’re creating conflict within my organization by accusing people, and now you’ve held our hacker at gunpoint!”

  “To protect myself! You tell me to be more observant, and when I am and offer you an explanation, you dismiss me. I admit, reacting to Henry like that wasn’t smart, but I was scared, and I’ll talk to him.”

  “No! I’ll straighten it out with Henry so that he keeps this a secret. I forbid you to mention any of this to anyone or speak with Tez.”

  Her brows hit her hairline in reaction to my order. “But-but I want to confront him.”

  “Don’t push me!” I roar. “Let me handle this without your interference.”

  “You just want control.”

  My glare settles on her as she clenches her fists, yet she nods in agreement.

  With composure, I walk forward and bend low to whisper, “Don’t defy me again.”

  As she looks up through her long, curled lashes with a sneer, I think she understands perfectly well that she’s currently dealing with the underboss. Her eyes fill with moisture as my own vision blurs, and a crack forms in my soul that’s irrevocably linked to hers.

  In the stillness of our large living room, the rain spitting against the floor-to-ceiling windows cuts through the tension. I fear that I’m losing her to the mayhem of the Syndicate, which destabilizes me to an extent I’ve never experienced while we’re at a crossroads.

  Despondent, I catch the time on the clock hanging in the kitchen and comment, “I’ll get the twins at Rosalia’s,” before I go to the elevator. I have to update my boss as well.

  Fallon’s hurried footsteps trail me. “Luca, I want to go together.”

  Afraid I might say or do something I’ll regret, I instruct with my back to her, “You’ll stay here.”

  Then the elevator opens and I move inside before turning and meeting Fallon’s glossy gaze. She stands there, watching me dejectedly while I feel the need to punch someone. Swallowing the brick
lodged in my throat, I blink profusely until the doors close and cut us off from one another.

  In a furious daze, I reach the ground floor and walk out the entrance where my car’s parked. Leaping inside, I start the engine and pull out. Since I have no time to waste, I fish my phone from my suit jacket to type a text.

  Luca: Guard Fallon. She’s alone in the penthouse. She’s not to leave; we have a problem. I’ll be home in an hour.

  Michael: Got it. Going up now.

  Then I call Henry, putting it on speakerphone when I stop at a busy intersection.

  “Luca,” he answers immediately.

  “Remember how I helped Adriano accept you and his sister when he found out you were dating? I was the one who calmed him down.”

  “Yes...I suppose you want to collect the debt?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then tell me what’s going on. You don’t believe that I erased any of her messages, do you?”

  “No,” I reply honestly and don’t divulge that she also suspects Tez.

  Memories of us dancing happily, peacefully at Henry and Mary’s wedding play behind my eyelids, and I grip the steering wheel.

  “She isn’t well, Henry. But she’s my wife, and two children are involved. I assure you that she understands she was wrong and is sorry. I’m taking control over the situation – she won’t ever throw around accusations without proof again. If we tell Adriano about the incident, he might force me to do things I don’t want to do, so I need to keep this between us.”

  Silence stretches on before he lets out a sigh. “Fine. I don’t want any rumors about me messing with phones going around the Syndicate anyway. But, Luca, the fact that she pulled a gun on me is worrisome.”

  “I’m aware of that. So I’ve amped up security.”

  “That’s good.”

  “If she comes to you again, you tell me.”

  “I will,” he says, and I hang up while the quiet world she and I have created in our penthouse tilts on its axis.