“Do you like him?”
She did not just say that! “What!”
Blowing on her nails, Maria had no problem elaborating. “Do you, you know, like Lucca?”
“Are you seriously asking me if I like the crazy—and frightening, I might add—man holding me hostage?” Am I in la-la land? What the hell is going on?
Maria held up her hands. “Jeez, okay. I was just asking. Every girl falls in love with Lucca immediately, so I was just wondering if he got to you as well.”
Every girl falls in love with—Nope, don’t care.
Maria’s voice changed, turning almost ominous when she asked, “Are you sure you’re being held hostage?”
Is she crazy like him, too?
“What are you talking about, Maria? He won’t let me leave. Drago watches every move I make. What does that seem like to you?”
“Sorry, I just—Never mind. I’m sorry. You’re right.”
A weird feeling started coming over her, not understanding why Maria wasn’t the least bit concerned. It was like she was used to Lucca doing this, like it was normal behavior, like it was his job or something.
“Is Lucca the vice president of the casino hotel?” The words seemed to spill from her mouth.
Maria busted up with laughter. “That’s a funny way of putting it. Who told you that?”
Putting the brush into the bottle of nail polish, a cold chill began moving up her back. “Sal did.”
When Maria looked over at Chloe, she saw the serious look on her face. “Crap. He hasn’t told you yet.”
The chill spanned her whole body now. “T-Told me what?”
“You really need to ask Lucca about that.”
“That’s exactly what Sal told me,” she whispered.
Closing her bottle of nail polish, Maria put it back in the kit. “Uh, yeah, for a reason.”
Chloe shook her head. “No, I-I want you to tell me.”
Maria shook her head. “No way.”
“Please, you’re my friend, Maria.”
Staring at her, Maria seemed to be contemplating something before she stood up. “Come with me.”
What the …?
“Hurry up,” she told her, quickly going to the stairs and making her follow.
Running up the stairs after her, they went into the huge upstairs bathroom.
Closing the door behind her, Maria locked the bathroom door, making Chloe more chilled than she already was.
“You’ll want to sit for this.”
Taking a seat on the lip of the tub, Chloe felt like she was going to pass out.
“Why did we come in here?”
“The bathrooms don’t have any video or audio surveillance,” she said like it was no big deal.
“You said he couldn’t hear us!”
“Yeah, well, I lied.” Maria put her hands on her hips. “Now, do you want to know or not?”
No. She was now sure she didn’t by the way Maria was acting, but that was the exact reason she probably should know.
Holding her breath, she uttered the word she would soon regret … “Y-Yes.”
Twenty
The Calm Before the Storm
Closing the door behind him, Lucca pulled out his keys to lock his penthouse at the casino hotel when he heard the door opening behind him on the other side of the hall. He turned to see Nero, Elle, Vincent, Lake, Adalyn, and Amo leaving Nero’s penthouse.
Turning back toward the door and realizing he was a minute too early or late leaving, he slid the key into the lock, locking it.
“Hi, Lucca!” Adalyn slid out from behind the boys with a huge smile on her face.
Dammit. He was too tired for this and just wanted to get home.
Putting the next key into the top lock, he didn’t turn around as he said, “Hello.”
Lake was the next one to slide out from behind Vincent and Nero. “You’re making sure your house is awfully locked up for this to be a now guarded area.”
To keep out nosey, little shits li—
“How come I’ve never seen the inside of your place? Have you been in there, Nero?” Elle came out from behind the boys as well.
Finally, Lucca turned around, leaning up against his door and crossing his arms. He looked at Nero, hoping he would lie.
Elle, Lake, and Adalyn turned their heads eagerly toward Nero.
Vincent looked at him in speculation as well.
Then Amo turned, too.
Nero looked at Lucca in pity. “No.”
I’m gonna fucking kill you. His younger brother did not, in fact, lie for him.
“That’s pretty weir—”
Vincent grabbed Lake to shush her.
“Yea—”
Nero did the same to his girlfriend.
“Kinda fucked up you haven’t even let your own brother inside your place,” Amo stated.
Lucca flexed his jaw, staring at Amo. A flash of him gouging out Amo’s eyes appeared before him. Taking a single blink made the satisfyingly gruesome vision go away before he calmly looked at Elle.
“It looks just like yours and Nero’s, but flipped. There’s no reason to see it.”
“I’m sure it’s decorated differently, though. Has no one really seen it?” Lake asked, burning a hole through the door with her stare, like she was hoping to suddenly have X-ray vision.
“I’ve seen Sal come out of there before, but he’s the only one, and it was just one time,” Elle told her.
“Maybe he has a second entrance somehow?” Lake replied like he wasn’t even there.
Lucca gave Nero and Vincent a look of death.
“Clearly, Lucca likes his privacy, and we should respect it,” Adalyn stated.
He gave her a slight smile in return. “Thank you, Adalyn.” Hearing maybe a swoon or two, he began walking toward the elevator.
The girls all followed behind him as he got into the elevator, passing one of his men who was laughing as he watched the floor.
“We’re going to the diner to get something to eat if you’re hungry,” Adalyn offered.
“No thanks. I’ll fix something when I get home.”
Hurry the fuck up. He couldn’t punch in the code fast enough to take them to the first floor when Amo finally got his ass into the elevator.
“Hmm … That’s strange,” Lake whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.
Fucking hell, what now? It seemed like the doors would never come to a close.
“What?” Elle was curious, along with Adalyn.
“Probably that I make my own fucking food,” he mouthed off to the nosy girls. Chloe had practically been shocked he knew how to boil water.
“No.” Lake smiled a bit too evilly before she continued, “Your hair is wet. Who takes a shower at one of their houses only to leave for the other one? Must have gotten pretty dirty …” she trailed off, giggling.
“Hmm … What were you doing in there?” Elle giggled with her.
I’m gonna snap their little fucking nec—
“He probably does have that second entrance for his women,” Amo said in a low tone, but not low enough for them all not to hear.
Cutting a blind Amo’s throat with his pocket knife flashed before him, only to unfortunately disappear after he blinked it away.
“You should get one, Amo, so I don’t have to see the fucking trash you take to your place every night.”
The elevator went deadly silent at his words.
Amo didn’t open his mouth, clearly too pissed and shocked that Lucca had known about the girls he brought home in the middle of the night.