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.