Page 93 of His Kidnapped Queen
Luca frowns deeper. “He can’t be. He might skim money, but he wouldn’t have me assassinated.”
“Wouldn’t he?”
Luca draws in a sharp breath. “What right do you have to talk about my brother like that?”
“I just thought?—”
“You thought wrong, little cop.” He scowls, sitting up with effort at the end of the bed. He’s still shirtless, but he’s wearing a pair of slacks we didn’t take off him last night.
“Luca, don’t?—”
“I’m going to shower. Unless you want to join me…”
He trails off and he won’t look at me. I know it’s not a real offer. He’s just saying that to deflect, to get his mind off what I know to be true: his brother is a rat. And he probably tried to kill him.
I go silent and Luca leaves the room, slamming the door and clicking the deadbolt shut. I jump at the sound, bursting into tears.
God, I wish I could call Scott. He’s my best friend. The only one who really gets me. He knew that I was still hung up on Luca. He tried to warn me, but I didn’t listen.
I miss him terribly, him and Rosa and Agnes, but at the same time, I don’t know if I miss my old life. I don’t miss the old me, naive, too trusting. I don’t miss the endless nights spent as a beat cop, chasing perps who’d done nothing worse than sling a little weed.
I have to stop thinking this way. I have to stop thinking I mean something to Luca.
When this is all over and his brother takes over, what happens to me?
He doesn’t care about me, and I’d do well to remember that.
26
LUCA
I grunt as I push past Diego.
“Were you listening all night?”
“That’s my job,” he says easily, not missing a beat reading from his paperback.
I gather a towel and a fresh outfit. I’ve been living out of a suitcase, spending all my time between here and work. I haven’t been to my penthouse in a week.
I can’t say I miss it terribly. It’s never really felt like home to me, just a place that I escaped to when I was tired of Father and Nico. A place I brought women to, fucked them just for a night or two, then shipped them off.
The only place I truly feel at home is lying next to Sophia, but I don’t know if I’m ready to face that fact just yet, even in my own mind.
I run the shower in the master bathroom as hot as I can get it. This used to be my mother’s room, but when she got sick andhad to be put in the hospital, my father had turned it into an office. A junk room, more like.
When she left, she took all the joy out of this place with her.
The hot water beating down on my wound makes me yelp, and Diego calls out to me.
“I’m fine!” I bark, gritting my teeth against the pain. Despite the discomfort, I wash and get out, drying off quickly and getting dressed casually in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. I’m not seeing anyone I need to impress. Not today.
“Where are you off to?” Diego asks when I walk into the hallway, freshly showered.
“To meet with Nico. To tell him everything that’s happened.”
Diego looks at me for a long moment, as if he wants to say something, but then he just nods.
“Watch your back,” he says quietly as I leave the cottage.
