Page 66 of Luca

“Tell that to the guy whose nose you broke a few months ago at the club,” she says.

Finn chuckles and Eoghan laughs along.

“Are you about ready to go home?” I ask Giada, her glazed eyes finding mine. My wife is a bit tipsy, it seems.

“Sure,” she replies.

“We’re going to head out, too,” Finn says before catching his wife’s eye. “It’s a rare night where neither of us are expected at the casino and I’d like to take my wife home and…”

“Please don’t finish that sentence, Finnegan Monaghan,” Maeve says, walking up behind her son.

“What? I was going to say give her the present I left at the house.”

“Oh, present?” Alessia asks, walking up to the group.

“Mmhmm,” Finn hums. “You’re going to love it.”

“I didn’t tell you what I wanted,” Alessia says.

Finn rolls his eyes dramatically. “Haven’t you learned by now, wife? I know what makes that heart inside of you tick. You think I need you to tell me what to get you?”

Alessia smiles and kisses Finn on the mouth. “Fair.”

We say our goodbyes and head out the door. I tuck Giada into her seat and start the car, pulling out to the main road behind Finn. We aren’t driving for more than five minutes before I notice the car behind us coming up way too fast. Before I have time to warn Giada, the dark sedan rams us from behind. I swerve but am able to keep our car on the road.

“Holy shit, Luca!” Giada yells, twisting in her seat.

“Turn around,” I tell her, speeding up, trying to get the hell away from whoever is in the car behind us.

I grab my phone and call Finn. “We have a tail. They just tried to run me off the road.”

Just then, the car behind us rams into us again, but this time, I'm not so lucky. Our car goes off the side of the highway, flipping down the embankment as Giada screams before landing on its side against a tree.

I’m jarred from the impact but manage to get my seat belt off. “Giada,” I call, my hands cupping her cheeks while my frantic eyes look into hers.

She’s dazed but doesn’t appear injured. “I’m okay, I’m okay.”

As the words leave her lips, I hear the sound of heavy boots coming toward us. I look out the window as the masked man raises his gun and opens fire into the car. My body covers Giada as best as I can while she’s still belted into her seat, and I pray my cousin is already out there.

When the shooting stops, Finn shouts, “Luca. Talk to me.”

Other than the broken glass that rained over me, I don’t think I was hit. “I’m okay.” I remove myself from Giada’s front, and to my horror, I come away with blood covering my light-gray shirt. I look at Giada, and her eyes are wide with terror. “Luca?” she asks before we both look down and see the blood pumping from her shoulder.

“Oh God. Finn, Giada’s been hit,” I yell and look into my wife’s eyes. “You’re going to be okay, baby. We’ll get out of here and get you stitched up.” Before I finish my sentence, her eyes close and her body goes limp, only being held in place by the belt around her chest. “Finn, hurry up.”

He rushes to the front window that's been shot out by our would-be assassin’s bullets and looks inside. “Shit,” he hisses as Alessia comes up behind him, a look of shock and fear marring her features.

“Okay, Luca, I need you to hold her while you undo the belt. I’m going to reach in and have you hand her to me through the window. Alessia, call the doctor and let him know we're on our way. His contact information is in my phone in the car.” Alessia nods and turns, running toward the car parked on the side of the street.

As gently as I can, I release Giada from the seat belt and pass her to Finn, doing my damndest not to jostle her. Once she’s safely in his arms, I crawl out of the window myself and look at my wife’s pale face. Ripping the shirt from my body, I put it over the wound on Giada’s chest. We hurry up the embankment, Finn with Giada in his arms and me applying pressure to where she’s shot. Alessia opens the back door of the sedan, and I quickly climb in before he passes my wife to me. I continue holding the shirt to her chest as Finn rushes around the car and hops in the driver’s seat.

He grabs his phone and dials a number. “Eoghan. I’m sending you my location. Luca’s car was run off the road, and Giada was shot. The shooter and the car are on the east side of the street. I need a cleanup. We’re headed to the doc’s house now.” Finn hangs up and sends our location to his brother before he speeds away on the quiet highway.

Alessia turns in her seat and looks from me to Giada with tears in her eyes. “She’s going to be okay. Our doctor saved my bodyguard. She’ll be fine.”

I don’t respond. My gaze is focused on my wife’s face as I pray she opens her amber eyes again.

It takes Finn seven minutes to get to the doctor’s house. Seven of the longest and most excruciating minutes of my life. The doctor meets us in the back driveway and takes one look at Giada before a flurry of activity begins. The doc shouts orders at his staff waiting outside of the operating room as they wheel my wife behind the door.

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