Page 71 of Luca

“You have done everything you can to keep me safe, including marrying me to keep me out of the Russians’ hands. Don’t you understand? It's my turn to protect you and everyone else we care about. If Carlo isn’t stopped, who knows who he'll go after next. Are you willing to risk Alessia or Finn? What about Eoghan or your aunt? This is our best shot. I’m your best shot.”

His deep breath is full of resignation as he grips me tighter. “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of coming, am I?”

“No,” I answer simply. “There’s no use fighting about this. It’s not going to change anything.”

This has to end before anyone else I love dies.

Chapter twenty-one

Luca

Never in my life did I think I’d be taking my wife to a clubhouse full of bikers. Finn assured me they are aware of who I am and why I was in the Cataldi organization. He also made sure to let me know again that these guys may participate in illegal activities to make their money, but they hold the same values as our family, especially when it comes to the women in their lives. It does little to ease the tension I have as we drive through the gates, though.

Parking the car in the gravel lot, the four of us step out of the vehicle next to the row of motorcycles in a line off to the right. A large man with a neatly trimmed beard with a little gray around the edges of his otherwise dark hair walks over to us with two other men all wearing the same cut. The man in front has a president patch on his, and the other two are wearing enforcer patches.

“Ozzy,” Finn calls, “Thank you for having us.” He walks up to the MC president with his hand outstretched.

Ozzy grips it in his large palm and claps Finn on the shoulder. “I told you to call if you needed assistance. Glad you did.”

Finn nods. “Let me introduce you to my wife.” Alessia walks from the other side of the car and shakes Ozzy’s hand then greets the other two men, Linc and Jude. “And this is my cousin Luca and his wife, Giada.”

Ozzy walks up to me and takes my hand in the same firm grip as he did with Finn. “You saved two of our women, Luca. If there’s anything you ever need, know we’re in your debt.”

“Appreciate it,” I reply before he introduces me to Jude and Linc, whose old lady was the girl from the warehouse who Alberto was about to buy.

“Good to finally meet you, man,” Linc says, shaking my hand.

Giada is standing silently next to me with a practiced smile on her face. I wrap my arm around her shoulders to offer her some comfort, but I think the drive here has brought up a lot of memories for her. When we drove through the little town of Shine, her head was on a swivel, looking at every building and shop we passed. She pointed out a candy store her mom used to take them to before they made it to the house. The memory brought a smile to her face, but a few moments later, it dropped, and she was back to being quiet. Giada is still coming to terms with loving her mom and being angry that she participated in the lies from both of our childhoods.

“Eoghan didn’t make the trip?” Jude asks as we grab our bags and walk toward the front door.

“He and Cillian will be up later,” Finn says.

“Good, he can finally meet my old lady. I can’t wait for her to beat his ass at pool.” The affectionate smile on the otherwise tough biker’s face when he speaks of his woman eases my tension further. It’s obvious these men love and respect the women in their lives, just as Finn assured me.

When we walk into the clubhouse, it’s not as I would’ve expected a biker hangout. There are no half-naked women lying around or a bunch of drunk assholes leering at Alessia and Giada when we walk in. A couple of the members are playing pool to the left, another man is sitting at the bar sipping coffee and reading a newspaper, and there’s a woman is sitting with a laptop in front of her and papers spread across a table.

“Pretty girl, come here a minute. I want to introduce you to some people,” Ozzy says.

When she looks up from her work, her eyes meet his then she finds mine. A wide smile stretches across her face as she approaches us. “You must be Luca,” she says, shaking my hand. “If it wasn’t for you, God knows what would have happened to us.”

“I was in the right place at the right time. Glad to help.”

When Ozzy and Freya were kidnapped by Carlo, I overheard the two goons who worked for Carlo talking about the lawyer bitch and the MC president at one of the Cataldi warehouses, waiting for Carlo to get there to take care of them. I took a chance and called Finn from my phone, warning him that something was going down. Though Carlo got away that day, Roberto and Ernesto weren’t so lucky. Good fucking riddance.

Two women come out through a swinging door on the right side of the room, and I recognize one of them immediately. The girl that Alberto was going to buy. She looks a hell of a lot better than the first time I laid eyes on her.

She walks up to Linc, and he wraps his arm around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head. I can only imagine how she feels seeing me again. The first time she met me, I was playing the part of human trafficker. And I played it well. She was out of the warehouse before we took out the men inside.

Charlie offers me a small smile. “I never thought I’d be thanking you if I ever saw you again. You play a convincing bad guy.”

I nod and return her smile. “I’m glad you made it out.”

Not all the women Alberto bought through the years were as lucky, and that guilt still eats away at me.

“I’m Lucy,” a short woman standing next to Jude says, shaking hands with Giada and Alessia. “I heard you're a bit of a gun expert,” she says to Alessia.

Alessia laughs. “I heard you're the only person here who has a shot at beating my brother-in-law at pool.”

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