Page 65 of Vows Made in Silence
I nod. “And they’re moving faster than we are.”
His eyes darken. “Not anymore.”
Luca’s eyes narrow as he flips through the ledger again, faster now. Like he’s memorized every page. Every name. Every debt. His voice is low, but lethal.
“Turk and I are going through every piece of paper and putting it in a chronological order we can understand.”
He snaps the book shut with a crack that echoes like a gunshot through the war room.
Then he looks at me—eyes dark, haunted, and resolved.
“I need you to go and stay with Daniel. No more shadows, no more slipping away in the dark. From this moment on, you don’t move without protection.”
I don’t argue. Not this time.
“Luca…” I reach for him. “What if it’s someone who’s been close this whole time? Someone who’s still inside?”
He nods once. Grim. “That’s why we smoke them out. One by one.”
A heavy silence passes between us.
“I’m going to find out who used my brother’s blood to climb the ladder,” he says. “And when I do…” His jaw flexes, voice dropping to a growl. “They don’t get a trial.”
“Luca,” I whisper, already moving before I think better of it.
I reach for him, and when my fingers graze his arm, he turns.
His mouth is on mine in a second. No hesitation. No mercy.
He kisses me like this might be our last moments together. His hands find my waist, yanking me flush against him, and I gasp as my back hits his desk.
“I can’t protect you if I’m thinking about how you taste,” he growls, dragging his mouth along my jaw. “But fuck, Giuliana… I can’t stop.”
He lifts me without effort, pinning me between him and the desk, every inch of him hard and angry and desperate. His hands are everywhere—clutching, caressing, commanding.
“I need you,” he breathes.
My legs wrap around his hips, instinct taking over. We collide again, mouths frantic, breath ragged. Every brush of his lips against mine is a vow of promises kept. Every thrust of his tongue is an apology for the time we lost.
I grab his face, force him to look at me. “I can’t lose you again Luca. I don’t care what you have to do to protect us.”
I stand up straight, breathless, aching, lips swollen.
But this time, I know what’s at stake.
As I exit the war room, Luca’s men are walking past me almost running back to the table.
The hallway feels colder than it should, lined with ghosts and secrets.
All I can think of is protecting Daniel and praying this ends soon.
—---
Sal is already matching dates, photos and transactions when I close the door. Soon he’ll be checking the surveillance tapes. Guard rotations. Looking for names that shouldn’t be there.
“It’s not the outer perimeter we need to worry about,” Sal mutters, tapping one of the rotation logs. “It’s who was scheduled inside. Close access. Someone on the inside fed them our movement.”
I lean in, scanning the list. My eyes stop on a name.
