Page 14 of Mine Again
And it terrifies me.
Not because I think he’ll hurt me. Never that.
But because he’s always so calm and controlled. For him to fall apart like this, something terrible must have happened.
“Luca?” I whisper carefully. “What’s going on?”
He doesn’t answer, but just stands there, breathing hard, his eyes wild with something I can’t name.
I take a step toward him, needing to understand what shattered the world we were wrapped in only moments ago.
“Please,” I try again. “Talk to me.”
His eyes find mine, but I can’t read him.
He casts one last glance at the room and the bed where we made love, feeling so close and invincible.
My gaze follows his, and I’m not prepared for the inexplicable wave of loss rolling over me. It’s as if we’ve already crossed some invisible line and there’s no going back.
“Luca?” The question is fragile, unsteady, born of fear I don’t yet understand.
He still doesn’t answer, gripping my hand and pulling us towardthe door with determined steps.
“My parents are waiting by the back exit,” he finally says as he opens the door, his eyes sweeping both ways before he steps into the corridor. “My mother’s hysterical. She kept saying we have to leave.”
Leave?
My chest constricts, and my breath shortens until it feels like I’m drowning in invisible air.
“Leave?” I repeat higher pitched than I mean it to be. “Why?”
Is it possible for my heart to stop while it’s beating far too fast?
“I couldn’t make sense of her,” he replies, jaw clenched, as we hurry down the corridor. Our footsteps seem thunderous, even on the muffled hush of the carpet.
“It sounds like my father did something he shouldn’t have.”
I blink. “What… what did he do?”
“She wouldn’t say over the phone.”
My heart skids to a halt. “But… why did she call from an unknown number? None of this makes any sense.”
“Burner phone,” he mutters, and a chill engulfs me, far colder than the air conditioning in this place.
Luca’s hold on my hand grows firmer with every step toward the elevator. When the doors slide open and we step inside, he pulls me against him. His heartbeat hammers in time with mine, just as frantic, just as lost.
He buries his nose in my hair like he needs me to anchor him. Like he’s memorizing my scent.
The ground floor arrives too soon. Instead of heading for the main entrance, Luca leads me down a narrow corridor that’s dim and sterile under the fluorescent light. At the end, he pushes open a heavy door marked with an emergency exit sign.
Outside, a sleek car idles by the steps. Luigi Caruso paces in front of it.
It’s strange seeing Luca’s father without the usual ring of men at his side. As one of the high-ranking capos in the De Marco empire, he’s always guarded.
Not tonight.
Everything about him is different. He looks… unhinged.
