Page 37 of Luca
When I come out of the bathroom, I don't go back to the party.
Fuck him.
Instead, I find a side exit and walk out into the night air. The streets are alive with people heading to clubs and bars, tourists and locals mixing in chaotic energy that's been calling to me for days. I can hear music coming from a club a few blocks away, something with a bass line that vibrates through my chest.
I glance back at the villa, where Luca might be wondering where his wife disappeared to.
Then I start walking toward the music calling out to me.
The club is exactly what I need, dark and loud. The sort of place where I can disappear into the crowd and remember who I am when I'm not pretending to be someone else.
I order a shot of tequila at the bar and down it before asking for another. The alcohol burns, but it also loosens the knot of anger in my chest. I pull out double the amount owed from my dainty purse and slap it down on the bar before turning towards the dance floor.
The dance floor is packed with bodies moving to a beat that's probably too loud and definitely too sexy for a Romano wife. But I'm not feeling like a Romano wife right now. I'm feeling like Gabriella, who spent a year dancing in clubs across South America and knows exactly how to lose herself in music.
Whether in a packed crowd or all alone.
Chapter 14: Luca
She's gone.
I've searched the entire villa twice, checked every bathroom, every balcony, every room where someone might go to get air or make a phone call.
Sofia has vanished from the party without a word to me.
"When did you last see Mrs. Romano?" I ask Paolo, trying to keep the edge out of my voice.
"About an hour ago, boss. She was talking to some ladies near the bar."
An hour. She's been missing for an hour and no one noticed.
"Check the gardens. Check the parking area. Find her."
But even as I'm giving orders, I know she's not here. There's something about the way she disappeared that feels deliberate. Purposeful.
I find Lucia near the bar, looking entirely too pleased with herself.
"Enjoy your conversation with my wife?" I ask.
Her smile widens. "Oh, we had a lovely chat. Such a sweet girl. A bit naive, perhaps, but that's what you wanted, isn't it?"
"What did you say to her?"
"Nothing that wasn't true. I simply explained how these marriages work. Business is business, pleasure is pleasure."She sips her champagne. "I may have mentioned that you called me yesterday about resuming our arrangement."
My hands ache to wrap around her throat. "I haven't called you since before my wedding."
"I know that. You know that. But she doesn't." Lucia's eyes glitter with malice. "Poor little Sofia. She looked so crushed when she realized her husband was planning to cheat on her."
If we weren't in public, surrounded by witnesses, I'd strangle her with my bare hands.
Instead, I lean close enough that only she can hear me. "Stay away from my wife. If you go near her again, if you speak to her again, if you so much as look at her wrong, I will make you disappear. Are we clear?"
The smile finally fades from her face. "Perfectly."
I walk away before I do something that creates a scene, but my mind is racing. Sofia heard that I was planning to cheat on her and then disappeared. Either she's somewhere in the villa having a breakdown, or she ran.
Given what I've learned about my wife lately, I'm betting on the latter.
