I should be running for my boss, gun in hand. Instead, I can’t drag myself away from her. I tell myself it’s only for one more second in the hopes she’ll comply. Because information is key, right? I could gain an advantage over whatever the hell is going on out there if only she would give in to me.
“Luca,” Torian roars.
Shit.
I shake off my obsession with her and rush for the door, grabbing my pistol from the back of my waistband.
“Luca…”
Her voice is heaven to my ears. If only it wasn’t too little too late. I can’t hang around any longer.
“Luc, wait.”
Fuck.
I turn, finding her staring back at me, her forehead etched in pain.
“He’s out to get you.” There’s remorse in her tone. In her eyes, too. “And I have no doubt he’ll succeed.”
6
Penny
Luca dashes from the room, not acknowledging my pained admission with more than a narrowed stare.
He’s going to get himself killed.
All of us could die in the melee.
Oh, God, Tobias.
I rush to my feet and scramble to follow him. As I enter the hall, I find Luca crouched before Tobias, a finger to his lips as he instructs Luther’s son to remain quiet.
For a brief moment I’m struck with the kindness in his features. The gentle nurturing that seems one hundred percent pure. Then he looks at me, his gaze hardening as he pushes to his feet.
“Go,” he mouths to Tobias. “Hide.”
The boy rushes toward me and I usher him into the room, mimicking Luca’s warning to keep as quiet as possible with a finger to my mouth.
“What’s going on?” I whisper.
“Dad told me to come get you. You need to go to him.”
I nod. “I will. But first, you have to hide, okay?”
He opens his mouth to protest.
“Not now, Tobias. You need to listen. Hide. Get under the bed. Or in the closet. But don’t come out, you hear me?”
“What’s happening?” His voice breaks with a sob.
“I don’t know. I have to go with Luca to find out.”
“But you were meant to—”
I shake my head at him, cutting off his words. I’m well aware of what I was meant to do. I know I failed. “Did you do it? Did you sedate Cole?” I murmur.
He winces, his tiny shoulders curling in on themselves.
“Don’t worry. You did great.” I smile at him, my heart breaking at the thought of this possibly being our final goodbye.
Luther will kill me for failing.
Me, and the man I endangered.
“Now it’s important you hide.” I shoo him farther into the room and grab the door handle. “Don’t come out until I get you.”
I want to tell him I love him. There’re so many things I need this little boy to know, but I close the barrier between us and force myself to remain strong as I turn to Luca.
He’s in the middle of the hall, creeping toward the entry to the living room, his gun raised. He’s about to start a war. And with Cole drugged, he’ll surely get himself killed.
“Stop,” I whisper. I run for him on the tips of my toes.
He doesn’t listen, stepping into the light from the main room, his shoulders strong, his face stony as he points his barrel at a target I can’t see.
“Luther,” he yells. “Drop it.”
I skitter to a stop beside him as gunfire rings out, the booming sound pummeling toward us.
Pop.
Pop.
I duck, my pathetic attempt to protect myself improved when Luca shoves me back into the sanctuary of the hall.
I stumble against the wall as he rushes into the living room, more pop, pop, pops raining down.
I’m too stunned to scream. I’m completely dazed, and it’s not only because of the battle or the shouting voices. It’s because Luca shoved me.
Protected me.
In the heat of the moment, when he was surrounded by danger, his first instinct was to push me out of harm’s way.
He did as he promised.
He attempted to save me.
I remain immobile as voices brush my ears—the sound of Chris talking from outside, then Luther, and even a slurred response from Cole. Grunts and thumps carry from the main room. There are clear sounds of a struggle and all I can think about is the man who tried to help me. The one who is now eerily silent.
Luther’s laugh is the only noise that penetrates my shock, the conniving tone filling me with dread.
“It’s too late. I got him,” he taunts. “Penny, check to make sure Luca’s dead.”