5
Luca
Her frantic footsteps approach, her shadow quickly climbing across the door in front of me.
I wait until she closes in, her rampant breathing reaching my ears, before I spin around and grab the arm violently charging toward me.
She’s got a weapon—some sort of plastic device—but I ignore it for now as I sidestep, forcing her to follow with a jolt of my wrist. She turns with my harsh movements, her lithe body malleable to my direction when I shove her toward the door.
A quick palm against the wood is all that saves her face from sudden impact as I twist her other arm behind her back.
She doesn’t cry out. There’s no plea for help or scream for salvation.
Instead, her breathing increases, her panic only shown in the short, sharp rasps for air.
“What the fuck?” I snarl in her ear as I focus on the cylindrical tube she clutches in a white-knuckled grip. “What the hell is this?”
She doesn’t respond. There’s no struggle or fight, only tightly coiled hostility.
“What the fuck?” I repeat, sliding my hold to her fingers to wrench the device from her grip.
“No,” she begs. “Don’t.”
Her plea kills me, fucking strips me bare. I can’t believe what I’m doing to such a fragile, vulnerable woman. If only it wasn’t clear she was trying to take me down.
“Then start talking.” I place my forearm against her back, loosely keeping her trapped as I inspect the weapon. “What is this?”
“Let me go and I’ll tell you.”
I snicker a scorn-filled laugh, attempting to gain answers through aggressive taunts so I don’t have to take alternate measures. “Nice try. But no dice. Tell me what’s going on before you get yourself in more trouble.”
“Please.” Her voice cracks. “You said you want to help me. So help me. Give it back. Let me walk out of here and pretend this never happened.”
“No way in hell, shorty.”
For starters, I’m not letting her go anywhere near Luther. Not again. Not after I made the mistake of following Cole’s instruction to leave her kneeling on the kitchen floor yesterday. And I sure as shit won’t be handing over the instrument she felt inclined to stab at my neck.
“Was this your idea or his?” I grip the crook of her arm and turn her to face me, her wide eyes blinking up at me in panic, her skin pale, those ruby lips parted. “Talk,” I growl.
“Please don’t say anything.” Her delicate throat works over a heavy swallow. “It was my idea. Luther doesn’t know. He isn’t even aware I stole the syringe from him months ago. I just wanted to pay you back for taunting me yesterday.”
“Pay me back how? What was the desired outcome? Is this lethal?”
“No.” She shakes her head. “It’s only a sedative. You would’ve fallen asleep instead of…” She glances away, her brows pinching.
“Instead of raping you?”
She nods, the movement gentle.
She’s such a pretty little liar.
We both know I wasn’t about to assault her. I was leaving the fucking room, for Christ’s sake.
“Please, can I have it back?” She grates her teeth over her lower lip. “I promise I won’t use it.”
I hold in a scoff as I remain against her, so close I can hear the gentle rasp of her breath.
She’s a contradiction—her body soft yet ready to strike, her dark eyes gentle even though trepidation lingers beneath.
“Please, Luca, it was a mistake.” She grasps the top of the device, her fragile hand clasped over mine. “He’ll kill me if he finds out. He’ll probably kill me when he realizes it’s missing from his stash. Let me take it so I can put it back.”
I grin, the curve of my lips far from friendly. “But you’re a gift, remember? There’s no going back.”
She should be fully aware there’s no returning to Luther unless something else is at play.
“Tell me what’s going on.” I shove the device in my back pocket, not allowing her an inch of freedom. “Now, Penny.”
A ragged exhale shudders from her lips. “You don’t understand.” She implores me with her frantic tone. “He’ll kill me.”
“He’s not going to touch you.”
“Yes, he will. And he’ll hurt my friends, too. My sisters. You can’t save me.”
“Bullshit.” I get in her face, eye to eye, almost nose to nose, making sure she’s got a front row view to my sincerity. “I will save you.”
There’s no doubt in my mind. She won’t leave this island a slave. Not while there’s still air in my lungs.
Her gaze hardens, the deep brown turning punishingly dark. “And what about the little fox you’ve beaten? Will you save her, too?”
She tilts her chin, showing defiance. Spite.
She thinks she knows me, thinks she’s got me all figured out.
“The beaten little fox isn’t a prisoner.” I back off, giving her animosity room to breathe. “She’s on our side. Your side.”
“Is that why you beat her?”
“I didn’t,” I grate. “Robert is responsible for hurting her, but he paid for that mistake with his life.”
Her eyes flare.
For a second, the slightest glimmer of hope brightens her features, increasing her beauty, before it’s quickly suffocated by suspicion.
“I don’t believe you.” She shuffles out from between me and the door. “Robert isn’t dead.”
“I think the bullet that took his life would disagree.”
She blinks and blinks, her disbelief lingering. “She killed him?”
“No, Luther did.”
“I don’t understand.” She screws up her nose. “Luther would never—”
“He had no choice. That asshole’s death is the only reason Cole is still civil with his father. It’s the price he had to pay for what his goon did to Anissa.”
“Anissa?”
Fucking hell, I don’t have the patience or the time for this. “The little fox,” I snap. “Nobody hurts one of ours and gets away with it.”
“Oh.” Her mouth forms a pouty circle. “I…”
“What?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t know… I… I want to trust you. Really, I do.” She raises her focus to mine. “I’m just not sure how.”
I don’t buy it. She’s still got tricks up her sleeve and I’m running out of time to figure them out.
“What if I gave you back your weapon?” I hedge. “Would you trust me then?”
Her tongue snakes out to quickly swipe her lower lip. It’s devious. “You’d do that?”
I’m fucking tempted that’s for sure.
It’s those eyes. The strength. She undoes me with her determination despite the shattered pieces of her psyche I itch to place back together.
“Here.” I reach into my pocket and pull out the cylindrical tube. “Take it. It’s yours.”
She inches back, her disbelief a sweet price to pay.