His sister didn’t respond, but Luca figured she didn’t need to. On his way past Roz to climb the stairs and find Naz, he dropped a kiss to the top of her head. She could be mad, like he said, and eventually ... she wouldn’t be. Perhaps then, they could really talk about this. The entire fucking mess. Or maybe they wouldn’t say anything at all. Whatever she needed, he was good with it. He owed her that, at the very least.
Luca passed his godson’s bedroom on his way to Naz’s upstairs office. He was sure he saw little Cross tucked comfortably under his blankets, but he didn’t dare linger at the doorway for too long. The boy should sleep, and just because Luca hadn’t seen the kid in weeks didn’t mean he had any right to wake him up when it wouldn’t be him putting Cross back to bed.
Naz was barking into the phone when Luca did walk into his office. He barely even passed his best friend a look as he told whoever was on the phone to, “You better get that fucking shit done—if I have to come down there and make sure you do it, I will, but I promise you won’t like what comes after, Lou. Don’t test my kindness. It’s quickly running out.”
He slammed the phone down to the receiver with enough force that a frame fell over on the desk. Naz didn’t even bother to correct it before his angry, sharp gaze turned on Luca.
“Dad handled it, then?” Naz asked.
Luca raised a brow. “Handled what?”
“You. I figured you were in some kind of shit when you called, so I got him on the phone. I didn’t have much to go on but here you are. Things worked out I see.”
Luca swallowed hard. “Yeah, you could say that.”
Or he could say how Naz’s father was one of the reasons why they were in this entire situation in the first goddamn place, but—
“I’m sitting boss,” Naz told him.
Luca stiffened. “What?”
“There wasn’t any warning. Dad stepped back at tribute a couple of weeks ago, and put me on the spot. It wasn’t like I didn’t see it coming—he already had me doing more shit than I should have been. So yeah, you’re looking at the boss of the Donati family. This life doesn’t stop for anything, Luca.”
Right.
Not even when the world did.
Luca knew it better than anyone—he’d grown up watching his father sacrifice his personal life and time to the mafia time and time again. Even when his wife would beg him to make time for her and the kids when shit was really bad, Zeke ended up saying the same thing.
Famiglia first.
Family business always came first.
Luca just couldn’t help but wonder if Cross putting his son in his place to handle the business side of things was circumstance—because it was time for it to happen—or something else ... like maybe another way to keep Naz busy and out of his father’s private affairs. Say, what was currently happening with The League and Penny.
Naz didn’t give him a chance to voice what Luca knew or even his thoughts before he asked, “What do you know—what happened?”
“You want it all, or cliff notes?”
Naz arched a brow. “Probably both.”
Well, then ...
“That’s fair,” Luca murmured.
“How long were you with her before ... what, she went missing again, right?”
“I think they didn’t give her a choice.”
“They?”
“The League.”
Naz nodded, and scrubbed a hand down his jaw. “And you—but you were with her.”
“For a little while. By chance, really. I didn’t find her because I did anything different. It just happened. I was fucking lucky, but it was also fast ... it wasn’t a good situation. She already had people hunting her down before I even came on the damn scene, you know?”
“No.”
Luca blinked, surprised at how sharply Naz said the word. “I—”
“No, I don’t fucking know! And you know why—because you didn’t tell me! Beyond the fact that you were doing this for me, that you were looking for her because of me, you didn’t even have the decency to let me know—”
“It’s not that simple, man. None of this was simple.”
“Fuck you.”
“Naz—”
“Fuck you.”
The unspoken I said what I said lingered between the two men, hanging heavily in the air like a poison that would easily kill them both. It was the Donati way, Luca knew. Donati men were all the same when it came right down to it, and Naz was no different than his father at the end of the day. Their stubborn streaks were legendary.
He knew when to push.
Or not.
Naz waved a hand, saying, “Start over—from the beginning. I want to know how this happened. I want to know why you’re standing here right now and she’s not. Tell me everything.”
Well ...
Luca would try.
He didn’t skimp on details—mostly. He started from the beginning like Naz wanted him to, from that night at the hotel, until the point the familiar man showed up to demand Penny return to Nevada. He kept out the personal shit, and he respected Cross wishes about keeping his involvement on the down-low but that was only because Luca didn’t know how to approach it yet.
Or if he even should.
Nonetheless, he gave Naz the bones and most of the meat of the story. From The League, to even The Elite. He didn’t stop there, even going as far as explaining how Allegra Dunsworth fit into it, her upcoming marriage to a respected senator, and what Luca had learned over the past couple of days. The longer he spoke, the more irritated his friend became.
With him, certainly.
But also with everything else.
It was expected.
Naz raged for a bit. Luca let him.
At the end of the day, only one thing really mattered to him now.
“I need to find her,” Luca said when Naz finished his rant about people keeping shit from him just because they could. His friend wasn’t wrong, he just didn’t have the time or concern to handle that when other things needed his attention. Things like Penny. “She’s already got whatever remains of The Elite—or whoever is working for them—looking for her. Now, she’s going to have an entire team of assassins from another organization hunting her down, too.”
Naz fell into the chair behind his oak desk. “It all comes back to her mother, doesn’t it?”
“Like one messy, vicious circle.”
“And The League—”
“I got the impression that because they don’t think they’ll be able to get the situation under control with Penny being AWOL that they’re going to handle it in a more ... permanent way.”
“Kill her, you mean. Just say it.”
Luca dragged in a shaky breath. “Yeah. It’s just her ... whatever she’s trying to do right now, she’s out there doing it alone.”
He didn’t like that.
He couldn’t have that.
“They can’t risk it otherwise,” Luca added.
“Risk what?”
“Her boss. The League, Naz. What they are—what they do, you know?”
“Not really.”
“Yeah, me either.”
But here he was.
Trying.
No one could ever say Luca didn’t try.