Chapter 34: One Month

HAYLEY

~You.~

The word seemed to make the world stand still. They just stood looking at one another.

“I shouldn’t, but I do,” was all he said.

She walked closer to him and held the mask up to the side of her face. “Which me? The feather girl?”

He gently took her wrist and removed the mask with his other hand, then looked deep into her eyes as he held the mask to the side.

“I ~never~ want to see you wearing a feather again.” He let go of her wrist and put the mask in his jacket pocket before looking back at her.

Her head was swimming. She never expected him to answer so honestly, and certainly never expected him to choose the girl behind the mask.

He put his hands on her hips and pulled her closer to him, then sighed. “I’m going to hurt you, Hayley. I’m not a good man—I’m selfish and a fucked-up son of a bitch.”

“And I might hurt ~you~,” she said, putting her hand on his cheek.

He shook his head against her palm. “Impossible,” he whispered.

The word cut deep.

This was the master plan—to get him to let her in. Even though she wanted this to be real, she couldn’t forget she had a job to do. Even if it made her feel like the villain of the story.

He turned his head. “Come back home with me,” he murmured into her hand.

“Okay.” Maybe it was reckless, but she wanted him.

He took her hand and led her out to the VIP lounge.

“Who’s sober?” he asked his men.

Ric held up his hand.

“C’mon. I’m going home.”

Ric nodded and followed Luca and Hayley down to the dressing room, where she quickly changed into jeans and a vest and grabbed her bag and coat before leaving the Venetian.

LUCA

“Drink?” he said to Hayley as they stepped into his kitchen.

She nodded as she took a seat at the counter—the same stool she’d sat in when he made her lunch the last time she was here.

Luca opened an expensive bottle of white wine, watching Hayley out of the corner of his eye as he filled two glasses. She looked stunning. Nervous, but absolutely stunning.

“You don’t trust me?” He placed a glass in front of her, and she shrugged as she took the glass. He took a sip of his own.

“I don’t trust a lot of people, Luca. Don’t take it too personally.” She sighed before taking a huge drink from her glass. “What are we doing here?”

“Having a glass of wine,” he said simply, but she shook her head.

“I mean, what are we ~doing~ here, Luca?”

He studied her face. It was a face that he could spot in a crowded room, a face he knew better than his own.

But seeing her reminded him of Borroni’s threats—that she could get hurt because of her association with him.

“Something completely foolish,” he muttered darkly, breaking the silence. “But I’m too selfish to let you go again. I want you.” His eyes locked on to hers, and she let out a shaky breath.

“Until tomorrow?”

Her words made him walk around the counter and take her shoulders, spinning her to face him. “Give me some time. Give yourself time. I want you, Hayley. ~All~ of you. But you need to have a choice. Options.”

Hayley looked confused by his words, but he didn’t bother trying to explain; he just kept going.

“My world is fucking brutal. I’ve never really let a woman in, for fear they’d get hurt.” He cupped her face gently. He knew he should make her see sense, make her run from him, but he also knew she wasn’t going anywhere.

“You have a choice, Hayley, you know that, right? If ever you want to, you can leave. You’re not a member of the family—you can walk away.”

If she had any idea the dangers his world held… But perhaps she did and was foolish enough to stay with him anyway.

HAYLEY

Hayley looked at the handsome don before her, a man who could order a kill in a heartbeat, control the entire city of New York, or be killed at any moment himself.

Her gut was telling her to get up off the stool and walk away—from Luca, from the detective, from New York.

Maybe if she was fast and silent, she could sneak out of the city and head back to Paris, or disappear entirely.

Nobody would know… or would they? Detective Blake had Max in his camp—and so many other powerful connections. He’d probably find her eventually.

Yet at the same time, the idea of leaving Luca crushed her. For some insane reason, she wanted to trust him, and that just might get her killed.

LUCA

“How about”—Hayley took his hand from her face and kissed the back of it—“we give ~us~ a go.”

He took a long deep breath before exhaling. “Us?”

He’d never been in an “us” type of relationship. Well, once he’d tried, but it didn’t end well. “This will be a first.” He chuckled, and Hayley smiled.

“You know you’re walking into a hellhole, right, Hayley? I’m going to have you checked by a doctor, because clearly you’re insane. Do you understand how dangerous I am? That the people I run with are not nice people?”

He never wanted her to use lack of knowledge as a reason to leave him. She couldn’t say he’d never warned her.

She nodded. “I understand, Luca. But I’m giving you a chance. Us a chance. Perhaps it will crash and burn; perhaps I’ll go running for the hills. But I’ll give you some time.”

“You want to put an end date on it?” he asked, and she nodded.

He paused to think. How much time would he need to get Borroni to remove his hit on her? How much time would he need to keep her protected?

“A month?” he offered.

HAYLEY

She felt a tightness in her chest. A month from today, she had to meet with Detective Blake again.

She took a deep breath and nodded. “A month.”

Luca took her face in his hands and gently kissed her lips, and she kissed him back.

After a moment, he carefully pulled away and put his forehead to hers. “You’re a crazy woman, Hayley,” he said before kissing her again, and she laughed against his lips.

He stopped kissing her and took her hand. “Let me show you around. There’s so much of the house you haven’t seen yet.”

Luca then proceeded to give her the grand tour, showing her every room in his impressive house.

There were ten bedrooms, all with en suites, three powder rooms, a game room, a pool, a gym, two lounges, and a dining room. He had a study, which Hayley had been in already, and a camera room.

He made it clear to her that each room, except his en suite bathroom, had at least two cameras. But his bathroom was also the only room without a window.

The tour ended at the master bedroom door. He opened it with a flourish. “And finally, my bedroom.” He winked, causing her to blush. “But you already knew that.”

She walked in, impressed with how pristine it was considering she’d trashed it only days ago.

“I see you’ve managed to get it cleaned up,” she said, and he just laughed as he shut the door.

He came up behind her and moved her hair over to one shoulder as he kissed her neck. She let out a soft moan at his touch.

“Luca…”

“You can sleep in here with me,” he purred into her ear. “In fact, during our month, I think you should live here.”

~What?~ She turned to face him. “I have an apartment, Luca.”

LUCA

He sighed and took her hands, holding them tight. “I know, and to be honest, I’m glad you do. It means you have somewhere to go if you decide to leave.”

“You are truly selling this, Luca.” She laughed nervously, and he gently cupped the side of her face, her brown hair gently brushing the back of his hand.

“I’m serious, Hayley.” He looked into her eyes as he spoke. “I have no idea what this world has in store for me—for ~us~.”

Her eyes widened at his use of the word.

“It’s been a very long time since I’ve let a woman into my life. I can’t promise you anything except I’ll try.”

She put her hand on top of his—the one that was cupping her face—and moved closer, lightly kissing his lips before pulling away to peer up at him.

“That’s all you can promise me…that you’ll ~try~.” She smirked playfully, and he smiled back.

She was so innocent, even though he knew she’d seen her fair share of evil. She was perfect—shiny as a new penny—but he feared his world would tarnish all that.

As he pulled her closer and claimed her lips again, he vowed he would shield her from his world. She would be on a strictly need-to-know basis.

He would do anything to protect her.

HAYLEY

Hayley felt the rush of his kisses; she moved her mouth in harmony with his, and electricity coursed through her body.

She knew she was vile, a traitor, the worst kind of human. But she wanted him.

And how could she ever betray this man? In this moment, as he removed her shirt, leaving her in her powder-blue lace bra, she knew she couldn’t. She ~wouldn’t~.

If this was the last month of her little life, then at least she would die a happy girl.

He kissed down her neck, making her skin burn at his touch. She moaned his name as he began to remove her jeans, his lips never leaving her skin.

She wanted him—she wanted ~this~. All thoughts of Detective Blake and Max Willows disappeared as Luca laid her naked body on his bed and his lips and tongue found her sensitive places.

He increased the pressure on her clit as his fingers pleasured her core, and she cried out his name as his tongue teased and played with her.

She was his. She wanted to give him everything.

Some might say she was a whore because she was sleeping with Luca to get information for the detective.

But she wasn’t. No, she was Luca’s, and for the next month, she was here just for him.

LUCA

Sex with Hayley was like nothing he’d ever experienced before.

As she lay in a sex coma, naked in his arms, Luca gently stroked her thick brown hair and listened to her breathe.

He’d heard his men come home a while ago, but Hayley had just fallen asleep and he didn’t want to wake her.

He silently slipped out of bed, put his clothes back on, and—after stopping to gaze at the sleeping beauty in his bed one more time—left the room.

As he approached the camera room, he could hear Nic and Frankie’s low, quiet voices through the door.

Frankie looked up when Luca entered. “Boss, you and Hayley are giving me whiplash.” He chuckled, but Luca didn’t laugh.

“Shut the fuck up, Frankie.”

But Frankie just gave him a smug grin and took a drag of his cigarette.

“Hayley will be staying here.”

“Is that a good idea?” Nic asked.

Luca took a deep breath, then was momentarily distracted by the screen that showed his bed. But he was focused back on Nic in a heartbeat.

“Borroni wants her. He wants to settle the debt.” Luca shook his head. “All of this is because of Elianna and his father.”

“And now his cousin and Jonas Leone,” Frankie added.

“Both sides have their casualties,” Luca hissed, thinking of Deano and the street runners. “Hayley was forced to play fucking Russian roulette. Borroni sent a bullet with her fucking name on it.”

Luca took a cigarette from his jacket and lit it.

“Staying away from her didn’t work,” Nic said gruffly, and all three of them nodded in unison.

Luca had been foolish to think he could stay away from her. And Borroni had seen through it anyway.

He lifted his cigarette to his mouth. “If she stays here, I can keep her safe until we find a way to call off the hit on her.”

Nic’s jaw dropped. “Call off the hit?”

“~Fuck~, Boss,” Frankie spat. “You’re not suggesting making a fucking deal with fucking Borroni? After what he did to Deano?”

“Calm down, Frankie.” Luca stubbed his cigarette out in an ashtray on the desk. “I’m sure we have ~something~ Borroni wants.”

“You know what he wants, Luca.” Nic sighed. “Your father for his.”

Luca knew Hayley was just a means to an end, a way to get to Luca. Hayley was never supposed to go to that warehouse, but Borroni loved a game—loved dramatics.

“Then we just have to be clever…” His eyes were drawn back to the screen that showed Hayley in his bed, dead to the world. “And we’ll use strength if we have to.”

“Then we need a plan, Boss,” Nic said, and Luca nodded.

“Frankie, talk to the street runners. Surely they’ll know why Borroni is hiding and how many men he has floating around out there.”

Frankie left the room, and Luca took a seat in his vacant chair. “Nic. Talk to your mole in the force.”

“Toby Sanchez?”

Luca nodded, his eyes on the screen showing his room again. “He might have some information on where Borroni has moved locations, or if he’s had some of his men inside for anything recently.”

“How long is she going to stay here?”

“A month.”

Nic nodded at Luca’s response as his eyes went to the screen. “I hope keeping her close will work, Luca. But after a month, will you let her go?”

“She’ll want to go.” His world was cruel, and after a month in it, Hayley would leave. He knew this.

“Are you sure?”

“I can’t keep her. I’m only doing this to protect her.”

Nic raised his eyebrows but said nothing more.

Once he was left alone in the camera room, Luca sat quietly and watched Hayley sleep.

He’d promised her he would try, he’d promised himself he would protect her, and he’d promised his cousin he would walk away from her.

He was Luca Marcello, head of the Marcello crime family, and he would stand by his promises. In one month, he ~would~ cut Hayley loose.