Chapter 35: Two Cars, Two Choices

HAYLEY

Hayley ran her hands through her hair as she looked around Luca’s now-familiar bedroom. Her clothes were lying scattered on the floor, and she could hear her phone ringing.

She leapt out of his huge bed and rummaged through the mess to find her phone.

“Hello?” she answered, trying to put her clothes on at the same time.

“Hey, I’ve got your plane tickets here for an 8 o’clock flight tonight to Paris.”

~Siobhan!~ Hayley froze. She’d completely forgotten to tell her she’d changed her mind about leaving.

She just stood there in her underwear, looking at her reflection in the mirror above the dresser.

Here she was, trapped by the detective, trapped by her desire for Luca, and trapped by her own bad decisions. Was this fate intervening, giving her a choice?

“A driver will pick you up at 6 p.m…”

Hayley’s heart pounded as she listened to Siobhan’s instructions. Detective Blake already knew about her plans to go to Paris. He said he’d know if she tried to fly out of the country. He’d bring her back.

“I’ve changed my mind,” she blurted out, interrupting Siobhan mid-conversation. “I’ll pay for—”

“Hayley!” Siobhan said sharply. “I really think you should go.”

Hayley pressed her lips together, then shook her head. There was no other choice. “I’m sorry, Siobhan, I want to stay in New York. I can’t talk now. Sorry, I have to go.”

She ended the call, but Siobhan was relentless: texting her, leaving voice messages reiterating that a car would pick her up at 6 p.m.

She had till then to think things over.

She needed to go home and clear her head.

LUCA

When Luca came into the bedroom, Hayley was just standing there, half-dressed and looking a little lost. She gave him a weak smile, then continued to get changed, moving fluidly around his room.

“You okay?” he asked her, and she nodded as she pulled up her jeans.

She didn’t look okay. He’d seen her answer a call while he’d been in the camera room. Had someone said something to upset her?

“I’ve got to go.”

He took her shoulders gently. “Changed your mind?”

She sighed and shook her head, but she had trouble meeting his eyes.

He cupped her face and gently skimmed her face with his thumb, causing her to shiver slightly. “It’s all your choice, Hayley. I’m not going to make you stay.”

He wished he could, though. He wanted to keep her under lock and key, safe in his home.

She smiled up at him. “I know. I ~want~ to stay.”

She turned away to finish collecting her things. “It’s just, I’ve got a shift tonight,” she said over her shoulder. “I also have to get my things.”

At the idea of her sharing his home, something expanded in his chest.

“Frankie will give you a ride to your apartment.” He slid his hand behind her neck and pulled her toward him, gently letting his mouth find hers.

After a moment, he stepped back and let his hand fall away. “Let’s go find Frankie then.” He turned on his heel, and Hayley followed him out of the room before leaving his home to go back to hers.

***

Luca marched through Dublin, where he’d been told Siobhan was hiding—doing accounts apparently.

His godmother looked up when he pushed the door open, then sighed when she saw it was him. “Luca, I’m sure I taught you to knock before entering a room, yet you keep barging into my offices.”

He laughed to himself, and she removed her glasses and gave him a hard stare.

“What do you want, Luca?” She got up and walked to the filing cabinet with her folders.

“I’m going to take Hayley to dinner tonight, so I’ve come to get her the night off.”

Siobhan froze, her back to him, then sighed heavily before slamming the metal drawer closed and turning around to face him.

“Impossible.”

“Surely Ben can cover the bar. A lot of my men will be out on jobs tonight, so the club should be—”

“It’s impossible because she’s leaving today.” She walked back to the desk and leaned against it, her arms folded. “At least she ~should~.”

“What do you mean she’s leaving?”

“She’s leaving for Paris. I have a driver picking her up at six tonight. I told you last week she’d decided to go, so I don’t know why you’re so surprised.”

He clenched his fists. “I wasn’t aware it was already settled. How long have you two been planning this?” he asked as he tried to keep his voice calm and level.

“I’ve been arranging everything, but Hayley knew it would probably be a few days after Halloween. Though she only found out about the flight this morning when I called her.”

Luca exhaled furiously. So ~that~ was what she was talking about on the phone this morning. She’d lied to him—and Siobhan had deliberately kept him in the dark.

“Although she’s fighting it. I hope you haven’t planted some silly dream that you can’t follow through on, Luca.”

“I’m trying to protect her, Siobhan.”

“Bullshit, Luca! She’ll be safer ~away~ from all this Mafia shit!”

“You don’t fucking understand!” he hissed.

“Then ~make~ me understand, because right now putting her on that plane myself seems like the best solution.”

“Lorenzo Borroni.”

Siobhan froze.

“He sent me a ~very~ clear message—remember the night he took us?”

Siobhan nodded slowly.

“He sent me the final bullet. With her name on it.”

Siobhan’s eyes went wild, and he braced himself for her to go nuclear on him. What he didn’t expect was dead silence.

He watched as Siobhan slowly walked back behind her desk and sat down. He remained focused on her, but she said nothing, did nothing.

Surely she knew Lorenzo would move heaven and earth to kill her protégé.

“I can’t protect her in Paris, Siobhan.”

She still remained silent.

He shook his head. “Borroni has marked her as dead. He won’t let a little thing like another country stop him.”

“Your dad has managed to stay alive in Italy,” she said curtly, and he nodded.

“Yes, my padre also has hundreds of men, twenty-four seven security cameras, and tracking.” He thought of the millions they spent keeping his father safe in Italy.

“Hayley is ~my~ responsibility. I put her in this situation, and I will protect her. ~Here.~”

Siobhan’s face was hard, but she said nothing. Considering the conversation over, Luca turned on his heel and started for the door.

“So that’s it.”

He heard her words just as his hand reached the door handle. He sighed and dropped his hand but didn’t turn to face her.

“You protect her, play the hero?”

He wasn’t a hero. But he kept that thought to himself.

“Then what? You fix the Borroni problem, you keep her close for a month or two? You’ll what—give her flowers, dinners, take her to bed? And then what, Luca?” She was yelling now. “Are you just going to drop her?”

He was done talking to her, ~done~, so he opened the door.

“She should get on that plane, Luca!”

Siobhan’s voice was harsh, but he didn’t turn back. Instead, he slammed the door behind him.

HAYLEY

Siobhan

My driver will pick you up at 6. Make the right choice.

Hayley looked at Siobhan’s message, then dropped her phone in her bag and began packing the rest of her things.

She was a coward. Part of her wanted to flee to Paris and never come back. But she was even more petrified of Detective Blake putting her in prison or sending her home to her family.

However, staying meant she was working to help bring down a mob boss—a mob boss she was deeply infatuated with.

The doorbell to the apartment rang, bringing her out of her thoughts. Ben and Ava were out, so she went to answer it. It was Frankie, grinning his infectious smile.

She smiled back, more than a little surprised to see him. “Hello, Frankie.”

“Hey.” He held out a gray garment bag. “The boss wants to take you to dinner tonight.”

Hayley just stared at the garment bag, so Frankie shoved it toward her.

“He sent you a dress.”

With a little sigh, she took it from him.

“Ric will pick you up at six.” With a smile and a wink, he left her doorway, and Hayley was left holding the bag.

***

It was close to six p.m. when she picked up her overnight bag, took one last look around the apartment, and placed a letter for her roommates on the coffee table.

When she stepped out into the chilly night air, she wasn’t surprised to see two SUVs waiting in front of her building.

She recognized Siobhan’s driver in the first SUV.

Ric was standing next to the other one, having a smoke.