Chapter 53: About Last Night

HAYLEY

“Right hand red, Hayley.” Ava giggled as she held the cardboard square with the plastic red arrow.

Alcohol had flowed all night, and music buzzed in the background of the apartment.

“No, I can’t!” Hayley laughed as she tried to move through the other bodies to get her hand on the red—Twister was ruthless.

“Fuck, I’m—” Ben collapsed before he could finish his sentence, causing all three of them to land in a heap on the colorful mat in the middle of the living room.

Ava and Ben had managed to keep Hayley from thinking about pretty much everything, and neither of them had asked her questions or pushed her in any way.

Instead, they’d played drinking games, danced to the rubbish party tracks Ava loved, and sang along with the cheesy pop songs Ben swore weren’t his even though Ava had found them in his room.

“I’ve missed you guys,” Hayley breathed as she sprawled lifelessly on the couch beside her roommates, tired but happy.

Hayley’s world might be spinning, but she was happy in this moment. She was with her friends.

“Hayley,” Ben slurred. “Your phone just sssang…” He dropped his head on Ava’s shoulder. Ava was already asleep.

Hayley stumbled to her feet, knocking over the empty beer bottles on the floor, then staggered to the kitchen. On the counter, amongst the empty takeout containers and more empty bottles, was her phone.

Her blurry eyes managed to focus on the text message. It was from an unknown sender.

Unknown

Where were you last night while he was taking care of business?

Hayley opened the attachment that was sent with the message, and suddenly she was sober again.

The photo was clearly in the Venetian, and it was definitely last night. Luca was wearing what he’d changed into before he left.

Her anger boiled as she looked at the photo of Luca kissing a blonde in a feathered mask, whom Hayley recognized instantly as Arianna.

She threw the phone down, grabbed an open bottle of vodka that was sitting on the counter, and took several long gulps.

~No one~ treated her like this! She picked up her phone again and dialed his number.

“Hayley?” He answered on the first ring.

It surprised her to hear his voice, so she didn’t answer him at first.

“Hayley?”

“You bastard!” she hissed into the phone. She knew she was slurring; the alcohol was making her brave, but it was also affecting her ability to speak.

“Hayley, are—”

“You treat everyone like shit! You don’t care about other people—people who, for you, would risk themselves, risk everything for you, you complete arsehole!”

Now, not only was she slurring her words, she was starting to sob.

“People who put guns to their heads, who watch innocent people die, yet you treat them like shit—”

“Hayley.” His voice was firm, but she stopped him.

“Ssssshhhhh, you’ll wake up Ben,” she slurred.

“Ben? Where are you? Are you in bed?”

Hayley giggled. “Maybe. Maybe with Ben, maybe with Ava, maybe with both.” She laughed again. “Jealous?”

“Hayley, I—”

“Sssshhh. I don’t care what you think, Mr. Mafia Man, I am done. I just wanted to be there for you last night, but you tossed me aside. I won’t have that. I’m better than that. I’m not your damn toy.”

“I am better than all of this,” she whispered drunkenly as she slid down the kitchen cabinet to the cold tile floor. “Maybe this is the end. Maybe this is how our story ends. Perhaps you can’t love.”

She sighed shakily. “Perhaps I can’t love again. Goodbye, Luca.”

She ended the call and sat with her back to the cabinet and allowed herself a few minutes to mourn something she’d never truly had.

She wanted a man who loved her like Benny loved his wife. She wanted a man to move mountains and swim oceans just to be by her side.

Eventually, she managed to pull herself off the floor and into a stool at the kitchen counter. She took a swig from the vodka bottle and looked at the photo again.

Why was she doing this to herself? Why was she allowing herself to be hurt this way?

Her mind was made up—there would be no more deaths because of all this. She would tell the detective tomorrow that she was done.

A loud knock interrupted her thoughts and made her look at the door. Her two friends didn’t move, totally oblivious to the commotion.

The knock came again. Hayley knew whatever it was must be important, so she stumbled to her feet and struggled to walk a straight line to the door.

“Hello, cara mia.”

LUCA

Luca hadn’t been able to leave it like that, with Hayley saying goodbye to him over the phone. He needed to see her.

“Don’t hello me, you prick!” she hissed, trying to keep her voice quiet but failing. She was using the doorframe to hold herself upright, obviously hammered.

He looked over her shoulder at the messy apartment: beer bottles and a Twister mat littered the floor. Thankfully, her two roommates were sound asleep.

Luca brushed by her and entered the apartment, followed by Frankie and Nic, then held Hayley upright as he closed the door.

“Oh God, you guys are here to kill me!” she wailed.

Frankie went to the kitchen while Nic stood looking at the sleeping duo on the couch.

“Why? Have you been naughty, Hayley?” Frankie called as he picked up the vodka bottle. “Had a party?”

“Yeah, it was a fuck Luca Marcello party. I would have invited you, Frankie, but you’re obviously pro Luca.” Hayley looked up at Luca. “I definitely didn’t invite ~you~.”

“I think your drunk call was my invite,” he murmured.

“No, the call was my way of ending this.” Hayley tried to gesture between them but lost her balance a little. Luca managed to keep her standing.

Nic picked up Ava and carried her bridal-style toward her room.

“Put her down!” Hayley demanded.

“Calm down, mia cara,” Luca said softly—“He’s just helping your friends to bed. And Frankie’s going to make the place look less like a dorm room.”

“What about you?” she slurred.

“What about me?” he asked as he watched her eyes flutter.

“Ssswat are you…going…” But she couldn’t finish her sentence.

Luca chuckled and scooped her into his arms.

“I’m putting my drunken angel to bed,” he whispered in her ear, but she shook her head and struggled weakly in his arms.

“No, I…I…don’t need you…you’re…a…” Her eyes closed.

As Luca undressed her, she kept murmuring sleepily to him. She was relentless, telling him he was an arsehole, a prick, a bastard, and everything in between.

He found a T-shirt to put her in, and when she told him in her drunken sleep-talk that she hated how he’d treated her last night, he hated himself too.

He lay down beside her, letting her nuzzle into his chest as he gently stroked her hair.

He was everything she’d called him and more.

And he had been a bastard to her last night. He’d been angry he had rats in his camp, angry he had to work alongside his enemies, and angry the one woman he cared for was getting involved.

He still wanted the month she’d promised, so tomorrow he would make things right with her. He knew it was selfish, but he wasn’t prepared to let her go yet.

HAYLEY

Hayley woke to the room spinning, a dry mouth, and the smell of coffee. She groaned as she sat up slowly, the pain in her head mounting an attack.

“Good afternoon.” Luca’s voice was sharp to her ears. He was standing in the doorway of the room, casually watching her.

“Oh God! What the hell are ~you~ doing here?” she groaned as he sauntered toward her.

He sat on the bed and handed her a mug of hot coffee. “What do you remember about last night?”

She reluctantly took the coffee and tried to piece together her drunken night with her roommates. She remembered the beers, then Ava had brought out the vodka when they started the Macarena…then drunk Twister…

Oh God, she remembered it all.

She remembered the text, the photo, the angry phone call, and him turning up at her apartment. She must have fallen asleep after that.

She groaned and looked at Luca, who took a sip from his own mug. “Why did you come?”

He shrugged and took a deep breath, letting it out when he dropped his shoulders.

“That’s a shitty answer,” she retorted, running her fingers through her bedhead.

“I’m a shitty person.”

His answer caught her off guard.

Last night, she’d been so sure she was leaving him, sure she would never share a bed with him again. But his vulnerability threw her.

“I never claimed to be the good guy, Hayley. But I should never have treated you the way I did. I’m not used to someone questioning me.”

“I did because I care about you. For some bizarre reason, I actually cared about the fact you had blood on you.”

“I know,” he murmured, and then—silence.

It was obvious to Hayley that neither of them wanted to confess their darkest desires, their deepest wants.

For Luca, love was too dangerous. And for her? She wasn’t sure whether she loved Luca, but she knew something powerful stirred between them, like a magnet pulling them together.

“I’m not a feather girl.” Arianna popped into her head, but for the time being, she didn’t mention the text.

Someone had sent that photo to get a reaction, maybe Max, and if Luca found out, he would kill him. Hayley couldn’t have that on her conscience.

“I’m also not one of your low-level men you can shout at and berate. I am someone you chose to be with, if only for a month.”

“I know, and I’m trying.” Luca shook his head. “But I never expected to do this month with an alliance, enemies in my family, and a cop out for my head on a platter.”

“I never expected to watch two innocents die and see you come home with blood all over you either,” Hayley countered.

He sighed. “You’re in too deep.”

The same words Benny said yesterday. Perhaps they were right; maybe she was in too deep. But she couldn’t bring herself to walk away from Luca, and Detective Blake wouldn’t just let her walk away from him either.

“You shouldn’t have to see people die, see me covered in blood.”

“Luc—”

“I can’t change who I am, what I do, or how I do it.”

LUCA

It was the truth. As cold as it was, it was true. He couldn’t pretend to be anything other than who he was, even for Hayley.

“I am trained to kill, hurt, and challenge anyone who tries to take me down. But I will keep my promise. I want the rest of our month, Hayley.”

Hayley took a deep breath, but he kept talking. He needed to get this out.

“Remember, my world is dangerous. My actions can cause ripples that, if uncontrolled, can create monstrous waves that destroy everything.

“I’m trying to protect you. God knows I never meant for you to get hurt, and for that, I’m sorry. Please know I do the bad stuff to protect the people I care about.”

She shook her head, her brilliant blue eyes wide and locked on his face.

“It’s your choice, baby. If you say goodbye, I’ll make sure nothing lands at your door. I will walk away, and you will be okay.”

They were both silent for a moment before Hayley finally spoke. “I deserve better than what happened the other night.”

“I know.”

“I’m stronger than I look, Luca.” She put her mug down on the bedside table and turned to face him again.

“I know.” He did know. This was the woman who carried a switchblade, who’d stood up to a mob boss, who’d bravely held a gun to her head and pulled the trigger—he was well aware of the strength she held.

“I am not a little girl, Luca. If you treat me like that again, I promise you I will walk, and whatever we’re trying to do here will be over.”

He smiled at her. “La mia piccola tigre coraggiosa.”

She slid toward him. “I wish I understood you.”

He knew she meant more than just his Italian, but he translated anyway. “My brave little tiger,” he whispered as he pulled her close, then he kissed her gently, drinking in everything about this dazzling and wonderful woman.

“~I wish I were brave enough to love you~,” he murmured in Italian between kisses, not planning to translate this time.

“Luca,” she moaned.

“Cara mia.” He kissed her neck as he felt her hands tugging at his shirt, undoing the buttons.

“Take me, please,” she begged, and he grinned against her skin.

He was a man who didn’t need to be told twice.

***

Luca left Hayley to take a shower. He wanted to take her to lunch, and then he had a charity gala to attend. He was going to ask her to be his plus one.

“She forgave you, Capo?” Frankie asked when Luca emerged from the bathroom and sat down at the kitchen counter.

“I think it’s going to be a long process.” How could any normal girl trust him after the things he’d done?

“I need you to call Leo, Frankie. I’m taking Hayley to the charity gala. Marco bailed on me.” He looked around. “Where’s Nic?”

“Breakfast date. He told me to tell you that Toby Sanchez said one of the detectives’ informants will be wearing a tracker tomorrow to lead him to our location.”

Luca sighed. This wasn’t some new technique, but it was tricky if they didn’t know who the culprit was. “Then let only Genovese, myself, and Borroni attend with our seconds. That way we’re limiting who’ll be there.”

Frankie nodded, and Luca poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Also, have them check their cars for trackers. You’ll check ours. That location must stay secure—at least for now.”