Chapter 9: Mr. Opportunist

LUCA

“What have you got, Wheeler?” Luca asked in a low, harsh tone.

The guy looked up cautiously. “My brother?” he asked, keeping his voice down as well.

Luca rolled his eyes and reached inside his jacket pocket. The man flinched, then let out a huge sigh of relief when Luca pulled out his phone and not a gun.

Luca slid the phone across the counter. The screen showed live footage of the lockup where Wheeler’s twin was bound, gagged, and bloody.

“He’s very much alive,” Luca said firmly when the guy’s face paled at the sight of his brother, the sight of Frankie walking around him, waiting for the signal to end his days…or not.

While Wheeler was focused on the screen, Luca flashed his eyes back to Hayley.

She was taking a sip of her coffee when his eyes caught hers. He looked away quickly, returning his attention to the matter at hand.

“But that can change,” he warned as he picked the phone up and slipped it back in his pocket. “Frankie is waiting for one word from me. One word from me or…” Luca nodded toward the car where Nic was waiting.

Wheeler shot him a fierce look. “You said no men, you lying bas—”

“You think I would meet an informant without backup?” Luca hissed. “Besides, you said no men in the diner, and Nic’s not in the diner.”

The guy made like he was going to argue, but then deflated.

Luca smirked. Apparently, his informant had momentarily forgotten who he was dealing with: a master of manipulation, an artist in deceit, and the devil in man’s clothing.

“So, what do you have for me?” Luca asked again.

This asshole had been an informant for nearly seven months, with no results. Luca and Nic were concerned he’d become a Borroni soldier, so they’d used his twin to get results—which it had.

Now suddenly he was telling Luca everything, telling him all about how the Borronis were doing a deal with Neil Jackson in Texas.

Luca remained quiet as Wheeler recounted the times Borroni had met with Jackson, but his blood was boiling. Jackson was a fucking liar.

“I suggest you and your brother leave,” Luca said once he’d gathered everything he could from his informant. “Get as far away from New York as possible.”

His voice was filled with threat and violence.

“You said the family would protect me and my family,” Wheeler said, shaking his head.

But Luca shook his own even harder. “The famiglia looks after our own, that is true. But you’ve sat on this information for far too long. Men have been killed, ammunition and money are gone. We’ll text you where you can pick up your twin.”

He slipped off the stool and went to stand behind the informant. “You showed disloyalty. You should be dead. But since you were once one of us, I’m giving you this chance to leave before my men come to kill you.”

He turned and walked back to the table.

Hayley looked taken aback, but he knew she’d heard nothing. As Wheeler rushed out of the diner, Luca got out his phone and said one word into it before hanging up: “Uccidilo.” Kill him.

Yes, he’d lied, but he could show no mercy.

Both of the Wheeler brothers had lied first, and the information they’d withheld could have saved the lives of four of his men. He couldn’t tolerate disloyalty.

HAYLEY

“I understand now what you meant about being an opportunist,” Hayley said after the waitress came by with a coffee pot and refilled their mugs. “This wasn’t about taking me for breakfast; this was just about business.”

That idea of being special had been taken from her yet again. Why was she doing this to herself?

“I saw an opportunity. I wanted to take you out again, and I needed to come here, so two birds.” Luca shrugged as he picked up his mug and took a sip.

“Why invite me at all?”

“Why did you accept?” he countered, raising an eyebrow as his chocolate-brown eyes bored into hers.

“I wasn’t going to,” she croaked, her voice collapsing on her. Once again, she was overcome by his gaze and his intoxicating presence—damn him!

“But you did.” He made a sweeping gesture above the table, indicating the coffee she’d drunk.

She pressed her lips together, then nervously tucked some stray hair behind her ear as she tried to avoid his intense stare.

LUCA

“You asked no questions,” he said coldly. “I offered to take you somewhere, and you blindly followed.” Just like all the others who were drawn to the danger of his world.

Maybe she wasn’t any different after all. Just another star in the night sky.

Her eyes narrowed. “Perhaps I was just hungry.”

He scrunched his face up. He knew the truth behind those stunning blue eyes—knew the anger she felt. And he wanted her to feel it. He wanted her to hate him, loathe him. Maybe then she wouldn’t be hurt by him.

“Maybe if another guy or girl asked me for breakfast, then I would have gone with them. Don’t flatter yourself, Luca.”

She was lying, of course. Luca knew Ava and some other feather girls were getting breakfast. He’d heard them inviting her.

No, she came because, like him, a part of her craved spending whatever time they could together.

“So the other girls didn’t invite you?”

“I…we…uh…” Her face grew red.

He was playing with fire, but he wanted this woman, wanted to get her hot and wet just for him—and that was something new for him.

Something told him she was like a drug—one taste and he’d be hooked. But he liked the idea of holding on to her, liked teasing himself by being near her…

What the hell was he doing to himself? To her?

“This was a bad idea,” he muttered, standing suddenly.

She got up too.

He shook his head angrily. “I could kill you in a heartbeat. I should, for your utter stupidity if nothing else.”

She huffed. “I’m not stupid, Luca. I just like to see good in people, give people a chance.”

“There isn’t any good in me, Hayley.”

She gave a curt nod of agreement, then grabbed her purse and strode for the exit.

He threw some money on the table and followed her out onto the sidewalk just as she hailed a cab. “Hayley!” he called out, but she got in quickly and shut the door, and the cab pulled away.

HAYLEY

Hayley let her head fall back against the headrest. She was a damn fool. And crazy to have ever trusted Luca Marcello. But the more she wanted to hate him, ignore him, or forget about him, the harder it was.

What was pulling her toward this criminal? He was a dark, cruel man—and he loved that side of himself. A side she hated in herself.

Luca was right to call her stupid. Whenever he was around, she let her guard down. Around Luca Marcello of all people! The one person she should never do that with.

When she got home, she tried to get a little sleep before her midday shift at the club, but she failed. So she decided to just take a shower, drink some coffee, and get going.

Like every daytime shift, it was quiet. She had a couple of guys to prop up her bar, but that was about it.

Her mind kept wandering to the VIP booths, which were empty, and she thought of Luca’s dark, mysterious eyes. It was crazy, but she could feel him watching her. It unsettled her stomach but made her heart quicken.

Between shifts, she managed to grab some dinner at a nearby fast-food burger place before she headed back to the club.

Ben greeted her as she walked in the back entrance, then walked across the hallway to set up their bar while she headed to the girls’ dressing room.

When Ava spotted Hayley, she ran up to her, giggling. “You have more flowers!” But Hayley just looked past her friend at the gift.

The flowers were in another crystal vase, and the bouquet was huge and colorful. Something in her soared as she looked at the gorgeous arrangement, but the rest of her wanted to toss it across the room.

Hayley sat on her cushioned backless stool and touched one of the flowers pensively before opening the attached envelope.

~I noticed your other ones were dying. I’m sorry about this morning.~

~Yours,~

~Luca Marcello~

She reread the note as the other girls cooed over the flowers and smelled them, trying to tamp down the happiness that bubbled up at his words. This was ~Luca~. It could be an act.

But she couldn’t help it; she found it sweet—almost—that he noticed her flowers were dying. That he cared.

She placed the note in her handbag before she changed into a deep-purple corset, her usual shorts and thigh-highs, and a purple featherless mask.

***

She grew increasingly exhausted as the night wore on. If only she’d managed to get some sleep before her first shift.

“You look tired, young one,” Dimitri pointed out with his husky, Russian accent.

Hayley nodded and took a sip of her ice water, trying to wake herself up. “I am, but I’ll still manage to get you another vodka.” She winked before she turned to get him another shot.

She was dizzy and felt weak, but she kept going. She didn’t even care—much—that Luca had come into the club and headed straight up to the VIP booths. She was too busy keeping herself upright.

But when she started to feel truly unwell, she turned to Ben and excused herself. She needed some air.

Taking her water with her, she walked out to the back. It felt like she was floating, like her legs weren’t carrying her anymore.

“Hayley?”

Luca’s voice made her stop halfway down the corridor. She turned slowly and carefully to face him. He looked good, as usual—his features so attractive she stared at him like a teenager.

“Luca,” she breathed as the world spun around her. “Thank you for the flowers.”