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That’s when I really lose it. I drop the gun and lay into him with my fist, pounding his nose and feeling it shatter, then driving my knuckles into his cheek over and over. I’m getting ready to beat him to death when somebody grabs my shoulder and pulls me back.
I spin, reaching for my gun, looking up to find Elio staring down at me. I’ve never seen him look so disgusted with me—so scared. He lowers his hand, looking around the room at how trashed the place is.
“What’s wrong with you?” he snaps. “Jesus Christ, Luca. This is bad.”
I pick up his phone. My hand is slippery with blood. “Look, Elio,” I tell him.
“I don’t need to see it. I know what it is.”
“No, you don’t. I really hope you don’t.”
“It’s the photo of Ruby, isn’t it?”
“It’s worse,” I tell him. “So much worse…”
Elio narrows his hands, then takes the phone. As he swipes through the photos, he gets a cold look. I can tell he’s thinking of Molly, my niece, his daughter, and that it could be her. That’s what’s on his phone. I can hardly even acknowledge it, even in my own mind.
“We’ll leave the phone here,” Elio says, dropping it. “That way, the cops will find it. The world will know what he did.”
“Please,” Nate whispers from the floor.
Elio leaps at him and kicks him so hard he must break a rib. “Shut the fuck up,” Elio roars. “You’re coming with us.”
Hours later, Elio and I stand beside a freshly dug grave far outside the city. Matteo waits for us in the car behind, the headlights shining.
“I had no idea,” Elio says, shaking his head. “I swear.”
“I know that,” I tell him.
“Do you think his dad knew?”
“It doesn’t matter. He raised the twisted freak. Either way, his political career is over. People have been ruined for far, far less.”
“I feel sick,” Elio whispers. “Sick to my stomach. How he was posing with them, the fear in their eyes…”
“We did the right thing,” I growl. “The world’s a better place without him. Elio, he told me something.”
“About the baby?” Elio says.
I nod. “Apparently, one of my exes—well, one of the women I slept with—had a baby. He said she killed it.”
“She was mentally ill, Luca. So much darkness, so many innocents, but it isn’t your fault.”
“Is this why you agreed to work with them? To protect me?”
Elio looks at me miserably. “They hired a whole fleet of investigators to dig up dirt on us. This was all they could get. Maverick figured, since we run the city, he’d need our help to launder his scumbag image, to win votes, to help establish any businesses.”
“I had a child,” I whisper, massaging my head. “It feels wrong. My first kid should’ve been with Ruby.”
Elio puts his hand on my shoulder. “I’m really sorry. I’m so goddamn sorry, Luca.”
“Where is she now? Did he give you the woman’s name?”
“Yeah, he did, but do you really want to know?”
I swallow. “I feel like I have to. It’s so wrong. The mother of my child…”
After Elio gives me the woman’s name, I make a call on my burner. Colt picks up after a couple of rings.
“Lots of commotion at the frat house,” he remarks.
“Turns out Nate was even worse than we thought.”
“Go on,” Colt says.
“Think of the worst thing a man can do,” I tell him.
After a pause, Colt says it. He hits the nail right on the head.
“That’s right. He’s where he belongs now.”
“If I’d known that,” Colt snaps, “I would have?—”
“You played your part,” I tell him. “But please, Colt, I need one more favor.”
CHAPTER 26
Ruby
I’m outside.
I leap to my feet when his text arrives, even as sleep tries to tug me back down. Running from my room, I find Dad waiting for me downstairs. He turns from his place at the window. Clearly, he was waiting for Luca to arrive.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asks.
“You said I had to see if some time apart would make me want him less,” I tell him. “It hasn’t, Dad, not even a little, and he needs me. Something terrible happened last night.”
Dad frowns. “You’re supposed to be worried about terrible things that happened hundreds of years ago. You’re not supposed to be experiencing them.”
“Dad…” I walk over to him, putting my hand on his shoulder. “I can’t be your little girl forever. I know this is a shock. I know it’s not normal, but I have to do this.”
Last night, after hours of waiting and wondering, Luca texted me. I can’t explain over the phone. Let’s meet in the morning. I’ll tell you everything then, but I should warn you. It might make you scared of me again.
Dad sighs, then nods. “I wish you seemed more immature about this. I wish you seemed less certain, but the truth is, I’ve never seen you more certain about anything. You remind me of me when I first met your mother.”
