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“You can’t let them...they’ll kill him,” I argued and tried one last time in vain to get past him.
“It’ll all be over soon enough. You just wait right here. Wouldn’t want a pretty little thing like you getting caught up in something so ugly. You might get hurt.” He looked at me up and down lasciviously and I shuddered, my attention going back to Luca.
As one of the men went to kick him, Luca grabbed his leg, twisting, and the man fell to the ground. Another man moved to strike him with the bat, but Luca grabbed it, giving a sharp yank, causing the man to stumble. He took the chance to scramble to his feet, grabbing the crowbar as the leader tried to bring it down over his head.
Luca twisted and the other man’s hands released the bar, allowing Luca to draw back and bring it around hard into the man’s ribs.
Relief inched its way in as Luca gained the advantage, taking out one man after the other until the three of them could barely stand. He lifted the bar again and the leader flinched, holding up his hand in defeat.
They exchanged words that I couldn’t hear from the garage bay. The men climbed back into their cars and drove away. It wasn’t until they were a good way down the road before the mechanic stepped out of my way and I ran to Luca, wrapping my arms around him in relief. He let out a pain-filled hiss and I quickly pulled back.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I hurt you.”
“It’s okay. A hug from you is worth the pain.” I smiled and hugged him a bit more gently the next time.
Luca pulled back from the hug before I would have liked. He nodded toward the garage bay, and we walked slowly back to the mechanic.
“Are you okay? I don’t know what happened—” Luca whacked him one good time with the crowbar and the man fell to the ground. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. They would have killed me, burned down my shop...”
“You sold me out to them without so much as a word of warning.”
Luca held up the crowbar again and the man flinched, but Luca didn’t hit him. Instead, Luca grabbed him by the arm and forced him to his feet. We walked into the man’s shop, and Luca forced him to sit in the chair behind the counter.
“Mira, would you mind grabbing some zip ties from the back?” Luca’s voice sounded casual, almost upbeat, which was a weird contrast to our situation.
“Uh, sure. What for?”
“You’re going to tie up our friend here.”
Once I found the zip ties, Luca didn’t take his eyes off of me or the man as I secured his hands behind his back then to the back of the chair.
“Thank you.” Luca walked calmly and slowly around the rows of boxed car parts, scanning the aisles until he found the radiator that he needed and plucked it from the shelf. “Here we are. This should be all we’ll need for today.”
“Take it. Take whatever you want,” the man said nervously and flinched when Luca moved too fast but all he did was pull out his wallet.
“Now, I’m not about to go and take something that I didn’t pay for. I’m all about paying my way and repaying what I owe someone so I’m going to pay you for the radiator.” Luca threw the money unceremoniously on the counter, his voice taking on an eerily threatening tone as he got up close to the man’s face. “And you just remember...I still owe you for what you did here today, and I always pay back what I owe.”
Chapter 9
Mira
The morning after we got back from our trip to get the bassinet for Teo and Mia, I headed into the kitchen to see if Bianca was there yet but there was no one.
“That's strange.” I furrowed my brow, looking around at the kitchen that had clearly not been touched since Bianca had cleaned up after dinner. “Maybe she’s off shopping for Mira’s coming home dinner tonight.”
I shrugged and made myself a quick breakfast.
The house was quiet and very empty. My father was still active at the office even though he was no longer Don. I suspected that he was having a hard time letting go of some aspects of the family business and with Teo busy with Mia it was undoubtedly helpful to have the extra help and experience. But that meant that I was all alone in the house and the loneliness began to creep in.
I wandered into the parlor and browsed the massive bookcase until one caught my eye. I was excited to revisit one of my favorites and was making myself comfortable on the sofa when the phone rang.
“Ciao?”
“Ciao, Mira?”
“Teo, ciao.”
His voice lowered to a whisper, and I had to strain to hear him. “We have a problem with the dinner for Mia tonight.”
