Page 61 of Sicilian Savior

Now that the immediate threat of getting Luca from Victor had passed, it felt even stranger helping to plot his murder. It wouldn’t be in the heat of battle like it would have been before. This would be a mission Knox went on with only one goal in mind... to kill him. It unsettled me, but deep down, I knew it had to be done.

“And you don’t think he’s looking for us?”

Knox shook his head again. “Doubtful. It was unfortunate we got tangled up when the Vitalis raided his compound, but he’ll think they have Luca without a doubt. He’ll assume we were part of their team. There’s no way he could connect this back to you.”

My chest fell as I exhaled a sigh of relief. Knox was right. There was no reason Victor would think I had anything to do with Luca’s disappearance. It had actually worked out better than we’d planned. Well, as good as could be while that monster still breathed.

The plane touched down, and Luca awoke to the bumping.

“We’re here, baby,” I said, kissing his head.

“In B.F.E.?” he asked, and my wide eyes shot up to Knox.

Knox covered his mouth to stifle his laugh. “Uh, it’s called Mountain Springs, kiddo.”

Luca furrowed his brow. “I thought you called it B.F.E.?”

I narrowed my eyes at Knox, and he backpedaled. “That’s a different place, bud. This is Mountain Springs.”

Luca shrugged it off just like he’d shrugged off everything that had happened to him. It had been only three days since he’d been rescued under a hail of bullets, but he seemed unscathed. We’d talked a little about it, but he was still too young to process all that had happened. Luckily, he seemed unfazed and was just happy to be back with me and play the handheld video games Knox had bought him.

We got off the plane and jumped into Harvey, who we’d left at the airport. Knox let Luca help him shift. My heart soared seeing the two of them together; how natural Knox was with Luca and how relaxed Luca was with him.

Luca had always been quiet around Victor, likely sensing the danger lurking beneath his father’s eyes. With Victor’s sharp temper and the times I’d seen him strike him, Luca had adapted to avoid the man. It made our time apart so much more painful knowing he had no one in his life to comfort him and love him. Just a cold existence as the pawn in a dangerous man’s game.

But now, he had both Knox and me to surround him with love, and this was the most outgoing I’d seen Luca be in years. Laughing. Joking. Smiling.

Happy.

Even after everything he’d just been through, he seemed happy.

I looked over at Knox, and he smiled back at me.

I had both my boys.

And for the first time in as long as I could remember, I was truly happy too.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Knox

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“Oh! So close!” I laughed as Luca’s line snapped.

“Oh man!” He closed his little fist into a ball and hoisted it in the air. “I almost had it!”

“You’ll get it next time.” I reached over and took his rod, reeling in the slackened line. When the end of the line came back without the lure, I clucked the side of my cheek. “Damn thing even took our new lure.”

His eyes widened. “Mama says we shouldn’t say that word.”

I cringed. Since having a kid pop into my life, I’d learned just how bad of a potty mouth I had. It seemed I was going to pay for our new house with the quarters Lucia made me drop into the swear jar.

“Your mama is right. We shouldn’t say ‘damn.’”

“You just said it again!” Luca pointed and laughed.

“How about we don’t tell your mom about this?”