Page 40 of One Step After Another

12.

Luca

LUCA had realized earlyon that bad shit was about to go down in the pizzeria. Long before he heard the sale of a girl-child mentioned between Penny and her associate. Before the bullets were shared between adversaries, he’d known. He couldn’t say why, exactly, but that heaviness in the pit of his stomach only grew in weight the longer he sat in his vehicle and waited for whatever it was to happen.

And then it did.

Fast.

Horribly.

Spectacularly.

Violence tended to be that way. Without warning and uncompromising. No prejudice and available to anyone at an unfortunate distance. He heard the shots second—the screams next. The first thing had been an unfamiliar voice crackling over the comm in his ear as he listened to the conversation happening inside the pizzeria.

A long time ago, Luca learned there were two kinds of people in the world. Those who ran away from danger, and the ones who ran into it. The people who sought danger had different reasons for doing so while the ones who ran from it only had one—to save their lives.

Luca didn’t like dangerous situations. He did have a sense of self-preservation despite what his profession and family legacy might suggest. And yet, often, he still found himself running into the danger instead of away.

Because he didn’t have a choice.

Especially this time.

The two men who stepped out the backseat of the black car that pulled up mere minutes after Penny and her associate had arrived didn’t notice Luca exiting his own vehicle. The men roughly shoved past the people flooding out of the pizzeria while he headed for the alleyway on the side of the business.

Chances were if Penny had made it out of the gunfight alive inside—and by the crackling voices in his comm, she had—then she wouldn’t take on another set of gunmen just for the hell of it. Even those who ran into the danger knew when to back down.

It was common sense.

So, Luca used some of his own, too. She might not want his help in this situation, but he also wasn’t going to give her a choice in the matter.

His mind bounced from one thing to another, desperately trying to catch up to speed with all the things he had learned in the span of mere minutes. This wasn’t at all how he thought the day would go down; he was only supposed to spy on a meeting, not this. Part of him thought it was just luck on his part but another believed someone—or something—had put him here today because he needed to be.

He could deal with it later.

Maybe.

Was the meeting a set up to draw Penny out? It sure seemed like it based on the things he heard and what followed. That assumption of his was only compounded when he rounded the corner at the end of the alley to find another man in a black suit. With his back turned to Luca and his finger pressing at the comm in his ear, it was clear the guy was backup.

Waiting.

For Penny, likely.

Just in case she came out the back—or her friend, even. He probably parked somewhere nearby and walked to his position, so he wouldn’t be seen.

Luca didn’t even think about his next actions. Drawing the gun he kept holstered at his back, the man didn’t even see the shot coming. The bullet plugged into the back of his head. At the same time his body hit the ground, the backdoor of the pizzeria flew open and slammed into the brick from the force alone.

She almost stumbled in her heels; damn near fell over the body when she took two long strides beyond the doorway. Her black wig was a tangled mess, and the red smears on her chest continued down the front of her dress.

Blood.

He didn’t have time to react; neither did she. Her icy gaze darted from the man on the ground to the gun Luca still had raised. He hadn’t even had time to lower it.

“Luca,” he heard her breathe.

Was that anger?

Shock?