Page 67 of One Step After Another

18.

Penny

“YOU knew that was goingto be a problem.”

“Good to see you alive and well, too, Cree,” Penny said to her handler. “How was my trip to New York? Not bad. Almost got killed—unfortunately, Chase did end up with a couple of bullets in his back. But like Dare would say ... a hazard of the job. A little help from my problem here,” she added, jerking a thumb in Luca’s direction, “and everything was fine until you guys finally decided to show up and demand I leave. All in all, nothing incredible. What about you?”

Steadfast and unbothered by her attitude, Cree stood at the end of the complex’s hallway with his arms folded over his broad chest. He might have talked to her, but his gaze nailed to the man at her side.

Luca.

“You were forewarned,” Penny said. “By Renzo, I assume. Because there was no way in hell he would keep something like my new friend off the record. Right?”

Cree frowned. His one and only show of emotion as his attention moved to Penny with a slowness that spoke of his displeasure without needing to say a thing. “Of course, but forgive us for thinking you would have enough sense to lose the problem before we had to do it for you. That was the agreement before, wasn’t it?”

“I always love when people talk about me when I’m right there,” Luca said, stuffing his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans like he was conversing with old friends. “It’s funny how everyone who does it thinks that I can’t hear them. I have ears. They work perfectly fine.”

That didn’t make things better.

Cree’s jaw flexed when he muttered, “You weren’t invited to this conversation in the first place. Excuse my ignorance for keeping you out of it all the same.”

“All right,” Penny said, putting up a hand. “Restart for a second. I wasn’t given much of a choice but to bring him along, okay? At least like this, with him here, we have control of one problem on our hands. Think about it.”

Luca turned her way.

Slightly.

Subtly.

She could feel his gaze burning into her with questions right on the tip of his tongue. He was also a smart enough man to keep them inside his own mind. For now. It wasn’t that he hadn’t given her a choice entirely because she agreed to bring him along to Nevada. And if she really wanted to lose Luca, she could without trouble.

But it was better to have him in view.

He was also ...

On her side.

Maybe he hadn’t said as much, but he didn’t have to. Penny knew it. At the moment, she wasn’t sure who else would have her back if she needed it but chances were, Luca was one she could count on. His only motive for being anywhere near her was her. He didn’t care about the rest, and she would be stupid not to see that for what it was.

Or use it.

If needed, she thought.

Cree let out a heavy sigh, eyeing the man beside Penny before he finally said, “Well, keep in mind that someone else in this building has already decided how he wants this problem to end, Penny. I didn’t know you to be the type who dragged innocents into something they had no business being involved with in the first place.”

“I’m not innocent,” Luca returned.

Even though he shouldn’t.

“We know exactly who you are, Luca Puzza. And your father and mother ... your sister, her husband and their child, even. How’s his first year in the private academy going, anyway? Our Sisters of Perpetual Sorrow—quite a name for an educational facility, isn’t it? I’m sure the students of the faculty appreciate the irony. Then again, what would I know? My education never happened within the sanctity of four walls.”

Luca tensed.

Penny didn’t hesitate to reach over and grab his wrist to keep him from doing anything else he might be considering. Like moving forward or even voicing a threat that he couldn’t take back. Cree was testing him—he might not know it or see it for what it was—but she did.

“Enough,” she told Cree.

“He should know,” the Native man returned, “that this is not a game and even if it were ... we would always win.”