Page 20 of One Second After Another

His sister didn’t respond, but Luca figured she didn’t need to. On his way past Roz to climb the stairs and find Naz, he dropped a kiss to the top of her head. She could be mad, like he said, and eventually ... she wouldn’t be. Perhaps then, they could really talk about this. The entire fucking mess. Or maybe they wouldn’t say anything at all. Whatever she needed, he was good with it. He owed her that, at the very least.

Luca passed his godson’s bedroom on his way to Naz’s upstairs office. He was sure he saw little Cross tucked comfortably under his blankets, but he didn’t dare linger at the doorway for too long. The boy should sleep, and just because Luca hadn’t seen the kid in weeks didn’t mean he had any right to wake him up when it wouldn’t be him putting Cross back to bed.

Naz was barking into the phone when Luca did walk into his office. He barely even passed his best friend a look as he told whoever was on the phone to, “You better get that fucking shit done—if I have to come down there and make sure you do it, I will, but I promise you won’t like what comes after, Lou. Don’t test my kindness. It’s quickly running out.”

He slammed the phone down to the receiver with enough force that a frame fell over on the desk. Naz didn’t even bother to correct it before his angry, sharp gaze turned on Luca.

“Dad handled it, then?” Naz asked.

Luca raised a brow. “Handled what?”

“You. I figured you were in some kind of shit when you called, so I got him on the phone. I didn’t have much to go on but here you are. Things worked out I see.”

Luca swallowed hard. “Yeah, you could say that.”

Or he could say how Naz’s father was one of the reasons why they were in this entire situation in the first goddamn place, but—

“I’m sitting boss,” Naz told him.

Luca stiffened. “What?”

“There wasn’t any warning. Dad stepped back at tribute a couple of weeks ago, and put me on the spot. It wasn’t like I didn’t see it coming—he already had me doing more shit than I should have been. So yeah, you’re looking at the boss of the Donati family. This life doesn’t stop for anything, Luca.”

Right.

Not even when the world did.

Luca knew it better than anyone—he’d grown up watching his father sacrifice his personal life and time to the mafia time and time again. Even when his wife would beg him to make time for her and the kids when shit was really bad, Zeke ended up saying the same thing.

Famiglia first.

Family business always came first.

Luca just couldn’t help but wonder if Cross putting his son in his place to handle the business side of things was circumstance—because it was time for it to happen—or something else ... like maybe another way to keep Naz busy and out of his father’s private affairs. Say, what was currently happening with The League and Penny.

Naz didn’t give him a chance to voice what Luca knew or even his thoughts before he asked, “What do you know—what happened?”

“You want it all, or cliff notes?”

Naz arched a brow. “Probably both.”

Well, then ...

“That’s fair,” Luca murmured.

“How long were you with her before ... what, she went missing again, right?”

“I think they didn’t give her a choice.”

“They?”

“The League.”

Naz nodded, and scrubbed a hand down his jaw. “And you—but you were with her.”

“For a little while. By chance, really. I didn’t find her because I did anything different. It just happened. I was fucking lucky, but it was also fast ... it wasn’t a good situation. She already had people hunting her down before I even came on the damn scene, you know?”

“No.”