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CHAPTERFOURTEEN
IN THE REFLECTION of the glass, Luca watched the scene play out between Dom and his father. They’d seemed to be arguing about something Luca couldn’t hear, but by the end Dom seemed to come around to whatever it was the older man said. A sinking feeling in Luca’s gut told him that the conversation had to do with him, and suddenly he wasn’t hungry anymore.
As Dom’s father left and the door shut behind him, Dom put his hand on the frame and dropped his head. For a moment, it looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, but Luca didn’t have time to wonder why, because then Dom turned around. Luca quickly averted his eyes, focusing on a building in the distance.
He had so many questions. The more he learned, the more nothing made sense, but if he’d expected Dom to start talking to him as soon as his father left, he was wrong.
The room was so silent that Luca could hear Dom’s slow, measured footsteps as he moved from the front door, and a moment later he began to speak—but not to Luca.
“Good evening, Gloria. Could you send up two of the usual, please, and I’ll also need you to connect with the shops downstairs for some clothes… Yes… Bring me an assortment a size smaller… Thank you.”
Luca turned to face Dom, who was sliding his cell into his pant pockets.
“I have questions,” Luca said.
Dom smirked and began to roll up one of his sleeves as he crossed the room. He grabbed his empty glass and said, “I’ll bet you do,” before heading to the kitchen for a refill.
Luca followed him. “That was your father, right? What did he mean about feuding families?”
Dom rolled up his other sleeve and shook his head. “Give me a minute.”
“And then you’ll answer my questions?”
With a sigh, Dom poured himself a glass of liquor and held it up in question to Luca, who shook his head. He needed to be thinking clearly, and alcohol wouldn’t help right now.
“Yes,” Dom said finally. “My father seems to think it’s time to talk, so…” He swallowed some of the liquor.
Holy shit. Luca was finally going to get some answers?It was strange the relief he felt already. There was nothing worse than not knowing, even if whatever Dom said was something Luca didn’t want to hear.
He waited by the kitchen island as patiently as he could before the growl of his stomach broke the silence.
Heat crept into his cheeks, and he nodded toward the refrigerator. “I’m just gonna grab something to eat, if that’s okay.”
“Don’t,” Dom said, topping off his glass again. “Dinner’s on its way up. Come with me.”
Dinner’s on the way up?As in, he’d ordered it for them? Well, that made sense, Luca thought, since he now knew he was being held in a casino. But still, the thought of Dom going out of his way to do something nice for him seemed a little far-fetched. Banking the impulse to thank his abductor for feeding him, Luca followed Dom into the dining room.
“Sit,” Dom said, pointing at a chair.
“I’d rather stand.”
“And I don’t give a fuck. Now sit.”
Luca chewed on his lower lip, trying to decide whether to push the issue, but in the end followed Dom’s order. He wanted answers, and if doing what this guy told him to do was the way to get them, then he would do it.
As he moved to take the seat, Dom walked over to the windows that made up the wall of their prison tower and took another sip of his drink. The air in the room grew heavy as Luca waited for whatever was next. But when minutes passed and Dom had said nothing, the anticipation became too much and Luca blurted out, “Well? Are you going to tell me what’s going on or not?”
He wasn’t sure what possessed him to be so damn bold with this guy, but Luca was done being intimidated, done being the scared little rabbit that wanted to flee from this nightmare he’d been dragged into.
Dom walked over to Luca’s chair and placed a hand on the back. “Is it your hunger that’s making you so brave and disrespectful? Maybe I should have Joe come back in here and keep you company until you remember your manners?”
Luca clenched his teeth together in an effort not to speak, but really, the last thing he wanted was for Mr. Strangle Hands to return.
“Smart answer.”
“It was a non-answer,” Luca said before he realized he was even going to.
This close, the sharp, wicked angles of Dom’s face made his features even more arresting. He had thick, dark lashes surrounding those coal-black eyes, and a trimmed beard that made his jet-black hair and that outfit all come together, and as fucked up as it was, Luca found things other than his heart throbbing.
