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The Devil I Fear.
It was the truth, and I could only paint what I saw inside a person. Though fear was a strong word. I let him tie me up, cut my skin, and pound my pussy until I couldn’t walk out of his bedroom. But there was still the lingering fear at the back of my mind, and I wondered what would happen if he ever snapped.
Mark Blackwell, the owner of the gallery, appeared on my right side. “You’re on in ten minutes, Alex.” He patted my shoulder. “This is an incredible turnout for a debut artist.” His gaze drifted to Luca, and he lowered his head in greeting. “Mr. Salvatore, nice to see you again. Any chance you will reconsider showing your mother’s work here in the spring?”
“Let’s see how tonight goes, shall we?”
I knew Luca had some trick up his sleeve and sighed as Mark walked away.
Luca noticed my irritation with him and raised my hand to his mouth to kiss. “It’s not what you think, Drea. I didn’t bribe him or blackmail him into this showing.”
“No? Do you promise?”
He kissed my lips. “Promise, baby. This was all made possible by your hard work. I only showed him what he was missing.”
“Okay, I believe you.” I slipped out of his grasp. “I’m going to use the ladies’ room before I have to take the stage. I had too much champagne.”
Needing a minute alone to gather my thoughts, I walked away from my men. Marcello called out for me to wait up for him, but I bolted through the crowded room. I just wanted to some space, so I could think about my speech with no one hovering over me.
I headed down the long hallway toward the back of the gallery. It was empty on this side of the building, with only a few people lingering with drinks in their hands. I rounded the corner in search of the bathroom and hit a dead end. I spun around to head in the other direction and someone clutched my shoulder from behind. Then they opened the exit door and shoved me outside.
With a hand on my back, someone pushed me out the exit door and into the dark, empty alleyway. Nerves coursed through my veins, my heart clambering out of my chest as the adrenaline rushed over me.
“Calm down, princess,” Marcello whispered in my ear. “It’s just me.”
Seconds later, tires screeched, and then Luca drove down the alleyway in his Aston Martin Vantage.
Marcello opened the passenger door and helped me inside the car. “We’ll deal with the threat,” he told Luca. “Go!”
Then, he slammed the door and ran inside the building with a gun in his hand.
“What’s going on?” I asked Luca as he peeled off down the dark street.
“I have to get you to safety.”
“But it’s my first gallery showing,” I said with tears in my ears.
“You’ll have another showing.” He made a hard right onto a busy street and floored the gas pedal. “We spotted two men who are with the Volkov Bratva in the gallery. Damian and Bastian kept them busy while Marcello got you outside.”
“I need more, Luca. Tell me why they’re hunting me.”
He patted the top of my head. “Head down, baby girl.”
I ducked down to keep my head out of view. “You’re the most confusing man I have ever met.”
“Other men would bore you.”
Nerves stirred in my belly as Luca whipped through the streets, dodging cars until we were on the highway. My back molded to the leather seat when the speedometer went over one hundred and twenty miles per hour. Luca drove like a psycho, making hard turns in and out of lanes.
I gripped the door handle, fear shaking through me. “What the hell is going on, Luca? Stop keeping secrets from me.”
He kept his eyes on the road and ignored me, gripping the steering wheel with his jaw clenched. Luca was so closed off, a mystery even after all these years. And I was sick of being kept in the dark.
“Stop driving like a lunatic and tell me why I’m in so much danger.”
He glanced over at me, his knuckles white from wrapping them so tightly around the steering wheel. “Okay, fine. You want the truth?”
I leaned closer to him. “Yes.”
