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His clothes were soft, the finest in luxury cashmere, but discreet. I was used to the brash, Eurotrash style of my brother. Antonio Luciano wore his wealth like a classy patina on a priceless antique. I liked it a lot.
Throwing my phone down on the bed, I stared at the street far below. If Giacomo wasn’t answering his phone and didn’t have instructions for me, what the hell was I doing here? How was all this going to further his goal of poking at the Lucianos?
I knew why he was considering making a play for New York territory. He was disliked by nearly the entire outfit, and his grip on leadership was precarious. He subscribed to the political view of making a lot of distracting waves. He wanted to turn the men’s heads from the real problems in the De Luca business, namely that Giacomo was dumb as a box of rocks, and our contracts and reputation were suffering.
As I watched the street below, a couple of huge black SUVs pulled up at the curb. Nerves and excitement clutched my belly. Was Antonio back? Crap, I shouldn’t be so excited. We’d made no promises to each other, but the electricity lighting up my spine and making my fingers tingle told me I was already in deep with this man.
In truth, the last time I’d seen him had been the last time I’d been excited about anything.Despite what I’d done and being here under duress, he hadn’t been wrong two months agowhen he’d whispered in my ear, pressing me against a window in this very apartment. The connection between us wasn’t anything ordinary. Far from it. The blinders I’d worn since I last saw him, swindled him, and thought I could walk away, had finally fallen off.
Below, hulking men got out of the cars, dressed in black. Familiar men. Fear shot through me as I made out one or two faces. De Luca men. I watched as they entered the building.
My phone vibrated on the bed. An unknown number flashed on the screen.
“Chiara, it’s me, Franco,” my family bodyguard and one of the most loyal De Luca men panted in my ear.
“What’s wrong? Has something happened to my brother?”
“No, not him. It’s you. Something’s going to happen to you. Tell Antonio Luciano he needs to protect you if he doesn’t want a war on his hands. Your brother has lost his mind,” Franco muttered.
My heart fell, and I could easily fill in the missing information.
Giacomo didn’t want anythingfromme on Luciano soil. He wanted something to happentome to justify picking a fight. The idiot still thought making a play for a chunk of New York was a good idea, and I was collateral damage.
A dial tone sounded in my ear. Franco, sweet, newly married Franco, had put himself in danger to warn me, but it would do little good. I was alone here.
Still, I had to try. I raced for the doors to the apartment. Banging loudly, I waited until it opened.
“What?” A Luciano bodyguard barked at me, looking tense. I heard the murmur of talking in his earpiece.
“My brother has sent men here to take or kill me. He plans to blame it on Antonio,” I said in a rush.
The bodyguard’s mouth tightened, but he didn’t argue. No doubt they’d heard from below that De Luca men had entered the building. He barked instructions at the other men waiting in the hallway. They pulled guns and stood facing the elevator.
The first man pushed me into the apartment. “Get inside,” he told me roughly, pulling a slim black phone from his pocket.
He spoke immediately in a rapid stream of Italian into it and nodded, turning to look at me. I knew immediately who was on the other end.
The man hung up and drew his gun, nodding toward Antonio’s bedroom. “Come with me. You’re to hide and not make a sound,” he said flatly.
Thankfully, it seemed Antonio didn’t want a fight with my family or my blood spilled on his watch. That shouldn’t reassure me, it was just a business decision, but it did.
I ran to Antonio’s room just as gunshots sounded from the hallway outside the heavy front door. I was no stranger to violence, but my heart was beating like it was trying to break through my ribs. I’d never been the target before—not that I knew. I thought it was Antonio who would hurt me in this apartment, but it had been my brother’s plan all along. If I survived this and were ever alone with Giacomo again, I’d kill him myself for this betrayal.
The back of Antonio’s wardrobe slid away, and behind it, a steel door peeked through the hanging suits.
“A panic room?” I barely had time to question if I could stand being in that small, enclosed space before the bodyguard pushed me inside.
The door shut with a heavy clank and locked with utter finality. This was it. I was locked in here until someone let me out. The silence was terrible. Unbearable.
I pulled out my phone, but there was no service in the tiny room. A fridge with bottled water, a medical kit for patching up injuries, and a box of protein bars sat on a shelf. There was a wall of screens, but I couldn’t turn them on. I sank to the floor, dropping my head back against the wall and staring at the door. Who would come for me? Lucianos or De Lucas?
What if this was the end for me? Had I lived a life I was proud of? The answer to that was easy. No. I’d done things I was ashamed of for fear of Giacomo and prevented myself from living in the meantime. I should have let Antonio Luciano give me a night I’d never forget two months ago and enjoyed having a delicious secret. At least I wouldn’t be dying a virgin. I should have apologized to him when he asked last night and confessed my sins. I could have died with a clear conscience.
Distant bangs sounded through the door. The fighting had to be close now, or else there was no way I’d hear it. My heart clenched in my chest.
Once again, my fate hung in the balance between powerful men. Men who probably didn’t care too much if I lived or died.
Antonio cares.
