Merciless Union by Faith Summers

23

Lucca

Inever went to sleep.

I lay next to my wife and watched her sleep. Then as I watched the sunrise, I thought of everything I needed to do today.

I allowed myself another few minutes of being with her before I moved.

Last night Aiden and I went to that address we got from Viktor only to engage in a serious fight. It’s not every day we come across people who can give as good as they get from us.

All we got was another three locations, and to get that intel, we had to torture then kill.

My bruises and the cut on my waist are nothing compared to the blood bath we left behind.

When we got to the address, the men there were all exactly like Eduardo described—like a bunch of guys like me just in the Cartel.

I’m sick of getting shit that leads us on a goose chase. I know I have to be patient, but there are too many loose ends to tie up, and the problem just seems to get bigger and fucking bigger.

The worse enemy we have is time. As it gets closer to Aria’s birthday, I’ll have to keep my eyes open.

It’s in nine day’s time.

Raphael and Pasha wanted her in Campania for safekeeping. I have her here for safekeeping. They won’t come here again, and I don’t doubt Aiden’s setup, but I want her somewhere safer and off-grid. Like my safe house, I gave her the details for in Idaho because it’s one nobody knows about.

I want her off everyone’s radar until it’s all over.

If I didn’t know Damien wanted her dead too, I’d ask him to take her and keep her safe. As it stands, there is just me, and even when it’s over, I’ll still have things to worry about.

I glance at her before I get off the bed. It’s now a quarter to six. I want to check in at the garage before I meet Aiden later.

It’s best for me to go early enough to be as discreet as possible. I want that business to keep going like there’s nothing wrong.

I shower and change, take one last look at my sleeping wife, then leave.

When I get to the garage, I park around the back and slip in through the loading bay.

The showroom still has all the cars Jon was working on. There are ten Lamborghinis and two Ferrari’s. If the situation weren’t so bad with me in fucking hiding, I’d be here during the day, and they’d be done already and sold off.

The workers will be here in about three hours, but Marcus, the guy I left in charge, always gets in early, which is fine by me. I’m giving him extra to keep his silence.

I get to the stairs leading to my office but hear this sniffling sound like someone crying. The sound is coming from the breakroom.

Even though a crying person isn’t going to be that much of a threat, I still feel for my gun. When I open the door, I find Violet inside. Her eyes are swollen, and the amount of tissue on the table tells me she’s probably been here all night.

I haven’t seen her since before the wedding. I told her not to come back until I contacted her. I wasn’t going to have her back, knowing the conflict she’s caused in my life with Aria.

She stands up quickly when she sees me, and her eyes widen.

“Lucca,” she grates out.

“What are you doing here so early, Violet? What are you doing here at all?”

I’m not about to be an asshole to her and throw her out, knowing that she’ll probably be in danger just from being around here.

Jon knew we were together, and he also knows as bad as she is, she’d keep her silence for me.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t expect to see you here. Marcus said it was okay to stay. I was scared, and I didn’t know where else to go.”

The moment she says that worry seeps into my mind. “What happened?”

She pulls in a breath, and I walk in, closing the door behind me. She looks fucking terrified, and as she turns, I notice a gash on the left side of her elbow. It looks like she fell from somewhere.

“Maybe it was stupid to come here.” She blinks back more tears. “The place was closed, so I thought I’d be safe, and I still had my keys.”

“Violet, what the fuck happened?”

She runs a hand through her white-blonde hair and drags in a labored breath.

“I heard about what Jon did to you. Two weeks ago, I had to take a job in a bar because the guy I was with stole all my money. But I wasn’t aware that the owner’s daughter was Jon’s girlfriend.”

My eyes widen. Jon has only ever told me the name of his woman, never where to find her.

Had he done so, she would have been the first place I looked for him.

“Talia?” I ask.

“Yes,” she confirms, and my heart races. “I never give my real name to places who pay cash in hand, so she knows me as Susan. She kept telling me about her boyfriend, but I didn’t know she was talking about Jon. I knew he had a woman he was with. Jon was always so secretive about her, though, that I never knew her name. Last night he came to the bar, Lucca.”

“Did he see you?” I ask quickly.

She places her hand to her heart. “I don’t know. I saw him first, and I bolted. It’s a fucking rooftop bar. I slipped down the stairs and fell, hurting my arm. Even if he didn’t see me, I’m worried he’ll know it’s me if Talia describes me. I was worried he’d think I’ll tell you where to find her and kill me to keep her safe. I have to get out of town, Lucca. I can’t stay here.”

She’s right. She can’t stay. It’s going to be too dangerous for her to even try. Chances are Jon didn’t see her, but Talia could identify Violet based on the information she gave her.

“What does Talia have to identify you?”

“She has my address even though she didn’t use it for any checks. She took it because I have keys to the bar. We also got talking a lot, and I told her about my modeling gigs. She’s going to think it was weird I bolted when she was excited to introduce her boyfriend to me. She’s going to think it’s even weirder when I don’t go back to work, and she’ll want her keys back. All she has to do is mention where I live to Jon, and he’ll know who I am. I can’t take that risk.”

Jesus, it doesn’t rain; it fucking pours.

“No, you can’t. I don’t think Jon saw you, or he would have hunted you down and killed you. There’s a chance he still might with the details Talia has on you.” I have to be frank with her because that’s exactly what Jon would do. There’s also a chance they have cameras that would have picked Violet up in the bar. “Where are you thinking of going?”

“My mom, in New York.” She raises her shoulders into a shrug. “But to get there, I was thinking of going to Vegas first.”

Both of those are bad options. Anything Vegas related with Violet is not good, and Violet has a terrible relationship with her mother.

Her mother kicked her out when she was fifteen because she was jealous Violet was trying to steal her boyfriends, who I hear were always abusive. Violet lived on the streets for years until she went back to school and put herself through college. It’s commendable, but she’s one of those women who are always looking for some rich bastard to push them along in life.

“Vegas?” I ask, choosing the lesser of the two evils.

“I have a stripper job I can always go back to when times get bad. I’d say these were times like that.”

Jesus Christ.It sounds like that might be worse than going to her mother.

“How much did this guy take from you?” I won’t even bother to ask her where she met the low life.

“Five hundred grand. I was saving up to buy a house and pay off my student loans. I did a lot to get that money.”

I’m shocked she had that much saved, but since I happened to have heard some of the things she did to get that money, I’m not surprised.

I pull my wallet and take out a grand. I had it in case I needed to bribe anybody.

She surprises me by shaking her head. “No, I can’t take that.”

“Like fuck, you’re taking it. Why the hell would you refuse money when you need to get somewhere safe?”

“Because you giving me money means it’s really over between us. If you cared for me the way I wanted you to, you would be protecting me. You wouldn’t be sending me away, and if you had to send me away, you’d either come with me or send the next best person with me. That’s what you’d do if you loved me the way I love you.”

Love me?

She shouldn’t have made that mistake, but it’s my fault.

Her gaze clings to mine, and I blow out a ragged breath. “Violet, I’m married, and I… I love my wife.” It sounds strange to tell someone else that who isn’t Aria. “It is over between us.”

I won’t go into how we were playing around when we were together, and it wasn’t supposed to be serious. She already knows that, but I guess being with me meant more to her.

She wipes away a tear. “Well, at least now I know.”

“You’re not in a position to turn money away, so you’re taking this.” I step forward and place the money in the palms of her hands.

“Thank you. I’ll pay you back.”

“No, don’t worry about it.” I reach for a bank card I keep under an alias and hand it to her. “There’s ten grand on there; use it. The pin is 1985.”

“This is too much, Lucca.”

“Take it, Violet. That should be enough to get you away from here and something to live on for a while. You aren’t staying with your mom, though.”

“I don’t know where else to go.”

I think of the only place I can send her where I know she’ll be safe. “Go to Chicago. I have friends there who will keep you safe. Go to Giordanos Inc. and ask to speak to Vincent Giordano. Tell him I sent you and you need a safe house. I’ll contact him when it’s safe again for you.”

I know the Giordano’s through Aiden. They’re part of an alliance and a Syndicate similar to the Camorra. They have different goals, though.

Vincent is the boss of the Giordano family. She can’t get any better protection than from him.

“Who is he?”

“Better than me,” I answer, and gratitude comes into her eyes. It’s the least I can do for her and close to what she never got from me.

“Thank you, Lucca. I appreciate this.”

“It’s okay. You do know I’m going to ask where Talia works and what she looks like, right?” Hopefully, Jon is none the wiser about Violet, and I still have the element of surprise to get to him.

She nods slowly. “The bar is called the Wild Horse. It’s on Redondo Beach. The place opens tonight at eight. Talia is the only bartender there. She has brown hair and blue eyes. She looks like a model. That’s how we got talking about modeling. You can’t miss her.”

“Thank you.”

“What are you going to do, Lucca?” Nervousness washes over her face because she knows this garage is just a thing I do to pass my time. Violet knows who I really am, and Jon kept his woman away from everyone for a reason.

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Please don’t hurt her.”

“I won’t.” It’s not her I plan to hurt.