His brow is furrowed, the whole situation clearly difficult for him to process.
For me, it’s still not sinking in that he’s alive, safe, standing here with me. The joy building inside me is almost unbearable, but it’s mixed with horror and shock.
As we round another hangar, I keep sneaking glances at Snow, at that striking profile, at his pale hair, and, Fate, the thought of anything ever coming between us feels worse than death.
Finally, we turn a corner, and there it is, Luca and Moon’s car.
Moon bolts out the moment he sees us, rushing over and pulling me into a tight embrace.
"Dammit, Summer! I can’t believe it; you made it out alive!"
Luca steps out slowly after him, towering and massive, his presence almost comically overwhelming compared to the three of us. His brows are slightly furrowed.
I shoot him a sharp look. I spent a year trapped in their fortress, and he didn’t lift a finger to help me. I’m hardly a fan. The only point in his favor is that he didn’t make things worse for me.
But still.
"Well, Rocco’s case is closed. I just wonder who’s going to step up as the next capo," I say bitterly.
A strange expression flickers across Luca’s face, and he looks away.
"So… you killed my brother."
Silence drops heavily between us. Moon glances slightly nervously at him.
No matter how cruel and monstrous he was, Rocco was still Luca’s full-blooded brother, to whom he served as caporegime. Before that, they were both Ferro family enforcers side by side, and even fought as cage fighters together in underground showdowns.
Moon tries to soften the moment.
"That makes you next in line, my love."
"I don’t want the job, Moon," Luca says darkly. "I think Ennio deserves it."
"Ennio’s an omega. Will the rest of the family even accept that?"
"I’ll back him up. I’ll be his caporegime. They accepted Anzo, they’ll accept Ennio. Vincenzo respects him. And we need his ways of dealing with things while the whole family is going down."
"I’d tell you I’m sorry your brother’s dead, but he wasn’t a good man," Snow says firmly, meeting Luca’s eyes even though he towers over us like a building.
His expression makes it clear that using the word ‘good’ in the context of Rocco doesn’t come easy to him, and I completely understand why.
"Well, to plenty of people, I’m not a good man either," Luca replies coldly, but he breaks eye contact first.
"Fortunately… there’s such a thing as the lesser evil," I blurt out with guilt on my conscience. "Under the right circumstances, anyone can do something terrible." The memory of a city reduced to rubble flashes through my mind, and I know I’ll never shake it.
Luca’s jaw tightens. I guess blood ties are blood ties.
Snow watches him with a frosty look, like he has something on the tip of his tongue but decides against saying it.
"Get in. I’ll take you home. Then I have to meet with Ennio and Vincenzo."
When we climb into the car, it’s impossible to put into words what any of us are feeling.
The tension in our bodies bleeds off slowly, like steam escaping a valve. Snow takes my hand as we drive, and I let the calm he radiates wash over me.
We ride in silence for a long while.
"Should we expect another wave of retaliation from the mafia, Luca?" Snow suddenly asks as we near home.
