"I swear to fucking God if you don't open this mother fucking door so I can see my fucking best friend, I will castrate both of you and deal with the backlash from Julia with a smile on my face," Mel screams through the door.
Julia pulls out of my arms, grabs Luca by the arm, and runs to the door. She looks through the peephole, then gestures for Luca to open the door.
I chuckle because I don't know if she is doing it for her safety or if she is doing it to set up Luca and Mel to face each other again. Anyone could have felt that tension at the bar.
Luca opens the door, and Mel lets out a loud ass groan.
"MOVE!" She pushes her way into our house and scans the room. When her eyes meet Julia's, she runs into her arms.
"Bitch, what the fuck! You haven't answered my calls, my texts, my anything." Mel grabs Julia's face and looks it over like she is checking to make sure we didn't damage her.
"I am fine. I had to ditch the phone." Mel raises a brow to Julia.
"Why?" Mel looks back at Kai and me, throwing blame at the wrong people.
"Because my dad." As soon as the words leave Julia's mouth, Mel freezes.
"What the fuck do you mean because of your dad?" Julia then proceeds to go through the whole story with Mel about what's going on.
"So what's the plan?" Mel asks, cracking her knuckles like she is ready to take on the world.
"We are about to get ready to go to Luca's family's safe house and then work out a plan from there.”
"Cool, let's get going then." Mel stands up and grabs Julia's hand.
I sit there blinking at them like I am watching a reality TV show. This woman didn't even blink at anything Julia said about her dad; she was just ready to go.
"Who the fuck said you can go?" Luca growls from behind me.
"I did, fucker. My best friend is in danger, and that's where she is going, so that's where I will be. Fucking fight me." Mel sasses back.
Luca rolls his eyes and then heads towards the guest bedroom door. "I gotta talk to my dad and get everything figured out. You guys get packed."
Julia turns towards Kai and me, looking at us with serious eyes. "What about practice and games? You even said yourself that you have a contract to uphold."
"Don't worry, we will figure it all out. The goal is to have this done sooner rather than later."
We get to the safe house, and I'm starting to freak out. I feel like everything is about to hit the fan, and that scares the shit out of me.
"So what's the plan?" Kai asks me.
"I got to meet up with De Luca, eventually." I sigh. The real question is: when is eventually?
The burner phone buzzes on the table, and I look over it. I am not even sure how to breathe right now.
"Let me go this time," Kai says, reaching for the phone.
"No," I say sternly. "I will not let my brother take this." They will not think twice about shooting him if he shows up instead of me.
"I can't lose you. You are the smart twin." Kai mumbles out, his voice softer than I have ever heard it.
"You are fucking smart, Kai. I made this deal. I will handle everything that goes with it. You need to take care of Julia.” I don’t look at him, just stare at the phone that will determine my fate.
Same warehouse, midnight tonight. Don't be late.
"I don’t know what he wants. So you need to stay here with Julia. Someone other than Mel needs to be with her."
"You need to bring someone with you."
