Thinking back over the night, he’d received a work message from one of his construction managers—another fire on-site, this one dangerously close to hurting people.That needed to be his priority right now.His staff needed protecting, and his projects needed to be secured.
However, Luca knew that the fire wasn’t the reason for his distraction at the moment.The whole city was going to be dangerous now that he’d shifted his plan into the second phase, and Ava needed to be here where he could protect her, not off in some tiny house in the suburbs.The little house she loved?It was adorable, but she was indanger.There weren’t layers of security to keep her safe!
Luca moved toward the door, irritation heavy in his every step.
“Where are her guards?”he demanded, voice like gravel.
“They are with her and four more followed her home, boss.Just like you ordered,” Mark answered.“I even set men around the perimeter of her house and on top of her office warehouse.Last night, I had a security system installed—there are cameras everywhere outside her house.”
Luca paused.That should have been enough.His men were supposed to be everywhere.But Ava...was she safe?Was she safe?
He shook his head, irritated because he knew that nothing could compare to the security he had here in his penthouse.“She’s not here,” he snarled, heading toward the elevator.Then he walked into Jim’s office.The man was still there and listened intently, nodding until Luca finished explaining the next phase of his plan.
Jim was already on the phone, barking orders to the team, making sure Tanaka would have nowhere to hide.“I want every single person we have making sure that he falls into our trap!”He shifted to a computer terminal, typing out a message as he pulled up Tanaka’s current location.He called out instructions to several analysts who immediately nodded.
Luca gritted his teeth, his mind racing.He didn’t have time to second-guess himself.The note that outlined Tanaka’s threats to Ava’s safety was too blatant.Luca refused to give the bastard any opportunity.“You mentioned that he visited a different construction site?”Luca asked sharply, focused on the next step.
Jim nodded.“About an hour ago,” he replied.“I already have people moving in, ready to implement your plan.But we’ll keep an eye on all of Tanaka’s movements just in case he changes his plan again.If he’s still in the city, we’ll have him boxed in before he even realizes what’s happening.”
Luca met Jim’s eyes, his expression deadly serious.“Make sure you do.As soon as he tries to snap his trap, we’ll make him regret it.”
“Yes, boss,” Jim confirmed.“But I don’t think he’s brazen enough.Not yet anyway.He doesn’t have the infrastructure in place to do what you think he’s going to do.”
Luca didn’t answer immediately.His gut, sharp and insistent, warned him that this situation was about to come to a head.Tanaka wasn’t playing around anymore.Everything was converging, and his gut screamed that a storm was coming.His instincts were never wrong.But the details?The how, the where?He didn’t have all the answers.Yet.
The SUV waited just outside the door, its blacked-out windows reflecting the flicker of neon lights.Luca’s guards were closing in, forming a protective circle around him.That should’ve made him feel safe, but instead, it irritated him.They were here for him, and yet, his thoughts weren’t on his own safety.His thoughts, his instincts, kept drifting back to Ava.
She was in danger.And these guards, these men who had been with him for years, should be surrounding her, not him.
His gut tightened further, the unease eating away at him.Something bad was going to happen.Tonight.
“Hurry!”he growled, the urgency in his voice making his team speed up.
The guards reacted immediately, hands on their weapons, their focus shifting as they heightened their vigilance.Outside, the nightlife of Vegas pulsed around them.The lights of the strip blazed brightly against the inky-black sky, the chaos of the city continuing its rhythm.But for Luca, it felt wrong.For the first time since he’d come to this city, he resented the traffic, the lights, the energy.It all seemed so...noisy.So distracting.
He needed the chaos to die down.He needed to get to Ava.When the hell had she become so important to him?He’d always been able to control his emotions, to keep them locked away.But not now.Not with her.
That gut feeling—something deeper than desire, something that burned with a strange intensity—made it impossible for him to shake the thought.Ava wasn’t just a temptation or a conquest.She was...his.
His phone buzzed with messages, but he didn’t bother to check them.Instead, he dove into the back of the SUV, pulling back the security covers on the back of the seat in front of him and grabbed his weapons, his focus now set entirely on one thing: Tanaka.Tanaka needed to get out of Luca’s town, out of his life, and out of Ava’s world.
This had gone on for too long.Watching, waiting, trying to figure out what Tanaka wanted, what his angle was.But now?Now Luca was done.
He could’ve called his police contacts—he had a network of law enforcement under his control—but Luca didn’t trust the police on this issue.The law was too slow, bound by too many rules.In this town and in this kind of a situation, Luca was the one who made the rules, and anyone who tried to disrupt the balance he’d created in Las Vegas was dealt with swiftly.
As the SUVs began moving toward Ava’s house, Luca let out a slow breath.The insanity of the city—the lights, the noise—faded as the convoy sped toward its destination.It wasn’t about the lights of Vegas or the hustle of the strip anymore.It was about protecting what was his, about making sure Ava was safe.
Tanaka had made a mistake when he’d sent those presents and poem to Ava.The bastard had taken the coward’s approach by going after his woman instead of directly at Luca.That had been his first mistake.A big one.And Luca wasn’t going to let him get away with it.
His hands tightened around the wheel, the pressure in his chest building.He would finish this tonight.
Most people didn’t ever see the streets of Las Vegas outside of the bright, flashing lights of the casino strip.But once you drove past the neon signs and glitzy resorts, the city settled into a quieter, more mundane version of itself.A suburban town spread out in front of them—strip malls with faded parking lots, planned communities tucked behind iron gates with homeowners associations calling the shots, small office buildings that housed doctors’ practices, hardware stores, and car repair shops.The sorts of places that were necessary to keep the engine of the city running smoothly, but generally went unnoticed by the tourists flooding in for the entertainment, the gambling, and the wild nights.
Visitors, the ones with dollar signs in their eyes and the flashing lights on their minds, only ever saw the casino strip.The dancers, the hotel staff, the dealers, the performers—they were all part of the spectacle, part of the show that the tourists watched in awe.But off-stage, outside the glittering, chaotic shine of the strip, those employees led normal lives.Their routines were just as unremarkable as anyone else’s—except for the fact that they were working in a city that was awake and playing while the rest of the world slept.Their schedules didn’t align with most people’s, but that didn’t make them any less ordinary.
And yet, as the SUVs moved further out from the glimmering lights and into the quiet, where Ava’s office warehouse stood.Just past that, her small house came into view, the tension inside the vehicles thickened.The harsh buzz of the city felt like a distant memory as they passed quiet streets, empty parking lots, and homes surrounded by neatly manicured lawns.There was a certain calm in the air here, one that didn’t belong to the world of the casinos.It was peaceful, almost serene, and it contrasted sharply with the rising anticipation Luca could feel roiling in his gut.
He wasn’t the only one.Every guard in the convoy was on edge, their muscles taut, their senses heightened.As the vehicles moved further away from the chaos of the strip, Luca felt the shift in the air.It was subtle, but it was there—the change from the usual to something more dangerous.Something’s happening.Something’s going down tonight.
