The question hit me directly in the center of my chest. “What about him?”
Concern for her friend clouded her features. “He cares about you.”
“He’s giving me back to my father,” I retorted.
She pulled her hand from my arm and sat back in her chair. “I don’t believe that, Sera. I just can’t. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. And look at everything he went through to get you out of Mexico.”
Putting my elbows on the table, I rubbed my face with my hands and shoved my hair back from my face. “I’m telling you, there’s nothing he could do, even if he wanted to.”
“You have a few days,” she insisted. “He and Luca will think of something.”
This time it was my turn to shake my head. “No, Veda. You don’t get it. You’re not from this world. Luca will do what his father orders him to do. And Enzo will do what Luca tells him. It’s the way they survive.”
“There has to be something—”
“There’s not.”
She looked down at her hands, fingers laced together on the table in front of her empty plate. “I just can’t believe he won’t fight for you.”
“I think he tried,” I told her. Then I laughed softly as I looked away. “Or at least I like to think so.” His words earlier that day came back to me. “But I think he’s stuck in a hard place.” I met her eyes. “You should understand something about this world you’re living in, Veda.”
“What’s that?”
“These men”—my eyes swept the room, encompassing the entire house and everyone who was within it—“their loyalty to each other and to the family comes first. Before anything else. Before anyoneelse. Luca loves you. He does,” I assured her. “But if he had to choose between you and his mafia family, guess which one he would pick?”
“No,” she whispered. “You’re wrong.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered back. “But it’s true.”
She frowned at me. “No,” she insisted. “I don’t believe Luca would do that to you. And I don’t believe Enzo will do that to you. He genuinely cares for you. I can see it.”
“Ask him what happened to Enzo’s first wife,” I told her. “Or ask Luca if you don’t want to hear it firsthand. Then come back to me and tell me again how Luca would choose you.”
“Enzo was married?”
I nodded.
“How do you know?”
“Everyone knows,” I told her. “It’s part of the reason he got a reputation that traveled all the way up to Dallas.” And beyond.
“What do people say about him?”
I almost told her. I almost said the words out loud. But then I backed off. She might not believe me, but she would believe Luca—or Enzo—if they told her. “Just ask,” I told her. “And then think about your decision not to help me. Either way, I don’t plan to be here tomorrow.” Sorrow filled me at losing this person who, I truly believed, would’ve become one of the best friends I’d ever had. “But I understand where you’re coming from, and I won’t blame you for it. So, all I’ll ask is that you don’t give me away.”
She didn’t respond, but I could tell by the look in her eyes that she wouldn’t.
I stood up and took our plates to the sink, leaving my untouched meal to the side. “Is there any alcohol in this kitchen?”
“In the pantry over there,” she said in a distracted tone. “There’s some wine. Help yourself.”
I opened the door and found a few bottles of some kind of pinot. I wasn’t a wine expert, but honestly, I didn’t really care what it was.
Taking one of the bottles, not bothering with a glass, I stopped when I got beside Veda. “Thank you for being so nice to me. I really like you, and I wish I didn’t have to go.”
She pushed back her chair and stood to give me a hug. “You don’t have to,” she insisted. “Please. Just hang around and give me a chance to talk to Luca and see what’s going on.”
I hugged her back as tight as I could with the bottle of wine dangling from one hand, and then released her. “I don’t have time to wait. And if I’m going to get out of here, tonight is probably the only chance I’ll have. The guys will be gone for a while and I’m sure Luca took some of his soldiers with him. Which means there are less men patrolling the property and lessons the chance of me being caught. Or shot.” I tried to make light of it, but the joke fell flat.
