But Gino lifted his hand and waved his men aside. “We are not.”
Luca caught his gaze and held it for a long moment, then continued walking. Enzo and I followed, our hands still on our guns. When we reached the hall, I stopped and turned, facing Gino and his men while Enzo got Luca safely out of the house and into the SUV. A few seconds later, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket—Enzo letting me know it was good to leave—and I backed toward the door.
A movement to my right made me whip my head around in that direction. Luna stood in the kitchen doorway, watching me. Her eyes pleaded with me for a second, then she turned and rushed toward her room.
I gave no indication that I’d seen her, just continued to back away, knowing Enzo would cover my back from outside so no one snuck up on me. I made it to the SUV and climbed in the back with Luca. “I don’t trust him,” I told Luca as we pulled out of his driveway. “We need to do something about him before he gets too ballsy.”
Luca said nothing. He didn’t need to. I was only voicing what we all already knew.
We were a few minutes from the lake house when he broke the silence. “The Irishman who has a problem with Salvatore needs to be dealt with. An accident. Something that won’t be tied to Gino or to me. Because he’s not going to give them his son. Not even for the good of the family.”
“Of course not,” Enzo said. “I wouldn’t either. But I can see why he did what he did. Family is important.”
“No. I can’t blame him for that. But we really can’t afford a war with the Irish,” Luca mused, almost to himself. “And handing over money to them makes me look weak, which is exactly why Gino made them that offer. So, instead, we need to make the problem go away. The Irish won’t be able to prove anything, but the message will be received loud and clear by both parties. Salvatore can’t have a problem with a dead man, and Gino will have no reason to try to sell me out.”
“I can take care of it,” I told him. “I’ll do it tonight.”
“I’ll go with you,” Enzo offered.
I appreciated the offer, but that wasn’t going to work for me. I planned to sneak back to Gino’s when I was finished. “That’s not necessary. It’ll be better if I go alone.”
Luca thought about my offer for a minute, and as we pulled up to the front of the house, he finally gave his consent. “Make it clean,” he told me. “None of your bullshit tonight, Tris. Get in and get out. No prints. No blood. Unless it’s from him falling and hitting his head. In and out,” he repeated.
“Of course,” I promised, because I knew it was what he wanted to hear. Enzo met my eyes in the rearview mirror, but he said nothing. And I knew he wouldn’t. I never did anything that would endanger anyone in this house. And I never would.
Even if sometimes I liked to play.
CHAPTER 8
Luna
Ishivered as I remembered the dark eyes that met mine briefly in the hall before I ran back to my room. Cold, emotionless, and deadly, they’d reminded me of a snake about to strike.
As I’d stood there, frozen, hypnotized by Tristan’s stare, my life flashed before of my eyes. Well, maybe not my entire life, but Logan’s face sure did. I seriously expected this guy to put a bullet through my skull at any moment.
Then he’d blinked, breaking the spell, and the predator became more curious than hungry. I tried to silently plead with him not to say anything about seeing me there—since I was disobeying Gino’s order to go directly to my room—but I had no idea if I’d gotten through to him or if he even cared. Why would he? So I’d taken a deep breath and rushed away, waiting for that slug to hit me in the back. But it never came.
Another shiver ran through me as I stared at the closed bedroom door without really seeing it.
Waiting.
Whether he’d understood what I was trying to say to him or not, he must not have said anything because no one came to my room to beat me for my insubordination. When Gino gave an order, he expected it to be followed immediately and without argument. No dilly-dallying. And definitely no trying to steal food like I had done.
Still, the sun was setting by the time I was able to relax enough to risk calling Logan.
Pulling my cell phone from the drawer in my nightstand, I curled up against the headboard of my bed and called my little brother to distract myself from how hungry I was already. All I’d had for lunch were the few bites I’d managed to swipe while the chef’s back was turned.
He answered on the first ring. “Hey, Luni. What’s up?”
I smiled when I heard his voice. So deep now, like a grown man. “Hey, little brother. How’s school going?”
As always, his answer was short and sweet. “Good. My pharmacology professor is an ass, but other than that, I can’t complain.”
Logan was getting his Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing, beating over seventy percent of applicants to get into the program. He was good with people, and he was gonna be a great nurse. Patients of all ages will be grateful to have him. Besides the fact that he’s smart, tall, handsome, keeps himself in shape, and has a killer smile that makes all the girls swoon, he’d also been volunteering at hospitals and nursing homes since he was in high school.
I’d asked him once why he loved being around sick people so much, and he’d just shrugged and mumbled something about it being as good a career as any other. But I knew my brother, and I knew he hadn’t picked this path for his life on a whim. He never did anything impulsively. Maybe someday he’d open up to me about it, but I wasn’t going to push him. He’d tell me when he was good and ready, and not before. “Can you switch classes? Get a new professor?”
“Nah. I don’t wanna go through all that. He’s an ass, but he’s pretty fair with our grades. And the devil you know and all that shit.” I could relate to him there. “How’re things with you? You’re not working today?”
