Luca
“Here,” Clover instructs Matteo to turn onto a road obscured by trees.
Turning onto it, I can feel the moment Thomas morphs into mode, as I follow along. This is where my mind turns off. Emotions turn off; the only thing on it is getting the job done. When I’mthisLuca, I care nothing about you. You could cry to me that your wife is in labor with your firstborn, and I’ll still put a bullet through your skull. I don’t give a fuck. Having to turn that mentality off is hard once I get back to my normal life. Coming back down, switching out. It’s mentally rough. And that’s another reason I don’t want Rowan around. I become someone different. I can’t have her in danger and still try to maintain the killer Luca. It wouldn’t work. The drive down is bouncy; you can tell by how it’s not grated that few visitors came, which is a good sign for us.
In the dim light of the car, I watch Matteo remove his hand from the steering wheel and find Clover's. Her intake of breath when he makes purchase is loud.
I can’t imagine what is going on through her head, and honestly, I don’t want to know.
Coming to a circular drive, Matteo parks in front of the sprawling home. Not a home, a fucking torture chamber with the fixings of a home.
“You don’t have to go in,” he quietly says to Clover.
I try to ignore their conversation, giving them their space, but her voice is so broken that I can’t.
“I need to do this, O.”
Her nickname for him makes me smile. If someone else used that nickname for him, he would bury them in one of his vacant plots… Hell, it probably wouldn't even be empty.
The doors opening pull me out of my thoughts and force me to clear my mind. Stepping out into the cool night air, everything is so quiet. It’s eerie. Not even insect sounds.
Thomas and I look at one another before stepping to the front door. I look back and see that Matteo is blocking Clover’s view. He might have agreed to let her come, but her safety comes first for him.
Thomas turns the knob, and to our surprise, it opens with no problem.
“That was easy.” Thomas smiles back at me.
“Don’t jinx us,” Matteo calls from the back.
I give Thomas a face to say, ‘What did you say?’
He widens his eyes at me before I push my way inside, leaving him trailing behind me.
The foyer is huge, but nothing off-putting.
Clover slides up to us.
“Where were you three?” I ask her.
She walks a few steps and points to a door.
“Thomas, you stay and keep watch while we go.”
He nods his head at me as I pull my gun out.
Opening the heavy wooden door, we take steps down to a basement. Not being able to find a light switch, I pull out my flashlight, lighting up the room.
“There.” Clover points to another door, her hand shaking.
This one is ajar. Before I pull it fully open, I place my flashlight inside and let it bounce around the hallway as I scan what I can see, my gun following the light, ready to go off. WhenI feel like all is good, I open the door fully. The smell that hits me is ungodly.
Rotting food, piss, and dirtiness.
There are three doors off the hallway, all open. As I make my way in, I let my light bounce around the first room, then the second. As I get to the other door and walk in, all I see is a chair, nothing else.
I know this is where Damian was.
Glancing back, I spot Matteo and Clover entering the first room.
