Page 80 of Revenge & Truth

“In a crude manner of explaining it, yes,” Domenico agreed, then tilted his chair back, making it clear he was done talking.

Taking a helicopter to Ashgate was way fucking faster than driving, making me even more grateful to Domenico for making this happen. We were escorted from the helipad into the administrative area of the prison, which was in a far nicer condition than what I’d seen before.

Before we got to the warden’s office, Domenico handed me off to a supervising officer. “Emerson will get you where you need to go and make sure you get back to the helicopter without any trouble. He is the only person in this building you should trust outside of your men. If he tells you there’s a problem and you need to go, don’t argue… it’s for a valid reason. If I’m not done with things, then head back without me. I don’t want you here any longer than you need to be. So do what you came to do but don’t drag it out pointlessly.”

I gave the man a two-finger salute and followed after Emerson. The guard was silent as he led us through the prison halls. No one even batted an eye at two random people being escorted into the bowels of the place where no normal visitor would ever be allowed to enter. A massive steel door with ‘Solitary’ written on it in big, bold letters told me we were getting warmer.

Once inside the space, there was a short hall with five steel doors that had a five-digit number written on them.

“Which one is Luca in?” I asked.

Emerson glanced at me as he walked up to the first door and paused. “I thought you were here for Harvey.”

“Oh, I am, but I want to see Luca first,” I informed the man. “Don’t even try to dick me around, Emerson. You seem like a decent guy for someone who works in a prison that’s as shady as all fuck. I’d really hate to tell Domenico you refused to help me, so I slit your throat since you stopped being useful to me.”

“Whoa there, no need for things to get that drastic,” Emerson said, holding up his hand as if to stop me. “He’s not in this section, so if you want to see him first, we’re gonna need to make it quick.”

“Then I suggest you start moving,” I snapped, motioning for him to go ahead of me.

Back out into the main area, we headed further along the path only to stop before a sign that read, ‘Death Row.’ Before I lost my shit on Emerson, I remembered Ryker saying Domenico moved Luca to a secure but nicer section of the prison. I suppose it made sense, but fuck if I wasn’t even more determined to take him home with me.

“Third cell,” Emerson pointed.

I stared at him with a brow raised. “I’m sorry, did you expect me to interact with him like an animal in the fucking zoo? Open his goddamn door, or I’ll change my mind and skip slitting your throat in exchange for peeling the skin from your body.”

Emerson started to mutter something under his breath, but Boykov slammed him up against the bars of one of the cells. Boykov’s large hand was wrapped around the guard’s throat so tight Emerson started to turn bright red.

“You will speak to Lady Astin with respect and do what she asks without comment. Somehow, I have a feeling your new boss told you this when he picked you to show us around. Now when I set you down, let’s hope the blood rush helps you make better choices,” Boykov stated. His voice was completely void of emotion, which made it really fucking scary for the person in trouble.

Gasping for breath, Emerson clung to the bars as he relearned how to breathe. “I don’t make enough money for this shit.”

Boykov growled at the man, and that was all it took to get Emerson on the move. The second the prison door rolled back, I surged forward and collided with Luca, who came rushing out to meet me. I wrapped myself around him like a goddamn anaconda, kissing him until we were forced to come up for air.

“Baby girl, what are you doing here?” Luca demanded, his voice gruff, but it was hard to believe he was mad when he buried his face against my neck.

“I’m here to bring you home,” I answered.

Luca lifted his head to look at me, utterly confused. “Seriously? Are you sure?”

“Do you think I’d come here, tell you that, and then say… just kidding? Yes, I’m deadly fucking serious. You’re not staying in here one more night,” I assured him.

“Ah—” Emerson started to interject, but Luca and Boykov snarled at the man, instantly shutting him up.

“There is one thing we need to take care of before we blow this popsicle stand,” I admitted.

Luca frowned. “Do I even want to ask?”

“Oh, I think you really do,” I answered with a grin. He waited silently for me to continue, so I gave in since he wasn’t going to play along. “I need to kill Harvey O’Hagan and make it look like a prison fight. Wanna join me?”

“Fuck yes, baby girl,” Luca blurted, kissing me. “I one thousand percent want in on that.”

Not even needing a minute to think it over, he set me down and threaded our fingers together. “Let’s go turn that fucking rat bastard into a piñata.”

It might be wrong of me, but I was practically skipping my way back to solitary, overjoyed to have Luca at my side. Emerson wisely didn’t comment as he waited for us to enter the cell block before locking us in. Once more, he approached the first solitary cell, turned the key, and pulled back the lever that triggered the automatic system to roll open the door.

“Cameras and audio recording are offline, so you are free to do as you please. We have about thirty minutes before they reboot the whole place, which will turn them on once again. For this, all of you need to be out of this section for the plan to work,” Emerson informed me, then took a seat on the chair in the corner of the main area.

I watched as he put a pair of earbuds in and pulled up something to watch on his phone, completely tuning us out. Luca squeezed my hand reassuringly before we both entered the concrete cell. All that was in the space was a concrete slab with a mattress, no pillow or blanket, a toilet, and the smallest sink I’ve ever seen. The realization that this is what Luca had been living with for the past few weeks made me want to blow this entire fucking building up.