Mafia love

That’s why Raphael choose him and not me. He’s a real hardass, ruthless in every sense of the word, and he’d make a good leader of a business like this, but he’s different. He always was. We have to—” His voice trailed off as he looked ahead of me.

I turned to see what he was looking at, and my eyes bulged when I saw who it was that stood outside the fence to the premises.

Victor.

Victor Pertrinkov.

I could see the devilish smile on his face from here. We were about twenty meters apart, but I could see it, and it made my skin crawl and chills race down my spine.

“Amelia, get inside.” Claudius took hold of me.

Luc

“Did you get him?” I asked, gripping the phone as I pressed it to my ear.

That fucking Victor was outside the house. Jesus Christ. It was a joke. I was out here looking for him, and he was there. Right there with Amelia.

“No, we didn’t get him,” Claudius answered. “I sent Dante after him, and he came back empty. It was too late by the time we got back inside, and I didn’t want to leave Amelia, just in case.”

“You did right.” I sighed. “We need to find out where they’re staying.”

“Intel got eyes on him that led out to the main road. We lost him after that.”

“Could have gone anywhere. That route diverts to anywhere.” Shit. This was complete shit.

I’d searched the old district with Saul and Giorgio, one of the Galioni guys. We’d come up with nothing.

I was sitting in a bar downtown now, regrouping. It was nearly midday.

The bars were just opening, and this was one I used to come to all the time.

“I’ll keep looking and let you know if we come up with anything.”

“Thanks.”

“And don’t worry. We’ll stay here as a unit. I don’t know if today was a scare tactic, or if he was trying to lure us out.”

“It’s part of the game.” He was there to remind us that we couldn’t catch him. Asshole.

“Great, well, you know him more than I do.”

“I’ll talk to you later, Claudius.”

“Speak later.” He hung up.

I didn’t have a chance to catch my breath before someone ran soft fingers over the back of my neck.

“Well, look who it is. My boy’s returned.”

I turned to see Maria. I guess I could have called her my on-again, off-again ex-girlfriend who’d been with me for the last couple of years.

I straightened on the stool and twisted, so I was facing her.

“Hey, how’ve you been?” My pulse quickened. It felt weird being in her presence.

“Really?” She raised her brows and gazed at me through her bright blue eyes. She had a slight tan, and it made her white blond hair look more striking. She was beautiful and the kind of woman I’d basically used because I knew she would always be available to me.

“Yes, really.”

“Good, I suppose. You haven’t called me in a while. I heard you found someone new.”

God, I wasn’t in the mood for this, but I kind of felt the time would creep up on me.

“Maria, look…”

She held up both hands and shook her head. “It’s okay. We weren’t exactly anything, even if I thought we were.”

Maybe it was the fact that I’d had to tame my wildness for Amelia, but as I looked at the woman before me who I’d treated like nothing, I truly, truly felt like a complete bastard. A son of a bitch, literally, who’d acted like an asshole to her.

“I’m sorry. You deserve better.”

She laughed. “That’s a good one, but look at me. I’m the girl men use.

You know first-hand, right? I bounce from one job to another, not really knowing what I’m doing with myself. It’s cool though. One day, I’ll know.”

“Maria, you don’t have to live like that.”

“Well, it comes in handy sometimes. Come here.” She smiled and crooked her finger. I leaned closer hoping like hell she wasn’t going to kiss me because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings any more than I had.

She slipped her arms around my neck and nuzzled her face against mine.

“Maria, I am with someone else, and—”

“Relax, lover boy. I’m helping you. Put your arm around me.”

I did as she said wondering what she was going to do.

She cupped my face and brushed her nose against mine.

“There’s a man sitting across the bar on the left. He came into Gullimi’s last night. Your name was dropped a few times. He’s watching us now,” she whispered.

Fuck. “What does he look like?”

“Thin, longish hair, and a mole on his chin.” Her eyes flicked up past mine then back to focus on me.

“What’s he doing now?”

“Still watching. Another guy just joined him. They were both together last night.”

“Hey, I don’t want you hanging around bars like that. It’s dangerous.”

“You almost sound like you care.” She giggled, ru

I wondered how the fuck we must have looked to everyone else here.

Amelia would not be happy if she saw me like this.

“I do care. If you need money, you let me know.”

“I don’t need or want anything from you.” She went to move away, but I pulled her back and bent low to her ear.

“I don’t care if you want it or not, and I’m being serious.” From inside my jacket, I took my wallet and gave it to her. I took her hand and closed

her fingers around the hard leather. There were five hundred dollars cash in there and about ten grand on the credit card. “Get gone for a while. Use the cash first. It’s enough to get out of Chicago and stay some place safe.

Password for my credit card is 0100. Take everything on there.”

“Luc—”

“Maria, I’m serious. You glued up to me like this just made you a target.”

“I know.” She held my gaze. “He, um… he took out his phone the minute I walked up to you. Maybe he’s talking about you, maybe he’s talking about me. Or both. Risky. But you take risks when you love someone.” Her voice quivered.

My lips parted, and all I could do was stare. She loved me. I felt even worse now because I couldn’t return the sentiment.

I’d known Maria for years. It had started wild and always stayed wild. It was just sex, nothing more, not even a date. She usually worked at the diner Claudius and I liked going to. When she saw me, she knew what I wanted. I should at least have some level of feelings for her to consider her mine at one point or another. But no. Not even now. Yet there was Amelia, who I’d only known for months.

“Maria, I…” There was nothing I could say that wouldn’t make me sound like a jerk.

“I didn’t say it for you to tell me back.” A little smile tugged at the corners of her delicate mouth. “You’d be lying, and you’ve never been a liar.”

“I care about you.” I had to say something, and that was the truth.

She leaned in again and brushed her lips against my cheek. “Be careful, Lucian, and thanks.”

She stepped back, still holding my gaze, then moved away from me.

I watched her until she left the bar, going through the large oak doors.

The hair stood up on the back of my neck as I now felt like I was being watched.

Please be okay, Maria.

Later, I’d send someone to check on her. Right now, I had to take care of these guys.

I stood up and walked out back to where the dumpsters were. I hid in the alley way behind the metal door.

Just as I predicted, a man came through matching the description of what Maria had given me. As I’d walked out of the bar, I didn’t need to look at him to get a picture. Doing it this way was enough. He stepped out and looked around with confusion on his stupid face.