“She’s yours?”
“She’s mine,” Lucca told him with certainty.
“Step aside, Dominic. Let us take those who should be held responsible for their crimes, and no one else will have to die”—Dante paused—“today.”
“I SAID, KILL THEM!” Lucifer was becoming deranged now.
Chloe’s chest rose and fell with the force of her breaths while all the other Lucianos waited to see what Dominic would do.
Dominic slowly put down his gun, stepping to the side. The air felt like it had been sucked out of the room. Then they all followed suit, dropping their guns to the floor and stepping to the side. You could practically touch the shift of power from Lucifer to Dominic, from father to son. Now, the air that had been sucked from the room returned in a whoosh that felt different.
A stunned and crazed Lucifer went for his knife before going straight for Chloe. The twins immediately grabbed him, pulling him back and away from her.
It finally hit Chloe then. They were protecting me … this whole time.
Lucca took a step forward then, the only one in the room moving as he came toward her. The Carusos followed behind him with every step he took to her.
As the boogieman’s blue-green eyes came closer to her, she tried to wiggle out of her bonds, tears falling from her eyes.
When he pulled out his knife, she didn’t move an inch. Not even her eyes moved from his as he brought it close to her face, cutting the fabric wrapped around her face and head, letting it fall to the ground. Then the boogieman fell to his knees in front of her, cutting the rope away from her ankles.
Her heart was pumping out of her chest, the tears still falling, when he finally and carefully cut away the bloody rope that had bound her wrists together.
There was this split second, a moment in time that surely stood still. A moment so powerful it had been stopped by an equally powerful force when the two of them looked into each other’s eyes. Only the two knew what was going to happen next, what they were thinking, how they were feeling. It was a power that went beyond this world or any other.
When time resumed, Chloe, who would have once run away, terrified of the dangerous being who stood before her, opened her arms and jumped into the embrace of the boogieman who kneeled before her.
It was beautiful.
“You saved me.” She began to cry into his chest.
“I promised to save you, darlin’.” Lucca held her to him with a tight force. “I will always save you.”
Picking her up and cradling her, he stood as she held on to him, keeping her eyes closed and her face pressed into his neck as fighting and screaming replaced the beauty of their reunion with horror.
She never saw the moment when Sal decided the fate of terrified men by a simple point of his finger.
She never saw the real, true heartbreak on Amo’s face when he had to watch Lucca pass by him, carrying out the girl he loved.
She never saw the daunting look Lucca had given Amo, promising to make true the threat he had given him.
Chloe never saw that the exact moment she had finally been saved was the exact moment Lucca had been saved from his own nightmares.
Forty-Three
A Soul That Could Only Be Returned to Her by Him
Lucca carried her up the steps and into the house, passing the doorframe where Drago’s blood still stained the floors.
“Is he …?” Chloe swallowed, unable to say the words.
“We’ll talk about it later, darlin’.” Holding her tighter, he started packing her up the stairs.
She slammed her eyes shut, putting her face into the crook of his neck, her legs and arms wrapped tightly around him. Drago had given his life for hers, something I will never, ever be able to repay.
Reaching the top of the stairs, he smoothed his hand up and down her back, trying to comfort her while he took her into his room, passing through to the bathroom where he placed her on the vanity counter between the two sinks. When he stood between her legs, Chloe kept her eyes on his chest.
The softness in him seemed to disappear as he looked over her disheveled body, removing his black suit jacket from her shoulders. “Did he hurt you?”
“N-No.” She found Lucca a little frightening. The darkness in him had yet to be released. “I-I did that to myself,” she said when he pulled up her sleeves, exposing the raw and broken skin on her wrists.
“Did he touch you anywhere I need to know about?” Lucca growled, his possessiveness showing.
Knowing what he meant by that, she shook her head, hoping her answer would ease him just a little and shoo away the darkness. However, as she looked down at her lap, she could still feel the trails of fire where the devil had touched her.