“No, I think I fucking found her,” Sal corrected him. “I’m still working on it.”
Vincent smoothed his hair down, trying to calm his nerves.
“Okay, so he almost found her, but why should I let Sal tell you where she is? She was a pain in my fucking ass for the five minutes I was around her and an even bigger pain in the ass to Dante. That girl doesn’t belong here.”
He had known Lucca was going to say that. She belongs with me.
“I already know. This time, I’m going to really teach her how the family works, what she can and cannot do. I promise you, she will not bother you again.”
Lucca sucked his cigarette hard. “What I would do is lock her fucking ass up. Keep her in your house or bedroom and don’t let her ass back out.”
Vincent stared at Lucca like he was deranged.
“That’s what I would do if I were you, of course.” Lucca managed to put out the butt without too many ashes falling onto the desk.
That didn’t seem like he was talking about me or Lake…
“Almost got it,” Sal interrupted his thoughts.
Lucca pulled out another cigarette and flicked his lighter open, taking his time to light the end. “I give you back your girl, and you’ll owe me.”
Vincent thought about his words, understanding what he meant. The last person in the world anyone wanted to owe was Lucca Caruso, because one day he would call in his favor, and that person had just better hope they had lived a full and happy life before that happened. It didn’t matter; he was dead without Lake anyway.
He nodded in agreement.
Lucca took a hit. “Tell him.”
Sal stared at his laptop as he talked. “I’ve been trying to find the address for Paul’s parents. For some reason, they dropped off the face of the Earth. Coincidently, around the same time Paul became a soldier. I’m not promising she will be there, but it’s the only place you haven’t looked. Her name isn’t popping up in the system anywhere, so I’m thinking she has to be with family.”
Vincent had spent the week driving and looking everywhere for her. She had little family that he knew of, and he had started there. Going to her mother’s first, he’d practically kicked the door in on those assholes, asking if they knew where she was. He didn’t expect her to be there nor did he expect them to give a shit, but he did have a fun fucking time scaring the shit out of them. Then he had gone to the college she had wanted to attend. Nothing. This was the first he had heard of her having any grandparents.
“Okay, so where is it?” He was anxious and ready to get her back.
Sal clicked a few more buttons before he started laughing. “I suggest you go home and get fucking changed out of those clothes.”
Vincent and Lucca stared at him, waiting for him to tell them where she was.
Sal calmed his laughter so he could finally spit it out. “The address is in Treepoint, Kentucky.”
“Kentucky?” Vincent sat, stunned. He tried to imagine how in the hell Lake had made herself go there. Never mind. Fucking desperation, that’s how.
“Well, have fucking fun there.” Lucca leaned back in his chair, smiling and clearly enjoying that he wasn’t the one who had to go.
Sal jotted down the address for him when he finally stopped laughing.
He looked down at the piece of paper. “What the fuck do they wear there?”
That made Sal laugh all over again. “Camo. Lots and lots of camo.”
“I’d talk as little as possible and keep your thick Italian accent to yourself. They’ll probably fucking shoot you there.” Lucca actually laughed a little when he told him the last part.
Vincent stood, storming out. “Fuck off.”
Chapter Forty-Five
Leather and Tats
Lake walked into the diner behind her grandparents’ house. She had left Kansas City the week before, coming to the only place she had family left—Treepoint, Kentucky.
If she was honest, the thought of living in Kentucky had made her skin crawl at first. She hadn’t been sure what it was going to be like, but she had known without a doubt that she wasn’t going to be in Kansas City anymore. Lake was born a city girl; therefore, stepping into a very rural small town was a bit of an adjustment. I think that’s an understatement.
Lake had called her father when she got home, but he had pushed it straight to voicemail. She cried hard at having to tell her father she was leaving through a voicemail. That was the hardest thing she had ever done. She didn’t tell him where she was going, afraid Dante might use it against him. The less he knew, the better.
Her father had kept an old piece of paper with a number hidden in a box with old stuff. She remembered him revealing to her the contents of the box once when she was a little girl. He had showed her the pictures of him when he was younger, where he had lived before his family had moved out to Kansas City, and he had even kept pictures of her grandparents. She wouldn’t have known whose number it was if he hadn’t written, ‘crazy fucking mother,’ above it.
Thankfully, her grandmother had answered, and then Lake had packed a bag and hopped on a bus straight there. Granted, she did have to beg them to come out. She could say they had been slightly paranoid about the mafia and life in general. Lake had simply told them she was trying to find a better life away from the mob, and she had assured them no one was looking for her. Basically, I just lied my ass off.
She had sat in the back of the bus, silent tears rolling down her face with Kansas City in the distance. It wasn’t leaving the city she was born and raised in behind that had destroyed her; it was leaving Vincent.
As bad as she wanted to hate him, she couldn’t. She cared about him, whether she wanted to or not. What’s more, she had shared with him something very special that she could only experience once. It didn’t matter how much time would pass, no one could never forget about their first. It was an impossible thing to do.