Bend Me, Daddy

VEDA

Enzo was outside the office, standing guard as he always did. I gave him the dirtiest look I could muster as I rushed past him.

"Veda! Wait."

I kept walking.

But he caught up to me easily. Laying a heavy hand on my shoulder, he spun me around before I even reached the end of the hallway. "Where are you going?"

"You knew he was here," I shouted over the music. I didn't care if Luca heard me or not. I felt raw. Exposed. Enzo had known he was in that office, and he'd sent me in there anyway. Did he know what Luca was going to do when I got here? Did he have any idea whether he would fuck me or shoot me the second I walked in? Did he even care?

"No," he said. "I didn't tell you."

"Why?"

"Because no matter what, my loyalty to you only extends as far as Luca."

Of course. I was stupid to think otherwise. To believe that all of the hours we'd spent together training and talking while I was at Luca's meant anything at all. I turned to leave without another word. I'd already embarrassed myself enough by looking like I came running over here for a booty call with the hot mafia guy who wanted to kill me. I was as stupid as Nicole if I believed anything different.

He grabbed my arm. "Where are you going?"

I yanked it free, and he let me go, but I made the mistake of glancing up at his face, and my anger deflated a bit. He might be loyal only to Luca, but there was general concern in the way he held his mouth. "I have to get my friend's car back." He took off his sunglasses. "Veda, I don't think it's safe for you to be out by yourself."

A sad smile fluttered and died. "You're probably right. But is it really any safer for me to be here?"

His mouth thinned into a hard line as he studied me. "Hold on one second. Stay here. Okay?" Heaving an impatient sigh, I nodded.

Enzo walked back to the office, knocked hard three times, and stuck his head in. After a quick conversation, he closed the door and came back to me. "I'll follow you back to your friend's. Make sure you get there okay and check out their place before I leave you."

"Thank you," I told him after a pause.

His hand on my lower back, he escorted me out of the club and to my car, putting his sunglasses back on that hid his eyes from me and everyone else before we'd even walked out of the club. "Where does your friend live?"

I hesitated only for a second before I gave him the address of Sammy's building.

"Okay. If anything happens and we get separated, you turn around and come right back here-"

I cut him off. "I can't do that."

"Veda, you'll be safe here. No matter what Luca says or doesn't say. He won't hurt you."

I laughed with no humor. "Oh, that's where you're wrong, Enzo. He already did."

"Veda. You know what I mean."

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"But I don't know that I believe you."

He scanned the parking lot and the road and then came back to me. "I know Luca better than anyone, even Tristan. He couldn't kill you, Veda. I've never seen him like this with a woman. Not even his dead fiancée. To hurt you would be like killing himself."

I let him believe what he wanted to believe. "Fine. If we get separated, I'll do as you said."

He nodded his approval. "You come back here, and I'll go on to your friend's place and make sure she"-he raised one eyebrow, and waited for me to nod-"is okay." "Sammy."

He gave me a questioning look.

"Her name is Sammy." "I'll make sure Sammy is okay."

"Thank you," I told him sincerely.

The entire time we had this little conversation, I'd watched Enzo constantly scan the parking lot and street. "Alright. We need to go."

He put me in the car, standing nearby with his hand inside his jacket until I started the engine and locked the doors. Then he jogged over to the familiar SUV parked near a side door. I waited until he pulled up near me, and then we were off. Enzo followed me all the way back to Sammy's apartments, and luckily, whoever had been tailing me earlier didn't make another appearance. Or maybe I'd overreacted and no one had been following me at all and I'd just freaked out over nothing, just like I'd told Luca.

I parked Sammy's car in her spot while the SUV idled behind me. When I got out of the car, so did Enzo.

Pointing up at Sammy's apartment where I could see lights on within, I said, "My friend is home. And it looks like one of her roommates is, too."

"I'm coming upstairs with you," he told me. "Just in case."

After a pause, I nodded. "Okay. I'd appreciate it."

I took him up to Sammy's and let myself in with the spare key she'd given me. Enzo followed me in as far as the living room. Taking off his sunglasses, he checked every corner, listening to Maddie having an animated conversation with someone in her room. Either she had a guest, or she was on FaceTime, but either way, everything seemed normal.

He turned to me. "What are your plans now?"

"I plan to say hi to Sammy and go to bed."

"No, that's not what I meant. What are you going to do with your life?"

Oh. That. "I don't know."

"You should listen to Luca and get out of town, Veda. Especially after what happened tonight."

I wasn't sure if he was talking about the car tailing me or my run-in with Luca. Hands on his hips, he stared down at me. Not for the first time, I noticed he had beautiful brown eyes, à la Johnny Depp. Eyes a girl could easily lose herself in. But they weren't intense blue glaciers that stripped me bare without touching me and set my blood on fire. "I promised my parents we'd do a memorial for Nicole. I have to stay for that so I can be there for them. And then I'll figure out where I'm gonna go." If my mother could stand to be around me that long.

"It would really be safer for you if you got out of town now. Tonight."

"Yeah, I'm not doing that. Not yet. I need to be there for my dad."

"Veda, please listen to me. To Luca. He wants you to be safe."

"If he cared at all, he wouldn't have chased me out of the fortress he lives in. But he did. And he wants nothing to do with me other than a quick fuck against his office door." My mouth twisted in disgust that was aimed only at myself. "He doesn't care about me, Enzo. He threw me to the wolves."