Bend Me, Daddy

LUCA

"We got the information back from the license plates. It was one of

Mario's men."

I swirled the whiskey around in my glass, concentrating on the way the glaring lights in the office touched the amber liquid. They hadn't seemed as harsh when Veda was the thing they adored.

Enzo was wasting energy running in here to tell me that. I didn't need proof. Who else would it have been? "I know."

He put his sunglasses on top of his head, pressed both palms into the desk, and leaned forward, his eyes hard on my face. "What are we going to do about it?"

"Nothing. I told her to leave town." I took a sip of my drink and leaned back in my chair, putting some space between us so I didn't dislocate his jaw. "If she doesn't, she has no one to blame but herself."

"So you fuck her and send her on her way to get killed?"

"I didn't bring her here. You did."

"Not so you could get your dick wet. I did it hoping you would quit being a fucking stronzo and pull your head out of your ass and talk to her."

I laughed. And even I heard the ugliness in it. "What the hell do you expect from me, Enzo?" I leaned forward, my laughter dying as quickly as it came on. "She fucking betrayed me. Tristan caught her digging around my office. Saw her with his own fucking eyes. What if she'd found something and reported back to Mario? And, for that matter, how do we know she didn't? She could've gotten me killed. Could've gotten all of us killed because of her lack of trust in me. Would you be so forgiving then?"

A muscle jumped in his jaw, but he didn't deny it. He couldn't. "Perhaps you haven't given her much reason to trust you."

I slammed my hands down on the desk. "What else could I have done?" I shouted.

He clenched his jaw, but he didn't push it.

I shoved my chair away and paced around my desk until I stood behind him, then waited for him to turn around. When he did, I gave him the truth. "I have to let her go, Enzo. For her safety as well as ours. You know it as well as I do. So don't you dare fucking stand there lording it over me. Remember who you work for."

His mouth twisted into something that in no way resembled a smile. "How could I forget?" he asked.

We stared at each other, and my fists clenched at my sides.

"And as to Veda, I don't know any such thing." He sat on the desk, his arms crossed over his wide chest. "You know as well as I do, she never would have done what she did if she'd felt like she had any other choice. Veda didn't grow up in this life. She's untarnished and easily manipulated. I shouldn't have to tell you that."

"What are you saying?" I asked him. "That you know her better than I do? You want her for yourself? Is that it?"

"Maybe she'd be better off."

A red haze clouded my vision, and with a roar of rage, my fist flew toward his face. He blocked me easily, but Enzo and I had been together for a long time. We'd trained together. I knew his tricks, and so I was prepared. Ducking down and to the side, I brought my opposite fist up into his kidney, then grabbed his head with both hands and pulled his face into my knee.

He managed to turn his head enough that he avoided a broken nose, catching his sunglasses as they fell off his head. Hands together, he threaded them inside my arms, pushing them up and out, breaking the hold I had on his head. We backed off, circling each other like animals. Enzo calmly folded up his sunglasses and set them on my desk, then unbuttoned his jacket. "Is this what we're doing, Luca? Huh?"

"I don't ever want to hear her name come out of your mouth again," I growled.

"You know damn well I would never disrespect Veda-or you-in that way. You're just looking for a fight because it's the only way you know to handle these things you feel for her." "You don't know what you're fucking talking about."

He stopped moving. "Yes, my friend, I do. So why don't you stop being such a bastard. You don't owe anyone in this family anything. No one even knows what happened. Why are you putting her in danger because of your own fucked up sense of honor that they don't even deserve?"

I studied him for a moment. My friend. My brother. The man whose advice I respected above all others. A stabbing pain shot through my head, and I winced, rubbing my temples. He was right. I knew he was right. "Did you find out where she's staying?"

"I did." He said nothing else, and I knew he wouldn't until I asked him. I didn't want to know where my vita was hiding from me. "Is she safe?"

He slowly shook his head. "No one followed us from here. I don't think he knows where she is. But he knows where her parents live."

My immediate reaction was to demand he take me to her. Or at the very least, go back and haul her gorgeous ass out of wherever the hell she was and bring her back to the lake house. But then I took a breath and concentrated on slowing my heart rate. "I'll send a few men over to watch her parents' place."

"Do you want to talk about this?"

"No," I told him. Then hesitated. "But I appreciate your honesty, even if it makes me want to bash your face in."

"Just think about what I said, Luca."

I nodded as the last of my rage cooled to the ever-present simmer that had been there since I'd told her to leave. Unable to help myself, I asked, "Did Veda say anything to you about what she planned to do?"

"She said she's staying until her family can hold a memorial and mourn her sister, and she'll figure out what she's going to do after that."