Dreadnought (Nemesis #1)(46)

The chains that now captured her mind tightened. I know.

Walking away from her, he had another request. “Pack up all your things.”

“W-Why?” she asked in confusion.

“You’ll see.” The way he said it made her think she didn’t want to find out, but she was more worried about someone else.

“S-So you won’t hurt him?”

He smiled. “Pack up your things, darlin’.”

When the door closed and he was gone, all she could do was hope he wouldn’t hurt Amo.

Alone, she touched her swollen lips. Lucca was right; what did I just do?

She couldn’t believe she had been the one to reach out and touch him, when she was only just learning to accept Lucca’s touch. There hadn’t even been a sting, no wrongness in it. Scariest of all … Chloe had just gotten her first kiss, with the promise it wouldn’t be her last.

She wasn’t the type of girl to dream about her first kiss. How could she when she only ever wanted to never be touched again in her life? Therefore, never had she thought she would get a first kiss, let alone have her first be with Lucca, the boogieman.

Everything that had just happened scared her shitless. She kept repeating the same words in her head, trying to keep her sanity. You had to. You had no choice. You did it to save Amo.

After a while of repeating the words, the lines began to blur. She didn’t know if that was what she truly believed, or if it was what she had led herself to believe.

You had to … You had no choice … You did it to save Amo …

Did she?





Thirty-Two





How Beautiful It Is. How Painful It Can Be.





Flicking his lighter open, Lucca lit the end of his cigarette while staring across his desk at Amo. Neither of them spoke, both simply silently killing the other in their minds as Lucca continued filling the room up with smoke.

“How’d you do it?” Amo was the one to speak first, unable to stand the silence any longer.

Understanding what he was asking, Lucca told him, “I grabbed her before she could get on the plane. Then Sal handled everything else, making it appear like she got on and has been in California.” Taking a long hit, he finished with a smile, “Then she woke up here, where she’s been well taken care of.”

“So, you fucking kidnapped her,” Amo stated matter-of-factly.

Exactly. He hit his ashes into the ashtray. “Yes, for her own good.”

Amo stared at him like he was deranged. “I thought you were fucked-up, Lucca, but I didn’t know you were this fucking psychotic.”

“There are reasons for what I did, Amo.”

“Oh, I’m sure your fucked-up self has come up with a whole list of reasons to justify what you did.” He laughed mockingly. “Let’s be honest, though; we both know that you’re delusional, a stalker, and now a kidnapper.”

“I am well aware of what I am,” Lucca told him darkly, taking a final hit before he crushed the butt out in the ashtray. “But do you know why I would go to those lengths? To have Drago stay here just to watch her? You know what he’s capable of; the things he provides to the family.”

You could see it start to turn in Amo’s head; the things he had been missing from the second he had walked in the door. However, he quickly made them disappear, unable to face the facts.

“No!” His booming voice rose. “You wanted her all to yourself, to fill that sick obsession you have with her.”

“I would have taken her the moment she turned eighteen if that was it, and you know it.” He decided to reveal how fucked-up he really was, letting Amo begin to understand how important she was to him. “I thought about taking her before she was eighteen. Then, when she turned eighteen, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do not to take her then and there. I almost did it, too, but I had to wait. I waited seven fucking months for her.”

Amo knew his words were true. And even though she might have been there for a reason, he couldn’t take it.

“You know I’m not leaving here without her, and if you let me walk out that door, I won’t stop till she is free.”

“Did she look like she wanted to leave?” Lucca reminded him.

Standing up abruptly from the chair, Amo clearly wasn’t able to handle what Lucca was telling him.

A part of Lucca enjoyed it, reveled in it. He’d had to watch him from afar with Chloe almost every fucking day for far too long, wishing he had been in Amo’s shoes many nights. The other part of him felt pity for Amo for losing her, knowing she was the most beautiful creature on this earth, but she’s mine.

“She has been freer here with me than she ever was outside these walls.”

“What are you trying to say?”

Lucca stared him down. “You know exactly what I am saying.”

The rage and adrenaline that came from Amo had him squeezing his broken hand into a fist. “Those seven months you stalked her, just watching her, I actually spent with her, talked with her, got to know her. I was her protector and her friend. She was free with me. Then you fucking stole her from me before I had the chance to make her more than that.” Amo’s face twisted evilly, a snarl coming into his voice. “You couldn’t handle it, could you? Couldn’t handle that I was with her and you weren’t. How does it feel to know you had to kidnap her to get her to spend time with you?”