Dreadnought (Nemesis #1)(7)
They couldn’t taint the Luciano name by throwing out accusations without any evidence. What they needed was a rat that squealed.
“As your underboss, I’m telling you that the less I tell you, the better. The penthouses are now the safest place for everyone. Stay here until it’s over.”
Rubbing his temples, Dante finally nodded in agreement. “Does anyone in the family know about this?”
“Two do. Sal”—Lucca took a hit off his cigarette, knowing his father wouldn’t be surprised with Sal’s name but would likely with the next—“and Drago.”
His father’s icy blue eyes flashed at him. “Goddammit, Lucca, you’re taking him from me, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” he gave the grave answer his father didn’t want to hear. “You will have all the rest of your men protecting you, Maria, and Leo here. I’m asking for just him. I need his help and his protection elsewhere.”
He could see his father contemplating on whether he was going to allow his most skilled and deadliest man to leave his side to join Lucca’s. Dante, as the boss, and Lucca, as the underboss, both had to have men by their sides at all times; men they needed to command and ask things of they themselves couldn’t fulfill.
Lucca’s right hand was Sal. Not only was Sal his best friend who was like a brother to him, but he was skilled in different ways than Lucca. Lucca never needed protection, being deadly enough of his own accord. What he did need was information, and Sal was gifted with a brain that didn’t work like any others in the Caruso family. He was a highly intelligent individual, able to hack into any computer in under a minute. To put it simply, Sal was irreplaceable. However, Drago was something completely different.
Dante was the highest target on the family tree. He didn’t need a man; he needed a tank. A tank that could take several bullets without flinching and still move forward to kill the men who stood in his way. Drago was a skilled killer of the deadliest kind. The kind who had no weaknesses. The kind who would never greet death because … he was Death.
Lucca sat somewhere between those two men, having the skills and intellect, but it was his sadistic, twisted, demented mind that made him the worst of all. With him commanding the two men under him, there wasn’t going to be anything or anyone to stand in his way. The three together could desolate all of Kansas City if that was what he wished.
Dante nodded once more, agreeing to let his right hand go until the job was done.
It didn’t matter much to Lucca if he had agreed to it or not. Drago was only going to be under his command. And Lucca would have done whatever it took to make it so. Even if he had to put a bullet in his own father’s skull, he would have … to protect her.
Putting his cigarette out in the ashtray, he got up to leave.
“This is going to end in war, isn’t it?”
Lucca’s voice went cold as he looked back over his shoulder. “The war started years ago; we just didn’t realize it.”
“Where is she?” Lucca asked the moment Drago entered the living room.
“She’s still in her room.”
Lucca stared at him, dumbfounded. “She hasn’t left it?”
Drago shook his head. “No. She’s just staring at the wall.”
Furious, Lucca went into his office, shutting himself inside.
Fuck! He slammed his hands down on his desk before angrily swiping the contents off and smashing them onto the floor. He was trying to be as nice to her as he could, letting her come out on her own after she was comfortable, but she hadn’t come out in two days. The only time she had come out of the room had been on the morning of the first day.
He wanted her to be comfortable here, to be comfortable with him, but Chloe was making it difficult.
A knock sounded on the door.
“Come in.”
“Everything all right?” Drago asked, opening the door.
Nodding, he almost let Drago close the door before he stopped him.
“I need you to do something for me.”
Taking up the whole double-door doorframe, Drago waited for his order.
“Tell her, if she wants dinner, she has to come downstairs.” Lucca paused for a brief second, deciding to continue his order. “Tell her that if she wants to eat again, she has to leave that fucking room.”
Drago nodded before leaving, closing the door behind him.
Over the last two days, Lucca had seemed to forget that he wasn’t going to baby her like the rest of her little friends had. Being nice never worked for me, anyway.
Six
Playing With Fire
Chloe sat on the bed, staring at the wall, her stomach growling even louder now. She hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday and had only been able to eat a couple of bites of her sandwich then.
If you’re hungry, you will eat downstairs from now on, her mind repeated the words the huge man named Drago had said.
She felt like she would rather starve than have to leave the safety of her room. It was strange, but something in her told her that, as long as she was in the room, they couldn’t harm her, like they were giving it to her as a safe haven. She had come to this conclusion over the course of the three days because she hadn’t been touched, and now Lucca was trying to draw her out.