Lucca (Made Men #4)(61)

I’m going to save you, darlin’, his voice whispered through her mind as their eyes locked. Everything will be okay.

The feeling they shared grew stronger, wrapping around her and protecting her. She had waited four long years for this moment, for the moment she would finally feel … saved.





Forty-Two





A Power That Went Beyond This World or Any Other





Only one gun was held on the Caruso side, and it was in the hand of Lucca as he pointed it down upon the tortured man’s skull.

Chloe held her eyes to Lucca’s, too scared to look away from him, feeling safer with her gaze on his.

“Where’s Dante?” Lucifer spat from behind her.

Three men came from behind other suits; the same vision as Nero, Vincent, and Amo, except older. Dante stood between Vinny and Enzo, the three men protected by their sons and the other suits.

“I’m willing to give you one chance, Luciano,” Dante spoke with authority and confidence. “Trade me your man for the girl. No blood has to be shed.” His eyes went over all their sons, and then their families. “We both have a lot to lose here.”

“When did you become such a bitch, Dante?” Lucifer snickered. “I put the hit out on your wife, had her killed, and you are willing to let me walk away? You are a disgrace to this city.”

I’m so sorry. Staring into Lucca’s eyes, her heart broke for him. The man who had stolen her soul was responsible for stealing his mother’s.

The feeling and bond between them made more sense.

Dante flexed his jaw, taking a step forward, his voice becoming more powerful as he said, “The girl for your man, Luciano.”

Lucifer put his hands on Chloe’s shoulders, squeezing her harshly. “What do you want with her? She is nothing to you, nor does she belong to any Caruso.” He moved one of his hands, running a finger down the scar across her eye. “She has my mark. She belongs to me and me alone.”

The devil’s touch scorched her, but her eyes still didn’t waiver, finding strength in the blue-green eyes that didn’t move from hers.

“You took her from my home, my protection, and from my son.” Dante paused, his ice-blue eyes growing colder. “She belongs to Lucca.”

A creeping fear pulsing off the Luciano men filled the air the second he said Lucca’s name. They had all taken a step away from her, not wanting to be near her. The only ones who hadn’t moved were Lucifer and the twins.

“No! She’s mine!” Lucifer screamed.

“Chloe is mine,” a low, lethal voice filled the space, hitting the ears of every living thing in here until their blood ran cold, whispering over and over in all their minds. “Give her to me now, or I will blow his fucking brains out.” He pushed the barrel of the gun against the man’s head while the man kneeled, unmoving.

“There’s not much of him left. He’s better off dead.” Lucifer laughed. “He serves no purpose to me anymore if he can’t hold her precious body dow—”

POP.

Lucca had pulled the trigger, and the body fell forward to the floor.

Keep them to me, his eyes told her when she jumped from the noise.

“Kill them!” Lucifer demanded.

The room went silent. Lucifer’s men looked around at each other, trying to decide what to do.

“What are you doing? Kill them!” Lucifer crazily screamed again, pulling his hands off of Chloe to back up and look around at his men. When he did, the twins stepped closer to her.

Lucifer’s son, who stood in the front, hadn’t yet moved. He had simply kept his eyes on Dante. But now he finally moved them to Lucca’s.

“She’s yours?”

“She’s mine,” Lucca told him with certainty.

“Step aside, Dominic. Let us take those who should be held responsible for their crimes, and no one else will have to die”—Dante paused—“today.”

“I SAID, KILL THEM!” Lucifer was becoming deranged now.

Chloe’s chest rose and fell with the force of her breaths while all the other Lucianos waited to see what Dominic would do.

Dominic slowly put down his gun, stepping to the side. The air felt like it had been sucked out of the room. Then they all followed suit, dropping their guns to the floor and stepping to the side. You could practically touch the shift of power from Lucifer to Dominic, from father to son. Now, the air that had been sucked from the room returned in a whoosh that felt different.

A stunned and crazed Lucifer went for his knife before going straight for Chloe. The twins immediately grabbed him, pulling him back and away from her.

It finally hit Chloe then. They were protecting me … this whole time.

Lucca took a step forward then, the only one in the room moving as he came toward her. The Carusos followed behind him with every step he took to her.

As the boogieman’s blue-green eyes came closer to her, she tried to wiggle out of her bonds, tears falling from her eyes.

When he pulled out his knife, she didn’t move an inch. Not even her eyes moved from his as he brought it close to her face, cutting the fabric wrapped around her face and head, letting it fall to the ground. Then the boogieman fell to his knees in front of her, cutting the rope away from her ankles.

Her heart was pumping out of her chest, the tears still falling, when he finally and carefully cut away the bloody rope that had bound her wrists together.