Lucca (Made Men #4)(8)

Yep, I’ll starve.

There was a knock on the door before Drago entered. “Dinner is ready.”

Chloe held her arms tighter to her. “N-No, thank y-you.”

Hearing him sigh made her look over at him. No emotion had been shown by the man. Every time he had come in, he had simply said in very few words that food had been prepared, only for him to leave right after.

“You’re playing with fire.” Drago’s brownish-red eyes glowed at her. “You’d be wise to realize this door doesn’t lock from the inside. Even if it did, it wouldn’t stop him from coming up here and beating the door down if you keep disrespecting him. If you’re smart, you will get your ass down there while he still has a little patience left.”

The door slamming behind him made her practically jump off the bed.

You’re playing with fire.

Her eyes moved to the doorknob that held no lock, proving to her that she wasn’t as safe as she had thought she was in this room.

She didn’t know what to do. She was just trying to figure out which option gave her the best chance of survival. In the end, though, she knew Lucca was going to get what he wanted from her, and it wasn’t going to matter if she was on this side of that door or the other.

Taking a deep breath, she followed the path to her captor, taking her time as she slowly dragged her feet. With each step, she could feel the life she thought she was going to have in California slip through her fingers.

Downstairs, she lifted her eyes to see Lucca sitting at the dining room table. With the slight smile he gave through his eyes upon seeing her, she felt that life fully slip away until it was just a dream.

Lucca motioned for her to join him. “Sit down, darlin’.”

Looking at the table, she saw two plates already filled, one in front of Lucca, who sat at the head of the table, and the other in front of the chair next to him. Chloe was going to have to sit close to him, and by the look on his face, that was exactly what he wanted.

I should have … She realized her mistake then; that her chances were better off in the room.

“Sit.” His voice came out harsher.

She could no longer feel possession of her own feet as she walked up to the table, following his order.

His eyes turned green for the briefest moment as she stared down at him, holding her breath, while carefully taking the chair. It was almost like looking into the eyes of a different man. She saw something unusual in them, but before she could figure it out, they flashed and his normal shade of blue-green was back.

She looked down at her clutched hands in her lap.

“Thank you for joining me for dinner. I’m not sure what foods you like, but I hope you like this.”

She glanced at her plate of chicken parmesan and noodles, then back up at him. He seemed proud of his dish.

“Y-You made t-this?”

Lucca smiled as he picked up his fork and knife. “Yes. Why do you look surprised?”

“S-Sorry. You just don’t look”—her eyes drifted to his black T-shirt that hugged his broad muscles before she snapped her eyes back to her plate—“l-like the cooking type.”

“I got sick of ordering pizza after my mother died, so I taught myself to cook.” His voice seemed to have turned somber.

Although Nero had told her once that their mother had died, she felt like Lucca had just revealed something very personal to her. Why?

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

She realized she had picked up her fork and began picking at her food.

Setting the fork back down, she could barely get the words out, “W-Why am I-I here?”

“I already told you.”

I brought you here … to save you. Seeing that he still believed that made her realize he was even more insane than she had ever thought. Lucca needed to be the one locked up, not her.

She couldn’t understand the point in keeping her here. She just wished he would do what he wanted to her already and put her out of her misery.

“You’re just going to keep me locked in that room forever?”

“I never said you had to stay in that room, darlin’. You can go almost anywhere in the house. Drago will tell you when you can’t go into a room.” Lucca cut deeply into his piece of chicken. “You can even go in the backyard if you like.”

Admittedly, she didn’t know that.

“S-Still, you just expect me to stay here and do nothing for the rest of my life?” If she were able to cry, she would have. “I was going to college.”

Setting down his fork, he pointed toward the living room’s coffee table. “Do you see that laptop over there?”

Chloe turned her head to see the silver laptop sitting there.

“If you had come down today, you would have been told that I got all your Stanford classes changed to online courses. That laptop is yours, and you will find everything to complete your courses on it.”

Shock was her only response. He did that?

That was when she grasped just how long he planned to keep her here. Long enough for a semester, at least.

“So, you do plan to keep me here for a while, don’t you?”

“Yes.” He told her like it was.

“They’re go-going to know something h-happened to me,” she whispered.

Lucca shook his head. “Who? Your parents? Elle? You left them behind when you decided to leave early to California. As far as they know, you got on the plane. I saw to it.”