Chapter 5 - THE TRAITOR AT LUCA’S TABLE
Luca moved us before dawn.
No arguments.
No explanations.
Emma slept against my chest in the back of an armored SUV while Seattle disappeared behind us.
Our destination was a secluded house on Whidbey Island registered under a company name I had never heard.
By afternoon, Luca had narrowed the sniper attack to six people who knew our location.
One was Dante.
I refused to believe it.
“So did every person betrayed by someone they trusted,” Luca said.
“You trust nobody?”
“I trust evidence.”
“That sounds lonely.”
His eyes lingered on me.
“It is.”
The answer landed harder than expected.
Dante arrived two hours later with information.
The sniper’s escape vehicle belonged to a Castellano company.
Someone inside Luca’s organization had authorized it.
Then Dante placed a photograph on the table.
The man who signed the vehicle out was Luca’s uncle.
Matteo Castellano.
The man who had raised Luca after Salvatore died.
Luca stared at the photograph for a long time.
“No.”
Dante said nothing.
That night, Matteo called.
Luca put him on speaker.
“Come home,” Matteo said. “The Carter woman is poisoning your judgment.”
My blood chilled.
Luca’s voice remained calm.
“You knew Katherine?”
“I knew enough.”
“Did you kill Daniel Carter?”
Silence.
Then Matteo laughed.
“You’re asking the wrong question.”
“What’s the right one?”
“Why would Salvatore risk his empire for another man’s wife?”
The call ended.
Luca hurled the phone into the wall.
Emma began crying upstairs.
I went to her.
Ten minutes later, Luca appeared at the doorway.
He didn’t enter.
“I frightened her.”
“She’ll be okay.”
“I shouldn’t be near her when I’m angry.”
That stopped me.
Most frightening men in my life had always believed their anger gave them permission.
Luca treated his anger like a loaded weapon.
I walked toward him.
“You stopped.”
His jaw tightened.
“Barely.”
“But you stopped.”
For once, I touched him first.
My fingers closed around his hand.
He looked down.
Then at me.
“Ava.”
It sounded like a warning.
Maybe to himself.
I kissed him.
One second.
Two.
Then I pulled back, horrified by my own decision.
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.”
He kissed me again.
Slowly.
Carefully.
Nothing like a man taking something.
Everything like a man terrified of wanting it.
Then Dante shouted from downstairs.
“Boss!”
We separated.
A new message had arrived.
A video.
Jake sat tied to a chair.
Victor Sloane stood behind him.
“Hello, Ava.”
My stomach dropped.
Sloane smiled at the camera.
“Jake has disappointed both of us.”
Jake’s face was bruised.
“I never wanted Emma hurt,” he rasped.
Sloane struck him.
“Quiet.”
Then Sloane addressed me.
“Bring me the drive.”
Luca stepped closer to the screen.
Sloane smiled wider.
“And Luca? Bring Matteo.”
The video ended.
Dante frowned.
“Why Matteo?”
I looked at Luca.
Because suddenly I understood.
“Sloane doesn’t control your uncle.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“No.”
I continued.
May you like
“He’s afraid of him.”
And if Victor Sloane was afraid of Matteo Castellano, then the man behind everything might never have been Sloane at all.
