Chapter 22

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

THERE’D BEEN MANY moments over the last few days where Luca wondered how he’d gotten twisted up in such insanity, but tonight might top it all.

He tugged at the collar of his shirt as a bead of sweat fell down the back of his neck. He didn’t belong here. Not in this fancy suit, not in a casino in Times Square, and definitely not with these people. Everyone they passed gave deference to Dom, which made seeking help impossible. Though based on the dark looks Luca was getting from many of them, it seemed they already knew exactly who and what the situation was.

As Dom led him through the crowd, being stopped every so often by men they passed, Luca scanned the room. There had to be more than one way out in a place so big. Some weak link, a door he could slip out of without anyone noticing. He doubted there’d be many more opportunities like this one, and if he didn’t at least try, he’d regret it.

Though he wouldn’t think about the regret he’d physically feel if he was caught.

“Good evening,” Dom said as they joined a small group that seemed to be primarily bodyguards surrounding his father and another shorter, dignified-looking man. Dom greeted his father with a kiss to each cheek and shook the other man’s hand. “Mayor Whitlock.”

The man Luca didn’t recognize smiled. “I will be soon if your family has anything to do with it.”

“Never doubt a Rossetti,” Dom replied.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. This party alone will be the talk of the town.”

So this was the guy they wanted in charge and on their payroll. Now that Luca was getting a closer look, Whitlock didn’t seem so dignified after all. Sure, he looked the part, but he was the same as everyone else in this world of theirs—just using each other to get what they wanted, no matter the cost. He had no doubt that if he knew Luca was being held captive by the Rossettis, he would just laugh it off or ignore it. He wouldn’t care at all.

Fuck, Luca couldn’t trust anybody.

As the soon-to-be mayor walked off to greet more of his followers, Vincenzo turned his attention to Luca. “You clean up well, Luca. Enjoying yourself?”

Enjoying himself? Like he was a guest and not someone who was forced to be here? Vincenzo was delusional, and apparently the look on Luca’s face told him just that, because he laughed.

“Maybe some champagne will help.” Vincenzo lifted two flutes from a passing waiter and handed one to Luca and the other to Dom.

“I thought you said two hundred and fifty attendees. This looks almost double that,” Dom said.

“Whitlock is gaining support. It would be a disservice to the campaign to turn them away.”

“Do we have the security for this?”

Vincenzo reached out to squeeze Dom’s shoulders. “Domenico, relax. I wouldn’t compromise our safety. Every guest has been vetted. The entire family is here. They won’t try anything, not tonight.”

Luca saw the muscle in Dom’s jaw twitch and noticed how tightly wound every part of his body was. Dom hadn’t even touched his champagne, so he definitely wasn’t feeling as untroubled as his father.

“Make your presence known. Show the boy off more to the people who need to see him. Then you can go.”

Dom nodded and handed Vincenzo his drink, then he guided Luca back through the crowd.

“You don’t want to be here either, do you?” Luca said. He didn’t expect Dom to answer.

“No.”

Huh. So Dom was worried. And that worry meant they wouldn’t be down here for much longer. Luca needed to make a move, and soon.

Needing some courage wherever he could find it, he downed the champagne in one long gulp and set the empty glass on one of the high-top tables nearby.

Dom raised a brow. “Thirsty?”

“Um, yeah.” Luca was full-on sweating now, his nerves in overdrive as he looked down an empty hall behind Dom. There was a restroom sign and no line. Maybe—just maybe—that could be his chance.

“Another?” Dom said.

“Uh…yeah. I could use another. And a restroom.”

Dom scanned the room, and when he saw the same empty hall, he inclined his head for Luca to follow.

Luca could feel himself shaking as Dom pushed open the bathroom door and checked inside.

“All right, you’ve got five minutes. Don’t make me come in there and shake your dick for you.”

Luca barely heard the warning over the sound of blood rushing in his ears. The bathroom door shut, leaving him alone, and he didn’t waste time checking the space for an exit. A window, an air vent, anything big enough for him to squeeze through.

Fuck. Unless he wanted to flush himself down a toilet, there was no leaving the room except the door. Which Dom would be guarding.

Yes…he’d be guarding the door. So maybe if Luca just busted through it, he could catch Dom off guard and make a run for it.

Luca could feel the adrenaline pounding through his veins. This plan was by no means a good one. Hell, he’d much prefer to sneak out under the cover of night. But considering this might be the only chance he had to make a break for it, he was just going to have to suck it up and go for it.

He checked the bathroom once more in the hopes of seeing something he might be able to use as a weapon, but there was nothing, and his time was running out. It was now or never. Luca backed up in the bathroom, wanting to give himself a running start, then took a deep breath and charged.

Like a bull at a gate, he bolted across the tiled floor, raised his hands, and shoved through the bathroom door with all the force he could muster. It swung open and slammed into Dom’s back—no doubt he’d been expecting Luca to walk out like a good little prisoner—and the shock had Dom stumbling, and Luca’s moment of freedom in his grasp.

He didn’t even spare Dom a second glance as he took off down the hall as fast as his legs would carry him. A loud shout followed behind him, but the ringing in his ears drowned it out as Luca dodged and weaved his way past people looking at him with expressions of shock and confusion.

Who is this person?

Why is he running?

All Luca wanted to do was scream, “I’m being held here against my will. Someone save me.” But that was more difficult to do than think when your heart was pounding so fast you could barely breathe.

“Luca!” Dom’s shout thundered up the hall just as Luca burst around a corner and into even more people. He scanned for a way out and just kept running.

Don’t stop…

Can’t stop…

If Dom gets his hands on you, he will kill you.

That was the mantra playing in Luca’s head as he sprinted across one of the gaming floors and toward another hall that beckoned. It looked like it led off the floor—maybe behind the scenes? Maybe he could find somewhere to hide or some way out; he didn’t know. But he had to try.

Luca shoved his way through nosy onlookers stopping to gawk at him, and when he found the next clear path, he took off, his legs pumping, his head pounding, as he frantically searched for a way out.

A door, a door, I need a fucking door. But every one he came to required a keycard of some sort. It felt hopeless, like there was no way out of this place—until he spotted a fire exit sign on the ceiling and ran toward it.

He shoved through it with more force than necessary, and when he practically fell outside into an alley, he almost burst into tears. He’d done it. He’d actually gotten away from Dom and outside this prison they’d been keeping him in—and just as that thought hit him, a large arm snaked around his neck from behind.

Fuck. No. Dom?

Luca gasped and immediately reached for the thick forearm crushing his windpipe, then tugged on it in an attempt to free himself. It was a big, hairy arm that told him immediately it wasn’t Dom. He needed to get out of this person’s hold, whoever it was, but the more he moved, the tighter that arm got.

“We knew they couldn’t help trotting you out tonight.”

The voice was unfamiliar but held a heavy Italian accent that made Luca’s hair stand on end. This wasn’t anyone he knew. Not Dom. Not Chef. Not even one of those two scary torture twins. He suddenly wished it was, and wondered how fucked that made him in the head.

“I…I don’t know who you think I am, but—”

“You’re exactly who I think you are.” The thug grunted and tightened his arm. “And my boss is gonna be real happy to see— Fuck.”

A loud whacking sound cracked the air, causing the man to pitch forward and release Luca. He whirled around in time to see Dom with a plank of wood in his hand and Luca’s assailant gripping his head.

“You’re going to want to give me back what you just took,” Dom said in a voice so eerily calm it made Luca’s entire body tremble.

“Took? Looks like he was runnin’.”

Oh shit.

Dom’s eyes flicked to Luca, and the expression there told him that that detail had not been overlooked.

“That doesn’t mean you can just take him,” Dom said. “Now give him back.”

“Over my dead body.”

Dom tossed the wood to the ground, and quick as a flash replaced it with a gun. “I can work with that.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck.Luca slowly began to walk back a couple steps, not wanting to be anywhere near this, and bumped into—

“Going somewhere, kid?”

—Chef.

Luca froze as the man he’d once considered a decent guy flashed a maniacal grin and strolled by him. He had a knife in his hand.

“I got this, Dom. Why don’t you take Luca back inside and enjoy some refreshments?”

Dom’s jaw flexed. “Come.”

Knowing there was no way out, that his grab at freedom was now well and truly over, Luca lowered his eyes and did as he was told. He walked by Chef and the big guy, not even wanting to know what was going to happen there.

Dom took a hold of his arm and hauled him toward the door he’d left propped open., and just as they stepped back inside their prison, he said by Luca’s ear, “You’re going to pay for that.”