36. Marko

CHAPTER 36

MARKO

THE SAME NIGHT – MARCIE'S PARTY!

A grin spread across my face as I watched Anton carry an inebriated Marcie, bride style, out of the club. His pretence of indifference was transparent—everyone could see he was just as smitten with her as she was with him.

The dynamics between them were baffling; Marcie was charismatic and gorgeous, with a personality that shone brightly. Yet, despite their mutual attraction, Anton resisted a relationship. I overheard Marcie confiding in Claire about her frustration with his mixed signals. She had tried dating others, only to have Anton show up and disrupt her plans each time.

It was clear he had feelings but also deep-seated issues with commitment. He needed to make a decision—either commit to Marcie or step back so she could move on. All of us guys had tried to talk to him about it in the past, but no matter what we said, the guy wouldn't discuss it and continued to profess his feelings for her were merely platonic. Which was glaringly untrue.

I had a feeling that it would take something big to happen before he would face things. The thought was concerning, but in the end it was really none of my business.

Despite the obvious problems between the pair, it had been a great night, and Marcie had obviously thoroughly enjoyed herself. She had been in great form this evening, but I doubted she would be feeling quite as great in the morning. That girl was in for one hell of a hangover!

Laughter erupted from my brothers, and I glanced their way. Claire fought to keep her composure but soon dissolved into peals of laughter at whatever Ash had said. Gracie quickly joined in, and the room buzzed with infectious joy that had both Melissa and I grinning too.

Melissa's laugh bubbled up as she said, "Claire's really letting loose tonight. I thought you said she was a ball-breaker and a bit uptight?"

"She is, but everyone has their moments," I replied, chuckling. "It's nice to see her thawing out for once."

From across the room, Sonia's voice rang out, "Stop, I'm about to pee my pants!" Ash cracked another joke, and Miki's laughter rolled over us while Eilidh giggled uncontrollably.

Watching them all in such high spirits warmed my heart. Claire, the Ice Queen, was finally showing a softer side. Known for her steely lawyer persona and intimidating reputation, it was a great to see her laugh and relax.

Thinking about Claire made my thoughts turn to Luca, and I scanned the crowd for him. Like Marcie had a crush on Anton, I knew that Luca had a thing for Claire. He was also close with Marcie, and had been looking forward to her party and a chance to spend some time with Claire. So where was he? I couldn't see him anywhere. In fact, the more I thought about it the more I realised I hadn't seen him all night. That was odd.

Hadn't he turned up? Or had I missed him?

Luca had been staying at his room in the Estate with us but had left earlier to pick up Marcie's birthday gift from his apartment in the city centre, but that shouldn't have taken him long.

Shit. Something was off. A sense of dread hit me. I could be wrong, but I had a strong sense that something bad had happened. As Melissa chatted with some of Marcie's friends, I whispered to her that I'd be right back, then headed off to find Miki.

"Have you seen Luca?" I asked, pulling him aside.

"No," he replied, shaking his head. "In fact, I haven't seen him all night," he said, suddenly looking worried.

Shit. I scratched my head, my sense of dread building. Why wasn't he here?

"Check with the others and see if anyone knows where he is. I'll try his tracker," I told Miki as I opened my phone to do just that.

"He's at his apartment," I said a few seconds later.

Frowning, Miki nodded and called Luca.

"No answer," he said before typing up a message.

"I've told him to call me. He was only supposed to be going to his apartment to collect Marcie's present, he shouldn't still be there," Miki said, the concern clear in his voice.

Our tension mounted as several minutes passed, and there was no response to Miki's message.

Miki sent Trigger off to Luca's flat to check on him before trying Luca's phone again.

"Still no answer," he said.

It went straight to voicemail, "Luca, where the fuck are you? We're worried. Call me the fuck back!" Miki barked, worry making way to anger.

Minutes passed and there was still no word.

Miki was Luca's best friend, but he was also our Pakhan, so when he told you to call him, you called. For Luca to not call back immediately was highly unusual. The longer he went without getting in touch, the more we knew something had happened. Something bad.

The night was coming to a close and most people had left, leaving only our family, Glowacki's and a few stragglers remaining.

We rejoined the others and downplayed our worry as best we could while we continued to chat with everyone else, but after a further twenty minutes with no news from either Luca or Trigger, we knew we had a problem.

Leaving the women blissfully ignorant, us guys moved nearer the door to make another call.

I could feel the tension coming off Miki in waves as he tried Luca's mobile again. Once again, it went straight to voicemail. He left another curt message before ringing Trigger. His phone was still ringing when Trigger ran up to us.

"Luca's been arrested!" he said. Stunned silence greeted the comment.

Well, shit!

Trigger gave us a brief rundown of the situation. Luca had been arrested for the rape and murder of a young woman in his flat.

"Bollocks!" Ash screamed.

"There's no fucking way Luca would do anything like that," I said.

"It's obviously nonsense. He's been set up," Miki stated, "Now we know why the MP hasn't attacked anyone for the last week. He hasn't been too busy dealing with his own court case as we'd thought; he's been busy plotting revenge against Luca."

Fuck!

Miki narrowed his eyes and his voice betrayed his barely contained fury, "Romi, grab some of our guys and take our women home. Marko, Ash. You two are coming to the police station with me."

As we kissed our women goodbye, it was hard not to notice the significant change in the atmosphere. We'd gone from high to low in the blink of an eye.

With grim resolve, we stepped into the night, our mission clear: uncover the truth and free Luca.