16. Luca

16

LUCA

I don't want Josephine and Jett going back home where danger can show up at any time. From Duke to Vito, her home isn't safe. I don't want to say that to her, but Jo needs to understand the threats.

"I don't want you to stay in a hotel," she mutters.

"I think you and my sister, Gina, would get along great. You and she are so much alike. You'll refuse help until it's forced on you."

"That's a great idea for Cadence the Siren. Instead of having her assault her victim, why don't we change the narrative to her forcing her help on him? Maybe he can sing his own death song but has no idea he's a siren. They have to have sex as the pheromones unlock his inner merman?"

"That's actually not a bad idea. It can still work to kill him at the end and raise him from the dead in the Dark at Dusk movie."

Her eyes widen. "He can be the villain. A zombie guy siren?"

I get the vision immediately. "Yes, that's a great spin. And he's controlling all of the other men who've been killed by other sirens. He'd be the king of the zombies, and because of the heavy makeup, we can easily swap someone else into my role for the longer feature film."

"We need to get these changes down. How are we going to do this? We should work on this as soon as possible while we're still feeling the creative juices." Jo's excitement is cut short when her phone rings. She turns slightly, giving me a chance to watch her.

The subtle beauty of her full lips moving as she speaks brings vivid memories of her mouth wrapping around my cock. At her mercy again, blood rushes to my lower head, punishing me for falling for a woman in such a short time. Jo is mine to protect. I dragged her life into the limelight, which has caused a cascading shitshow of dangerous idiocy from Duke and Vito Dacosta. I'll keep her and Jett safe by any means necessary. I'll even keep an eye on her brother.

Jo ends her call and turns to me. "That was Mojo, um, Monique."

"How is she?" I ask her, remembering how much pain she was in yesterday at the hospital.

"Irritated. She had a date with a doctor and he had to cancel. Something about making a house call to extract a bullet."

"That's very, um—" I'm struggling to find the words.

"Honest?" Jo laughs. "Yeah, Mojo felt the same way. But apparently, Dr. Ronan hates starting off any kind of relationship with a lie. Even if that relationship is cock-related only."

"What a dirty mouth you have." I grin, leaning in to kiss her softly. I can feel every ounce of me wanting to take this further, but standing in the corridor in the middle of my studio is a stark reminder I don't always get what I want. All I want is Josephine.

She pulls away from the kiss, stroking the side of my face gently with a warm smile in her eyes. "Well, the doctor is recommending she take a few days off work. She's shooting some action flick on the Parliament lot. She's hoping that since she can't exactly work on that ankle, she wants to take Jett for a few days."

"Let's get the contracts signed so everything's in order for Agent Shaw and we can add her to the payroll as childcare. Is Jett going to mind?"

"Am I going to mind what?" he asks, poking his head out of the crafty room. Craft services, crafty, always has a decent menu for the cast and crew on set. They make sure all the people working have food to eat. That's another invoice I can shove in Agent Shaw's face.

"Mojo wants you to stay with her for the next few days," Jo tells him, and Jett's eyes light up.

"I love her house. She has a PS5, tennis court, pool, and that training room where she lets me run on the treadmill." Jett's excitement at this news replaces the joy of eating the free food in his hands.

"You run on the treadmill?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I'm really fast for a wide receiver. I want to play on the team, but Mom says maybe next year. I've been doing the workouts Coach Evans gives the team so when I try out, I can make the cut."

"Well, we're going to have to stop home to grab some of your stuff and we can have Mojo meet us there." Jo runs her hands over his hair and turns to me. "If he's going to be with Mojo, she lives in one of those new apartment buildings Downtown."

"Why don't you grab a few things and come to my place when you're done? We can start going over the script and bring Cadence out of you again."

A flush of red coats her cheeks as she remembers our time together as vividly as I do. I want a repeat. She nods with seduction in her eyes as she and Jett head back into crafty.

They leave a short time after that, giving me time in my office to actually get work done. Still, there are so many moving parts to Jo's situation. I don't want to leave any loose ends if I have to deal with Duke or Vito.

My first call is to Julian. He picks up after the first ring. "Blackwell."

"It's Luca."

"Hey man. How did that security footage work out for you?"

I sigh. "It's not enough. This guy's a real tool. Do you know anyone working in the family court system?"

"Edward still has some connections. I'm not on anyone's list of favors. Charleston tried to help me run for that Councilman seat and ended up pissing off a lot of people. Thankfully, I never have to worry about him again."

Julian has had a hate-hate relationship with his father for longer than I can remember. I don't even know mine. From the stories I've heard, no father is always better than Charleston Blackwell. Mine disappeared right after Gina was born, and my mother was higher than a kite most days until…

I push those thoughts of my shaky upbringing away as I focus on the call. "The guy in the footage is a problem for someone."

Julian picks up on my energy for Jo. "Someone special? You're calling in a lot of markers."

"Is that a problem?" I ask him.

"No. It's an observation. You've done plenty of favors and work for my uncle. It's only right you start asking for more than money in return. What do you want done to the guy?"

"Nothing for now. I might need to go fishing with him at some point." I know Julian understands, as well as anyone else who knows Don Marzano. They have a boat where people go out, but someone never makes it back. Still, that's not something I want to commit to right now. I don't want to kill Duke until I'm sure his removal won't hurt Jett or Josephine.

"It's been a few months since I've been fishing." The sound in Julian's voice is one of longing, as if he's been on good behavior for far too long. But, his reason is as good as mine. I've met the woman in his life. It was brief, but I know Claire is someone special to him.

"This guy from the footage filed paperwork with the court, terminating his parental rights. I want to make sure those documents stay filed. He's been a nuisance ever since he spotted me with Josephine. I don't need him causing any more problems."

"Send me as much information as you can about the guy and I'll have Edward do the rest. I'll make sure the boat's in decent shape, too." He laughs. "We can make it a guy’s trip and everything."

Yes, because nothing screams guys' night out like murder and body disposal. Although, now I think of the people who'd come on this trip … murderers and criminals alike; it sounds like a killer good time.

I laugh. "Sure thing. Thanks again. I'll talk to you later."

We end the call so I can get back to work when Gina slips into my office as if she's hiding from someone. What now?

"What's going on, Gina?" I ask her.

She throws a glance over her shoulder at me, almost surprised to see I'm at my desk. The way her brows knit tells me she's up to something. "Agent Bitch Face is on another rampage. She wants more financial statements. But I think something's off with her. I'm waiting for Sonny."

Before I can reply, Sonny slips into the door. "Shit, Luca. I thought you left with the girl and her boy."

"Josephine and Jett." I correct him. They're much more than a girl with her boy. "She's going to drop him off. We need to go see Vito again."

"Yeah, but first we need to talk about Agent Shaw. I don't think she's supposed to be here anymore." Sonny's voice is low and I look around as if to remind them my office can be bugged.

Gina chimes in. "I overheard her having a conversation in the conference room when she thought we all went to lunch. Someone who sounds like they're in charge was screaming at her over her phone telling her that she should have wrapped up her investigation weeks ago. If she hasn't found anything, there isn't anything to find."

Sonny adds to her explanation. "Yeah, so I made some calls and found out we're not under investigation. Don Marzano isn't even on the FBI's radar. This was a shot in the dark investigation between the IRS and the FBI. They wanted to see if they could link us to Don Marzano, but since Agent Shaw's coming up empty, they're ready to call it off."

"So why is she asking for the Starlight of the Sea?" I ask them.

Gina shrugs. "Maybe that's her last-ditch effort to make something stick. Once we give that to her, she'll have no reason to hang around. But I think I remember her from somewhere, like not in a professional way. I don't know. Something about her seems annoyingly familiar."

"Okay, while you two deal with her, I need to figure out what we're going to do about Vito. He's getting too close."

Gina turns to me. "Are you sure you want to tango with Vito?"

"Tango?" Sonny purses his mouth, side-eyeing Gina. "We don't want to dance with him, I think the word you want is tangle, my love."

"I know what I said and you know what I meant." She bickers back with him. Over a decade together and they still fight like cats and dogs. She turns to me. "You know his history with our family doesn't let you see things objectively, Luca."

"Well, he had one of our actresses put in the hospital and tried to intimidate Josephine in the parking lot today. We need to put an end to this feud. I should have—" I stop my words, uncertain if the office has listening devices and not wanting to chance it. "Keep an eye on Agent Shaw. I'm going to finish up here, and then I'm going home to Jo."

The words slip out. I can't take them back. Gina and Sonny share a glance, silently communicating before they look at me and smile.

"You're in love." Gina sings in a way that grates my nerves how only a little sister can.

"Stop it. I like her, and I want to keep her safe."

Sonny laughs, elbowing Gina. "Love. Told you. It hits hard and hurts like a motherfucker if you lose it, Luca. Don't lose it."

"It's been three days. Calm down, Cupid." I chastise them both. "That's a great title for a horror film."

"Scorsese here is trying to deflect the fact he's into the new girl." Sonny smiles. "But you're right. Calm down, Cupid is a great title. I'll put together a pitch and we can write it. Or do you want to write it with the love of your life?"

I hate it when they're not fighting and focused on me. It's like having two younger siblings, but I know they only want what's best for me. They also want me to settle down so my nieces and nephew can have cousins. I'm sure my happiness fits into their plan somewhere, but a guy like me can't have that kind of happiness. Something always happens to take it away.

"We can write it together, all four of us," I tell them.

Gina's eyes widen with excitement. "Yes, finally someone I can write with who doesn't have a penchant to kill everything frilly and pretty in our movies. Bring her and her son to the house for Sunday dinner."

"Again, it's only been a few days."

Gina can't stop the corners of her mouth from tipping up. "What does time matter? It's a made-up construct to control us. What you're doing for her, how much you're doing for her…it's clear that time doesn't matter to you."

"Of course it doesn't, but Vito Dacosta matters to me. Her safety, and her son's safety, matter to me because she's taking on a movie role that didn't exist a week ago to keep us out of prison. Speaking of time, it's time for me to get out of here. Figure out whatever you can about Agent Shaw's investigation and what we can do to get her out of here."

Sonny's face shifts with a question in his eyes. I stop moving things around my desk to focus on him when he asks the question lingering between us. "If Agent Shaw leaves, say tomorrow, do you still want to do Starlight?"

"Yes. The way we're restructuring the story is critical to the Dusk movie. I'm going to go meet Jo now. I'll send any script changes to you once we're done."

We head out the office with a new feeling settling over me. Anticipation? Excitement? Nerves? It feels like I'm going home to my wife. I know it sounds crazy, but the feeling coursing through me right now is new territory for me.

Standing in the parking lot of the movie studio I built comes with a sense of accomplishment. Going home to Josephine warms me from the inside out. The sudden impact of a hard object connecting the back of my head enrages me. I stumble forward, prepared to fight, and turn around to see the asshole I'd like to take fishing.