Page 84 of Damiano De Luca (The Five Syndicates)
“Do as I say, Renata.” He’d cut the begging and returned to his demanding self. Oddly, the familiarity relieved me.
Still, I wasn’t taking his shit. “I’m not a kid anymore. You can’t send me off to Texas as punishment.”
The curious part of me wondered what Maman had done on her trip to Italy. Papà sounded like a man hanging together by a thread. It wasn’t what I’d gotten used to hearing from him. I also hadn’t heard anything about the Vitali since then, though I wasn’t exactly in the loop.
Papà’s harsh tone scathed me. “There are other ways to punish you. I know you’re fighting with your mom, but you still care about her. So, either you go to the Hamptons and grab the tape in the safe or I send a strike team to do it for me, and it won’t be pretty.”
He must have sensed my hesitation because he pressed on. “Damiano De Luca.”
I froze at his name. I wasn’t delusional enough not to realize that I still cared. Damian was my first—and only—love. Your first love is the man you’ll always compare every other man to. He’s the person you never get over, even when you’ve managed to convince yourself that you’ve moved on.
I’d dated over a dozen men since Damiano De Luca. I compared each and every one to him, and it had fractured those relationships before they even started. I could keep living, going through the motions, maybe one day even find happiness without him. But I would never get over him. And that included loving him every second of every day.
Papà had me by the neck. He had all the leverage he needed just by mentioning Damian’s name. His laughter rung loud and dry. “You didn’t think I didn’t hear about how you two fell in love when I sent you to Texas?” He scoffed. “I did that. I gave you love.” He lowered his voice. “I could take it just as easily.”
Déjà vu swayed me, warping me back to the hallway in Devils Ridge, where Angelo made a similar threat to me.
“Fine,” I bit out.
“There’s a videotape in the safe. The code is six digits. Three couplets. Your birthdate, plus fourteen on each couplet.”
Of course, the safe code derived from my birthdate. My parents had a fucked-up way of showing their love for me. Papà hung up as soon as I grunted my agreement. By the time school ended and I drove from Connecticut to New York, night had fallen.
The army that met me at Maman’s driveway startled me. I recognized some faces as boys from my high school in Devils Ridge. They’d grown into men and, for reasons which evaded me, gathered on Maman’s stone-paved driveway. A liaison from the Romano family leaned against the front door beside Bastian Romano and Ariana De Luca.
I stilled when I saw who stood next to Maman. He commanded attention beside her in a uniform of all black clothing, black tactical gloves, and a bulletproof vest. He had several weapons attached to his body, including an assault rifle swung across his chest.
When my car was parked, and the engine cut off, his eyes landed on mine.
“Damsel,” I whispered.
And even though I knew he couldn’t actually hear me, I also knew he’d still heard me.
Sometimes, deception can be therapeutic.
Nolan Ross
I came to the conclusion that there was no way I’d get into the safe with this many people around pretty quickly. It took all of point-two seconds for the urge to leave to settle in. Damian took a step toward me
, but I didn’t think the movement was conscious. After all, his eyes didn’t seem as inviting as his body.
I wanted to hate him, but staring at him, I couldn’t bring myself to feel the hatred. Just resignation at the fact that my heart would always belong to him.
Maman approached the car door, her eyes delighted. “Did your father send you here?”
My eyes slid to Damian before returning to Maman. “Yes.”
Lying would be pointless. I wanted nothing to do with this mess, and judging by this army and the blackmail tape Maman had on Papà, Papà seemed to be on the losing side. Damian was safe. I could go now and sleep knowing my father couldn’t hurt him, but my fingers wouldn’t turn on the car and my foot wouldn’t hit the pedal.
Maman’s laughter twinkled in the otherwise silent night. “He’s a bit desperate, isn’t he?”
I nodded, my head stiff. “Sounded like it.”
“He wanted you to steal the tape?” Her words seemed less like a question and more like a statement.
“Yes. He said either this or he’d send in a TAC team.” The temptation to stare at Damian gutted me.
“And I assume he threatened his”—she nodded in Damian’s direction—“life.”
