CHAPTER FOURTEEN
AYA
My thumping down the stairs was quiet compared to Luciano’s, and a yawn pulled my jaw apart. A few steps, down the giant brute of a man was tense; there wasn’t a time I could remember when he wasn’t. Reaching to touch his hard shoulder, I sucked in air through my teeth as rigid, defined muscle shifted under my fingertips. Glancing back, his eyes narrowed, his lip twitched in the beginnings of a grimace before he shrugged off my hand.
Biting down on my bottom lip, I blinked away the heaviness that threatened to sink my eyelids. Luciano had been cold to me- much colder than I had experienced so far. Holding my hand to my chest, I chewed on my lip as my heart ached.
“Is-” Whirling around, Luciano cut me off with a glare, and my eyes widened at the sneer painted across his face. Tight, my throat struggled to take in air as anticipation thickened my blood.
“Don’t touch me.” Blood drained from my face, and my head bopped in a nod before he released a heavy, irritated sigh. “Aya…”
Inching closer to him, my legs wobbled slightly and goosebumps rose on my skin as the air shifted between us. Gently Luciano took hold of my bicep, pushing me against the wall even though his expression didn’t change. Pounding hard against its walls, my heart sent sharp pains through my chest. Trapping me with two strong, immovable arms, he pressed his palms on either side of my head hard enough to make the wood creak slightly.
“Sylvi bought whores…” Luciano’s face twisted in disgust as he hissed out those three little words, and my eyes nearly boggled out of my skull. Cupping my cheek, his hand was warm and dry and comforting against my skin. “I’ll kill them if they make problems for you. Sei mio. Nessun cagna può competere con te.”
Heat flushed my cheeks, the pain in my chest lessening as Luciano’s foreign tongue caressed my ears. Leaning forward, I closed my eyes to savor the feeling of his forehead against mine. His breath flowed down my nose, minty and moist, and my shoulders sagged before he squeezed my face.
“Tell me more about the safe.” Taking the last few steps to the first floor, my body thrummed with a giddiness I’d never felt before. My mind could barely wrap around the fact that Luciano offered to kill for me. His voice was gruff as it swept my attentions, and I pursed my lips together. Beating down this new feeling, I rubbed my palms together as the chill blowing from air conditioners hit me.
“W- well… Trevor only talked about it a few times… He said that no one could find it unless he told them. That it was buried in a place no one would think to look. And the numbers… 697-… B- but once he was really drunk and he said that anyone that tried to find it ‘swam with the f- fishes’…” Discomfort clogged my throat, and red bled into my cheeks when Luciano cast his gaze on me. Peeking up through my eyelashes, my jaw quivered at the slight upturn of his lip, and my face flamed like a kerosene fire.
“And his other assets…” Slowly shaking my head as I followed Luciano to the dining room, I took a deep, steadying breath. His stomping footfall was like a drum, rhythmic and soothing, and he didn’t break stride as he passed through a wide door frame.
“I don’t know.”
It took only seconds to journey into the dining room, and I stiffened at the sight that greeted me. Sylvi sat at the head of the table, a woman in his lap hand feeding him. She had thick, bright red waves of hair the color of smoldering coals, and she held her utensil with orange tipped fingers. Even her eyes were a bright hazel color; looking at her was almost enough to blind me.
Swerving to the left, my eyes widened as yet another girl sat on her knees on the floor. Her mouth was wide open, her body visibly stick thin even behind her long, flowing shirt. My gaze flowed upward to the man she sat next to, and dizziness attacked me when confronted by his never ending tattoos.
But what struck me was neither woman looked like what I had pictured.
“Luciano, siediti. Hai trovato qualcosa di più nella cassaforte?” Sylvi’s voice wasn’t as deep as Luciano’s, but it was enough to make me jump. A large hand palmed my lower back, and I looked up at the behemoth next to me. Luciano’s expression was unreadable, stoic, even as he opened his mouth.
“It’s too early to deal with your fucking bullshit, Sylvi.” The words sounded like they’d been repeated more times than anyone bothered to count. Lifting his hand to his face, Luciano scratched his shadow of a beard before I tore my eyes off him. Pancakes filled my vision, and I licked my lips when I spied strawberries baked in.
“Just tell us about the safe, Luciano.” Guiding me toward the table, Luciano grunted lowly, and his fingers flexed against my back.
“Just some shit about fish. The numbers 697. Ring a bell, Tyler?” All was quiet, and Luciano brushed my shoulder with the backs of his fingers. The oak was healthy, shining under the overhead light fixture, and plates were perfectly set in front of each intricately carved, matching chair. Sitting gingerly, I reached for the plate of pancakes with greedy fingers.
“Fuck-” Tyler’s groan was loud, his fists slamming carelessly against the table top. The bang echoed through the room, pulling a gasp from me as my fingers clutched my burdened plate tightly. “The fucking Aquatic Renewal Cemetery. It’s a burial ground underwater for people that want their ashes to be turned into anchors for budding corals. It was a big ass fucking deal two years ago. Trevor isn’t as stupid as I thought. The only people that go there are biologists that maintain the urns and track coral growth.”
“Lots of shit has water proofing. I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to find something to stick in an urn. No one would lie about their dead loved one being inside it.” The conversation went over my head as I stabbed a pancake, effortlessly transferring it to my own plate. Steam rose from the puncture holes, and a soft, satisfied sigh flew from my lips.
“There was a whole shit storm about six months after its popularity blew up about people going against their dead relatives’ wishes, fights over wills, all that shit. The company instigated a policy to cremate the dead in their own facilities. Anyone that wanted to be buried in their aquatic cemeteries had to have it instated with their legal guardian or ad litem. It had to be videotaped with an officiate present. Basically it was a shit ton of red tape. So Trevor had to have done it before they put all of that into effect.”
“Whatever he knew, he had to have known before Aya’s parents died…” Stiffening at the mention, I gripped my fork tightly as my pancake bit turned to ash in my mouth. Luciano’s words settled heavily on my shoulders, and my throat closed up to block the strawberry juices.
“We need to get that fucking safe. Now. We don’t know who gave Trevor whatever information he had, or who he gave it to. Tyler, send Marco’s team wherever this cemetery is and tell him to kill anyone that gets in his fucking way.” Staring down at my suddenly unappetizing breakfast, I swallowed my bite hard enough to make my throat ache. A chair scraped the hardwood floor, but my mind was lost, wandering aimlessly and unable to conjure thought. My chest throbbed with every beat of my heart.
Trevor must’ve killed them and made it look like an overdose. Blinking at the revelation, my vision blurred slightly.
“I regret killing him so fast…” Luciano’s growl sent shock waves through me as it traveled up through the floor. Whipping to the side, my gaze locked on his tense form, the only solid thing I could see. His hands were thick, white knuckle fists on the table top, and the veins in his neck were bulging. Heat slithered from him like thick ink, his expression a mix of anger and pain.
“It doesn’t matter now, Luciano. Trevor probably wouldn’t have talked before his pathetic body gave out anyway. Let Marco retrieve the safe. In the meantime, I’m thinking you need some R&R, Brother. I haven’t seen you fight in too long. What do you think, mia amata ragazza?”
Luciano slumped to spread his legs under the table. My thighs and butt tingled at the phantom sensation, remembering that early morning I had sat on his lap. Watching him drink his bitter, black brew that appeared out of nowhere, I rubbed my tongue against the roof of my mouth absently. Lazily he glanced over, his eyes sharpening into slits on my barely touched plate.
“Eat.” Blinking at the grunt, I tore my gaze from Luciano to my pancake. The perfect, golden crust was littered with slits of strawberries, creating a red stain that only made it more delicious. Adjusting my grip on my fork, I cut a small piece and brought it to my mouth under an intense, steely regard. My eyelids fluttered shut, the bit melting on my tongue to leave behind the strawberry treasure it held.
“Great!-” Flickering to Sylvi, my eyes widened at how boy band beautiful he looked with such a wide smile. “Stasera andiamo allo Stadio!”