chapter fourteen
That evening was spent in a haze of singing, delicious home cooked food and the warmth of being in her childhood home. Nonna had outdone herself, making one of Lucia’s favorites, gnocchi that could melt in your mouth with a special pesto made from a secret family recipe that Nonna guarded fiercely. Lucia figured she wouldn’t know exactly what was in it until Nonna whispered it to her from her deathbed.
Hopefully that wouldn’t be for another fifty years or so.
“Thank you for dinner, Nonna. And the cake.” She hugged her and bent slightly so Nonna could kiss her forehead.
“Take care of yourself, bambina. You’re all I have left. Well, you and Noah, of course.” She included Noah in the statement with a soft smile.
Guilt made Lucia’s stomach churn. Once she’d processed the knowledge that her brother was really alive, she’d been thrilled at the idea of telling her grandmother their prayers had been heard. But Rafe had quickly nixed that plan. According to him, it still wasn’t safe for Nonna to know he was alive. He’d only come out of hiding because he’d believed Lucia to be in danger.
“I love you, Nonna. So much.”
Her grandmother’s eyes lit up at the fierce declaration and she hugged her again before going inside and bolting the door as Noah always insisted she do.
Lucia clutched the cake plate in her hands as they walked back to the car. It was a bitter pill to swallow that the only reason she had Rafe back in her life was because of whoever was trying to hurt her. But she had to have faith that Noah and Rafe could figure this whole thing out. Then Rafe could come out of hiding for real and Nonna would have her grandson back. It was almost too much to wish for but Lucia figured why not? After all, the universe had answered her prayers once before.
As if he could sense her turbulent thoughts, Noah glanced over at her from the driver’s seat. "How does it feel to officially be 21?"
"Pretty much the same, except when you drive me nuts, I can officially have a glass of wine. And now, you're less of a dirty old man, so that’s a bonus."
Noah's brows snapped down. "I'm not old."
Lucia couldn't help but laugh. "I mean, gosh, you're a whole five years older than me. Ancient. I think I'll upgrade you for some twenty-one-year-old drunken fraternity guy."
Noah laughed as he leaned over the center divide to give her a kiss. His tongue slid past her lips and into her mouth and immediately she was melting. Right into a puddle of hormones. Yeah, he had her number. When he pulled back, his lips tipped up into a smile. "Yeah, good luck with that. You won't find anyone as sexy as me."
She giggled. She carefully maneuvered the pound cake on her lap. "Careful. If you make me spill this cake, we'll both be a sticky mess."
His bark of laughter was sharp. And then she realized what she said. Noah gave her his characteristic wolfish, shameless grin. "I have all kinds of fun ways for us to become sticky messes."
She shook her head. "Noah Blake. You are incorrigible."
"Funny. I've heard that before."
She reached by her feet for the custard sauce that went with the cake and frowned. Where the hell did she put that? Crap. It was still in Nonna's house on the counter. "Noah, I need to go back in the house for the sauce."
Noah shook his head. "Stay here in the car. Lock the doors. I'll get it."
She shook her head and handed him the cake. "Don't be silly. We are literally ten feet from the front door. You're parked right in front of the house. You have perfect sight lines. I'm just going to run in and out. I'll be two seconds. Besides, I know you. You'll run in there, take a bite of something, and get distracted on your way out."
"I will not. And it's not safe."
"Noah, can you see who's coming down the street?"
His lips firmed. "Yes."
"Okay. Remember what we talked about. You will not be unreasonable. Right?"
The muscle in his jaw ticked, but she knew that she’d won. She shoved open the door. "I'll be right back."
To prove to him that she wasn't messing around, she sprinted to the front door, used her key and opened it. Jogging past the living room, she called to her grandmother. "Nonna, I forgot the sauce." But her grandmother was nowhere in the living room, the dining room, or the tiny kitchen. "Nonna?"
It was then that Lucia saw the back door open. Had her grandmother run out with the garbage? No. Noah had taken the garbage out already, before they left.
Lucia's instinct said run. Every part of her said run out front and call for Noah. Then she saw the smudge of blood on the doorframe, and another instinct took over. The one that wanted to protect. Protect the woman who'd given her whole life to raise her. Lucia grabbed a knife out of the knife holder and ran out the back door.
She was met with pitch black. The back porch light was out. Or, someone had put it out. "Nonna? Are you back here?"
She wasn't sure why she was scared. There was no way into the backyard from any location. The back wall was far too high, and Noah had made sure there was glass and barbed wire over the top of it so no one would dare to climb over. The damn thing was twelve feet tall.
And then she saw it, as the moonlight glinted on a shard of glass. Blood. Oh God. Someone had climbed over. The blood on the doorjamb, it hadn't been Nonna's. Lucia whipped around to run back into the house, mouth open ready to scream. And then someone clamped a hand over her mouth.
"For someone I didn't train myself, you are incredibly difficult to kill." The voice was low, icy. It sent a shudder through her body.
Lucia wiggled and struggled in his arms, but he was too strong, overpowering her movements easily.
"All you have to do is die. One hit out on one little girl. But nearly a month later, that little girl is still alive. I have half a mind to ask you how you've done it. Of course, you have Leo watching out for you. And Perseus. But I know for a fact that they’re rusty. After I sent Aries after you, you should be dead. It's okay. Sometimes you have to take care of things yourself."
Oh God. This was the guy. This was the guy who was trying to kill her. He slowly released his grip on her mouth. But only by a little. The moment he gave her enough wiggle room, she opened her mouth and bit.
He released her instantly. "Motherfucker."
Lucia didn't wait. With the knife she’d taken from the kitchen firmly in her grip, she rotated her wrist and stabbed it backward. She didn't know what she'd hit. All she knew was she hit flesh. And then she was running.
"Noah! Noah! He's trying to —"
Even as her feet hit the back wooden steps, making a clop clop clop noise, Noah was charging through the kitchen at a dead run. Instinctively, she turned to her side, making herself as flat against the railing as possible. At his current velocity, he'd run right into her, and she would not survive that kind of hit.
She turned her head to look behind her. The man with the raspy voice was already attempting to make it around the front of the house.
"I got him in the leg. And bit him. He's bleeding. Did you see Nonna?"
As he ran, all she heard was Noah saying, "Nonna's safe. He had her tied in the closet."
Noah didn't even bother with the stairs, just made the leap gracefully, smoothly, and was rounding the corner of the house in seconds. Where she stood, Lucia shook, leaning against the railing. How could she have been so stupid? She should've listened to Noah and let him come in with her.
She ran back to the house and found her grandmother on the couch. Duct tape still hung from the side of her face and she rubbed her wrists.
"Nonna."
Her grandmother's eyes went wide as she sagged with relief. "Lucia, you're safe. Thank God. That horrible man. I hope Noah rips his balls off."
Lucia's mouth hung open at her grandmother's use of the word balls.
Nonna's eyes tracked over to Noah who came back through the back door. "Lucia, I need you to get some of Nonna's things. She's coming with us."
Lucia nodded. "Noah, I'm sorry. I should've—"
"Don't. Do not apologize. You did well out there. And I know the rules. I should've come in with you. Or come myself. Something."
"I thought it would be safe. That no one could get into the back. I can't believe he scaled the back wall."
Noah frowned but stepped right up to her and pulled her close. "That was Orion. He's the man who trained me. And he will do absolutely anything that he has to do to get the job done."
Lucia shook in his arms. "Oh God. What are we going to do?"
Noah's voice was calm. "I'm going to kill him. Before he ever comes near you again."
His tone was so final, so sure. And she knew he meant it.
Lucia was exhausted.
For the time being, they’d put Nonna in Matthias's room and Matthias on the couch. Noah had a place in upstate New York, in a little town called Hope. In the morning, he'd be sending her grandmother there with a friend of his to make sure she was safe. At least for the time being.
They'd both agreed not to tell her that Rafe was alive just yet. They needed to work all of it out first. Although, it killed Lucia not to say anything.
Noah kissed her shoulder. "I know it's hard not to tell her. But that has to be his decision. And in the way that he wants to do it."
"I know. But she deserves to know. That's her grandson. She thinks he's dead. I feel like I'm lying."
Noah shook his head. "Let's deal with one crisis at a time. Right now, you're safe. Nonna is safe. And shocker of shockers, so is Rafe.”
"Speaking of my brother, has he called?"
Noah shook his head and pulled her to lie down in the bed next to him. "No. But I left a message about what happened. Told him to be on red alert."
This was hard. Too hard.
Noah's phone chimed with a series of beeps. "Speak of the devil."
Lucia set up. "What is that?"
Noah held up a finger and waited for another series of chimes. "It's Rafe."
A moment later, his phone rang, and Noah answered and put the phone on speaker.
"I see old habits die hard."
"I figured since we've had some trouble, it would be safer."
"That's the understatement of the century. We had some trouble tonight. Orion tried to grab Lucia."
"Motherfucker."
Lucia spoke up. "Rafe, I'm safe. Okay?"
There was a moment of silence. And then her brother spoke. "Where did he try and grab her?"
Noah pursed his lips but he still told the truth. "From Nonna's. He tried to take her right out of the backyard. Lucia managed to stab him, so he's hurt."
There was another string of inventive curses from her brother. And then when he spoke, his voice was low, deadly. "I will kill him."
"I'll fight you for the honor," Noah said. "But first we need to find him. I feel like I've only got half the picture here. I know who would've called in a hit on her, but that doesn't explain why Orion would take the job. That's never happened. At least not as long as I was in ORUS."
"Well, I might have the answer for that," Rafe said. "You know that shell corporation that Perseus is looking for?"
Lucia frowned. "Perseus?"
Noah shook his head. "Perseus is Matthias's codename."
Lucia could only blink. "Okay, carry on."
"The kid has been digging deeper on that Del Tino property. Turns out when we looked even closer at that shell corporation, HoloCorp, there was another owner. One with ties to cartels all over the world. I started digging through my old FBI case files and some things don't add up. Up until now, every hit we'd taken was essentially because Orion gave it to us. This hit in particular doesn't make sense. Why would they take this kind of drastic action? They’re in the wind. Someone poking around is a loose end, but the family doesn't have anything to lose at this point. They wouldn’t care if someone found out they owned that house at some point. But there is someone who would."
Noah frowned. "Who?"
"Think about it. The one person who has everything to lose. The one person who exposed himself tonight."
Lucia wasn't getting it, but clearly Noah was because he stood.
"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck."
Rafe laughed on the other line. "I see you've expanded your vocabulary. Very nice."
Noah ran his hands through his hair. "Orion. All this time. It's been him."
"Right now, that's where my research is pointing. I've gone back through all my old case files to right around the time that I joined. The time the Feds put me undercover, a few of those hits directly threatened ORUS. Yes, those targets were dangerous. Yes, lots of people would have been hurt, but their demise opened up specific strategic holes that ORUS could fill."
Lucia didn't get any of this. "So what does this mean?"
Noah turned to her, his mouth grim. "This means we need to kill Orion."
Her brother agreed. "Yes, preferably, take the fight to him."
Lucia understood now. "So I don't suppose either one of you knows exactly where to find him?"
Noah shook his head. "That is the real problem. Nobody knows that information."
Rafe was more optimistic. "But I think I can get it."
Lucia looked from the phone to Noah and back again. Yes, somebody was trying to kill her, but she knew with her brother and Noah by her side she would survive this.