“There isn’t,” Cree said, his words loud and clear but still somber. Like he’d accepted the decision that had been reached—one Luca wasn’t entirely clear on—but he didn’t like it all the same. “The last two years we have seen her reach higher and higher levels with each kill she made inside The Elite—she was nearly at the end. To have the chance to end it taken away when and like it was ... she won’t return to business with us. Or even you, for that matter. She’s fulfilling her own purpose. It’s beyond us, and it always will be. There is no going back.”
Cree stiffened at the sound of Dare’s sigh, but other than that, silence and stillness passed between the four men.
Luca was finally catching up.
Again.
Dare and Cree spoke to Cross about Penny and her business with The League like he was also a part of it. As if he had a right to know because the details were ones that should have already been understood.
He felt stupid.
So fucking angry.
All the time he spent trying to find why Penny left or even, who helped her ... adding it on top of the dozens of questions that piled up when he found her entangled with The League, and it was all for nothing. The man who made all of that happen had been in front of him—or pretty damn close—from the start.
Cross.
His godfather.
Naz’s dad.
He thought, of course.
But also, why.
“We’re here for one reason,” Dare said, the first to break the silence and restart the conversation. “I was gracious enough to at least allow you to make an offer ...” The man’s gaze slid Luca’s way before he added, “And I understand why, so do so before I change my mind.”
Cross dragged in a hard breath. “You won’t even entertain Penny?”
“No.”
“Cross,” Zeke said.
Now, his father was looking at him. The worry in Zeke’s eyes was clear—bright like the sun on a summer’s day when the sky was wide, and blue. If he regretted anything, it was that. Sure, they had their issues, but Zeke was still his father at the end of the day. He tried to keep that in mind now.
“I know,” Cross told his best friend, before turning back to Dare. “Fine. Luca is returned—he is off the market and not to be touched otherwise. In return, I don’t interfere with your business in New York or make any calls to make it harder for you to do said business.”
Wait—
“They’re going to go after Penny,” Luca said, the words bursting from his mouth before he could stop them. They had to understand what it meant to do what they were doing here. “You’re going to let them—”
“Exactly that, yes,” Cross told him, nodding once. Then, to Dare, he asked, “Does that work for you?”
“It does,” Dare replied.
That was that.
The men in black backed off. Dare and Cree had already turned to head for the private hangar while the team of men who had been watching Luca followed behind. The three men—including him—that were left outside said nothing as the wind picked up again.
It sounded like a whine. Or maybe a howl. It reminded him of the sound an animal made when it was in pain. He hated to think that was God’s way of warning him of just how much this would soon hurt.
LUCA DIDN’T COMPLAIN when he was dropped off at the front entrance of his apartment building the night before, but only because he was two seconds away from falling over his own two feet. Exhaustion was a real thing. He wasn’t, however, impressed at the fact someone decided to knock on his door before the sun had even risen in the sky.
He was still trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes, and drop the bad attitude, when he ripped the door of his apartment open to see who was waiting on the other side.
Cross.
In nothing but boxer-briefs, Luca was in no way ready to wake up, let alone invite someone into his place, but his godfather stood on the other side of the threshold like that was exactly what he expected to happen. He couldn’t say that was going to work out for the man. Even if Cross did look like he was ready to start his day in a three-piece suit with his hair slicked back and shoes shined.
Luca held tight to the door, not opening it further or moving an inch when he said, “You need something?”
Because after the night before and the things he learned, Luca couldn’t say he was willing to provide anything Cross might need. The only good thing about not being made—at the moment—was the fact he didn’t actually have to answer to this man, anyway.
Cross gave him a look, and then the door Luca was keeping mostly closed against his side. “Are you going to keep me out here in the hallway?”
“Considering it.”
“Luca—”
“I’m busy. Places to be, Naz to see,” Luca said, shrugging.
Cross cleared his throat, sucking hair between his teeth after before he muttered, “Naz is busy, Luca.”
“Too busy to see me?”
His best friend?
Right now?
Luca didn’t think so.
“Actually,” Cross said, folding his arms over his chest and looking at Luca in the way he would when he was a kid. But that shit didn’t work on him anymore—not when this man did it, or when his own father tried it. Three decades of life under his belt made him immune to most of that nonsense, and he couldn’t say he was sorry about it, either. “Naz doesn’t even know you’re back in the city yet. It all happened fast ... I used that to my advantage.”
Yeah.
Luca bet.
“Something else you’re hiding, then,” Luca noted.
Cross didn’t like that.
He didn’t even try to hide it.
“Hey, watch your fucking tone with—”
Nah.
“I’m good,” Luca said, stepped back from the doorway and closing the door on his godfather, telling him at the same time, “Keep in mind, I’m not your man. Not made, remember? If I don’t want to do this, or anything else, with you, then I don’t have to.”
The door was about to click shut, but Cross’s next words stopped Luca from letting it close entirely.
“But if you want to help Penny, you’re going to have to do everything you don’t want to do and more,” he said.
Luca hesitated.
He didn’t open the door back up right away. In fact, his hand tightened around the handle so much that his knuckles turned white as he considered those words and what they might mean. The lump growing in his throat certainly didn’t help matters, either.
“And I know,” his godfather added, “about you and her.”
That took Luca an extra minute.
Maybe two.
Cross didn’t mind the silence because he used that time to his advantage to keep talking. “Thank The League for keeping me informed—part of their obligation to the old contract. See, I put a lot of money on the table for Penny to be able to do what she’s done in these past five years, and that gave me ... certain rights to information about her business.”
“Did she know that you knew—”
“Yes on some things. Maybe not on others. I wasn’t given the information to use it against her, if that’s what you’re asking. Sometimes, it was just good to be informed.”