Chapter 42: A Bloody Message

LUCA

“This is pretty messed up,” Frankie said breathlessly, picking up a towel to wipe away his sweat, then readjusting his white hand wrap.

Luca nodded and took a swig from his water bottle. He’d just told Frankie that they were forming a three-way alliance with Genovese and Borroni.

“I know, but not as fucked-up as paying the bail for fucking Borroni,” Luca hissed, hitting the punching bag violently.

Frankie laughed. “That’s one for the history books!” He was holding the heavy punching bag for Luca, and Luca glared at him before violently assaulting the bag again.

“So let me get this straight,” Frankie said. “We’re not telling ~any~ of our guys?”

Luca nodded and punched the bag hard, causing Frankie to take a step back. “Genovese thinks we have a rat or two in our families.” Luca shrugged. Matteo was probably right.

He stopped hitting the bag to look at his friend. “They don’t even know ~you~ know. We all agreed to tell only our seconds, but I trust you.”

“Aww,” Frankie teased. “I knew you loved me, Boss. Honestly, I think you love me even more than Nic.” He gave a light chuckle before going serious again. “So what are we gonna do next?”

Luca had no idea, and that was what he hated. He liked being in control, in charge of things.

He stopped to adjust his hand wraps. “The ball is in Genovese’s court. He orchestrated this, so it’s his call how we proceed.”

“I suppose if it all goes wrong, it’s on him,” Frankie pointed out, and Luca nodded.

“It also means we’re sitting ducks. This could be a plot to get us to let our guard down.”

“But you don’t think it is?”

“No, I don’t. Toby Sanchez has already confirmed the cops have a detective hidden away. If this cop has access to rats, who knows what secrets, locations, and names they have.”

This frightened him a little. He only had two people he trusted right now, and it looked like it would stay that way for a while.

Nic entered the gym waving an envelope. “We have a letter from Genovese.”

“Is he a fucking idiot?” Luca hissed as he took the envelope—it was addressed to him and Nic. “This could have fallen into anyone’s hands.”

Nic shrugged. “It was given to me by a hooker. She said she was paid a lot to pass this on and ask no questions. But I have a feeling we won’t be seeing her again.”

Luca took the letter out of the envelope, which was open—obviously—since Nic had already read it.

~Luca and Nic,~

~The plan is to go about our business, make the cops believe there is no underworld alliance.~

~Borroni is going to make his release known, and in four days we’ll meet and plan the next phase. I suggest you try and flush out your rats.~

~Matteo Genovese~

That was his grand plan? Wait, and then meet in four days? Luca crumpled the paper between the palms of his hands.

And what was Borroni going to do to make his presence known? Knowing him, it would be something over the top. This was a fucking nightmare.

Luca’s cell sang, and he saw on the caller ID that it was Ric.

“Ciao.” He handed the letter to Frankie.

“Hayley is leaving for work,” Ric said. “Something about a meeting.”

Luca looked at the clock on the wall—it said 10:30 a.m.

“Fine, get a car ready for her. I’ll be down in a minute, then you can take her to work.”

Luca hung up and, still shirtless, walked out of the gym and down the two flights of stairs, closely followed by Nic and a half-dressed Frankie.

Hayley raised her eyebrows when she saw him come down.

He grinned at her. “Like what you see, baby?”

“Maybe.” She smirked.

He leaned in to kiss her, careful not to touch her since he was all sweaty.

She looked beautiful in a straight black skirt and a deep-purple silk blouse with cap sleeves, and he was glad he’d insisted on taking her shopping for new work clothes.

“Of course she does,” Frankie said, gesturing to his own toned, muscular body. “Look at me. I’m a Greek god.”

HAYLEY

Hayley laughed. She couldn’t deny that all three of these men were gorgeous and clearly looked after themselves, but she had eyes only for Luca.

“Fuck off, Frankie,” Luca said, and Nic pushed a sweaty Frankie into the kitchen.

She’d love to linger with Luca in the hallway, but Ric was waiting in the car in the rain, so she grabbed her burgundy coat and her handbag. “I’d best go.”

He kissed her one more time. “See you later, beautiful.”

She smiled and said, “I look forward to it,” then opened the door and ran to the car.

***

As Hayley sat and listened to a band audition for her, a couple of her guys organized the bar. One had even been kind enough to make her a cup of coffee.

The band wasn’t bad, and when they finished the set, she went over and shook the lead singer’s hand. “I’ll be in touch.”

Once they’d left, she returned to the table she’d set up in front of the stage and sat down to make some notes.

“Hello, ~darling~.”

The voice made her skin crawl.

She looked up slowly to see Lorenzo Borroni standing in front of her table.

She tried to stand up, but someone standing behind her pushed her shoulders down to force her back into her seat.

“What the hell do you want?” Hayley spat, trying to hide her terror—this crazy bastard had forced her to hold a gun to her head! And pull the trigger!

“Ooh, fiery!” Lorenzo drawled. “I like that in a girl.” He looked her up and down, then sighed. “Why do Luca and I always find the same women irresistible?”

His eyes suddenly turned cold and hard. “I’m here to send a message.”

He gave a single solemn nod, and men streamed into the room and started wrecking the place. Hayley was dragged up from her chair by the guy who’d held her down.

“Get your hands off me!” She struggled against him as her hand went for her switchblade. She was suddenly thrown toward Borroni, who grabbed her right after she slammed into his chest.

“Back off, you bastard!” she cried out as she released her blade and brought it to Lorenzo’s throat. Her eyes locked onto his green ones. “Let. Me. Go.”

Cold metal pressed against her temple, and she gasped.

“Gun beats knife,” Lorenzo mused. “Drop the knife, piccola ragazza.”

Hayley didn’t drop the knife, but her hand started to tremble. She saw Lorenzo nod to someone, and then that person took the knife from her hand and stepped away.

“Thank you, Vitali.” Lorenzo turned her around so her back was against his chest.

She was shaking like a leaf. She tried to calm herself, but it was hard with a gun to her head.

She could see that her two bar guys had guns at their heads too, while Borroni’s men smashed bottles, stools, and whatever else they could get their hands on.

“Abbiamo finito, ragazzi! I think Luca will get the message now.” The men immediately stopped and looked at their boss.

He chuckled. “Wait! I think ~this~ will send the ultimate message.”

Hayley closed her eyes and braced herself for whatever Lorenzo had in his twisted mind. He’d already threatened to kill her in Russian roulette and threatened to rape her while Luca watched.

Two shots rang out, and she screamed as her eyes flew open. She was shocked she was still alive and that she felt no pain.

Lorenzo’s arm was stretched past her ear, and she followed its length to see where his gun had aimed.

“Oh, God!” she choked out.

Her two bartenders were no longer standing where they’d been, and she could see blood spatter and broken bottles behind the bar. She started retching.

Lorenzo let her go, but her legs were too weak to hold her up, and she fell to her hands and knees, shaking. The room was silent. She could feel Borroni’s men looking at her at the feet of their boss.

“Call Luca.”

Hayley looked up. The monster was bending at the knees to stoop to her level, and he was holding out his cell. She shook her head—she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction—but he pointed his gun at her.

“Call. Him.”

Hayley swallowed the bile that rose in her throat, then sat back on her knees and took the phone. Luca’s number had already been selected, so all she had to do was press Call.

Luca answered on the first ring.

“Borroni!” he hissed, and her tears flowed as she heard his familiar voice.

“Luca,” she sobbed, her voice weak, broken.

“Hayley? Baby, where are you?”

But before Hayley could speak again, Borroni took the phone from her.

“Ciao, Luca!”

“Where the~ fuck~ have you taken her?”

Lorenzo laughed. “She’s at work, Luca. I’m going to leave her for you to find. I’ve sent you a message. I’m sure you’ll understand when you get here.”

“You bas—” But Lorenzo hung up.

He looked down at Hayley, who was trying to hold herself together but failing miserably. “Luca’s on his way now, darling.” He stood upright, and she locked her eyes onto his.

“You bastard.” She finished Luca’s sentence for him.

Lorenzo just chuckled and looked at his men. “Let’s go, gentlemen. Goodbye, darling.” He took the knife from the man he’d called Vitali and dropped it on the floor beside her.

All she could do was watch as the room emptied. She felt so weak. So small. She wished she could have stood up to Borroni like the brave, strong woman she knew she was on the inside.

She slowly picked herself up off the floor. Dizzy and still crying, she looked around at the destruction Borroni had caused. When her eyes fell onto the blood behind the bar, she gagged.

She slapped her hand over her mouth and ran to the nearest thing to vomit in—a cleaning bucket.

She threw up violently, tears flowing. “They were innocent,” she whimpered between bouts of retching.

“Hayley!” she heard Luca’s voice call out, and she looked up to see him enter the club, followed by Frankie and Nic.

After them came Tony, Dom, Ric, and many others. Her eyes caught Max’s for a second.

“Jesus,” Frankie muttered.

LUCA

Luca scanned the room for Hayley, then spotted her hunched over in the corner near the stage, as far away from the bar as possible. He ran to her and knelt beside her, pulling her trembling body into his arms.

She was sobbing uncontrollably and saying things he couldn’t understand. He stroked her back, shushing her and soothing her.

“Baby?” he murmured into her ear, then carefully helped her to her feet. She was shaking, and it made him sick that he hadn’t protected her from this.

“I just let him,” she choked out, shaking her head. “He killed them.” She started sobbing again, and he held her close to him.

“You couldn’t have stopped him.”

He turned to look at his men, his eyes scanning the room till they found Nic and Frankie.

They subtly pointed out the blood spatter, and Luca got the message: Borroni could have killed her, but he didn’t. Borroni’s hit on her might be off, but he was still their enemy.

And alliance or no alliance, Luca would retaliate.

“Shit!” he heard Siobhan shout, and Hayley pulled away from him and walked toward his godmother, tears rolling down her cheeks. He followed.

“Siobhan, I’m so sorry! I’m going to get this cleaned up.”

Siobhan hugged Hayley before pulling away again. “No, you’re not. Ava is downstairs, and you and she are going back to ~your~ apartment. Take a shower and let me and Luca handle this shit.”

Hayley didn’t argue; she just turned and looked at Luca, who took her hand and kissed it.

“I’ll talk to you later,” he said quietly. “Siobhan’s right. Don’t worry about this.”

She nodded and walked over to the stairs.

“Ric, Dom, go with them,” Luca said. “Stay outside that apartment.” They both nodded and left the club.

Siobhan looked around at the Marcello men surrounding them, and Luca could see how furious she was—this powerful woman who’d had a huge hand in raising him.

“Leave us!” she shouted.

The men didn’t move.

“Fucking ~move~!” she screamed viciously at the group of ten or fifteen hard Mafia men Luca had quickly assembled to take on Borroni.

Luca nodded, and the guys left.

“~Not~ you two,” she barked, pointing at Nic and Frankie. Both froze instantly on the spot. Her wild emerald eyes turned back to Luca.

“I. Fucking. Knew it.” She spoke slowly, but he could hear her anger in the back of her throat.

“I fucking knew it!” she screeched, picking up the first thing on hand—a piece of one of the bar stools—and throwing it at Luca. He ducked, and it narrowly missed him.

“~You~ get involved with Genovese and ~my~ fucking club loses. Shit, Luca!”

“This wasn’t Genovese,” Luca protested, but he knew it didn’t matter.

It didn’t matter whether it was a Genovese, a Borroni, or either of the other two big families. It happened to her club. She was the victim.

“I’m calling it in.” She took out her phone, then glanced at the blood on the broken mirror before her gaze dropped lower. “They were fucking innocent, Luca!” she hissed, and he nodded.

“Keep Hayley from the report.”

Siobhan exhaled violently.

Nic calmly stepped forward and pulled out his phone. “Let ~us~ call it in, Siobhan. I’ve got a cop who’ll file it ~and~ keep our secrets.”

Siobhan nodded at Nic, then rounded on Luca with a thunderous expression.

“Clean this up, Luca,” she spat. “Then sort out whatever shit you’ve dragged my club and Hayley into. I fucking mean it, Luca.”

She stormed off to her office, marching around a broken table, and Luca let out an angry growl.

He kicked at the nearby debris. “Nic, I need you to sort this out. We need it open for tonight.”

Nic nodded and put his phone to his ear as he walked away. Frankie stepped forward with an evil glint in his eye.

“You and me and our guys are going after Borroni,” Luca said to him.

Lorenzo Borroni was about to pay for his destruction.