Page 71 of Arranged

We burst inside and I fired at any unfamiliar guy who got in my way. Santino’s men barely even got a chance to reach for the guns.

They dropped down like flies.

“Over here,” Rafael shouted.

I strode through the hallway, following his voice. When I entered the room, I had to sidestep three bodies.

My men and Rafael had Santino surrounded.

He was on his knees, his face a mask of shock.

“Valentina, maybe we can—” he started to say.

I put a bullet in his head.

“We don’t have fucking time for this. Where is he?” I looked around, but I couldn’t see Luca anywhere.

What if Santino had already killed him?

I swallowed hard past the lump in my throat.

“Anything?” Rafael yelled.

“All clear,” someone shouted.

What the fuck did they mean? Where the hell was Luca?

I broke into a run, checking one room after another.

But they were all empty or littered with bodies.

“Luca!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Luca!”

“He’s not here,” Rafael said.

I blinked, my chest heaving.

Something rustled. The sound was coming from the big vent opening to our right. I went closer, holding my gun up.

“Don’t shoot me,” Luca said as he came out of it, his hands up.

“Oh, my god!” I rushed at him, wrapping my arms around him so tightly that he gasped. “You’re alive! You’re okay!”

“I almost got away,” he said. “But you were quicker.”

My lips found his, and I kissed him like I’d never kissed him before. I just couldn’t get enough of him, and I wanted to drink him up.

Unfortunately, I had to pull away to take a breath.

“We need to go,” Rafael said. “The cops are coming.”

Luca was fine.

That was the only thing that mattered.

But as we raced away from the house and the bodies, I realized something.

This wasn’t the kind of life Luca deserved.