Page 6 of Blood Moon (La Famiglia De Luca)

Chapter 5

Leo

“ The Ending” — Papa Roach

A s I smugly sipped my shaken espresso, I watched the people pass by the coffee shop window. I’d become a pro at giving my babysitters the slip. Gabriel would be pissed—again—but I didn’t care.

My cup barely touched my lips when a woman in a hot pink suit passed by. I blinked slowly for a second, then shot to my feet and raced out the door. The bright color was hard to miss as she moved through the early morning crowd.

She crossed the street, and I followed. It didn’t matter how many times I told myself it was impossible, there was no shaking the feeling that it was her. It had to have been a good twelve or thirteen years since I’d seen her, yet her outfit, the messy blonde bun, and the curve of her slender neck were things I’d obsessed over—you didn’t forget something like that.

But… how?

When she entered the prestigious Neverland Auction House, I waited outside the doors. I’d made a few purchases there over the past year or two, which is how I knew that you had to have an appointment to make it past the impressive marble reception counter in the lobby. Armed guards stood strategically around the first floor in case someone thought they were going to sneak in. If my brain had been working better, I might’ve tried to get up to see Peter.

The problem was, they owned the entire building, just like we owned ours. Like us, they leased out several floors to prestigious corporate businesses and legal firms. I had no idea where she was heading, and I didn’t want to miss her somehow.

I didn’t care if I had to stand there all fucking day. I was going to be waiting when she came out. If I could see her face again, I’d be able to confirm my suspicions. It was crazy and so impossible that my heart hammered against my ribs.

About an hour later, she exited the building, and my knees almost buckled trying to make sense of what I was seeing. There was no question, it was her. She had the same small black bag, the exact same suit, and those black heels that clicked on the pavement in an eerily familiar way.

Her bright blue eyes were exactly as I’d remembered, and I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t recognized them when they’d been looking up at me a week ago. It had taken seeing her in that suit. My brain actually hurt trying to reconcile what I was seeing with what I remembered from when I was maybe thirteen.

It completely defied logic.

Blinking hard, I continued following her down to Millennium Park. We skirted around the tourists in front of the big silver sculpture people had dubbed the “Chicago Bean.” I trailed her as she made her way around the pavilion until we passed the BP Pedestrian Bridge.

That’s where she stopped.

When she glanced around as if she were trying to see if anyone was paying attention to her, I ducked behind a group of people speaking French and arguing about where to have lunch that day. Yes, I understood them—I spoke five languages fluently.

For a second, I lost her, then I caught a flash of hot pink between the leaves of the copse of trees and tall bushes. What the fuck was she doing in there?

I quickly followed and caught up to her in the shadows just as she literally disappeared in what seemed like a cloud of glitter .

My jaw dropped, and I stood there dumbstruck. Using the heels of my hands, I rubbed at my eyes. My head spun as I tried to remember if I’d taken anything, because nothing else explained everything I’d seen that morning.

“I’m either high as fuck or I’m still in bed and this is a dream. Gotta be,” I reasoned as I leaned on a tree trunk, ignoring how the rough bark caught on the back of my shirt. There was no telling how long I stayed there, stupefied.

Yet the longer I was there, the more I pieced together. It probably seemed like something from a movie or a book, but it was the only thing that made sense in any possible way. Somehow, she had traveled back in time.

Jesus, if I tried to tell someone that, they’d likely lock me up in an asylum or, at the very least, rehab. Hell, it sounded crazy to me. Yet, it was the only explanation for what I’d witnessed and experienced years ago.

The more the reality of that settled in, the crazier my thoughts became. A plan began to form. It was unhinged and probably diabolical enough that I would likely go to hell. Fuck it. With everything I’d done, I was probably heading there anyway.

The ground beneath my feet trembled slightly, and the air around me crackled. Unsure if I was truly losing it this time, my gaze darted around. From where she’d disappeared, the air seemed to ripple and distort. A little cloud of sparkling smoke swirled and expanded.

When the tiny, barefoot woman in pink stepped out of the glittering haze, I made a decision that was likely insane. I crouched behind a bush. Through a gap in the leaves, I watched as she let her hair down, then I could see her appearing to talk to herself as she put her shoes on. With a calculating stare, I waited quietly until she started to walk out of the trees. Then I did what was probably my dumbest move ever.

I kidnapped Peter Romanov’s sister.

* * *

Needing backup, I called one of my babysitters. That was probably shitty to call Domenico that. He’d been assigned to me when I left for college. He was barely older than me, and he fit in on campus as just another student. We’d become friends, which also worked into the facade of him being on campus all the time. He’d been put on other assignments after I graduated, but we’d stayed in touch.

“Leo, you’ve done some dumb shit, but this takes the cake,” Domenico grumbled from the front seat.

He’d arrived quickly and brought exactly what I’d asked without question. That was before he knew who I needed to drug.

“I don’t want to hear it,” I snapped. My gaze dropped to the blonde head that rested in my lap. I gently felt for a pulse for the fiftieth time since Dom had arrived and we injected her. She was so tiny, and I questioned how much he’d given her, but he’d given me an insulted scoff.

“If Gabriel finds out I helped you with this, I’m a dead man walking. You realize that, right?” He was pissed, and rightfully so. I’d used my friendship with him to pull him into my mess and, by doing so, put him in a precarious position.

The crazy thing was, I was dead-ass sober.

“I’ll take full responsibility. You didn’t know. You came to help me when I needed you, and I didn’t tell you why. You’ll be fine,” I assured him, unable to take my eyes off the beautiful pixie that was curled up on the back seat of the SUV with me.

We turned into the underground parking garage, and then Dom pulled up far enough for me to use my fingerprint to get us through the security gate that separated the family’s private parking section. The heavy iron gate rolled open, and we drove through, waiting on the other side to ensure the gate closed behind us without anyone slipping through.

He drove around the corner and parked in one of my empty spots.

“Now how do you plan to get her up to your condo without getting busted?” he asked as he tipped his head toward one of the many cameras mounted in our garage.

“I have an idea,” I told him with a wicked grin. “I just need your jacket.”

“Fucking hell,” he muttered as he got out and came around to my door. He had his jacket off by the time he opened my door. He helped me get the jacket on her, and I bit back the irritation of seeing her small frame encased in another man’s clothing. It completely covered her vibrant pink clothes, and that’s what I needed. We got her out and on her feet, though she was still pretty much out of it.

He kept her upright, and I lifted her into my arms. I adjusted my hold until her face was tucked into my shoulder and her thick blonde hair covered the rest. We made our way to the private elevators and up to my condo. I handed my keys to Dom so he could unlock the door to my “playroom.”

“I’ve got it from here,” I told him, not letting him open the door further. “I’ll meet you in the living room in a few minutes.”

“Fine,” he huffed and spun on his heel.

I shouldered open the door and then closed it. Once inside, the lights came on over the corner. I had them on a motion sensor that only lit up that area, leaving the rest of the room in the dark. The recessed lights glinted off the gold-colored bars.

Dipping my head, I stepped up and through the open door, then carefully laid her on the black satin linens of the bed. Before I left, I removed Dom’s jacket and ignored the way that satisfied me. I’d been tense and irritable since we’d put it on her.

As I stared at her for a moment, I couldn’t shake the voice that chanted in my head in time with my heartbeat.

Mine .

Mine .

Mine .

Mine .

“I’ll be back for you, my little sprite,” I whispered, then closed the barred door with a soft click.

I’d officially lost my mind, but I was calmer than I’d been in years.

Leaving her to sleep off the sedatives, I went out to my living room, where Domenico sat deep in thought with his elbows on his knees, one hand rubbing his jaw. He looked up at my approach.

“Leo… you and I have been friends for a long time, and you know my loyalty to you knows no bounds.”

“I’m aware,” I replied when he paused. By the look on his face, I knew what was coming.

“But I answer to Gabriel. I won’t say a word about this unless I get questioned. If that happens, you know I cannot lie.”

“Again, I’m aware.”

He took a deep breath and let it out in a rush. “Okay then. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. Between me and you? I hope you know what you’re doing.”

I didn’t.

But I was desperate enough to try anything.

“I can hold my own,” I assured him.

“I hope so.” He got to his feet and walked out of my condo.

I went to my office and sat at my desk. Then I logged into my computer and pulled up the camera feed. In the night vision of the expensive system, I could see her small form curled up on the bed.

Now all I had to do was wait.