Page 8 of Blood Moon (La Famiglia De Luca)

Chapter 7

Leo

“ Burning Out”—Bad Omens

I was transfixed by the vision on the screen. It pleased me that she enjoyed my cooking. Not many people outside my family knew I loved to cook. It was one of the few things that brought me true peace.

As I sat in my dark office, with nothing but the monitors illuminating the area, I watched her. She huffed and puffed as she stormed around before finally flopping on the couch and covering her head.

She had several choice words for me, which I deserved. I loved that in a situation that would have most women pissing themselves, she was still a fireball. What I hated was that she was going to despise me after this. It was only a matter of time before she figured out who I was. Once that happened, there would be no coming back from this.

The thought of never seeing her again sent a painful stab through my chest. One so excruciating, I gritted my teeth and grabbed the edge of the desk. Eventually, I breathed through it, and it subsided. I told myself that if I was successful, it would be worth it.

My phone rang.

I saw my oldest brother’s name on the screen and rolled my eyes. Yeah, I loved him, but he was a real pain in the ass sometimes.

“Yes?” I answered.

“Leo, have you seen Tinsley Romanov?” he asked, cutting straight to why he’d called.

My gaze narrowed as I leaned back in my chair, ignoring the monitors. “Why the hell are you asking me?”

“Because Peter called me asking for my help looking for her. She was supposed to deliver an item to his office, and she never showed up. He said she’s not answering her phone, and her location is off,” he explained.

“Again, this has what to do with me?” I did my best to sound bored.

“I know you fucked her, Leo. Pietro saw her follow you out of my penthouse and caught quite an eyeful before the elevator doors closed,” he began, but I cut in.

“That doesn’t mean I fucked her,” I countered.

“Look, I don’t care if you did or didn’t. Quite frankly, I wanted you to because I’ve been wanting to buy into Peter and Tinsley’s company. I was hoping that if we could get a match between you and Tinsley, that would be our way in. Except now she’s missing, and I wanted to know if you’ve seen her or talked to her,” he explained.

Irritation simmered that he thought he could pull my strings like I was one of his fucking puppets. “So my brothers all got to choose their wives, but I get the arranged marriage for profit?”

“Oh, come on, Leo. She’s not bad to look at, and you’re obviously attracted to her, so don’t make it sound like you’d be throwing yourself on a sword,” he snapped. “Besides, that’s a moot point if she’s missing or, worse, dead. Peter has made some enemies over the years. He’s worried that one of them got to her.”

“I can’t help you. We didn’t exactly exchange numbers.” It wasn’t a lie. We hadn’t.

“Fuck,” he muttered. “Well, if you see her, I need to know. Hopefully, she just got held up, and he’s being paranoid. My men are all on the lookout for her, but I have Pietro working his magic.”

Shit. Pietro wasn’t just a simple thug. He was a genius, and I knew he used some high-tech facial recognition software to find people who were trying to hide. If my decision hadn’t been maniacally impulsive, maybe I’d have thought of that.

“I will,” I lied and ended the call.

This complicated things. I’d need to push my timeline up. There would be no wearing her down. I needed to get her to take me back as soon as possible.

Because once Gabriel or Peter found out I’d abducted her, I was as good as disowned or dead. Gabriel would be furious—possibly bad enough that it wouldn’t matter that I was his brother. After all, I’d been nothing but trouble since Francesco’s death, and I knew it.

I needed this to work. If it did, none of this would matter and everything would be fixed. I picked up the small velvet bag. It had a considerable weight to it for something so small. The glittery substance inside seemed to be nothing more than a fine gold dust. Except I now knew it was so much more than that.

* * *

I’d been up all night, dozing fitfully off and on.

After donning the black camo pants and long-sleeve shirt, I laced up my boots and grabbed the mask. My next stop was my office, where I pocketed the velvet pouch. I ignored how it made my fingertips tingle. Then I hit the box of clothing I’d had delivered. Once I was outside the playroom, I pulled the mask over my head.

I entered and strode to the couch, where long blonde hair was cascading over the edge and practically touching the floor. Though I wanted nothing more than to grab that hair and kiss her, I pushed that need to the wayside. My possessiveness over her was getting out of control for a woman I’d slept with only once. Perhaps it was the fact that she’d been the secret obsession I’d had for years that drove my feelings. Who knew?

“Tinsley, wake up,” I said, hardening my heart the best I could. I intentionally disguised my voice—at least until we got to where we were going.

“Go away,” she grumbled sleepily before she covered her head again.

“It’s time to go,” I told her.

At that, she shot straight up. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were wide and hopeful.

“You need to get dressed,” I told her, setting the clothing and shoes in her lap. “We need to leave.”

“You’re taking me home?” she eagerly asked.

“After you help me go back a few years, then when we get back, yes, I’ll take you home,” I promised. Though if we were successful, this moment might never happen, and I might never meet her. I had no idea how that worked. Would my going back in time alter everything today? It would have to.

For a moment, she glared at me. Then she got up and regally walked to the bathroom with the armful of clothes. Once she was inside, she slammed the door.

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

It wasn’t long before she stalked out wearing the outfit I’d selected for her. She marched to the door and grabbed the knob, but it didn’t budge. “You still have it locked?” she snidely asked.

“Can’t be too cautious. I wasn’t sure if you’d agree,” I shrugged carelessly.

Placing my thumb on the biometric lock, I listened as the lock slid open. When she reached for it, I slammed my hand against it. “Not yet.”

She blew out a heavy breath. “Now what?” she barked.

That’s when I hurriedly jerked the black hood over her head and pulled the string. When she tried to pull it off, I grabbed her wrist. “Don’t take it off, or you won’t see your little bag of glitter again.”

She cursed at me, and I grinned.

Then I crouched down far enough to chuck her over my shoulder. If she saw my condo, it would be a dead giveaway. I don’t know why it mattered to me that I keep my identity a secret as long as I could, but it did.

She was kicking and shouting so I swatted her ass—hard. Her back stiffened, and she actually tried to bite my back through the hood and my clothes. I swatted her again, and she stopped.

I took the small service elevator that went down to the restaurant on the fifth floor. Each of our condos had a secret elevator for escape. Mine conveniently came out in the pantry of the restaurant kitchen. I found it extremely convenient when I wanted to cook something in the middle of the night.

“Where are we going?” she asked, but I didn’t reply. “Fucking dick,” she muttered, and I grinned at her feistiness.

At this time of the morning, no one should be there yet. I grabbed the keys to one of their catering vans as I passed the office.

Then I took the restaurant’s delivery elevator to the dock at the back of the building. I unlocked the van and opened the back, where I gently set her inside. “Be a good girl,” I crooned and quickly closed the door.

Thankfully, it was still dark, and no one seemed to be up and moving back here. I hurried around and climbed in. Since she had used that little treed area at the park, I figured we’d go back there—in case it was that specific area.

Sticking to the shadows, I took us back to where I’d taken her from.

After telling her the time and place I wanted to go to, I removed her hood and watched as she glanced around in surprise.

“Let’s go,” I instructed and motioned for her to proceed with the little bag held out to her.

She cocked a blonde brow. “You need to take off your shoes.”

“What?”

“Your shoes. They need to come off,” she drawled out as if I was a toddler.

“Why?” I asked, confused.

“Because we have to be grounded, or it won’t work right,” she explained with an eye roll.

Once we both had our shoes and socks off, she tucked her shoes under her arm and held out her hand. “I’ve never done this. So if you die, I can’t be held responsible.”

With that proclamation, she grabbed my hand, tossed a pinch of that glitter into the air, and jerked me forward and into the yawning black hole that was suddenly before us.

I had no words to describe what we’d stepped into. It was dark, and the very air seemed to pull at me like invisible hands trying to shred my skin from my body. The ground had disappeared from beneath my feet, and the mask was ripped from my head.

When I was sure we were going to die—that whatever we’d entered sensed my intrusion and was furious—we were suddenly spit out, where we stumbled and fell to our hands and knees, our shoes tossed around us.

“Leo?” she asked, disbelief heavy in her tone. “What?”

“I’m sorry. If there had been any other way,” I began, meaning each word.

“Why are we here? What do you want from here?”

“I need you to help me save my brother before he dies,” I finally explained.

Horror seemed to make her eyes twice their normal size. Then regret and sorrow replaced it.

“Leo…”

To be continued…