Page 36 of Cinder (MC Fables #2)

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I make it back to the motel just as the sun is setting. The light is low, but as I approach my room, I realize something is wrong. The door is ajar.

Cautiously stepping inside, my stomach tightens when I see Luca standing in the middle of the room.

He swings around to look at me. Hair perfect. Suit immaculate. A cloud of Paco Raban clinging to him.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, scrambling to think of why he would risk blowing my cover to come here. And what possible violence might follow.

A female voice to the left of me makes me jump. “Is that any way to greet your brother? ”

I swing around to see Carolina sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. Her long legs crossed. A cigarette between her claws.

“It’s all right, mother.” Luca sniffs as he tugs on the end of each sleeve, diamond and gold cufflinks glinting in the low light. “I’m sure she’s tired after being on her knees all day cleaning.”

“I thought there might be a problem if you’ve come here.” My mind jumps to Lucretia and my heart leaps to my throat. “Is Lucretia okay? Has something happened?”

I can’t hide my panic, and Luca smiles.

“She’s fine.” His smile tightens. “For now.”

I swallow thickly. “Then why are you here? If someone from the clubhouse sees you?—”

“And who would see me? Why would anyone from the clubhouse have reason to be here?” His tone is accusatory, and so are his dark eyes. “You’re keeping a low profile like I told you, aren’t you sister?”

“Yes, I am, but there is still a risk. If someone sees you here, there will be questions.”

“Then you’d better hope no one sees me.”

God, I hate this man so much.

Moving away from him, I drop my handbag on the dresser. Luca is here to play games. To get his fix of torturing me.

Carolina is here to watch.

“I’m here for an update,” he says .

“Isn’t that what Thugs One and Two are for?” I ask.

Carolina tsk tsks as she brings a cigarette to her red lips. Her eyes gleam as she waits for her son’s reaction.

She doesn’t have to wait long.

Luca strides across the room to stand right in front of me.

I don’t flinch, but it takes everything for me not to.

At first, he does nothing but stare at me, those black eyes boring into me like laser beams, his lips thin and tight.

The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and my stomach twists.

Like the crack of a whip, he grabs my chin and squeezes until I think my jaw is going to shatter.

I wince beneath his vice-like grip and feel the pain shoot along my jaw and into my skull.

Just when I think I’m going to pass out from the pain, he lets me go, and I fall to the floor, the breath I was holding erupting out of me in a coughing fit.

“Now, what is the update?” he asks, as if he didn’t almost break my face.

I rub my jaw. “There’s a party on Saturday night. It will be a chance for me to look for the book properly.”

“You mean, you’ve been working there all week, and you haven’t even tried to find the fucking book?”

“I need to build trust.”

“No, you need to get that fucking book before I lose my patience.”

I climb to my feet. I feel too vulnerable looking up at Luca. I need to be eye level with him. “It’s a locked room. I have to have a reason to be in there, and for that to happen, they need to trust me. I’ve already been caught once.”

“Ah yes, by the enforcer .” He says the title theatrically to mock it. “These stupid titles are bit childish, aren’t they? Enforcer. President. Treasurer. What are we, kids in the playground?”

Okay, Don Moretti.

I bite my tongue. Keep my expression neutral.

Despite envisioning Lars showing Luca what he does to people who call his title childish.

I’m thinking a bullet to his face. No, Lars would get up close and personal with his fists, and he wouldn’t stop until they were both bleeding.

Lars from his knuckles, Luca from the area that used to be his face.

A surge of warmth spreads through me.

I’d pay a billion dollars to see that.

“Have you seen much of this enforcer since you’ve been working there?” Luca asks.

I look him in the eyes. “No.”

It’s easy to lie to someone’s face when there is so much at stake.

“He offers you a job but doesn’t check in on you?” Carolina asks.

I answer her but keep my eyes locked on Luca. “I don’t think I made that much of an impression.”

“Enough for him to offer you a job,” she says.

“I was in the right place at the right time. I don’t think he has given me a second thought. ”

Luca tilts his head. His eyes roam my face looking for inconsistencies or something that might show I am lying. But I give him nothing.

“I’m just asking for a bit more time. But I will get the book.”

“Good. Because I’ve decided that if you don’t come up with the goods, I’m going to gift Lucretia to Viktor for his troubles.” He smiles with glee. “Just think, you’ll be sister wives.”

In my silent rage, my gaze slides to my bed where I keep a knife under the pillow for protection. Could I reach it before he has a chance to stop me?

Could I plunge it right into his heart before the self-satisfied smile even leaves his face?

“Did you hear what I said?” he says, irritated because he hasn’t gotten the reaction he was hoping for.

I look from my pillow to his smug face, mentally counting the steps it would take to reach the knife and the seconds it would take to plunge it into his neck.

But the impulsive move would be a fatal move if I don’t succeed. He would hurt Lucretia. And make me watch.

“I heard you, Luca. But that won’t be necessary. I won’t fail. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Good. Because you should know, I have sent Lucretia away to an out-of-country boarding school.”

I gasp. “Why?—”

“Insurance. That you will do as I say. One word to the Knights or to anyone about who you are and what you are doing there, and I will have the men stationed outside of the school take her into the woods and do the worst possible things to her.” He leans closer and whispers, “Right before they slit her throat.”

My heart beats like a drum. Fear twists in my gut. I should’ve known Luca would take extra steps to ensure my silence.

I can’t get her to safety when I don’t know where she is.

And if I confide in anyone about what my brother and Viktor are trying to do, then he’ll ensure I never see her again.

“Where is she?”

He chuckles. “You don’t need to concern yourself with her whereabouts. She’s quite safe. For now . All you need to concern yourself with is doing exactly what I tell you.”

Unshed tears brim in my eyes.

I might never find her if I don’t comply with his commands.

Inwardly, I steel myself and lift my chin, determined not to show him the raging fear I feel.

One day I am going to kill this man, and I am going to rejoice when I’m doing it.

“You don’t have to worry about me, Luca. I know exactly what to do.”