Page 2 of Depths of Desire (The Emerald Dagger Mafia #3)

CHAPTER TWO

M erda . Dying sucks, no matter how it happens, but especially when it’s painful.

Falling several stories onto a steel floor fits into that category.

I struggle to breathe in and out as I wait for the pain to subside, and my body puts itself back together.

The sound of footsteps on the catwalk above reminds me I have limited time until they come looking for me.

I test my limbs. I can wiggle my toes and fingers. Another minute or two and I can get up and walk away. I steady my breath as my body repairs itself. I shouldn’t be in the situation but seeing Luna Benedetti above me on the catwalk totally blindsided me. What in the hell is she doing on this ship?

The clank of a metal door reaches me. Time to move. I sit up and then get to my feet. I’m slow but I can move. In another few minutes, I’ll be at full strength. The blessing and curse of being a vampire is that it’s very hard to die, no matter how much you might want to.

I move quickly across to the far end and slide in behind a large stack of containers.

They must be stacked ten high or more. I don’t bother looking up to find out.

If I need to, I can climb to the top and out onto the deck.

However, at the moment, I have to decide what to do about the men that are coming for my body.

I peek around the end of the container as the door opens. It’s about halfway along the bulkhead. The two idiots I had been doing business with enter the area a few feet from where I landed. The taller one, Pedro, stares at the floor where there’s a small patch of blood. “What the hell?” he says.

It would be impossible to hear him above the din of the ship and the creaking of the cargo containers, but my senses are much better than normal humans.

Carl, the jerk who hit me with the huge fucking wrench, looks around. “He was right fucking here. Where could he have gone?”

“Did Mikey get him?” Pedro asked. “I thought he was going to call his people in New York.”

“It’s not like the fucker could get up and walk away. No one survives a fall like that or a smash in the side of the head. I hit him good.” Carl looks around again.

“You don’t think someone else found him, do you?” Pedro looks to the left and then the right. “Do you suppose someone stumbled on this asshole and took him to the captain?”

Carl snorts. “Nah. No fuckin’ way. He was dead as a fucking doornail.

No one was gonna pick him up and take him to the captain.

” Carl looks around again. “You know what? You think we’re the only ones doing illegal shit on this tub?

” Carl shakes his head. “Either Mikey got him, or someone else found him and took care of the problem for us. No one wants any kind of investigation by Customs or the cops.”

“So that’s it?” Pedro asks. “We just let it go?”

Carl shrugs. “Yup. We go get chow and forget all about it.”

“But what about the money? New York ain’t gonna be pleased that we didn’t get the money.”

“That’s Mikey’s problem. He made the deal.

I don’t even know who the deal is with, and I don’t want to know.

You and me? We just walk away like nothing happened.

” Carl turned back toward the door and pulled it open.

“And if Mikey asks, we tell him it’s all taken care of because it is.

Don’t say nothing else.” He glared at Pedro. “You hear me?”

Pedro, after a moment of hesitation, nodded and then followed Carl through the door, letting it clang shut behind them.

I lean against the container and weigh my options.

Normally, I would just snap their necks and be done with it.

No one rips off the Valdici family and gets away with it.

No. One. But Luna is here, though God knows why, and she saw me.

That could cause difficulties. A lot of difficulties.

If anyone ever questioned her, I’d have to rely on her keeping her word.

I could provide an alibi, but it would complicate things.

Plus, if she talked about me being thrown over the railing, well, that could have other consequences.

The rule is to bring as little attention to ourselves as possible.

The world isn’t ready to know vampires exist. Fuck .

I’ll have to let the assholes go… for now.

The ship lurched as if hit by a larger wave.

I glance at my watch. If I don’t leave now, I’ll be late for a family meeting.

I’m not looking forward to telling Renzo and Luca about this mess, never mind my father.

And what the fuck am I supposed to do about Luna?

There’s no way anyone knows she’s on board. Her father would have a coronary.

I look down at my suit. Ruined from the grime on the ship’s floor. I really need to go, but curiosity grips me. What the hell is Luna doing here? I shouldn’t confront her because she saw my fall, and I should be dead. How do I explain I’m still alive without telling her I’m a vampire?

The ship lurches again. The smell of metal and oil is getting to me, and the swaying isn’t helping either.

Time to go. I turn the corner to head to the stairs when I hear a door open again.

I look up. It’s Luna. She’s back, and even though she is two stories above me, I detect her expression is terrified. I can smell her fear.

She glances behind her and starts running down the catwalk toward where I fell.

She glances back again and trips, letting out a yelp, but manages to grab the railing for balance.

Looking back over her shoulder once more, she moves forward, but the door ahead of her opens and she slides to a halt, letting out another yelp.

The door slams shut, and a man is standing in front of her.

“Did you think you could get away that easily?” He lets out a nasty chuckle.

“There’s nowhere for you to run, hot stuff.

No place to hide. I know this tub like the back of my hand.

Did you think the captain would help?” He stalks toward her. Luna backs up.

“The captain told me we had a passenger, and I am to take good care of you.” His laugh was distinctly evil. “So you see, I’m following orders.”

“Fuck you, asshole,” Luna snarls.

“That is the plan,” the man agrees.

I grit my teeth. I should turn and disappear. This is none of my business. But this is Luna, and I’ve had enough of assholes for tonight. I gather my strength and jump, landing in the shadows on the catwalk behind the guy. He turns to face me.

“I think you should leave the lady be,” I say.

“Who the fuck are you? Where did you come from?” the guy demands.

“Not important,” I say.

Luna’s eyes widen to the size of golf balls. Her mouth is hanging open.

“Leave her alone.”

The guy grunts. “This ain’t your business. Fuck off and go away.”

“I am making this my business.”

The guy half-turns toward Luna. “We’re gonna have some fun but I gotta take care of this asshole first.” He whips around and tries to hit me.

I step back and then drive my fist directly into his nose.

His head snaps back, and I know I’ve broken his neck.

As he starts to crumple, I grab him and throw him off the catwalk to the floor down below.

I know he lands very close to the blood stain I left, even though it’s not visible from here, at least not for a human.

I smile. Nice . Now I don’t have to worry about anyone thinking twice about the blood I left behind.

I glance at Luna, who is still staring open-mouthed at me.

“Are you okay?” I run my gaze over her. She appears to be fine. Her heart rate has skyrocketed, and I know adrenaline is pouring through her system. The acrid tang of fear fills the air between us, overriding the stench of the ship.

“I…” she starts, but doesn’t continue. “You…were dead,” she finally manages to eke out. “I saw you. I saw them hit you. He hit you… You fell over the railing. Y-you died. How can you still…be here? How can you…be alive?”

I shrug. “One of life’s little mysteries, I guess.”

She swallows. “You…I…how?” Her voice fades out.

“It was a glancing blow.” I scramble to come up with something believable.

“I landed on top of an open container filled with…packing materials, so it wasn’t that far of a fall, and I had a soft landing.

” Jesus, that was lame. No way she’s going to believe that.

I continue, “It doesn’t matter how. I’m alive, and you’re lucky I am because that piece of garbage was going to hurt you. ” I gesture over the railing.

Luna’s eyes follow where my fingertips point. The only part of the guy not in shadow is his right foot. She swallows and mumbles, “You killed him.”

“You’re welcome.” I try to wipe some grease off my pants. Damn. What a mess. I liked this suit.

I glance at Luna, but she is still staring at me in shock. I stifle a sigh. “He’s no great loss. I wasn’t going to let him hurt you. Renzo would have my ass because Mia would have his. Now,” I say, narrowing my eyes at her, “what are you doing here?”

She licks her lips. “Forget you saw me. I will…I will forget any of this ever happened. I won’t tell a soul.” She shakes her head and takes a step backward. “Promise. I won’t tell anyone.” She takes another step.

Her hands are shaking, and her eyes dart all around. The smell of her fear is not subsiding.

“You’re afraid of me?” The surprise in my voice irritates me as much as knowing she fears me.

“N-no.” She shakes her head. “I-I won’t tell anyone what I saw. I know better. My father taught me well.”

I grin. “What? You think I’m worried you are going to tell the police that I killed that guy?” I shake my head. “Luna, I can provide twenty witnesses who will say I was somewhere else when all this happened. I’m not worried about you getting me arrested, but I am curious why you’re here.”

She glances over her shoulder, and I know instantly that she’s going to make a break for the door. “Don’t run, Luna. You won’t make it. I will catch you and, quite frankly, I’m not in the mood. Just tell me why you are here.”

“I…it’s not important. Can you just forget you saw me?”

Her brown eyes are wide with fear, but also something else. Determination?

I cross my arms over my chest. “I can’t do that. You tell me why you’re on this tub, and then I’ll decide whether I’ve seen you or not.”

She licks her lips again, and I follow her tongue with my gaze.

Luna has always appealed to me in ways I cannot understand.

With both of my brothers married to her two best friends, the last thing I want to do is get mixed up with her in any way, but if I leave her here and something happens to her, it will be on me.

“You were either meeting someone to pick something up or drop something off. There’s no other reason for you to be here. So, what’s the cargo? Are you doing some business for your father?”

“Um…yes. He asked me to do a deal for him, but I got…distracted, and now the ship left port. I ran into that guy”—she tips her head toward the railing—“when I was searching for…” Her heart rate ratcheted higher the more she spoke.

I didn’t need to witness the pulse pounding in her throat.

The erratic thumps were audible over the noise of the ship. To me, anyway.

“Lying to me isn’t going to work. I can tell.”

She shivers. “I’m not lying.”

“Luna, really, I don’t have time for this. We both know your father would never send you to conduct business for him. He’s way too old-fashioned for that. Besides, if he’s doing business on this ship, then it’s a problem for me. So you need to tell me why you are on board… Right. Now.”

She takes another step backward. “It’s nothing.

Won’t interfere in your stuff at all.” Her voice is wobbly and adrenaline is flowing through her veins.

The sound of footsteps reaches me. Someone is coming.

They are approaching the metal door next to us.

Two someones. “We have to go, people are coming,” I say as I reach out and grab her.

I moved her down the catwalk so fast that her feet barely touch the metal.

We’re through the door and moving down an interior passageway before she can respond.

“Where are you taking me?” she blurts out.

“That depends,” I say. “What are you doing here?” Once again, the sound of humans coming in our direction distracts me, and I hustle Luna into a stairwell and drag her a couple of floors up.

Then we’re bursting out into a hallway. She frowns but suddenly shakes off my arm and starts walking with purpose.

Two turns later, we’re in front of a door she unlocks.

We step inside, and she quickly closes it and engages the lock.

She leans against the bulkhead, her expression still wary.

I take in the room and then capture her gaze. “You were running away,” I say. “Making your grand escape.”

Mutely, she folds her arms over her chest and glares at me. “You need to forget you ever saw me.”

I make a non-committal sound in my throat. “And how am I going to do that when you’re right in front of me?”

She rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean. You just go about your business and forget we ever bumped into each other. I won’t say anything about you…and that guy, and you don’t say anything about seeing me.” She offered her hand. “Do we have a deal?”

I take her hand in mine. It’s tiny by comparison. I give a tug that she wasn’t ready for, and she falls against my chest. I trap her in my arms. Her breathing quickens as she meets my gaze.

I smile. “You seem to be forgetting that we’re on a cargo ship in the middle of the Ligurian Sea. We’re stuck here together for the next twelve days.”