Page 82 of Romancing His Heart

Seth: Nothing. Something isn’t right with this, man. Even Vic is searching for him.

Loki: What do you mean searching for him? He’s in custody. And why is Vic looking for him?

Ashton: Not on text.

My phone rings a second later.

“What do you mean Vic is looking for him? Where the fuck could he be?” I yell.

“I’m starting to think Luca wasn’t who we thought he was,” Ashton states calmly. “I’m following a trail that is deliberately complicated and misleading. The hoops I’m jumping through point to him being on our side, in some manner at least.”

My vision goes hazy as I recall bits of a conversation but not enough to grab hold of.

“We think Vic is in bed with the Russians. That would explain his behavior, but we cannot find the common denominator,” Seth spits.

“Whatever it is, we need Luca. I’m sure of it,” I tell them. “If he has made a deal with someone on the inside, I want to know who. I want to know the terms, and I want to know now. That asshole cannot walk free, or I’ll be right back where I was ten years ago.” Even as I say the words, my gut tells me I might be wrong about my half-brother. I thought the same thing about Miles, my youngest half-brother, though, and that almost got Lexi killed. I’m not taking that chance again. “Let me know as soon as you find him.”

I hang up the phone and pace. I’m going to wear a hole in this damn floor. Sloane is in the shower, and it’s getting late. I know she has two chapters she needs to get written, so I pull out the ingredients to make tacos. Passing the fridge, I see the remnants of today’s coffee cake disaster. The soupy mess has finally congealed, so I scrape it into the trash before she sees it. She tries this fucking recipe every day.Maybe it’s the recipe?I make a mental note to pay closer attention tomorrow.

“I don’t know how the heck I mess that up so badly every day.” Her soft voice breezes through the room.

Chuckling, I show her the pan. “I’m not sure either, but you do it spectacularly.”

“That’s something, right? Any luck with Ash today?”

“They’re looking for Luca,” I confide.

“Did they lose him?”

“We’re not sure what the hell is going on. He should be in Lanesboro, it’s a maximum-security prison, but he isn’t showing up in Ashton’s searches.”

“What does Ashton say about it?”

“What he always says, he’s handling it.”

“You guys are close, huh?”

“I couldn’t have accomplished anything I’ve done without him. The guy is like a human computer. He’s been one step ahead of me since he was fifteen.”

“It must have been amazing growing up with them all.”

“Growing up with …”

“Don’t you remember what it was like there, Loki? That life? I didn’t want that for my family,” Luca rumbles. “I will not allow them to take her. That won’t happen. I did this for a reason—I enlisted for a reason. Have I done shit I regret? Fuck yes. Did I have a choice? I didn’t think so at the time. But now … now we have a chance to fix this together. You and I can make all this go away, but you have to trust me.”

Chapter 26

Sloane

“Loki? Are you okay?” I ask as gently as I can. He spaced out over a minute ago.Should I call Emory?His gaze finally drops to mine as I take a step forward. I see the moment he comes back to me.

“Red,” he gasps, reaching for me and pulling me into an embrace.

Pressed against his chest, I can feel his heart raging.

“Hey, are you all right?” I ask again. I try to back away to see his eyes, but he holds me tight.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he grumbles.