Page 66 of The Bonventi Hitman

"What's going on?" I ask, confused.

"The meeting's over. Back to business as usual."

As I look around the room, I see Luca at the other end, deep in conversation with a short brunette. His hands are all over her. Thankfully, I couldn’t care less.

Luca catches my eye, removes his hands from the woman, and walks over to us.

"Hey, just the girl I've been looking for. I didn't see you come in," he says.

"Did you get my text?" he turns to ask Gabriel.

"No, I..." Gabriel takes out his phone and looks at it. "No, nothing from you, but?—"

Maybe no cell service in our little hideout. I smile at the thought.

"What's so funny?" Luca asks me.

"Nothing."

"No, no. You're smiling. Why?"

"No reason. Just glad to be here."

He stares at me, studying me, but he's unable to make heads or tails of my expression, so he lets it go.

As he goes to grab my arm, Gabriel steps in between us and whispers something into his ear.

Luca shakes his head, and then Gabriel says something else.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Why does shit like this happen to me? I don't deserve it," Luca says, picking up a bottle from a nearby table and throwing it against the wall.

I jump in fright, startled by the unexpected outburst. The crash silences the speakeasy as everyone turns to look.

Gabriel grabs Luca's arm. "Let's take a walk. Come on." Luca jerks his hand away as the bartender comes over to clean up the shattered glass.

"Everything all right?" the bartender asks.

"Yes. Clean this up. We're leaving," Gabriel says, then turns to me.

"Sofia, take this," he says and hands me the keycard to my suite. I reach out to grab it, but his hand stays firm on it.

"Promise me you'll go right up to your room and won't leave until you hear from me. Okay?"

"Yes, I promise."

"I'm serious. Stay there and don't leave."

I nod. "I won't leave."

Gabriel looks at me for a moment, then turns and walks out after Luca.

I walk out of the speakeasy. The hallway to the lobby is cold, and when I emerge, I look around but see no sign of Gabriel or Luca.

I wonder what Gabriel said to make Luca so angry.

I'm too nervous to wait around or search the lobby for answers, if there are any.

No, I'll just listen to Gabriel and head up to my room and wait for him.