Page 10 of The Spare

I sigh heavily, rubbing the bridge of my nose with my fingers. "I don't get it. All those years my brother fought like hell to keep me away from the mafia, and look, he seemingly has no problem just laying me at your front door like it's nothing."

Lucien’s eyes glitter in the firelight as he just stares at me, not offering any input one way or another.

Clearing my throat, I switch tactics. Wanting a taste of his inner mind. "Why me?" I ask roughly. "Why not deal with King, hm?He'sthe golden boy, not me."

"Ahhh." Lucien shakes his head on a rather long suffering exhalation of air."Golden boy.Do you hear that, Blane?" he says disdainfully, throwing a look to the guard behind him who just stares stoically ahead. When he turns his gaze back to me, a wicked smile curves his lips, and he half scoffs, waving a hand dismissively. "I didn't want the golden boy.Everyonealways underestimates the spare. And in my experience, with spares in particular, there's always a wealth of talents overlaying the abyss of a stifled persona which isn't usually tapped into."

My brow raises. "Well, damn," I say. "You're a right poet, Mr. Scognamiglio. Who'd have thought?"

He chuckles. "Call me Luca. If I have to hear you butcher my last name again I might shoot you. I think I'd suffer the wrath of your brother."

I laugh. "Sure. Luca. Well, I hate to have to tell you that I will be declining your offer."

I contemplate for a few, drawn out moments. However, despite the great temptation, I couldn't haul Melody into this lifestyle. I just couldn't.

No dice.

His next words almost make me get shot, for real.

"Okay," Luca says in a hard, matter-of-fact tone and turning his attention back to his paperwork in a dismissive move that sets my blood on fire. "Well, tell Hendrix I'll be coming to collect Melody, then. He needs to have her ready for me by no later than Tuesday next week."

He grabs his pen and begins to sign the stack of papers to his right.

The laughter dies on my tongue as my blood pressure skyrockets.

"The fuck you are!" I say in a nasty tone, uncaring of his status, or the way the two armed men behind him tighten and train their gazes on me."You lay a hand on Melody, and I'll kill you myself."

Luca's head snaps up, furrowing his brow as a disbelieving look crosses his face so fast I barely see it. He holds a hand up to halt Blane when he takes a step forward, but his advance doesn't phase me. Luca needs to understand I'm not playing around. He wants me in his mafia so bad, he's going to need to understand a few important facts about me: one being, I don't play about Melody.

Period, point blank.

"You mean, your precious brother didn't tell you?" he asks slowly, his gaze turning curious as he, again, sees way too much.

Father would murder me himself if he saw what was going on right this very second and how I'm challenging California's most notoriously dangerous, andlethal,crime boss.

"Tell me what?"I growl, leaning forward in my seat.

His men take another step forward, but I couldn't care less. My eyes stay trained on the ruthless Don in front of me who meets my stare with a calm confidence that would probably terrify any other normal person. However, ruthless ornot,I'll go toe-to-toe with him over what's mineanyday of the week.

"That it was either you or Melody. He instinctively picked the woman's side and offeredyouup instead." He smiles. "Just like a fucking heir would."

Yup. By his words, he's already clocked the discontent between Hendrix and I somehow, making my lips tighten.

Suddenly the door bursts open, causing me to half turn in my chair to look over my shoulder to see what's going on. A petite brunette Italian woman comes through, looking distressed.

"What do you mean you're marrying me off?!" she cries. She stumbles as she strides to the desk, forcing me to shoot out a hand and quickly grab her arm so she doesn't fall. Her arms flail as she tries to catch herself on the back of the chair, not even sparing me a glance.

A man comes in behind her, looking like he's getting ready to pull her back; however, Luca just gives him a tiny head shake and a dismissive flick of his fingers. He steps back, adopting a watchful stance against the wall. My eyes go back to hers, seeing her eyes unnaturally dilated, and she's squinting. She must be on one hell of a drug. The bandaid in the crook of her arm is telling.

"Amelia,"Luca says in a soft voice, causing my eyes to raise with how tender he is with her. "Calm down. Where's your glasses my love?"

"You know I don't like to wear them!" she says in a distressed tone.

Luca keeps his voice calm. "Amelia, you know after your appointments-"

"I don't want to talk about my eyes, Luca!"she snaps. I frown. I guess I got the drug thing wrong, maybe."I want to talk about you marrying me off to the first man you can think of to get rid of me!"

"Amelia, you have to, sweetheart."