Emilia's POV
After we escaped, I made Linda turn the car around. It wasn't an easy thing to convince sensible Linda to do but no way was I leaving Luca to die.
"You're insane," Linda muttered, but she was already executing a U-turn that would've impressed a stunt driver. "Absolutely batshit crazy. You know that, right?"
"Yeah." I agreed with her. I pressed my palm against my face and too a deep breath. "I know"
**
La Luna's neon sign was the first thing we saw, just sputtered above the dirty alley.
I looked around and for a second, I almost couldn't believe I lost my virginity in this dump.
This dump that was littered with rotting garbage and smelt like years collection of drunk people's urine.
It was disgusting.
Linda's fingers dug into my elbow. "Five minutes. If you don't find him, we're leaving your romantic martyrdom here to rot and I'm dragging you out kicking and screaming."
I nodded, pulled up my hoodie to cover my identity, and shouldered open the rusted service door.
Inside, the air here was even worse.
"Did it smell this bad the last we came here?" I asked Linda as we pushed our way in. "Ooff, what's that smell? It's like fish and—toilet water"
"Emilia! Focus!" Linda snapped. "Do you see Mr. One night stand?"
I looked around searching for Luca. It was the same sticky floors. Same pink cocktails. Same everything—but no Luca.
I shoved through a knot of dancers and went to talk to the bartender—a mountain of muscle with a spiderweb tattoo strangling his throat— who watched me approach. His smirk revealed a gold-capped incisor.
"Looking for someone, Sugar?"
"Luca." My voice came out steadier than I felt. "Dark hair. Green eyes. Tall enough to piss off the sun."
He polished a tumbler with a rag that might've once been white. "Luca, eh? He's not the type you find around smelly clubs twice in two days."
Linda slammed my father's watch on the counter. Its gold face glinted under the blacklights. "Try harder." She said through her clenched teeth.
I looked at her. where did you get that?
"Long story" she whispered to me.
"You stole it"
"I stole it." She agreed with a smile. "Okay, maybe, not that long of a story"
I watched the bartender pocket Vittorio's watch.
"Now, tell her or give me back my watch!" Linda told at him. I gave her a look. "Fine. Herfather's watch"
"Saw some rough types drag him toward the loading bay. I'd advise you to go the other way. The men who took him? They're not the forgiving kind."
My stomach dropped.
I ran.
"Baby, wait!"
I left Linda behind pushing through the host of tangled bodies to find Luca.
The alley behind La Luna was a throat waiting to swallow me whole.
A single bulb swung above a rusted door, and I thought for sure I would find his lifeless body in one of the trash cans.
"Luca!" I screamed his name.
I stopped screaming when I saw him. He wasn't dead. He was very much alive, and breathing and still breathtakingly handsome.
Luca.
His back was against a wall covered in graffiti. A cigarette dangled from his lips, ember flaring as he inhaled.
He had fresh blood on his knuckles. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing a map of scars I hadn't noticed that night.
He looked up.
The moment his eyes found mine, something in my chest skipped a beat.
I let out a breath i didn't even know I was holding in.
"You are alive. Thank God!"
It was the only thing I said before I suddenly found myself in between his arms and his lips on me as I actively try to remember how to breathe.
It felt like coming home to a house that wasn't mine.
I pulled away forcefully when I saw flashes of Sal Marchetti's mouth on my breast.
I was breathless. Partly because of Luca's kiss, partly because of Sal Marchetti's repulsiveness.
"Hi," he said, his voice was rougher than I remembered. Like he'd been yelling. Or screaming.
"Hi," I whispered back.
He pushed off the wall, and focused his attention on me. "Hi, darlin'. Are you alright? You look pale"
I tried to get my breathing under control. I wasn't about to tell him that being assaulted by one's brother's killer was a whole level of fucked-upness no one prepared me for.
I tried to distract myself and him by reaching for his belt, practically trying to grab his cock to push into me, he raised both hands up like he was surrendering and pushed off of me.
"Woah! slow down. What happened? Talk to me, darlin"
He looked so worried. How was it possible a total stranger was more worried about my feelings and fate than my own father?
"I'm so—so sorry, I'm such a whore. You should ask my father if you don't believe me" I laughed, hoping he wouldn't see the pain in my voice "Hi, I'm Emilia. My life's a telenovela. Would you please let me fuck you? Pretty please with a cherry on top"
I looked up at him and he looked at me.
We both started laughing, uncontrollably. Well, I did. Luca only smiled like I had finally lost my mind.
"I guess you finally settled on a name. It's nice to meet you, Emilia"
I chuckled like a crazed teenager.
Yeah. Real nice to meet me.