The invisible tears fell from her eyes, crying for her lost friends, her freedom, and the life she desperately wanted that had been stolen from her grasp.
The darkness in him whispered, Run and catch her. Show her what a real prisoner of yours would be like.
Staring down at the phone, he put it up to his ear, listening to the voicemail.
“The moment I yelled “fucking freak” through the lunchroom, I regretted it, and I’ve done nothing but wish I could take those words back ever since.” Amo’s voice seemed to break toward the end before he steadied it once more. “If I scared you by telling you I love you, I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry for everything, Chloe.”
Lucca squeezed the phone in his hand, making the screen crack.
Seven
Hey, Darlin’
Seven months ago…
When a black BMW appeared on his surveillance camera, Lucca had to do a double take to see if he was imagining it. By the time he watched her walk into the house, he realized that she was very much here. It worked.
He had hoped Chloe might come to make sure Elle was okay after the attack. Something told him she would. It had been a long shot to get her here, and an even longer one to get a moment alone with her, but I had to try.
Lucca needed her to know he existed. He wanted to see her face when she looked at him for the first time. He constantly imagined how their first encounter would go, and now he was closer than ever to living it.
Taking advantage of the microphone placed on the cameras, he turned the volume up to eavesdrop. More importantly, to hear her voice, which he hadn’t heard since she had looked at the music box in the shop.
When she finally spoke, it was just how he remembered: soft and unsure.
Who the fuck did this to her?
Realizing she stuttered out of fear and not because of a speech impediment infuriated him. At the same time, it broke a piece inside of him to see someone had broken a piece of her.
He continued to watch her every move, having to switch between cameras when they went into a different room.
Seeing Chloe inside the house he grew up in only amplified his feelings for her. He began to lose track of time from just watching her. That scary part deep down inside of him seemed to be satiated simply by watching her.
Lost in an almost trance, he barely noticed her eyeing the back door over and over again. Something inside Lucca felt like this was it. Go.
When that word popped into his head, he saw Chloe whisper something over to Elle. Then his heart started to pump slowly and steadily as he watched Chloe get up and head toward the big double doors.
This was it. This was his time. His moment was here.
Fuck, what am I? Nervous?
Going out a different back door than she had used, he tried his best to keep his feet light through the little bit of dusted snowfall. He had to be as careful as possible not to let Elle get a glimpse of him, or worse, scare Chloe away before he even got a chance with her.
Lucca knew he was going to scare her regardless, but he didn’t want her too scared to let their first encounter be of her running away screaming. She could think he was scary, but he needed a few minutes with her so she could see something else in him. What a girl like Chloe was going to see, he didn’t know.
Going around a corner, he saw her sitting perfectly still on the bench in the middle of the lighted gazebo, making him stop in his tracks. Never had Lucca thought anything like love or soulmates existed, yet now he was sure of it.
All his nervousness seemed to slip away as he looked at Chloe. Finding his purpose, he took a deep breath.
Waiting until the perfect moment to let her know of his presence, he stalked toward her, caging her in like an animal.
“Hey, darlin’.” Lucca had anticipated her wanting to run, but she didn’t. Instead, he watched her jump at his voice, then freeze. Something about that didn’t sit right with him, yet he continued on up the steps. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Chloe still didn’t move a muscle.
Leaning against a pillar to block her exit, he took in her appearance. This was the closest he had been to her. Her black dress and tights hugged her body, but her pale, scarred face was what stood out against her black hair, giving him a perfect view of her scars. Finally looking deeply into her eyes, he wished he could say the word out loud. Beautiful.
It was almost like she could hear his thoughts as her eyes dashed to her lap, and she began wringing her hands.
“I’m Nero’s brother, Lucca. I would shake your hand, but you wouldn’t shake it, anyway.” He wanted her to know he had been listening to their conversations.
Chloe’s eyes darted back up for a second then back down. It was obvious she was silently wondering how he knew that.
“I overheard that you’re apparently germophobic.” He hoped he had emphasized apparently just enough to gain her understanding that he didn’t buy it. He had watched her for a week now, not seeing any signs of her caring what she touched, not showing any traits of a real germaphobe. The only thing he saw was that she didn’t like human contact.
He could see the slight panic behind her eyes when she looked up at him again, which seemed to increase when she realized she was trapped.
Lucca had in fact finally caught her. Now he was going to enjoy it and see how far he could press his prey.
He slowly reached into his back pocket, watching her hold her breath, not knowing what he was going to pull out. When his pack of cigarettes came out, he could see the relief on her face as she was able to breathe again. Pulling out a stick and holding it with his lips, he put the pack back in his pocket then reached in his front pocket, seeing her give the same reaction and then relief again when it was just his Zippo.