Men poured out with weapons drawn, sharp-eyed and silent, spreading across the deserted road. But Luca moved first.
He stepped out of the car with his gun already raised. Not at the men on the ground but at David.
Veronica’s stomach dropped. David did not flinch. He stood beside his own car, shirt stained with blood, expression bored. The gun pointed at his chest might as well have been an umbrella. He merely stared Luca down with one brow raised.
"Luca!" Vee shouted. "No! No! He saved me."
Luca’s head jerked toward her. Everything violent in him paused. His eyes dragged over her face, her bruised cheek.
"He saved me," she said again, pointing at David, still not believing it herself.
Luca’s gaze shifted slowly back to David. His eyes narrowed. Then, finally, he took in the rest of the scene.
The ruined cars, the smoke, the broken men groaning on the ground. The driver curled near the front tire, clutching himself.
Luca lowered the gun from David. Veronica exhaled. Then Luca aimed it at the men on the floor.
"Ah fuck! Luca!" she barked immediately. "We cannot afford that. Not now."
David watched them, studying every shift, every breath. The way Luca seemed to only hear her. See her. The way the fury in him did not disappear, but bent around her voice like even his rage knew who owned it.
Veronica stepped closer to Luca. "Look at me. Not now," she said softly. "We do not need another mess."
Luca’s hand tightened around the gun. His eyes darkened. "I’m not fucking letting them go," Luca snapped.
"He already did the heavy lifting," Vee said.
Luca’s eyes stayed on the men sprawled across the road. The gun remained in his hand, angled low now, but not harmless.
"Actually," David said mildly from beside his car, "she did the heavy lifting."
Both Luca and Vee turned to him. David stood there with that maddening calm of his.
"No one is talking to you," Luca snapped at David.
"I guess that’s my cue to leave."
"That was your cue five minutes ago," Luca said.
David opened his car door. It gave a sad metallic complaint, because the front of half of it was badly damaged. He slid into the driver’s seat, paused, then gave Luca a small salute through the open window.
Luca looked as if he was considering shooting the salute off his hand. David’s smile widened by half an inch before he drove the battered car off, its engine protesting loudly into the empty road.
Vee turned to Luca. "You didn’t have to be mean to him."
Luca stepped closer, the fury in him shifting now that David was gone. It was still there, still burning, but it was wrapped tightly around fear. His eyes moved over her again. Every little mark seemed to carve something out of him. "How the hell did he know where to find you?" he asked.



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