Chapter 5 - The Man Behind the Name
The safe house was not what Elena expected.
No underground bunker.
No fortress.
It was a quiet townhouse overlooking the East River.
Marco left two guards downstairs.
Elena stood by the window.
Luca remained near the door.
“You can stop watching me.”
“I’m not.”
“You’ve been staring for ten minutes.”
“I’m making sure you’re okay.”
“I’m furious.”
“That answers the question.”
She turned.
“Tell me everything.”
Luca sat.
“Six months ago, someone began leaking information from inside my organization.”
“So you disappeared.”
“I became Luke Martin.”
“Why that building?”
“Cash rent. Bad security. Nobody cared who I was.”
“I cared.”
Luca looked at her.
“Yes.”
That single word softened something between them.
Elena crossed her arms.
“Were any of our conversations real?”
“All of them.”
“The jokes?”
“Yes.”
“The croissants?”
“Especially those.”
“The night I cried because I lost my job?”
“I remember.”
“You said my boss was an idiot.”
“He was.”
She almost smiled.
Then she remembered she was angry.
“And the singing?”
Luca looked away.
Elena stared.
“You really listened every night.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Luca was silent.
“Tell me.”
“Because I slept afterward.”
Her anger faltered.
“What?”
“I haven’t slept well in years.”
“And my singing helped?”
“Yes.”
“My terrible singing?”
“I didn’t say it was good.”
She threw a cushion at him.
He caught it.
For one brief moment, they were simply neighbors again.
Then Marco entered.
“We found the leak.”
Luca stood.
“Who?”
Marco hesitated.
“Vittorio.”
Luca’s expression emptied.
Elena noticed.
“Who’s Vittorio?”
“My uncle.”
Marco placed a phone on the table.
“Ryan sold your location to one of Vittorio’s intermediaries. Vittorio sent the men.”
Luca stared at the evidence.
“He knew about Astoria?”
“Not until Ryan’s photograph.”
Elena’s face tightened.
“So this happened because Ryan wanted money.”
Marco nodded.
“He had gambling debts.”
Luca looked toward Elena.
“I’m sorry.”
“For Ryan?”
“For bringing this into your life.”
“You didn’t bring Ryan into my life.”
“No. But I brought the rest.”
Elena stepped closer.
“What are you going to do?”
“End it.”
Her expression changed.
“Meaning?”
Luca saw the fear.
Not fear of Vittorio.
Fear of him.
That mattered.
“I’m going to expose him to the people whose trust he betrayed.”
“No bodies?”
Luca almost smiled.
“You ask very direct questions.”
“I live next to a mafia boss.”
“Formerly next to.”
She frowned.
“Formerly?”
“You’re not going back to 4B.”
“That apartment is mine.”
“The door is currently mostly firewood.”
“You’re buying me a door.”
“I’ll buy the building.”
“Luca.”
“A door. Fine.”
Marco tried not to laugh.
Luca gave him a look.
Marco immediately became serious.
“Meeting is tonight.”
Elena grabbed Luca’s arm.
“Come back.”
He looked at her hand.
Then at her.
“That sounded dangerously like concern.”
“Don’t make me regret it.”
“I’ll come back.”
“You promise?”
Luca had spent his life avoiding promises.
But this one came easily.
May you like
“Yes.”
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