Chapter 4 The meeting
Lucy changed her clothes three times before she forced herself to stop.
This was foolish.
Dangerous.
Entirely reckless.
She should have smashed the phone, burned the SIM, and vanished into another neighborhood by now.
She’d done it before.
She was good at disappearing.
But something about Lucas’s voice—steady, deep, unyielding—echoed in her mind.
Don’t run from me, Lucy.
She wasn’t afraid of him.
She was afraid of what she felt when he spoke.
Lucy pulled her hood over her head and stepped out into the cool night air. The city hummed around her, neon lights flickering across dark sidewalks.
She followed the address he texted:
Rossi’s Café — 24-hour diner. Crowded. Bright. Public.
Smart choice for a mafia boss asking a stranger to meet.
Lucy entered the diner, scanning the tables quickly.
The smell of coffee and fried eggs clung to the air. A waitress wiped down a booth; college students laughed over milkshakes. Everything looked normal.
And then her eyes landed on him.
Lucas DeLuca sat in the back corner, facing the entrance—of course he did—dressed in a black shirt and a tailored jacket, sleeves rolled up enough to show the veins along his arms.
He looked powerful even sitting still, like coiled steel waiting to move.
His dark eyes lifted.
Locked on her instantly.
Lucy swallowed.
He stood as she approached, an old-fashioned gesture that didn’t match his dangerous reputation.
He wasn’t smiling, but his expression softened—just barely—when she stopped in front of him.
“Lucy,” he said quietly. “You came.”
She crossed her arms. “Five minutes. That’s all.”
Lucas nodded once. “Sit.”
It wasn’t a command, but it sounded like one.
Lucy slid into the booth across from him, keeping her hands folded in her lap so he wouldn’t see them lightly trembling.
“What do you want?” she said keeping her voice low.
He stared at her intensely.
“You found me,” she said, keeping her voice low. “You know my name, my place of work.”
“I had to,” Lucas replied. “You appeared out of nowhere.
Fought off two armed men.
Disappeared before I could thank you.
I don’t like loose ends.”
Lucy stiffened. “I’m not one of your problems to solve.”
“No,” he said, studying her. “You’re a mystery.”
She hated how his voice brushed over her skin, warm and deliberate.
Lucas leaned forward slightly. “Emily told me what happened. She said you ran toward danger when everyone else ran away.”
Lucy looked down at the scratched tabletop. “I just did what needed to be done.”
“No.” His tone sharpened. “You risked your life for my sister.”
He wasn’t used to people contradicting him.
She noted it.
“And I need to know why,” Lucas said.
Lucy’s breath caught.
Of course he did.
He didn’t know she hunted traffickers.
He didn’t know the promise she made years ago.
He didn’t know the darkness she waded into every night.
“Some girls don’t get saved,” she said quietly.
“Not unless someone steps in.”
Lucas’s eyes narrowed with a flicker of something she couldn’t read—respect? curiosity? danger?
“And you decided that someone was you.”
“It had to be,” she whispered.
A beat of silence passed between them.
Then Lucas leaned back, expression unreadable. “Who trained you?”
Lucy blinked. “Trained me?”
“You fight like someone who knows what they’re doing.
You moved before the men did. Anticipated their strikes.”
He wasn’t complimenting her—he was analyzing her.
“Are you ex-military?” “No.”
“Police?” “No.”
“Then why”—he tilted his head—“did you look ready to die for a stranger?”
Lucy’s voice dropped. “Because once, I didn’t get there in time.”
Lucas stared at her, eyes shadowed with something like understanding.
He knew loss.
She could tell.
Before she could say more, the waitress came over. “Can I get you two anything?”
Lucas didn’t look away from Lucy. “Coffee. Two.”
“I’m not staying,” Lucy said sharply.
“You’re staying until we finish talking.”
He said it calmly, but it vibrated with authority.
Lucy glared. “You don’t control me.”
A ghost of a smile touched his lips. “Not yet.”
Her stomach flipped. “Lucas—"
“I’m not trying to scare you,” he said quietly. “I just want to understand you. You saved my sister. I owe you a debt.”
“I don’t want anything from you,” Lucy insisted.
“Then why,” Lucas asked, eyes locked on hers, “did you still come tonight?”
Her breath hitched.
Because deep down, she wanted to see him too. Because something about him pulled at her like gravity. Because she was stupid, reckless, human.
But she would never admit that.
“Curiosity,” she lied.
Lucas didn’t believe her for a second. She saw it in his eyes.
The coffee arrived. The waitress left.
Lucas wrapped his hands around the mug but didn’t drink. “Lucy… you’re involved in a war you don’t understand.”
“I know exactly what I’m involved in.”
“No,” he said, voice low. “You don’t.”
He leaned closer.
“My enemy targeted my sister. Yours too, apparently. The same men. The same network.” His jaw tightened. “Marco Verri.”
Lucy’s blood ran cold.
He knew.
Not everything, but enough.
Lucas watched her reaction carefully. “So he is the reason you fight.”
She didn’t answer.
He didn’t need her to.
“You and I,” Lucas said, “we’re chasing the same monster.”
Lucy’s breath trembled. “You think that means we should work together?”
“No,” Lucas said simply. “It means I can’t let you do this alone.”
Her eyes widened.
“Why?” she whispered.
His gaze softened—dangerously.
“Because you matter now.”
Lucy’s heart slammed in her chest.
Lucas continued, voice deep and steady: “Let me protect you, Lucy.”
She shook her head. “I don’t need protecting.”
“You do,” he said. “Even if you don’t want it.”
Lucy stood abruptly, chair scraping. “I shouldn’t have come.”
Lucas stood too.
“Lucy,” he said softly, “I will find you again. Not to control you. Not to cage you.”
He paused.
“But because something happened the moment I saw you in that alley. And you felt it too.”
Her throat tightened.
She couldn’t deny it.
“Goodnight, Lucas,” she whispered.
She turned and walked out of the diner, pulse pounding, breath unsteady.
Lucas watched her leave with an expression that chilled her to the bone—
determined.
Because the Bravata boss had just decided something.
And when Lucas DeLuca wanted someone…
he didn’t let go.