Chapter 28

Iris' Pov

I stand frozen to the spot, perhaps it's the cold or maybe the shock that someone has completely and I do mean completely fucked up such a beautiful and no simple change of dollars and cents car. Ezra who no longer stood beside me must have gone off to fetch the security, leaving me to gawk open-mouthed at the wrecked car.

Swallowing the lump in my throat and walking towards the car I unlock it, flying the door open and there resting on the passenger seat is a neatly folded note just like the last one, surrounded by shards of glass. I place the bags down, picking the note up with shaky hands, opening it up my eyes scan the note with utter confusion.

'ZIT ZKXZI QSVQNL EGDTL ZG SOUIZ'

What the hell?

"You're telling me you didn't see anyone near that fucking expensive car over there?!" Ezra is yelling at the security who looks taken aback by the small blond girl. "My friend's car is damaged in your damn parking lot. I demand to speak to your manager, hell I'm demanding to see the fucker who owns this piece of shit mall!"

Shoving the note into my pocket as the security hurries away, seemingly to fetch the owner, Ezra huffs and stomps over to me.

"I am so sorry, Iris. I promise you justice will be served." She pats me on the shoulder. "I think we should call Luca."

"Yeah, I think you should," I mutter my head off in space, with a sigh I pick the bags up and tossing them in the back.

"You okay?" She asks, her brows furrowing in concern.

"Yea, yea. I'm um...just angry that someone would do this to my...Luca's car." I dismiss it, shaking my head and pushing a stray hair out of my face.

I don't want to tell her about the note.

She nods seeming to not really believe me but lets it go, thankfully. She takes her phone out and scrolls through before tapping it and pressing it to her ear.

"Luca, hey......yeah I know you're in a meeting.....it's just.........Iris is fine, relax however a situation has come up and..." She draws the phone away from her ear and looks at it in astonishment. "He hung up on me."

"What did he say?" I cock my head to the side thoughtfully, crossing my arms over my chest.

"He said to give him 10 minutes." She blinks her eyes, shaking her head then slipping her phone back into her pocket.

"Well-" I'm cut off by the 6'4 security walking back without a manager or the owner.

"Hey!" Ezra shouts her voice filled with wrath at the security who cowers instantly.

Poor man.

Ezra walks back over to the man jabbing her finger into his chest as he seems to be unsuccessfully trying to reason with her. A cold bitter breeze makes me shiver and remember that it's possibly below 7 degrees Celsius out here.

I lean against the car running my finger along the scratch, before not long the sound of a car speeding down the parking lot makes my head perk up, it's a Black Rolls Royce Phantom and instantly I know who it was.

Luca doesn't bother to park the car in an empty parking spot but smack in the center of the parking lot like a loon, his black well-polished shoes appear first, the snow crunching as he steps on it and then comes the rest of him.

His eyes dart around the lot until they settle on me leaning against his car, as always concern clouds his face. He leaves the door wide open and walks, no, strolled briskly yet elegantly towards me, a frown on his face.

Once he's standing before he says, his warm naked hands stroking my cold numbing face. "Are you okay, tesoro? Do you need to go to the hospital or something?"

"No, I'm fine...I promise." I look up at the man who is barely dressed for the cold. "Where's your coat?"

Luca glances down and shakes his head "I forgot it. What happened? Where's Ezra?"

"Ezra's right over there, yelling her head off at the security." I point at Ezra who has her arms folded looking like she was about to strangle the security guard. "Because someone shattered the window of the car and scratched the paint."

Luca finally takes his eyes off me and directs his attention to his car behind me, his jaw tense.

"I'm really sorry I took your car, Luca. If I'd known this would happen I wouldn't have taken it." I apologize, feeling horribly guilty.

"It's not your fault, amore. I'm glad you're okay, you mean more to me than some fucking car. I can buy of this bullshit but I can never replace you." Luca chuckles pulling me into a tight embrace, I sigh content and hum, snuggling deeper into his chest.

"Awww." Ezra coos, making me pull away from Luca's strong arms. "You guys are such goals."

"Shut up, Ezra." I groan playfully, Luca smirks down at me intertwining our fingers.

"So what did he say?" Luca inquires glancing over at the security who was on his phone.

"Well he says the owner, Mr. Palms is out of town and he can't seem to get a hold of his manager." Ezra sighs heavily looking over at the man as well.

"I think I'll go talk to him." Luca proposes unsettlingly calm and releases my hand, making to move off.

"No, the poor guy's already been intimidated enough," I say spreading my hand across his chest, stopping him. "Not to mention it's freezing out here and you don't have a coat or gloves on."

Luca sighs, heavily removing his eyes from the man and purses his pink lips reluctantly. "Fine but we need to alert the police about this."

"What? Why?" I ask.

Luca tenses up and immediately I am suddenly even more interested in what his answer might be.

"Because this seems like a threat, amore." He clears his throat burying his hands in his pockets, his eyes never leaving mine.

Is he lying? God, it's hard to read him.

"I guess so but can we please sit in the car or something it's cold as shit out here and I'd rather not die of hypothermia." I rub my hands together, trying to warm myself.

"I'll take care of this, you two can wait in the car." Luca says.

Nodding we make our way to Luca's Rolls Royce, Ezra getting in on the passenger side while I get into the driver's seat closing the door and turning the heater up, which makes me feel better immediately.

"Who do you think would really want to threaten me?" I glance out the frosted window, watching as Luca talked with the security.

"I don't know, I'd think much likely Luca's enemies." She muses tapping away on her phone.

Luca's enemies? As in business enemies?

I don't know how long we sat in the car, Luca had thankfully gotten a coat, scarf and gloves, buying it from a store inside the mall. Finally, after 5 minutes I see 3 or 4 police cars pull into the parking lot along with a tow truck behind them, men pile out and one of them addresses Luca who isn't standing too far off, Ezra soon gets out of the car and joins them.

They inspect the car, talking amongst themselves, Luca glances back at his Rolls Royce before turning on his heel and sauntering over to it. He opens the driver's door and I look up at him, fresh snow has fallen into his inky black hair and it's beautiful.

It resembles stars in the night sky.

"We should get down to the station," Luca informs me, his eyes still on the scene, leaning against the door.

"Why? Can't they just call us with what they found or something?" I mutter, glancing behind him at the mini 'scene'."I'm exhausted and cold."

"Well, the station's bigger and warmer, plus I still need to talk with the officers," Luca explains, finally looking down at me.

"Okay, but I put my bags in the back of the car and-" Luca cuts me off with a nod and strolls off, he seemingly uneasy.

Shaking it off I clamber over to the passenger's seat, waiting for Luca to come back with my bags. Luca pushes past the police officers and he opens the back door earning what I think are curses that he simply ignores.

He walks back and opens the trunk of the Rolls Royce placing the bags inside before closing it and getting into the car.

"Are you okay?" I ask, eying him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Iris." Luca smiles intertwining our hands and lifting my hand to press a kiss to my hand.

He's lying isn't he?

Smiling and waving it off, I glance out the window as Luca starts the car, driving out of the parking lot and unto the slightly less busy road. We drive in a deafening silence each pondering something else, I also make note of the way Luca's usual calm posture around the wheel is a tense, rigid one.

Sigh...

Pulling up in front of the station, Luca parks the car and I get out, back into the freezing cold, since hoping they have some chai tea in there or at least hot chocolate.

Luca strolls beside me and we enter through the doors, instantly I can feel the warmth of the heater. Luca walks towards the receptionist, talking low so as no one can hear them.

"Come on, sweetheart." The woman says once Luca has stop talking to her, she places her hand on my shoulder and leads me towards a door to my right.

"Where's Luca going?" I ask curiously, glancing over my shoulder at Luca who walks off to the left.

"Just down the hall." She smiles, still leading me towards the double doors.

?

I don't question it because one I doubt I'd get any answers from anyone and two goddamn I'm exhausted. Today's being an interesting and tiring day, really all I want to do is crawl into bed and curl up with Luca but I can't do that soI follow the woman to a sitting room filled with you'll never guess, cops.

Giving her a quiet thanks I take my coat off draping it over the brown leather couch, moving towards the coffee pot I pour myself a steaming hot cup.

Great, shitty cheap coffee.

Sitting down in one of the chairs I wait for Luca, cops walk pass, each one glancing at me, some even pointing at me while some, mainly the female cops gossip blatantly about me. Rolling my eyes, I continue to sip my shitty yet warming coffee.

I sit there for perhaps an hour before Luca enters the room holding the bridge of his nose, clearly frustrated.

"Are you okay?" I inquire squirming uneasily as he paced the room, a cold feeling settling in the pit of my stomach.

"Yes, I'm fine." He pauses, turning to look at me.

"You don't look fine, Luca." I state, crossing my arms over my chest annoyed.

Luca sighs heavily and takes a seat beside me, muttering low in Italian. He keeps bouncing his leg before he turns to speak to me.

"You could have died, amore. The police said that whoever vandalized car also cut the breaks. If you weren't deterred by the first threat they were willing to take you out." He grits out, staring straight ahead.

My heart beat accelerates and I feel like I'm about to puke, someone is really trying to kill me. But why?

I swallow hard my body tense and I shiver as icy cold sweat runs down the side of my neck and shudder crawls down my spine.

"Why would someone be trying to kill me?" I voice, queasy.

Luca hesitates, his eyes bot coining up to meet mine. "......I don't know."

"You hesitated, you never hesitate." I lick my dry lips, my eyes darting to his hunched figure.

He does know who it is. Why won't he tell me?

"Cristo, woman." He curses, letting out a heavy breath.

"It's because of you isn't it?" I continue stating the obvious, my hands shaking. "What are caught up in, Luca?"

"Obviously, amore." He hisses, sitting up and running a hand over his face, frustrated. "I'm not caught up in anything, anymore. And if I was it's not if you're business."

I rest my head in my hands trying not to blow up, I try to heave in my emotions but some things are easier said than done.

"Luca, people are trying to fucking kill me and you're here giving me sass-" I'm cut off by Luca capturing my face with a gentle yet rough grip.

"I'm taking care of it, tesoro." He assures me, he's stressed and tired. I could see it in his eyes, the fight that went on. "I will fix it, I always do. At any cost."

I pull away from his hold, nodding my head. Luca looks down before standing up presumably to go back to where ever he'd gone off before.

"Luca, wait," I call, causing him to stop and look at me over his shoulder. I dig into my pocket fishing out the note I'd found. "I found this note on the passenger seat of the car."

I hold the note out and Luca takes it from my hand, flipping the note open his eyes scanning the letter, his brows furrow.

"It's code." He says, turning the card over and glancing up at me.

"You can read code?" I inquire. I'm shocked, scratching my head at the new fact I'd learned about Luca.

"Yes." He answers though he's completely focused on the note, his forehead creasing as he reads the note twice then once again.

"I'll be right back, okay?" Luca looks over at me as I take my seat once again on the uncomfortable brown leather couch.

I sigh and nod, it was like that's the only thing I'd done all day, sigh and nod. He strolls off, going through the double doors, leaving alone in the buzzing police chat room.

I just want to go home.

I lean my head against the wall, placing my earphones in my ears and playing some soothing music, I yawn as my eyes start to feel heavy, closing my eyes I welcome sleep with open arms.

My eyes flutters open but I close them once again, Luca's carrying me down the steps of the NYPD station.

He sets me down in the passenger seat of the car and buckles me in. I sit on the brink of sleep barely in the land of snores, so I'm aware when he gets in and closes the door.

"I know, Arsenio, I know. I didn't have a choice though, did I?....Yes I think it's the fucking Russians. How else would they know about me being able to read code?" Luca speaks clearly on the phone. "...Detective Smalls owes me, I'm just cashing in on that favor....Yes, Iris is fine. Dad can rest his mind."

Detective Small, the detective from the other night. So they do know each other.

Luca suddenly switches languages, speaking rapidly in Italian, he's tense and frustrated whatever Arsenio says clearly upsets as he slams his hands onto the steering wheel, before taking a deep breath and replying with an addio.

I can feel his eyes dart to me so I let my own flutter open meeting his hazel eyes, which are heavy with darkened bags that indicate exhaustion.

We don't say anything, just sit in a comfortable silence until Luca averts his eyes starting the car up. I sit up and rub at my eyes like that of a three-year-old, watching as we drive through the snowy night, festive Christmas music streaming in through the speakers.

"Did you manage to decode the note?" I question, my voice groggy from sleep.

Luca glances at me before looking back at the road, his voice tight. "I did. It was a Qwerty code, the person used the order of a keyboard...it was a simple code meaning that the person wasn't very knowledgeable about writing codes. A newbie."

"Why would someone leave that note for me? I can't read code." I muse, pushing my hair back.

".....Because it was for me." Luca purses his lips, his hands tightening on the wheel so hard that his knuckles white.

Of course, Iris.

"Oh," I mumble, toying with my fingers nervously. "What did the note say?"

"The truth must come to light." Luca scowls, looking over at me.

What truth was that?

I say no more instead I look out the window the rest of the ride, today has been a draining day all I want is to lay in bed and sleep it off, hoping it will melt away like the other bad, draining days.

We pull into the estate and as soon as Luca parks I unbuckle my seatbelt and got out, closing the door and walking up towards the front door. I fish inside my pocket, opening the door and entering the silent, dark and enormous house.

As I'm on my way to the staircase Luca's hand grips my wrist pulling me back. I can't see his face as the last guys are off but I know he's staring down at me.

I can practically feel those intense eyes of his staring me down, those eyes which can make me feel a lot of things, unease being just one.

"What is it, Luca?" I grumble out, frustrated at the fact that he hasn't said a word though he's stopped me.

He still says nothing which further pisses me off but he does step closer intruding my personal space, his shoots practically touching mine. I can feel his minty breath on my face and his unique manly scent floods my nose.

"Look, Luca I'm really tired. I don't have time for this bull-" My sentence dies as a result of Luca's lips pressed sweetly against mind.

His lips move against mine in a magical, precise manner that makes me push my further into his warm touch. Luca pulls back and my eyes flutter open to look at him making out his outline in the darkness.

"I promise I'll always keep you safe, amore." He whispers against my lips, his words making my heart soar, race, hammer in a way no one has ever made me feel.

I crash my lips onto his, closing my eyes I feel his hands go to my backside as he hoists me into the air, wrapping my legs around his waist. I pour my heart and soul into kissing that man, I loop an arm around his neck, my other hand tangling in his hair.

We barely break away from each other for too long not even for climbing the stairs which results in me almost falling twice making both of us laugh at my clumsiness.

⚠⚠⚠!⚠⚠⚠

God, we're bipolar as fuck.

I pull my top off throwing it somewhere in the hallway to Luca's room, moaning as Luca grips my ass and pulling me into his hard body. Luca curses, trailing his feather like kisses up my jaw, I absentmindedly push the door of his bedroom open as he rips his shirt open, revealing his chiseled physique.

My hands run over his warm flesh and I reach for the belt of Luca's pants but I'm stopped by Luca grabbing my hands with one of his and holding them behind my back.

"Slow," Luca chuckles, amusement evident in his tone. He grins, pecking the frown that settles on my lips.

"Fine," I grumble begrudgingly, feeling Luca release my hands.

"As a matter of fact, give me a second." Luca presses a kiss to my forehead before strolling out of the room before I can question where he's going.

My shoulders slump but I immediately perk up realizing that now is a great time to freshen up, quickly entering the bathroom I do what I can to make sure I'm smelling great and I don't look a complete fucking mess even going as far as applying a fresh layer of crimson red lipstick.

I exit the bathroom l, my hips swinging seductively, the first thing I'm greeted with is a bunch of candles lighting our bedroom, a soft tune playing in the background and Luca sitting on the bed presumably waiting for me.

"Oh my god," I mutter in awe glancing around at the romantic gesture.

"Do you like it, amore?" He smirks, nodding I saunter over to him straddling his waist.

"It's sweet, Luca." I giggle like a love-struck teenage girl who's about to have her first time.

"It's the least I could do." He interlaces our fingers bring them up to his lips to press a kiss to the back of my hand.