Unbroken (The Protectors 12)

I didn’t see Luca.

I held my breath as I listened.

I should go back upstairs.

Or call for Vaughn.

Man up for God’s sake, Aleks.

I nodded to the voice in my head. I could do this. Even if I came across Luca and he tried something, I’d yell for everything I was worth. If I could attack Vaughn to protect myself, surely my brain would react in a similar manner around a man who wanted to harm me.

But was that what he really wanted?

He’d said he wouldn’t have hurt me.

It wasn’t something I wanted to find out for sure, so I hurried to the kitchen and began scanning the counter for a bag of bread, then realized there probably wouldn’t be any because no one appeared to currently be living in the house. The little food I’d seen upstairs had looked like it could have come from the freezer… Dante often made potatoes like that from a bag that he just had to put in the microwave. And there was always some kind of meat kept in our freezer.

I moved silently to the cabinets and began carefully opening them to see if there were any crackers. I hadn’t thought to check if there’d been glasses of anything to drink on the dresser where the food had been, so I grabbed one during my search. I’d be able to fill it with water from the bathroom faucet.

I was in the process of opening one of the long cabinets by the refrigerator when I heard a slight cough. I froze, then began frantically searching the kitchen to see who’d managed to sneak up on me. But there was no one. When I heard the sound again, I realized it was coming from outside. I’d somehow missed the fact that the kitchen door was open but the screen door was closed. There was a little bit of light out on the porch off the kitchen, but I didn’t see anyone.

It could only be Luca out there… or one of his men.

I carefully closed the cabinet and gripped the glass in my hand so I could use it as a weapon if someone came rushing through the door to grab me. Then I began backing away from the door and back toward the front entryway and stairs… and the safety of Vaughn.

Then I heard it.

This time it wasn’t a cough.

I stilled as I acknowledged what it was.

A sob.

I shook my head because it couldn’t be. Guys like Luca didn’t cry.

It was a trick.

He knew I was in here and was trying to draw me outside so he could grab me.

I took another step back and heard another sob, softer this time… muffled.

Guys like Luca didn’t cry… but fathers who’d lost their sons did.

I moved silently forward, the glass still in my hand. I listened for any creaking of the floorboards that proved he was moving around, but there was nothing but the sound of crickets.

And that occasional muffled sound that I could barely make out now.

I saw him almost immediately when I reached the door. He was sitting on the steps leading to the grass. His back was to me and he was wiping at his eyes.

If he was aware of me, he was really good at pretending he wasn’t. There was something in his hand that he put to his mouth, and a moment later I smelled a hint of smoke.

He was having a cigarette.

Brian had smoked. The smell had always made me sick because he’d smoked almost nonstop and I’d smell it on his hot breath while he was making me his special boy.

Fucking you.

I closed my eyes at the voice in my head. Brian had never called what he’d done to me that but some of the other men had. They’d liked that word.

Brian hadn’t.

He’d said it was crude and uncouth. I hadn’t known what those things meant, but I’d known that nothing about what he’d been doing had been special.

I felt nausea roll through my belly as the memories of the first time he’d hurt me threatened to steal into my mind.

No, not here. Not now.

Not anymore.

I willed the blackness away and opened my eyes. I was startled to see Luca watching me.

I automatically stepped back, but he didn’t make a move to get up. I told myself to run, but his eyes were like Vaughn’s… something about them made it impossible to move. But with Vaughn it was more like I didn’t want to. With Luca it felt like I was staring into the eyes of a predator… moving would just cause it to hunt me down.

I was surprised when he turned his attention from me. He took another puff on the cigarette. “Don’t tell Con, okay?” he said as he held the cigarette up briefly. “He thinks I quit.”

I didn’t respond to him, but I took advantage of the fact that he wasn’t looking at me to check the screen door for a lock.