Marcus was, relatively-speaking, a very patient man. He tolerated the occasional sass from his underlings, so long as they produced results. He was willing to wait yearsĀ to plot revenge against an ex who had stolen millions from him just to relish the comeuppance.Ā But this bullshit? Challenging him to a fight in neutral territory, when they wereĀ supposedĀ to be securing precious resources for the Italian mafia? This wasnāt just a risk to theirĀ āfamilyā, or the dumbest fucking move to have graced his eyes. This was humiliation. It was the sort of crime that would have gotten a bullet between the eyes of Luca DāAmore anywhere else, with no one so much as blinking at the extreme punishment.
This was goddammned disrespectful, and Marcus didnāt tolerate disrespect.
āNow look at what youāve done. Youāve just gone and pissed me right the fuck off. YouĀ want to threaten me, DāAmore? What do you think dear old boss is going to think of that?ā Dante might have (allegedly) given Luca instructions to attend, but Marcus was still well-above him in terms of ranking. When he wanted someone to walk, theyād fucking do it until they passed out from exhaustion. And theyād get back up and walk some more. ThatĀ was what being an underboss meant. āThreatening me is a threat against Dante, and I wonāt have that kind of garbage under my roof. Do I make myself clear? Iām not your acquaintance. Iām not your friend. Iām your fucking bossĀ and you better step the fuck down if you want to keep your appendages attached.ā His tone grew more agitated by the minute, knuckled cracking as he fought back the urge to dislocate his jaw as a taster of what was to come.Ā
As he felt hands come into contact with his chest, he nearly lurched forwards, eagar to beat in the arms dealerās face and show him just how powerless he really was. But a soft cry and a tug on one of his arms stilled his fists.Ā Baby was there, and he needed her more than he needed Luca on almost any given day. Marcus stilled for her sake, recovering his stance and drawing himself up to his full impressive height. He listened to her pleas with a face as still as stone, weighing the pros and cons of each possible action he could take. It was so rare, for Baby to ask him for anything, and the opportunities that could arise that night were unlike any of his previous scores. She was a clever woman, dangling a free favour in front of his face after all of her confessions and efforts to appease him thus far. As for Luca, wellā¦Marcus knew where he lived.
Marcus looked at Luca, then back to Baby, and made his choice.
The underboss let out a slow breath, unclenching his fists and regaining his composure; something Luca was clearly unable to do. āGo stick your nose in someone elseās business, Luca. You donāt have what it takes to see the big picture. Iām sure youāve got plenty of other women youād like to get your hands on tonight, but Babyās off-limits.ā It was a goddammned miracle that Marcus had been willing to offer him even that, after Lucaās blatant challenging of his authority. God, he was going soft.Ā āNow Baby, Iām going to hold you to that promise, you hear me? Sorry about the detour.ā Marcus brought a hand up to stoke her golden hair, opting to comfort her rather than deal with Lucaās bullshit any longer. He pulled her in by the waist and turned his back to Luca, coaxing her back into the crowd.Ā āYou should thank Baby, DāAmore. She saved your ass tonight. Now if you donāt mind, I have a meeting to get to.ā
No one ignored Luca Nicola DāAmore and walked away intact. He might not have been as high ranking as Marcus fucking Blackman, but he had carved his way to the seat he occupied now in the Italian Mob. Blood, sweat, tears, and charismaāhe had made sure his name was branded on his enemies, one way or another. It might not have been a name everybody immediately knew or thought of when they thought of organized crime in New York City, but he was hellbent on making that dream a reality. One day, he would be as infamous and revered as Marcus Blackman. And the next time that prick ignored him, he would make sure he paid for it dearly. With his life, even.
āMen threaten you every day, Blackman; if you think Iām the only enemy you have in the family, youāre a whole ass moron,ā he seethed through gritted teeth. He was prepared to speak up further, perhaps to respond to Marcusā snipe that Luca had gone and pissed him off, when Baby was calling him an asshole. His gaze shot to her, his stance still rigid and rife with tension as his gaze swept over her frame. After everything theyād been through, she would dare to stand here and paint him as the villain between the two of them? She would ignore the way Marcus used herāhe was clearly using her tonight, though the motivation remained undeterminedāin favor of calling Luca the asshole here? No, no, no, that simply would not do.
āDonāt forget who put you in that Givenchy creation draped all over you before you go off acting like a little asshole yourself,ā Luca snapped, betrayal lashing through him with the force of a physical blow. It was almost enough to leave him staggering, a wound crinkling and fissuring open in the center of his chest as he realized that his girl was going to take Marcusā side. For whatever reason or by whatever means necessary, she had chosen him tonight.Ā āYou would be nowhere without me, princess, and donāt you fucking forget that. You think this prick would have taken care of you the way I did? You donāt think that once heās done with you, heās going to throw you out like an old doll? I have dressed you, paid you, fed youāIāve given you everything your little heart has ever desired, and this is the thanks I get? Spat in my face while you practically hump Blackman at an event you arenāt prepared to handle the magnitude of?ā He paused, indignation and repulsion flitting across his face when she brought up him whoring her out.
āThe events I whore you out at, if youāre going to be fucking frank, donāt end with a bullet pressing between your shoulder blades. This event isnāt safe for you, but maybe Blackmanās seduced you into thinking otherwise. I can only teach you how to use your body to your advantage, not how to gain common sense.ā
But then Baby was pleading with Marcus, telling him that she would do anything he asked of her, so long as he didnāt let Luca ruin their evening, and he felt himself step out of his own body. He blinking, his ears ringing as his vision tunneled and fragments of a memory sprung to his mind, bleeding before him like ink running through paper. A woman, with raven hair in tight ringlets, grabbing her husband who still had the leather cord of a belt wrapped around his fist. Her fingers, almost feather-light on the manās bicep as she attempted to turn him away from the young boy sprawled over the side of a bed, biting his lower lip to keep the cries from slipping out of his mouth with each lashing he received. Lucaās back was throbbing, the pain of broken skin, cracked like pavement on a hot summer day, echoing down to his very bones.
Please, Francesco, the woman was pleading, tugging at her husbandās arm. Donāt let him ruin this. The agency said if we prove ourselves, weāll finally be allowed to adopt. The boy is dysfunctional, donāt let him ruin this for us. Heās broken.
The sounds of laughter and glasses clinking together brought him back to the present, and by the time Luca had come to, Marcus was already pointedly leading Baby away from them. Marcusā fingers rested against Babyās hair, and Luca swore he saw red blot out his vision. He didnāt feel like playing with Luca now, but the arms dealer knew that Marcus would come back for him later. Monsters always came for their prey in the dark. But Luca wasnāt preyāhe was a fucking predator, and heād be damned if Marcus got away with everything heād worked towards collecting for himself these long years. They were relatively isolated, most of the party having gravitated outside or to other rooms, as Luca flicked back his suit jacket in favor of pulling out the sleek black Beretta pistol heād kept strapped to his hipāa personal favorite, trulyāand went through the mechanics of loading the gun and removing the safety. The magazine clip loaded with a clip, Luca adjusted the gun in his grip, and removed the safety as he aimed for Marcus.Ā
He could shoot him in the heart, he supposed; Luca would take quite a bit of satisfaction watching the bullet enter through Marcusā spinal cord, paralyzing him just before it grazed his heart and the life stuttered out of him. Or he could shoot him in the headāa clean shot, if done correctly, but there was always the problem of people sometimes living with brain injuries. But no, noāLuca didnāt want to kill Marcus Blackman. Not here, not now; not like this. Instead, he lowered his gaze, his jaw clenched as he aimed for a vulnerable spot on Lucaās leg. Right by his thigh; it wouldnāt kill him and likely wouldnāt break any bones, but it would at least halt Marcus long enough for Luca to get what he wanted. Control of the situation. He aimed, thanking himself for having the sense to put his silencer on the gun before heading out for the evening, and with a squeeze of the trigger, he watched as the bullet lodged itself in Marcusā thigh.
āWe arenāt done until I say we are, Blackman,ā Luca said smoothly, walkingāwith all the time in the world, really, because Blackman sure as hell wouldnāt be walking straight any time soonātowards him, circling him like a predator and glaring at both of them. Marcus was high above him in the food chain, and Luca knew he would pay for this laterābut whatever Marcus was planning, it wouldnāt have ended well for Baby. He could tell by the greedy glimmer in Marcusā eyes. And whether or not Baby felt like being an ungrateful bitch, she was still his. He would protect her, no matter the cost. āI asked you nicely before, but superior or not, letās get one thing clear. Whatever youāre planning, you self-absorbed prick, leave my girl out of it.ā
Things were very quickly spinning wildly out of control, and the heartfelt reunion with her little sister that Baby had been so desperately looking forward to seemed to be moving further and further away into the distance. They had already caused enough of a scene that members of the Golightlyās security squad were looming around them at all sides, keeping a watchful eye on both Luca and Marcus and remaining posed just in case one of them decided to risk it all, and Baby could only assume that they were delaying Bunnyās entrance because of it. All she had wanted was to see her - all she had wanted was to finally know that Bunny had really and truly escaped the hellish nightmare of their shared childhood in favor of finding a home full of love and warmth and security - but for whatever reason, Luca seemed hellbent on keeping her from doing just that. It wasnāt entirely fair to him, she supposed - after all, hadnāt she ensured that he knew as little about her past as possible? - but she still didnāt understand why he was so bothered by the fact that she had chosen to attend the ball as Marcusās date. He hadnāt asked her to attend with him; for all she knew, he could have taken any one of the other dancers he so often liked to spend his time with at the club. No...Marcus was the only one here for her right now, and even though she knew that his intentions werenāt purely to do something kind on her behalf, he was still the only reason that she had even gotten through the door to begin with, and so - for that, she was grateful, and if he still managed to bring her close enough to Bunny, then she would gladly spend the rest of her life repaying him in any way that he demanded of her.Ā
Marcus stroked gently at her honey-blonde hair, and Baby leaned relievedly into the uncharacteristically soothing touch, her eyes fluttering shut as a shaky breath tumbled past her quivering lips. She hadnāt been on the verge of an anxiety attack like this in a long, long time, somewhere along the way when she had first taught herself to hide everything behind a smile, but when Marcus drew her in close with a strong arm around her tiny waist and began to lead her further away from Luca and closer towards her number one goal of the evening, she forced herself to relax as much as she could. That was - until Luca went off behind them, following after them relentlessly and barking out the cruelest statements that he could manage. It wasnāt just Marcus who was at the mercy of his volatile fury; when he told her that she would be nothing without him, Baby flinched, and she had to squeeze her eyes shut once more at the sudden influx of repressed memories that came rushing into her mind like a freight train. The abuse hadnāt come to an end when she had been taken into foster care; how many of her surrogate fathers had spread her out and used her while behaving exactly the way that Luca was right now? How many of them had told her that she was nothing without them, that she was worthless and good for little more than fulfilling their perverse needs? They had dressed and fed her, too, just like Luca did, and they had also thrown it in her face and threatened to take it all away from her if she didnāt do exactly as they said. Was that what love was? Living in constant fear of doing something so awful that life as she knew it would be yanked away from her and torn to pieces?
Was that what her love for Luca was like?
She couldnāt think about any of that now, though, not when she was so close to making it through the seemingly-unpenetrable fray of security and reuniting with her sister, and so she ducked her head and kept her eyes squeezed shut as she rested her brow against Marcusās shoulder againā she was quivering from head to toe and on the verge of tears, but it would all be worth if the moment she was able to wrap her arms around Bunny and give her the present tucked away in her escortās jacket. However...coming up from behind them was the faint and barely-heard click of a sound, and in the next instant, the rush of something cold and silvery was shooting through the air before landing itself firmly in the back of Marcusās leg.Ā āOh - oh my God!ā Babyās cry was loud and piercing, her eyes widening helplessly as the underboss at her side all but collapsed where he stood; Luca had shot him in the thigh, and already his blood was beginning to run crimson all over the ballroom floor.Ā āMarcus - Marcus!ā Frantically, Baby did what she could to support him with her much-smaller frame; she reached for one of his strong arms and draped it over her shoulders, letting out another tiny cry as she struggled beneath the weight of him. She turned them both around to face Luca, if only because the nearest exit was behind them, and it was only then that she was able to get a good and proper look at the arms dealer.
He was a man unhinged. His eyes were dark, his jaw tense and taut with unbridled rage, and his voice was like daggers as he spoke. He had just - solely on her behalf, he had shot a man in cold blood, and Baby had no idea what that meant for the two of them. Had he really just risked everything, including his life, solely because the sight of her on Marcusās arm had been too much for him to bear? Was he really so worried about her so-called lack of safety with the underboss that he had taken to violence as a means of solving the problem at hand? Luca - as fucked up as it was, Luca had never done anything like this in the past to show that he cared for her, and Baby was equal parts overwhelmed, terrified, and angry because of it.Ā āYou shouldnāt have done that,ā she said breathlessly, shakily; security was swarming in on them like a furious throng of buzzing bees, and Baby was torn between three things: taking care of Marcus, finding her sister, and telling Luca to run as far as he possibly could before the head of the Italian mob realized what he had done. But - Marcus was bleeding. Marcus was hurt, and due the commotion they had just caused, Bunnyās arrival would almost certainly be delayed even more than it already had.Ā
She couldnāt abandon Marcus - not when he had done everything in his power to make her dreams come true tonight. It wasnāt his fault that things hadnāt panned out; it wasnāt his fault that he had ended up getting shot in the process.Ā āLet - letās get out of here, okay? Iāll bring you somewhere safe; I promise Iāll take care of you,ā she said to him in that same breathless, fretful voice from before; he might have been just another man who gave her orders when it suited him and ignored her when it didnāt, but that didnāt mean that she didnāt care for him. On the contrary, Baby cared a stupid amount.Ā āThey just want us to leave; they arenāt going to help you - all they want is for us to get the heck out of here so that they can clean the floors.ā That much about rich people and their hired help she understood - they had no time to tend to the needs of the people they deemedĀ ābeneathā them, and she doubted that they would send anyone after them so long as they left.Ā āIām so sorry, Iām so sorry,ā she continued in a shaky little whisper, wincing as she urged Marcus to hobble on his good leg so that she could bring them closer towards the exit, and it was then that she passed by Luca - Luca, who was no surrounded by no fewer than eight armed guards - and she looked at him helplessly, vulnerably, for a long moment before turning away.Ā
Heād never understand what he took from her tonight. Just like sheād never understand what all had been going through his mind that had compelled him to shoot his superior from behind.
āWe just - need to get in a car. Then we can look at your leg; I - I promise itāll be okay.ā Baby didnāt know if Marcus was able to listen to her at all right now, but she rambled when she was anxious, and she knew that if the situations were reversed that she would want him to keep talking to her no matter what. He must have been in so much pain, and her heart ached at the knowledge that it was all her fault - that it was all because of her. She brought them both outside into the cold nighttime air, and it didnāt take her long at all to hail a cab - the slinky red dress certainly helped, of course, and it was too dark for anyone to realize that Marcus was bleeding all over her - and she urged him desperately into the backseat, easing him onto his back so that she could bring his wounded leg up into her lap. He was bleeding an alarming amount, and Babyās brows furrowed together worriedly as she brought the hem of her pretty dress upwards to press firmly against the bullet wound; the damned thing was still inside of him, and Baby had no idea how they were going to get it out without going to the hospital. Which...they couldnāt do, of course. Not when the police would need to be called immediately after their arrival.Ā
She would need to be smart, then - a trait that most people didnāt think she was capable of.Ā
āDrive quickly, please. As fast as you can,ā Baby told the cabbie breathlessly, cutting him off in an instant as he turned around to look at the bloodied mess they were making out of his backseat; she had a hundred dollars tucked into her garter belt just in case, and she could only hope that it would be enough to buy his silence and cooperation. After a momentās deliberation, she gave him the address of her tiny Brooklyn apartment - Ana was still back at the party, and no one had ever been there before aside from the two of them. Not even Luca or Marcus. It would be the perfect place for her to tend to his injuries.Ā āHow are you feeling? Are you still with me?ā she asked him in a voice that was soft but firm with urgency, applying steady pressure to the back of his leg as he laid with his knees bent in the back of the cab. He was far too big to be laying down; it would have been almost comical if not for the current circumstances.Ā āI - I wonāt let anything bad happen to you, okay? No matter what, Iāll make sure that youāre taken care of.ā
And...for the rest of the night, she would do her very best not to think of all that she had left behind at the ball - her baby sister and Luca.Ā
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