Emma called the police before she called Luca.
Chapter 3
PART 3: THE WOMAN THEY THOUGHT MATTERED
832 words
That surprised him.
“You called the police?”
“Of course I called the police.”
They stood in the diner’s empty storage room while two officers examined the photograph outside.
Luca had arrived with only Enzo this time.
No convoy.
No twelve men.
Emma noticed.
She did not mention it.
“The police may not understand what they’re looking at,” Luca said.
“They understand threats.”
“Yes.”
“And you don’t own the police.”
His eyes held hers.
“No.”
It was the first answer from him that felt completely unguarded.
Emma folded her arms.
“Then tell me the truth.”
Luca was quiet for several seconds.
Finally he leaned against a stack of canned tomatoes.
“My family owns hotels, restaurants, freight companies, property.”
“I already heard the respectable version.”
His mouth almost smiled.
“There is another version.”
“I heard that one too.”
“My father built relationships that weren’t always legal.”
“Relationships?”
“Debts. Favors. Fear.”
Emma looked
away.
“And you?”
“I inherited all three.”
The storage room suddenly felt smaller.
Luca continued.
“I’ve spent years moving businesses into legitimate operations. Some people benefit from that.”
“And some don’t.”
“Exactly.”
Emma pointed toward the photograph.
“So somebody who hates you thinks hurting me will hurt you.”
“Yes.”
“But I met you yesterday.”
“They don’t know that.”
Emma laughed bitterly.
“So I’m in danger because some criminal made the wrong assumption?”
Luca did not defend himself.
“Yes.”
That answer frightened her more than an excuse would have.
“What do I do?”
“You and your mother stay somewhere secure until I know who did this.”
Emma’s head snapped up.
“How do you know about my mother?”
“Enzo checked your address after the photograph appeared.”
“That is not comforting.”
“I know.”
“Stop investigating me.”
“All right.”
“You say that very easily for somebody who showed up with twelve men this morning.”
“I’m trying something new.”
“What?”
“Listening to you.”
Emma almost smiled.
Almost.
Then she remembered the photograph in the police officer’s evidence bag.
“I’m not abandoning my mother.”
“You don’t have to. Bring her.”
“And go where?”
“One of my hotels.”
“No.”
“Emma—”
“No.”
Luca exhaled.
“What would make you say yes?”
“Knowing why they chose that road.”
That stopped him.
Emma reached into her apron and pulled out the wrench.
“Your man said the battery terminal had been loosened.”
“Yes.”
“Then whoever did it had to know enough about cars to make the failure look accidental.”
Luca’s expression changed.
Emma continued.
“And there was something else.”
“What?”
“When I tightened the terminal, there was black grease on the clamp.”
“So?”
“Not engine grease.”
She looked directly at him.
“My dad ran a garage for eighteen years. It smelled different. This was lithium grease. The bright red kind fleet garages
use on battery connections.”
Enzo moved closer.
Luca turned to him.
“Who services our fleet?”
Enzo’s face went still.
“Greco Transport Maintenance.”
“Who had the sedan yesterday?”
“Dominic.”
For the first time, Emma saw genuine anger move through Luca.
Not loud anger.
Cold anger.
The dangerous kind.
“Dominic who?” she asked.
“Dominic Greco,” Enzo replied. “He runs vehicle operations for every Romano company.”
Emma understood immediately.
“Someone inside your own organization.”
Luca looked at Enzo.
“Find him.”
Enzo left without another word.
Emma stared at Luca.
“Is that why people are afraid of you?”
“What?”
“You tell someone to find a man, and they just go.”
Luca looked toward the door.
“People are afraid because my father taught them to be.”
“And you?”
“I learned it was useful.”
There was no pride in his voice.
That surprised her.
By evening, Emma agreed to take her mother to a Romano-owned hotel—but only after two police officers confirmed the threat was credible.
Luca respected the condition.
He arranged a suite under another name.
Emma expected marble floors and armed guards.
She got both.
Her mother, Rose, looked around the enormous room and whispered, “You fixed whose car?”
Emma closed her eyes.
“Please don’t start.”
At 10:16 that night, Luca called.
“We found Dominic’s car.”
“Where?”
“Warehouse district.”
“And Dominic?”
“Gone.”
Emma sat upright.
Then Luca said something that made every hair on her arms rise.
“We found photographs in his apartment.”
Emma looked toward her mother sleeping in the next room.
“Of you?”
“No.”
Luca paused.
“Of the diner. Your apartment. Your mother’s pharmacy.”
Emma’s throat tightened.
“How long?”
“Some were taken before last night.”
Emma went completely still.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Her mind raced.
If the photographs existed before she had stopped to help Luca…
Then she had not been targeted because she met him.
Luca’s voice dropped.
“Emma, I don’t think you accidentally walked into this.”
A knock sounded at the hotel suite door.
Three slow knocks.
Emma looked toward it.
“Luca?”
“Don’t open that door.”
Another knock.
Then a man’s voice came from the hallway.
“Miss Carter?”
Emma gripped the phone.
The voice continued.
“I knew your father.”
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