Sleeping with the Enemy

Chapter 5: The Armored Cage

“Fire!” Carlo yelled.Before the De Luca guards could even pull their triggers, Luca completely threw his body over mine. He shoved me hard to the dirty ground.

“Stay down!” Luca roared.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Gunfire erupted in the narrow alley. Enzo stood over us, firing his large rifle at my father’s men. Carlo yelled as one of Enzo’s bullets hit his arm.

Suddenly, loud tires screeched at the end of the alley. A massive, black armored SUV smashed right through the brick wall. It hit two of my father’s guards, throwing them out of the way. The heavy car stopped right next to us.

The back door flew open.

“Get in! Now!” the driver yelled.

Luca did not hesitate. He grabbed me by my waist, lifting me completely off the ground as he threw me into the dark backseat of the SUV. I screamed as I hit the leather seat.

Luca dove in right after me. The heavy armored door slammed shut just as a dozen bullets hit the thick, bulletproof glass. Enzo jumped into the front passenger seat and slammed his door shut too.

“Drive! Get us out of here!” Luca shouted.

The driver slammed his foot on the gas making the car speed out of the alley and onto the main street, leaving the burning church and the gunfire behind us.

Inside the back of the SUV, it was completely dark and very cramped.

I tried to sit up, but there was no room. I was completely trapped and was practically straddling Luca’s lap. My knees were pressed hard into the leather seat beside his hips. The torn skirt of my wedding dress was ruffled all the way up to my thighs. My bare legs rubbed directly against his expensive suit pants.

“My father,” I choked out, tears finally spilling down my dirty face. “My father told them to kill me.”

“Look at me, Siena,” Luca said. He grabbed my hips to keep me steady as the car took a sharp turn.

“He looked right at me!” I sobbed loudly, my hands gripping the front of Luca’s jacket. “Carlo drove me to school when I was a kid! And he pointed a gun right at my head! My father wanted me dead!”

“Stop crying,” Luca ordered. His voice was rough, but his hands holding my hips tight and secure. “You are safe now.”

“How can I be safe?!” I yelled at him. “My own family wanted to kill me! He set us up! The whole wedding was a trap!”

“I know,” Luca said coldly. “Your father is a dead man and I will kill him myself for what he did today. I promise you that.”

“I cannot believe this,” I whispered, shaking violently trying to pull away from him, but the roof of the car was too low. My chest brushed heavily against his chest.

“Do not move,” Luca commanded.

“Let me sit on the other seat,” I argued, pushing against his shoulders.

“I said do not move!” Luca yelled.grabbing my wrists and pinned them to his chest. “We just ran through a storm of bullets. You could be shot.”

“I do not feel any pain,” I said quickly.

“Adrenaline blocks the pain,” Luca said. He let go of my wrists. “I need to check you. Tell me if anything hurts.”

Before I could say no, Luca’s large hands grabbed my bare ankles.

I gasped loudly in the dark.

His rough hands slid aggressively up my bare calves, checking for blood. “Does this hurt?” he asked.

“No,” I whispered.

His large hands moved higher. He pushed the torn white lace of my wedding dress completely out of the way as his calloused fingers grabbed my bare thighs. He squeezed my skin, feeling for any bullet wounds. The physical contact was frantic, but it was also incredibly intimate.

“Luca,” I breathed out, my heart pounding in my throat.

“Does this hurt, Siena?” he demanded, his thumbs pressing into the soft skin of my inner thighs.

“No,” I answered,My voice very weak.

“Good,” he muttered.

His hands moved away from my legs grabbing my waist. He ran his palms up my ribs, pressing firmly against the tight corset of my dress. He checked my back and my shoulders searching for any sign of blood.

“I am okay,” I told him softly. “I am not bleeding.”

Luca stopped moving. He finally realized I was completely safe.

But he did not take his hands away.

His large hands slowly dropped back down to my bare thighs. He gripped my legs firmly, holding me securely on his lap in the dark car.

“You survived,” Luca said. His voice was no longer a loud yell. It dropped to a very low, deep whisper. “You did not freeze, You listened to me.”

“I was terrified,” I admitted.

“But you are alive,” Luca replied.

Luca’s breathing slowed down a bit. His cold blue eyes dropped from my face down to my chest. The tight corset of my dress was ripped in the front, exposing a lot of my breast.

I watched his eyes darken instantly.

“Luca?” I whispered.

He did not look up, He just kept staring at my chest, his grip on my bare thighs tightening possessively as his thumbs slowly started to stroke the sensitive skin on my legs.

“You look beautiful covered in dust,” Luca said thickly.

“We almost died,” I reminded him, my face flushing bright red.

“But we did not,” Luca said. He finally looked up into my eyes. “You are completely mine now, little bird. Your father threw you away, The De Luca family is gone and You only have me.”

“I do not want to belong to you,” I lied again.

“Your mouth lies, but your body tells the truth,” Luca murmured.

He reached one hand up to my face.

Luca used his rough thumb to wipe a smudge of blood off my lower lip. His touch was incredibly gentle. He stared at my mouth with pure, dark hunger.

I realized the horrible truth right then. I was trapped in a moving armored cage with a dangerous predator. And this predator was fiercely turned on by my survival. He liked that I was covered in dirt and blood. He liked that I fought back.

“Kiss me,” Luca commanded softly.

“No,” I breathed out, but I leaned closer to his face anyway. I wanted him to kiss me again also wanted to forget about my father's betrayal.

Luca leaned in. His lips brushing against mine. I closed my eyes, waiting for his heavy mouth to take control.

But Suddenly, a loud burst of static filled the car.The sound came from the secure radio system built into the front dashboard of the SUV.

Luca completely froze. He stopped right against my lips.

“Enzo,” Luca said sharply. “Did you turn the radio on?”

“No, Boss,” Enzo said from the front seat. He sounded confused. “It turned on by itself. Someone is hacking our secure frequency.”

The static cleared. A distorted, digital voice spoke through the car speakers.

“Did you enjoy the fireworks, Luca?” the voice asked. It sounded like a man, but the computer disguised his real tone.

Luca’s entire body went rigid beneath me. The lust vanished from his eyes. Pure, violent anger replaced it.

“Dante Romano,” Luca growled. He looked toward the radio. “You coward. You hide behind a computer while your men die in the church.”

Dante Romano. He was the boss of the hidden third syndicate. He was also the man who ordered the attack on our wedding.

“I do not need to be at the church to kill you, Moretti,” Dante’s distorted voice laughed through the speakers. “I just needed your security to drop for five minutes. And a wedding is the perfect distraction.”

“You missed,” Luca said coldly. “We are alive.”

“I did not miss,” Dante said. “I hit exactly what I wanted to hit.”

I shivered. The voice sounded evil.

“What do you want, Dante?” Luca demanded.

“I want the city,” Dante replied. “And I want the Moretti empire to burn. Oh, and Luca?”

“What?” Luca snapped.

“You might want to check the bride,” Dante said , The radio clicked and went completely dead.

The SUV was totally silent again.

“What does he mean?” I asked. My voice was shaking. “Check me for what? You already checked me for bullet wounds.”

Luca did not say a word. His eyes widened as He looked down at my chest.

“Move your hands,” Luca ordered.

“Why?” I asked, holding my hands over my chest.

“Siena, move your hands right now!” Luca roared.

I jumped and pulled my hands away.

Luca grabbed the heavy white tulle and lace at the front of my wedding corset. He did not care about the expensive dress. He ripped the fabric right down the middle with his bare hands. The corset snapped completely open, leaving me in just my thin silk slip.

“Luca, what are you doing?” I cried out, trying to cover myself.

“Look,” Luca whispered, His face was completely pale.

I looked down at my chest.

Tucked deeply inside the lining of my corset, right where Maria the tailor had been pinning the fabric all morning, was a small, flat black box.

It had a small glass screen.

Beep, Beep, Beep.

A tiny red light flashed on the black box.

I stared at it, It was a digital timer.

“What is that?” I asked.

“It is an explosive tracker,” Enzo said from the front seat as he turned around and looked at my chest. His eyes were huge. “It is a bomb.”

“A bomb?” I screamed grabbing the black box and tried to pull it out of my dress.

“Do not touch it!” Luca yelled. He grabbed both of my wrists and held them tightly away from my chest. “If you pull it, it might detonate early.”

“Get it off me!” I cried, thrashing against his grip. “Luca, please! Take it off!”

“I cannot just pull it off,” Luca said, his eyes scanning the wires connected to the small box. “It is sewn directly into the lining of your dress.”

“Maria,” I realized out loud. “The tailor. She kept pulling the corset tighter. She told me to stand still. She planted it on me.”

“Dante paid her,” Luca growled. “He planned this from the very beginning.”

The red light flashed again.

I looked at the small glass screen. The digital numbers were counting down fast.

00:59

00:58

00:57

“Luca,” I whispered,tears blinding my eyes. I could not breathe. My chest tightened with pure, suffocating panic. “There is less than one minute left.”

“Pull over!” Luca shouted to the driver.

“We are on the highway, Boss!” the driver yelled back.

“I do not care! Pull the damn car over right now!” Luca roared.

The heavy SUV swerved hard to the right. The tires screeched loudly as the driver slammed on the brakes. We hit the side of the road and came to a violent stop.

00:45

00:44

“Enzo! Give me your knife!” Luca demanded.

Enzo handed him a small, sharp tactical knife over the front seat.

“Look at me, Siena,” Luca said. He grabbed my face with one hand. “Do not look at the timer just Look into my eyes.”

“I am going to die,” I sobbed. “I am going to explode and be ripped apart.”

“You are not going to die,” Luca said fiercely. “I told you I would protect you, I am not going to let Dante take you away from me.”

00:30

00:29

Luca moved his hands fast, pushing me slightly away from his chest. He took the sharp knife and started cutting the thick white fabric around the black box.

“Sit completely still,” Luca ordered.

“My hands are shaking,” I cried out loud.

“Hold my shoulder,” Luca said. “Squeeze as hard as you can.”

I grabbed his broad shoulder. I dug my fingernails into his expensive tuxedo jacket.

00:15

00:14

Luca cut through the thick lace. He was sweating. His face was completely focused. The cold, ruthless mafia boss was risking his own life right now. He could easily open the door and run out of the car to save himself. But instead he stayed inside the cage with me.

00:09

00:08

“Almost got it,” Luca muttered. He sliced the last thick wire connecting the bomb to my dress.

00:05

Luca ripped the black box completely out of my corset.

“Open the door!” Luca yelled to Enzo.

Enzo kicked his heavy door open.

Luca threw the black box right past Enzo’s head and out into the empty highway.

00:02

00:01

“Get down!” Luca shouted. He grabbed my head and pushed me flat against the leather seats, throwing his own body entirely over mine.

BOOM!

A massive explosion rocked the highway violently. The loud sound deafened my ears, and Bright orange fire flashed outside the windows. The heavy armored SUV shook violently from the shockwave, but the thick metal walls held it strong.

Then, everything went quiet.

I kept my eyes squeezed shut. My ears were ringing and I was shaking uncontrollably.

“Siena,” Luca’s deep voice whispered.

I opened my eyes, Luca was hovering right above me. His face was very close to mine and He looked down at me, checking my face.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

“I am alive,” I gasped.

“Yes,” Luca said. He let out a long, heavy breath. “You are alive.”

He did not move away. He stayed right there, pressing his body against mine in the backseat.

“Dante knows you are alive too,” Luca said quietly. “He will not stop. He will keep coming for you.”

“What do we do now?” I asked.

Luca lifted his head. His blue eyes were completely cold and lethal again.

“We go home,” Luca said. He looked at the driver. “Take us to the estate and Nobody gets inside the gates. If anyone comes close, kill them.”

“Yes, Boss,” the driver said,The SUV sped back onto the highway.

Luca looked back down at me and said “Welcome to your new life, Siena.”