In the Shadows (Barresi Book 2) Read online

  In the Shadows by Lux Miller

  © 2018, 2019 Lux Miller

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact:

  [email protected]

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. The medical procedures performed in this book are fictionalized and should not be attempted on any living being. Please note that this book contains situations that may be triggering for some and situations that are not appropriate for readers under eighteen years of age.

  ONE

  “Oh… Em… Gee… girlfriend, you are the bomb dot com in that dress!”

  Glancing over my shoulder, I smirk at Royce. He looks like a kid in a candy store as he stands there, excitedly clapping his hands with a look of utter glee on his face. Shaking my head, I giggle. “You always say that… I’m pretty sure Luca put it in your contract that you have to stroke my ego every chance you get.”

  Royce snaps his fingers in the air with a wave of diva attitude. “Psshh… you need to embrace all this fineness and stop worrying. I will never lead you wrong, honey.”

  I quirk one eyebrow at him in the mirror, a slight smirk tugging at my lips. He frowns at my response and holds one hand up in the air. “That was ONE time… and I literally had two hours to make something out of nothing. It might have been atrocious, but you still looked banging in it… and if I heard the rumor mill correctly, Luca didn’t waste any time yanking it off and throwing it on the floor anyway.”

  Chuckling, I turn around to face him. “It looked like my grandma’s curtains. Despite that one boneheaded blunder though, you are a genius so I trust that you know what you’re doing. However… isn’t this…” I motion my hand up and down the front of my body, then continue, “...a little, erm… sexy for Midnight Mass?”

  Royce shrugs his shoulders as he nitpicks at the fabric, his deft fingers tugging and twisting the sleeves until they lay flat. The deep green is a sharp contrast to the subtle honey color of my skin as the panels of fabric crisscross over my chest, creating the illusion of cleavage. I drag my fingertips over the gathered hunter green that conceals my left breast. “Are you sure this is proper? What if one of my boobs pops out during the services? I’d be mortified!”

  He rolls his eyes as he gives the fabric a gentle tug. To my surprise, it doesn’t shift. Blinking in surprise, I look up at him. “How in the—?”

  He tugs at the other side and nods with a smirk of satisfaction. “Baby girl… that sucker is glued to your skin. It’s not going anywhere… the only thing that gorgeous green is going to do is make every man in the place notice you. Your hot little body is bangin’ in this dress… and the lace...” He shivers and nods as he turns me around and directs my gaze into the mirror. “Tell me you don’t feel like a fucking queen in this dress and I will make you something else.”

  I swallow down the nervous lump in my throat. I can’t lie to Royce. This dress makes me feel like the Queen of England herself would curtsy in my presence. There’s no denying that the low-cut back was designed to draw attention to my perky ass and somehow, the man has created something out of nothing in the upper half of the dress.

  The dress truly is perfection, but the heavy thudding of my heart hammering away in my chest does nothing to quell my fears that I’m going to appear completely inappropriate - and in a church no less! I’ve never even stepped foot inside a church and now I’m expected to do on the arm on one of the most powerful men in the city.

  “Breathe honey… everything’s covered. There won’t be any mishaps with the boobies. That dress is as close to a second skin as I can make it… I’m not even sure you’ll be able to get it off without help at the end of the night. And trust me when I tell you that it makes you look fabulous. Like you were born into this lifestyle and you’ve been killing it since you were in diapers…”

  I roll my eyes at Royce and laugh, “You sure do know how to butter a girl up.”

  He nods, watching me as I inhale and exhale slowly, nervousness at the forefront of my mind. “Yes ma’am. My business requires happy clients. Not everyone is as easy-going and such a pleasure to dress as you, princess. Velvet tongues rule my industry.”

  Snorting, I walk over to my bed and wipe my sweaty palms on the towel I discarded there after my shower. Royce watches me curiously and quirks an eyebrow. “You sure seem nervous… sweatin’ like a whore in church… What on Earth are you worried about now?

  “You look gorgeous. Luca is blatantly enamored by you. You are envied in some of the most elite social circles this side of the Mississippi. And don’t think I’m blowing smoke up your ass. You forget I dress the petty women of the upper echelon. A lot of them are wishing they were you right now. Envy is an ugly color on any woman...”

  I bounce a shoulder as I fidget with the necklace Luca gifted me several weeks ago. “Why would anyone be jealous of me? I’m a nobody…”

  Royce coughs as his eyes widen. I ignore his initial reaction, pretending that it’s nothing out of the ordinary. But I can’t resist engaging him when he continues to stare at me like he just ate a bug. “What, Royce?”

  He shakes his head and titters, “Girl… please tell me that all of this work wasn’t for naught. You’ve been dressed to the nines for over a dozen dates, several of which have been legitimate dates and not some part of a hare-brained contract. Are you seriously telling me that you ain’t seen that gorgeous specimen of man naked?”

  Crimson splotches across my cheeks as he looks at me expectantly. I fan myself quickly as I feel light-headed, but he doesn’t relent, staring me down. Looking away from him, I mumble, “Of course I’ve seen him naked, Royce… we’ve been having sex for weeks…”

  Royce squeals with delight, “I knew it! So those biddies at the salon were right! You HAVE tamed the beast! Oh girl…”

  Laughing, I whip my head back and forth. “I wouldn’t say I’ve tamed him. He’s still a beast... besides, a proper lady doesn’t kiss and tell, Royce. And why does anyone care what or who Luca does? He’s a crime lord who gets off on extortion and racketeering. For all intents and purposes, he’s a scourge on their high-falutin society…”

  Royce snags my upper arms in his hands. Startled, I stop laughing and look at him curiously, tilting my head to the side with a look of amusement on my face. “What?”

  He lets go of me and just stares, his mouth hanging open for several moments before he finds his voice. “He’s fucking gorgeous, Emily… and he’s loaded…”

  I shrug, flipping my curled hair out of my face. “With stolen money. Most of those high-tea and crumpets types frown on thieves. Sure he’s pretty to look at, but they don’t want the kind of lifestyle he chooses to live.”

  Royce plops one hand on his hip, cocking it out to the side as he peers at me like I’ve got a couple of screws loose. “Honey… he’s independently wealthy. The house… the cars… the jewels…” He motions to the glittering green gem at my throat. “He didn’t pay a dime of dirty money for any of it.”

  Narrowing my eyes at him, I shake my head, my loose curls bouncing around my face. “How? There’s no way…”

  Royce rolls his eyes, then steps over to the small desk in my room. He rifles through the papers that have collected there, humming to himself. He startles me as he shouts, “Ah ha! Here it is…” Walking back over to me, he hands me the first newspaper article that was written about Luca and I following our initial fake
date. “It’s all there in black and white, honey…”

  I snatch the article out of his hands and read it again. Well, I read further than the headline and the first blurb, which is all I’ve bothered to read of the article. Had I read it sooner, I wouldn’t be standing here looking like a clueless dolt. “What? He’s worth HOW much?”

  Royce smirks as I bring my hand up to my face to fan it. The room spins a little as I plop down heavily on the bed and pray the dress doesn’t fail me. Royce chuckles and walks over, rubbing a hand down my bare back and then slowly back up my spine as he coos, “Darlin’... you seriously didn’t know what Playboy Millionaire meant?”

  Looking at him blankly, I open my mouth to speak but my words fail me. Finally, after several calming breaths, I manage to squeak out, “I thought it was a stupid headline meant to sell newspapers. I didn’t realize it meant he had a million dollars!”

  Royce clucks his tongue as he sits down beside me. He rests his free hand on my knee as he turns to face me. This doesn’t add up. If Luca has money, then why the hell is he stealing from others? I stole money because it was necessary for survival. Is he doing it for the thrill?

  “Emily… he has a deep-seated obligation to la famiglia. I can’t even pretend to know what goes on in those meetings, but he always gets so serious before them. I’m not dumb. I know they kill people, but honestly? They’re in the back pocket of the NOPD… if they weren’t doing something that the coppers approved of, they’d never get away with as much as they do.”

  I close my eyes for a moment and inhale several deep breaths. “So if the whole mafia thing… crumbled tomorrow… he’d still be rich?”

  Royce shrugs and stands back up, “I’ve never personally seen his finances, but I know he has one of those lucrative American Express Black cards… the ones where you don’t even have a limit. You just pay it off each month. He pays me with it and trust me, all of this fabulousness doesn’t come cheap… even with a friends and family discount.

  “I suspect he has far more than a million bucks squirreled away somewhere, but I also don’t think he’d ever leave the family… and he certainly wouldn’t walk away scot-free. Blood oaths are not easily broken and those sworn to family are damn near impossible to breach. I suspect that the only way that Luca wouldn’t become the next Don of the New Orleans mafia… is if la famiglia did the impossible and found someone to outshine the prodigal son…”

  I frown at Royce as he spits out his revelation. “So if his fate is sealed, why bother with other endeavors?”

  Royce shrugs. “Luca is a man of exquisite taste, Emily. Have you seen the Windsor Court Hotel? Gah, if I could pick anywhere in New Orleans to die, it would be surrounded in the opulence of that place. The walls are inlaid with gold. The floors are made of gorgeous marble that is imported straight from Italy. Hell, the thread counts of the sheets are like 1000… that place is luxury personified…”

  Chewing my bottom lip slightly, I contemplate the information. Despite the fact that I now know why Luca is considered one of the most eligible bachelors in New Orleans, it doesn’t faze me as much as I thought it would. Deep down, I knew he was from money, but I guess I never stopped to consider how much.

  “So he likes to stay there?”

  Royce blinks at me, then laughs maniacally at my ignorance. “Honey, you really don’t know, do you? Paying you to be his girlfriend wouldn’t have been a drop in the bucket for the amount of money that man has. Just because the two of you decided to date for real doesn’t mean he has any less money, but look, it’s not my place to explain Luca’s financial situation. Perhaps that’s a conversation you should have with him…”

  He jumps up off the bed and snags my hands, pulling me to my feet. “He said meet him at ten so that y’all can get over there and get settled before Midnight Mass. I do declare though, I have outdone myself. You are going to be the shining star tonight…”

  I pull my hands out of his with a soft laugh, “Isn’t tonight supposed to be about God and the baby Jesus? And some obscure Catholic traditions like eating crackers and drinking grape Kool-aid?”

  Royce waves a hand in front of his face. “Pish-posh! While there won’t be paparazzi there, there will still be plenty of people who are only there to save face because they’re pretending to be good Catholics. People who matter will be watching Luca… and by extension, you. Despite it being a house of God, tongues are going to wag tonight, Emily…”

  “I’ll say…”

  My gaze shoots up at the sound of Luca’s voice. He’s leaning against the doorframe of my room with his arms crossed over his chest. His dark green button down shirt is rolled up to his elbows enough that tendrils of his tattoo peek out from underneath the fabric that matches my dress flawlessly. I don’t know how long he’s been standing there and I don’t know how much he’s heard, so I pretend that Royce and I weren’t just discussing him.

  I shoot him a flirty smile and do a little spin. The pleated skirt of the dress twirls in the air as I giggle softly. I point at Royce accusingly. “So much for meeting you at ten. And if you don’t like it, the dress was his idea…”

  Luca straightens his posture and walks over to me, sliding his arms around my waist. He nuzzles his face into my hair, then drops a kiss on top of my head. “Remind me to raise his salary.”

  He smirks at Royce who takes a flourished bow, then waltzes across the room, stopping at the doorway. He motions to a pair of boxes sitting beside my bed. “Red one is for now… green one is for later. Merry Christmas, Luca…”

  Chuckling, Luca leads me over to bed. I sit down on top of the covers and pull the red box onto my lap. As I lift off the lid, my breath catches in my throat. Nestled inside glittery tissue paper is the most beautiful pair of shoes I’ve ever seen. I lift the note off of the top of the shoes and read it aloud, “Cinderella has nothing on you. Slay them, my queen.”

  I raise one eyebrow and set the note on the bed beside me as I pull one of the breathtaking shoes out of the box. Despite the fact that the heel tops three inches, that’s not what intimidates me about the glass slipper lookalikes. “Is he serious? Are these made of glass?”

  Luca chuckles and shakes his head. “I doubt it bella, but I understand the Cinderella reference.”

  I nod and strap one of them onto my foot as the red-bottom of the fancy footwear glares up at me. I stand shakily on the slender, see-through heel then admire my foot. “Wow… you’d think they would hurt like hell, but it’s surprisingly comfortable. I don’t know what kind of Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo mojo he infused into them, but my new nickname for him is seriously going to be Fairy Godmother.”

  Luca grabs the other shoe out of the box and kneels down in front of me with a smirk. He glances up at me and gently grips my other foot, sliding the shoe onto it and fastening the straps around my ankle. “A perfect fit…”

  He stands up in front of me and takes my hand in his, brushing his lips over my knuckles. Raising one eyebrow, I watch him as he releases my hand and motions for me to follow him. “Grab the green box. I have a feeling we’ll want it in my room later tonight.”

  I dutifully follow him and deposit the green box onto his bed with a smile. He rolls down his sleeves and tugs on a black sports coat that matches his tailored pants. He smirks and buttons the dress shirt to his throat, then pulls on a grey tie that matches his eyes and situates it underneath the collar of his shirt. I smile and slip underneath his arm, then murmur, “We have one advantage that Miss Glass Slippers didn’t have though…”

  Luca raises one eyebrow as he peers down at me. “Oh? And what is that?”

  I motion to the wrapped present sitting square in the middle of his bed. “If I know Royce… and I do know him pretty well… I’ve a pretty good idea of what’s in that box. Which means that while Cinderella’s night was restricted to the before-midnight hours, our night is just beginning with midnight.”

  He shivers and eyes me precariously, “Emily… I am going to hell for the thoughts that you ju
st planted in my head.”

  I shrug nonchalantly. “You and I both know that your ticket to hell wasn’t paid for by your lustful thoughts… besides, I’m not going to do anything remotely inappropriate on hallowed grounds.”

  Luca nods and smiles as I tighten his tie, then fold his collar down to hide the loop that encircles his neck. I pat his chest gently and lean up to his ear, whispering softly, “But once your duty to God and family are fulfilled… I plan to have you engage in a completely different kind of worship.”

  TWO

  My breath hitches in my throat as I step into the enormous shadow that looms over Jefferson Square. The millions of twinkling lights that adorn the greenspace make it seem festive and welcoming rather that invoking the usual sense of dread in my gut like this place has always done. Despite the festive atmosphere, Saint Louis Cathedral stands tall above the cool night, silently judging me.

  I’ve spent years hiding in the shadows of the massive landmark, but I’ve never dared to venture inside. Holy places are a refuge for the righteous and my checkered past makes me anything but righteous. I exhale a shaky breath as Luca’s comforting touch disappears from my back as he shakes hands with smartly dressed men and their bundled up wives whose eyes burn holes right through me.