The son of Ralph and Destiny was older than Luca. Someone who had been around Renegade for a while.
Luca glanced across the ballroom to see Kira now talking to a different couple that he didn’t recognize. She chuckled at something the woman said.
He took the opportunity and ducked into the hall, glancing to the end to where Roger had gone.
The younger man turned the corner at the far side of the hall, the walls all lined with wallpaper that looked like fabric. A giant vase of fresh flowers sat on a tiny table halfway down.
Luca followed Roger, picking up his pace to catch up and then stopping before the end of the hall. He peered around the corner and saw Roger in an intense conversation with another man in street clothes. Not dressed for the foundation gala. No, this was the man that had gone after Torres today.
Luca gave it a second, assessing the conversation and both men’s body language. Seeing that Roger wasn’t in any danger let him relax a little. In fact, it seemed more like he was giving the other man orders.
They broke off their conversation, and the man who had come after Torres turned away. He headed for the exit at the end. Roger watched him for a second, then headed back toward Luca.
Luca stepped around the corner.
Roger spotted him coming.
Luca lifted his chin. “Is the restroom down here?”
“How should I know?” The guy’s tone dripped with disdain.
They passed each other, and Luca waited for Roger to step out of sight before he took off after the other man. Racing toward the exit door before it could swing closed. He caught it a second before it clicked, and eased out of the door into the night air, behind the building.
His shoes crunched on the gravel, and he looked around for the other man, finally spotting him heading toward the west corner of the building, a phone to his ear. Luca headed to the grass so he could pursue the man with quieter steps.
As he raced after him, he heard the man speak.
“That’s what he said. At the hospital.” The cartel guy paused. “We’re going to take him out tonight.”
Luca forgot all about the need to be quiet and remain undiscovered and raced over to the man, tackling him around the midsection. They both hit the ground, and he punched the guy in the side of the head just hard enough to knock him out. He scrambled for the cartel guy’s phone so he could make sure it didn’t lock.
Then he pulled out his phone and called Mike Martinelli to warn him that someone was coming to the hospital with plans for assassination.
Mike didn’t answer.
Luca hung up. “Let’s go.”
Kira hung on to the handle, gripping tight while Luca parked his truck in front of the side entrance to the hospital. As soon as he came to a stop, she jumped out—a little tricky, considering she still had heels on. She wobbled but got her balance and slammed the door shut. Kira raced around the front of the truck and met him at the entrance right as he pulled it open.
Just inside the door, Kira stopped to remove her shoes, continuing on bare feet toward the elevator. It felt like it took far too long.
Luca hurried ahead of her just as the doors opened, drawing his weapon as they approached the corner. He peered around first and visibly relaxed. “Martinelli!”
She got there in time to see the police detective turn to them.
“What’s going on?” Mike’s hand drifted to the butt of his weapon, but he didn’t pull it from the holster on his belt.
Luca raced to him. Kira stopped beside him, breathing hard. She put her hands on her hips, trying to steady her heart rate. After Luca had rushed into the gala and told her what happened outside, they’d both run to the valet station, where the staff had already pulled his truck around.
He hadn’t asked her to go with him, necessarily. Rather, she had chosen to climb into the truck—more difficult than it looked in this outfit—and make sure her patient was all right. Technically, he was under the care of Dr. Torres, but that didn’t mean Kira felt no responsibility for him.
If there was a threat to his life, anything could happen.
Driving over here, worrying about the same thing and having the same aim, had felt a whole lot like she and Luca were a team. She liked it more than the idea of gathering information together. Even though that seemed exciting, the push to save a life, which had them both running out of the gala, was far more important.
As if being together with him healed a little bit of what was inside her.
She could do good things and save lives in more than just the work she did as a doctor. Her whole life could be about making the world a better place. Something she hadn’t acknowledged before, thinking that had only been part of her life when she was overseas.