I glance down but don’t try to reach for it. “Yeah, it’s going to have to wait.”
I’m already cutting the curves of the road too close with the snowy mess under the tires. The last thing I want is to risk us sliding off the road because I’m reaching at the floorboards for his phone.
“There should be a signal when we reach the main road at the bottom of the mountain.”
Luca nods and wheezes.
I briefly glance at him. “You holding up okay?”
“Fine.” He grimaces, and I know that look. He’s in a hell of a lot of pain but trying to mask it.
“Do you need a hospital?” He’s not bleeding out, but I suspect he has several broken ribs. I’m just hoping there aren’t any other internal injuries.
“Don’t you dare. Just drive me back to Dante’s. I plan to have a few choice words with him.”
“Like, who is Don DeLuca?”
He grumbles and shifts uncomfortably in the front seat. “For starters. DeLuca’s my mother’s maiden name. But no one ever mentioned a Massimo.”
“Uncle? Brother? Cousin?” I start shooting off random guesses.
“I don’t fucking know,” Luca growls.
I’m cautious as we descend the mountain, keeping a lookout for any headlights coming up the road.
Nothing yet.
I’m not too concerned about traffic from the rear. We took care of that.
It’s after midnight. I would have expected more cars up at the cabin, but when we showed up, they must have called them off. I did notice Don DeLuca on his phone.
Luca flips through my phone, the dial pad lighting up. “And he threatened my family.”
I inhale sharply. I didn’t miss the threat to Harper or to Zeke. Does he plan on calling Harper at this hour? He’d only worry her.
“Well, I shot him. He’s dead.”
“Is he?” Luca glances at me. “You didn’t shoot him in the head. He was still breathing when we left him.”
I slam on the brakes, and the car skids toward the edge of the road.
“Fuck, Rinaldi. Do I need to drive?”
“I’ve got it.” I gently tap the gas. We’re only about half-way down the steep road. “We can turn around. I can make sure that he isn’t alive.”
“We’re not turning around. Not on this icy shit. Besides, do you remember being shot at when we were leaving?”
“Not something I can forget. Just trying to help. If he’s not dead, we’ll deal with him another day. Right now, we need to regroup and meet back up with Dante, let him know what the hell just went down.”
“He may already know. I tried texting him, and Nova called.”
“Nova?” Luca’s head turns, and I can feel the heat of his anger radiating off him. “Why is my sister calling you during an op?”
“She was probably calling to wish me a goodnight. It’s this thing we do, when we’re not together.” The smile she brings to my face just thinking about her vanishes under Luca’s scrutiny. “I tried telling her that we needed her to call Dante, but I don’t know that she heard any of it. I could hear like every fifth word when she spoke to me.”
“That’s sweet.” His tone is fueled with sarcasm and disgust. “You having a romantic conversation with my little sister while I’m getting the crap kicked out of me.”
“Nova called me,” I reiterate. “Not that it matters anymore. We need to get ahold of your father, let him know we were ambushed, attacked, and that if they were intending to send reinforcements, to call them off.”