30-car pileup on interstate leaves 1 dead and several injured.
CEO Connor Mason reports that "business is booming" for Transcontinental Re(a)d.
Sario tapped his foot against the side of the couch, bored now that finals were done for the semester and a bit pissed that Luca seemed to be ignoring him.
To be fair, Luca had been on a call with Laurel Kristopherson this morning to get an update on the case and had then set about putting together his own murder board in their living room. He was sprawled on his stomach on the floor, which was a good sign that his wounds from surgery were healing nicely. His nimble fingers pieced together pictures, names, and news clippings. He was building out both Paolo's inner circle and the families and friend groups of the seven victims, including himself.
The crisscrossing lines had an almost hypnotic effect on Sario every time he stared at the board for too long. He had no idea how Luca was keeping everything straight.
Luca took a sip from his water bottle, screwed the lid back on, and went back to work, all without sparing a glance in Sario's direction.
Sario cleared his throat softly, a gentle attempt to get Luca's attention. He was ignored. It was as if he did not even exist. He could not wrap his head around how they could have mind-blowing sex at night and then Luca could just simply not look at him during the day. It was driving him batty. Nuts. Crazy. Insane. Whatever it was called, that was the place his mind had been relegated to. Where he had been relegated to. He hated it, and he hated the hatred eating at him like a hungry wolf devouring him from the inside out. He knew it was unreasonable and impossible, but his mind kept asking him if Luca was ignoring him because there was someone else. Someone better. He knew there was no one else deep in his soul, but his heart and mind were not getting on the same page.
Finally, Luca looked up at him, chin propped on his hands in such a way that it made his cheeks look chubby. He was slowly gaining weight in all the right places, thanks to both Sario and Noah pushing a healthy diet and regular exercise, and it was making his face so pokeable and squishable. "Are you bored?"
Sario shrugged. "I mean, I don't have homework or tests, so yeah, I'm kinda bored. Also, you've been ignoring me for the past week."
Luca smirked. "Is someone feeling left out?" he teased.
Sario pouted despite himself. "I'm not feeling left out. I'm feeling confused. How can you go from acting like I'm the only person in existence to acting like I'm the only person not in existence? It's driving me crazy."
Luca's smirk slipped away. He scrambled over to the couch and set his chin on Sario's knee. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to confuse you. I just…I thought you understood how important this is to me." He gestured at the board on the floor. "I made a mistake. I fucked up, okay? Please don't be mad."
That turned off Sario's self-pity immediately. "Mad? I'm not mad. Please don't think I'm mad. I'd never get mad at you for something like this, kitten."
Luca's eyes were large and wet with unshed tears. "Why wouldn't you? You want my attention, and I haven't been giving that to you. I suck at holding up my end of our contract."
Sario reached down and cupped Luca's face in his hands. "Don't mention the contract. I don't like thinking about it."
"I don't either," Luca admitted in a tiny voice. "But it's why we're together. It's why I feel safe investigating Paolo and his friends."
"I know," Sario replied, stroking Luca's hair in the way his husband liked best. He ran his blunt nails along Luca's scalp over and over until Luca was a puddle against his legs, sighing contentedly with each swipe of Sario's fingers through his hair. "I just…" He hesitated like Luca had. "I just want to feel like I matter."
Luca glanced up, gaze hesitant. "You do matter. Without you, where would I be?"
"Having a nervous breakdown in your shitty apartment?"
Luca laughed quietly. "Yeah, I probably would." He rested the side of his head on Sario's leg and traced around Sario's knee with a featherlight fingertip. He was so intoxicating without doing anything else besides existing in this quiet space where it was just the two of them touching delicately, almost like they were scared of being too rough and hurting the other. After a few moments, Luca spoke up. "Do you wanna…do something?"
Sario's fingers paused. "Like a date?"
Luca tensed slightly but continued circling Sario's knee with his finger. "I guess. I don't know what that looks like, but you said you wanted to spend time with me, be the object of my attention. A date seems like a reasonable solution."
Sario smiled secretly, thrilled at the thought of taking Luca out in public for the first time since their wedding. They would totally be mobbed by the press, but he could deal with that as long as they got a few minutes alone to enjoy each other's company. "I've got a place in mind for lunch. You hungry?"
Luca spared one more glance at his murder board and then pushed himself off the floor. "I could eat," he replied.
Sario jumped up, took Luca's hand, and called an Uber on his phone as they took the elevator down. The ride to the restaurant was quiet and uneventful save for some minor traffic as they got into the heart of the city. Once they arrived, he got out first, opened Luca's door, and held out his hand to help him out.
To his relief, Luca took his hand without comment and let Sario lead him inside. His eyes seemed to light up when the savory smell of authentic Mexican food smacked into them like a wall of flavor. He was grinning by the time they were seated in a corner booth, and he snatched up the menu far more eagerly than Sario had expected. His gaze drifted down the pages, his tongue flicking out to lick his lips unconsciously.
Sario smiled and watched him happily. He already knew what he wanted, so he could enjoy a front seat to Luca's adorable reactions to the myriad of options. After Luca pointed out what he had decided on, Sario gave their order to the waiter in Spanish, glad that he did not stumble over any words. Spanish was technically his first language, but he only really spoke it with his mom so he often forgot formal words or the terms he did not use often.
"I know Italian and Latin," Luca muttered, as if he was feeling threatened by Sario's bilinguacy.
Sario laughed softly. "I'm impressed. That's one more language than I've got."
Luca's shoulders relaxed slightly. Had that been some sort of test? Whatever the case, Luca remained calm throughout their meal, enjoying his food and even stealing some of Sario's with a diabolical grin.
It all was making Sario fall in love. Love? Shit, he was in love. His heart fluttered when Luca smiled, and he already knew that, once their contract was up, he would just ask Luca to marry him again. Even if Luca said no and walked away, Sario would never be free of this feeling. Because it was not just a feeling. It was a knowledge, a fact, a piece of history that would be passed down to future generations.
Of course, just as Sario was starting to feel romantic, that was when the first shutter clicked obnoxiously.
Luca's head snapped toward the sound, like a baby deer sensing a predator. As soon as he saw the camera, he promptly held up both middle fingers to the photographer and smirked when the shutter clicked again.
Sario reached over and pushed Luca's hands to the table. "Do you want to have that picture plastered all over every newspaper tomorrow morning?"
Luca shrugged. "Eh, who cares. They all already think I'm a degenerate taking advantage of you for your money. Might as well help those poor writers out a little bit."
Sario fought back a snort of laughter. "Luca, you know that's not what I meant."
Luca slipped his hand from underneath Sario's and pulled out his phone, brow creasing as he slid his thumb across the screen to answer it and held it up to his ear. "Hello?"
Sario watched Luca's minute facial expressions carefully for signs of what the conversation was about and who was on the other end of the call. He noticed that Luca seemed to get more and more worried the longer the other person talked. He could hear a faint echo of the voice, but not enough to discern words or who it was.
Finally, Luca bid goodbye and hung up. His eyes stayed fixed on the hand Sario was holding tightly. "Laurel," he said shortly, like he knew what Sario was about to ask. He slumped forward, and Sario realized his face was paling rapidly. "She…found something and wants us to meet her." He pushed his phone across the table and pointed to the address Laurel had texted less than a minute ago. "Here."
Sario knew the address; it was the parking garage of the regional headquarters of Transcontinental Re(a)d, a translation and literacy company his brother had refused to work with once he had thoroughly read their enployee policies. Darius had said that they had nothing except standard company policies regarding omegas (which were still not great despite reforms), but the racism had been insane enough to make his brother pull out of every deal made with them.
"Let's go." Sario left enough cash to cover their bill and leave plenty as a tip for their waiter and pulled Luca from the table, making sure to grab Luca's phone and handing it back to him once they were outside. "It's not far from here. We can walk." He threaded his fingers through Luca's and started walking down the sidewalk, doing his best to disregard the paparazzi attempting to stalk them through the bustling lunchtime crowds. He took the long way to lose them completely and then led Luca to the garage elevator, which they took to the third level like Laurel had instructed.
When the doors opened and they stepped out, Laurel was standing right there waiting for them. She gestured for them to follow her toward an area taped off by a yellow police line. "Garage security called this in about twenty minutes ago. Given the temperature of the body, my partner and I think he's been dead for about twice that time, so around forty minutes."
Sario stopped cold, yanking Luca to a halt beside him. "Body? There's a body back there?"
Laurel looked back at him, sorrow clear in her eyes. "Yes. The body of Lamar Ace."