Don't Touch

-28-

A/N: Content warning for domestic violence.

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"...So to summarize. Get your shit and go the fuck home!"

Syd had been going off on Hector for the last 20 minutes, storming around the apartment grabbing his things and throwing them into a box. On their ride home, everything else that Hector had done piled up in Syd's mind until it overflowed and as soon as they got inside, she blew up at him.

"I am done with your grimy, cheating ass, Hector! I've been good to you! I've been committed! I've been loyal! Do you know the shit I've given up for your sorry ass?"

Hector shook his head anxiously. "C'mon cielo... Surely, this is the alcohol talking. I told you I didn't do anything with her!"

"No! It's not the alcohol. I'm done with you! I never should've got back with you!"

"But please, cielo. I love you! I love you so much!" Hector pleaded with tears running down his face. "At least wait to decide until after the vacation! It's already paid for and I have something special planned for us. I want to-"

"No." Syd interrupted. "Fuck that vacation. And honestly... fuck you! Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice..."

"Damnit, Syd! Fucking listen to me!" Hector snapped as he stalked up to Syd and grabbed her arm. "We're going to go on that vacation! It's paid in full! And we need to go."

Syd snatched her arm away and held her ground. "I'm not going anywhere with you!"

Hector's tan face was an almost unnatural red and the veins bulged from his temple. "You don't have a fucking choice! I paid for it and we're going!" He drew back his hand before striking Syd across the face so hard that she fell to the floor. Just as Hector went to pin her down, Syd kicked him in the groin, causing him to topple over.

She grabbed a gun that was affixed to the underside of the coffee table - one of the three that she started keeping in her apartment after the kidnapping attempt - and scrambled to her feet, pointing it at him. "Get the fu-"

Syd was cut off at the sound of heavy, urgent knocking on her door that quickly turned into violent thuds. Between Hector and the door, Syd wasn't sure where to point the gun, but before she could decide, the door swung open and there stood Luca and Emiliano.

Luca stormed up to Hector who was still on the ground holding himself and pistol-whipped him, knocking him out.

Emiliano went straight to Syd. "Are you okay, sweetheart?" She flinched when he held her face that was still stinging from Hector's hit. Emiliano's fury was palpable. "I'm going to fucking kill him!" He roared, letting go of Syd's face and walking over to Hector's limp body.

"We can use him." Luca raised his hand to stop Emiliano before going to Syd's freezer and getting a pack of frozen peas. "Just arrange to have him taken to one of the basements..." He went up to Syd to analyze her face before gently holding the frozen bag against it.

Syd's brows tensed and she was beyond confused. "W-What's happening?"

"Hold this," Luca said calmly. Syd held the frozen bag to her face as he guided her to the couch. Emiliano was on the phone speaking angrily in Italian to call some of their men to help him transport Hector.

Luca sat on the ottoman across from Syd and his nostrils flared when he saw the way her face was already bruising. His eyes cut over to Hector as he contemplated killing him, regardless of information they could get out of him. "He betrayed you..." Luca said before turning his gaze back to Syd.

"I know..." Her brows furrowed and she looked down. "I was in the middle of dumping him..."

"Not that..." Luca cleared his throat. "Hector is working with Dmitry and Santiago."

"What?" Syd gasped, the shock causing her to drop the bag. "What do you mean he's working with them? How? How do you know?"

Luca picked the bag up off the floor and handed it back to her. "One of our men saw him talking to one of Dmitry's men..."

Syd tilted her head to the side and raised a skeptical brow. "How was he so sure that it was Hector?"

Luca took his phone out and pulled up the video to show Syd. Hector was with the woman she saw him flirting with at the bar. A lump grew in her throat when she saw Hector's lips all over the woman's neck and the way he was groping her heavily. The woman made a signal with her hand and a large man approached and pulled Hector off of her. The stranger passed her a roll of cash and she walked away. "Hector Mendoza," the man said with a thick Russian accent. "You owe my boss a package."

"And I'm getting it to him," Hector responded, with a tinge of frustration in his voice. "Your boss sure seems impatient..."

The Russian grabbed Hector by his collar. "Santiago said you'd get the Davidson to us. That was a month ago and you still haven't made good on that promise."

Hector peeled the man's hands from him. "Two days from now. She, her friends, and family all think she'll be taking a week-long vacation... So not only am I getting you your package. I'm also giving you plenty of time to do what you want with it..."

The video ended and Syd felt the pressure rushing to her face as she fought back her tears. She was completely frozen. All she wanted to do was cry, but she knew she couldn't in that moment, not in front of Luca and Emiliano.

Emiliano walked over to a distraught Syd and didn't know what to say to her. All he could do was gently kiss her forehead. "The guys are downstairs. I'm going to take this piece of shit to our spot in Yonkers. And uh..." He took another glance at Syd's bruising face and then gave Luca an indiscernible look. "Take care of her." Emiliano went back to Hector and threw his unconscious body over his shoulder before leaving the apartment. He wanted to take Syd home with him and comfort her, but his anger toward Hector was too much and he knew she didn't need to see him raging, not in the state that she was in.

Luca was still sitting across from Syd. He hadn't been this close to her since that night at Sean's apartment and he hated that these were the circumstances that had him close to her again. He had been avoiding her since then because he didn't want to lose control. She had an effect on him that he didn't understand. He was always the composed Rossi brother - strictly business, constantly in control, always professional and focused - total opposite of Emiliano. But something about Syd challenged every aspect of that.

After just a few weeks of knowing her, he felt protective and would check in on her, even though he didn't make contact. When he did accompany her on deals, it took everything in his power to focus solely on business.

It wasn't until Syd was in their lives that he found himself jealous of Emiliano for the first time since they were boys when Luca first came to the U.S. He envied the way his charismatic brother - despite the brute he was capable of being - still had the ability to show Syd softness and make her warm up to him.

He studied her face, the sadness in her eyes, the way her lips trembled like she'd lose her grip any second, the bruising that was showing more clearly. His hand clenched into a fist and he knew that these were the types of situations that involved comforting people, but he wasn't exactly sure how to do that.

"I'm taking you home with me," he finally spoke. "You shouldn't be here tonight."

"Okay..." Syd said it so softly, it was barely audible. She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to speak again. "Just let me shower and get my things..."

Luca watched Syd mope over to her room and grab a few things before entering her bathroom. Soon after the shower turned on, he heard Syd's sobs. He didn't know much about comforting people - it wasn't something he had experience with, but he knew that he hated the sounds of her sobbing and the look of despair in her eyes. He hated seeing the way she was hurting and he wasn't sure exactly what to do about it, but he needed to do something.