Chapter Twelve #4
“The-the first time Mario cut my back, I was fifteen.” His angry grunt makes me pause.
“I felt so scared and alone. My father pretended not to see or simply didn’t care.
” My breathing turns shallow as my brain makes me relive it all over again, but I have Luca’s strong hands anchoring me to the present this time.
I can feel his heart breathing strongly and steadily under my palm.
So I keep going. “After the twentieth time, I felt hopeless and cold, freezing cold. I thought it was the end, that my body was finally giving up on me. When a single ray of sunshine from the window found my cheek. I vividly remember the slow comforting sensation spreading through my aching body. The warm promise that better days were about to come. It reminded me why I was supposed to fight.” A tear falls down my cheek.
“And two days ago, when a-again he was…all I could think about was you. Because now you are my warmth in the coldness, Luca.” My apricity.
My voice breaks as I feel his hand cupping my wet cheek.
His lips brushing over my mouth, so softly.
His breath mixes with mine until he pulls back.
“I made my life out of loss and anger and revenge.” His rumbly, gravelly voice envelops me as more tears roll down. “Then you came. I wanted to hurt you and destroy you, but you were the one to turn my world upside down. I had to hate you—had to—while you kept making me forget why.”
My nose burns, and my chin wobbles. Luca has turned into a blurry blob, but I feel his piercing stare on me, and the reassuring touch of his fingers stays on my cheek.
“I’m sorry,” he states.
I sniff as I mumble an unintelligible, for what?
He moves his hand toward my back, letting it hover there. “I should have protected you. I should have claimed you. I should have cuffed you to that fucking bed before leaving.”
I gasp a chuckle, shocked to my core and so afraid I’m going to wake up at any moment. Our eyes lock, and I start leaning toward his lips when more noises come from outside, breaking the moment.
In clear gangster fashion, he asks me, “Hauled onto my shoulder or wrapped around me?”
I snort. But my smile disappears as he holds out his hand…
for me to take. He’s watching me silently, waiting for me to willingly reach for him.
The opposite of the first time we met. A scream from the other side of the door makes me jump.
Luca signs for me to hide behind the mirror, while he moves toward the door.
It suddenly bangs open, forcing Luca to stealthily move behind it as Mario enters.
I tremble in anger and revulsion as he takes a couple of steps inside.
He’s looking around the room, holding two bloody knives, one in each hand. The sight makes me stumble back, letting him spot me.
“We are leaving,” he orders.
If I get out alive, it will be by Luca’s side. “You are delusional if you think I’ll follow you.”
He huffs and moves closer, slowly. “There’s no more wedding. I killed Coretti, and hopefully, Father will die as well from the stabs I gave him in the gut.”
He did what? Jack Enzino is dead? The relief I expected to feel doesn’t come, maybe because I can’t believe it until I see the body.
“You’re insane. Stay away from me.” I back up until I reach the window, and, feeling the sill under my palms, I start moving left. I need to keep my eyes on him.
“Don’t you see?” He raises the knives in the air, sounding exasperated by my refusal.
“With Father out of the way, there’s no more nonsensical talk about us together being a sin.
He was always stopping me from doing what I wanted.
” He swings the knife, cutting the air and making me jerk back.
“Well he can’t anymore. Because what we have is forever.
And nobody will ever stand between us and live. Now come.”
“After what you did to me? To all those people you killed?” I’m fuming. “You’re a mental, demented asshole. I hate you and wish you were one of those corpses outside. You’re worthless trash that can’t even be recycled!” I bark.
His gaze turns hostile, almost feral. “I’ll kill her. Your fucking bride. Coretti’s daughter will die if you don’t come with me. Now, my dearest.”
This limp-dick psycho. My nails sink into my palms as I feel the urge to rip the skin off his face. I take a step forward before Luca’s sinister tone stops me.
“Call him that again, and I’ll rip your tongue out.”
The cold anger Luca directed at me was unsettling, especially at the beginning, but the glare he’s aiming at Mario is searing frost. It has turned the room temperature to thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit. I’ll get frostbite and expect glowing icy daggers coming from his eyes at any moment.
Mario doesn’t look concerned in the least. He never does. “So, you are the one responsible for the shooting out there. It was a good distraction.”
“For killing Coretti, his men, and your father?”
He laughs somewhat maniacally. “And soon you. Then finally, I will have what’s mine.” He points at me with his blade, making me tense.
“Fuck off, you psycho bastard!” I grit out, giving him the evil eye.
“You signed your own fucking death warrant many years ago, Enzino,” Luca hisses. “The moment you turned that knife bloody.”
They start circling each other, like two hunters waiting for the right moment to attack.
Luca slides a bloody knife out of his jacket, but I don’t tremble at the sight. It’s because his blades will never hurt me. Even if he hates me, I know he’ll use them only to protect me.