54. Epilogue
Epilogue
Luca
8 Years Later
“Mama, look what I can do!”
Luciano’s voice reaches us all the way on the patio that overlooks the backyard as he punts a soccer ball. I hear Elise clapping, and Luciano beams with pride at pleasing his mother.
“That was amazing, Luciano!” she shouts.
After everything died down, we returned to the States to raise our son. Though the years have been filled with trials, they have also been filled with moments like these.
Luciano’s face lights up as he sprints after the ball. He lives to please his mother. He loves her with every bone in his body. Most of the time choosing her over me. He’s a beautiful child who looks just like his mother. All he got from me are the eyes.
I was terrified when I woke up in that hospital all those years ago. Especially when Romelo and Nicolai told me how much time had passed. Both of them were nervous because for months, they couldn’t locate Elise. But after I revealed the location and they returned with the news of her giving birth to my son, I jumped headfirst into rehab.
After that, everything was touch-and-go. Rehab was difficult, and my body had betrayed me from being out of use for so long. But the bruising and cuts eventually faded except for the scar over my eye, which Elise likes to joke about, claiming it proves I am human. I am fortunate that the wall collapsed on me. If it hadn’t, I would have died.
“Mama, can I sit next to you?” I’m pulled from my thoughts as Luciano sprints to the patio, jumping between Elise and me. He pouts as he pushes his way between.
“Come on, Dad, you have to share! You’ve been with Mom all day!” he groans.
Luciano is a sweet boy filled with all the love and compassion you could ever ask for in a child. I tried to rid him of that, but Elise dug her heels in when it came to him. If you ask me, it will make adjusting to this life more difficult, but I can’t think like that now.
I watch Elise adoringly as she pulls Luciano onto her lap, brushing his wild hair away from his face to place a soft kiss on his cheek. He then looks at me with eyes that can pierce the soul, sticking his tongue out, followed by hysterical laughter.
And I can’t help but laugh with him as Elise begins tickling him.
Watching her with him makes me love her even more. She’s a great mother—patient, kind, understanding, and loving.
She is everything my mother was and more because she stands up to me when it comes to Luciano. My mother would never have done that. She would turn her back and force me to self- comfort, refusing to acknowledge me until my father said it was okay.
Elise knows grooming him is inevitable.
As a matter of fact, today his training will get even harder. Because by the end of the month, he will become a made man and take a life. When you take a life, you are ready to enter this world with nothing standing in your way.
Elise checks her watch.
“I should get going. Enzo is coming in town and said we could meet for lunch.” She gives me a sad smile, knowing that we will begin a new stage in his training once she leaves.
She doesn’t like to be around when I train Luciano.
“I wanna go with you!” Luciano shouts.
She kneels in front of him. “Not today, sweetie. Today you’ll be spending time with Daddy.” She smiles at him, running her thumb along his cheek, and he turns his nose up and makes a face.
“Okay,” he pouts.
“Now, give Mommy a kiss.” She smiles at him, and he smiles back, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I love you.” She smiles.
“I love you, too,” he says back.
I pull Elise in an embrace, but she holds me tight as she speaks.
“Don’t break him, Luca. I will never forgive you if you do,” she says low enough for me to hear.
“I won’t,” I reassure her.
She nods and stands on her tiptoes to kiss me before she waves bye to both of us and leaves the house.
It is just me and Luciano now. I take a deep breath.
“Luciano, I want you to go get the birthday present I gave you, okay?” I say.
He nods vigorously and takes off into the house. He comes running back outside with a huge grin on his face as he follows me to the range. Once we arrive, I take a seat on the edge of the patio, and he comes to stand next to me. We open the box together to reveal his gun. His first gun. I gave it to him when he was four and taught him how to use it. I didn’t put real bullets in it until he turned five. Across the handle, “Luciano” is inscribed in silver.
I pick it up, handing it to him, and his whole demeanor changes.
He is serious, just like I’ve trained him to be.
“What does that say?” I motion to his name on his gun.
“Luciano,” he responds immediately.
“And who is Luciano?”
“I am,” he says.
“And what does that mean, son?”
“It means that I am the firstborn to Luca and Elise Pasquino,” he says.
“And who will you be?” I ask.
“I will be the next to head the Pasquino family, the strongest and most powerful crime family in the United States.”
“And if anyone says otherwise?” I ask.
He holds the gun up and shoots at the five targets lined across the range, hitting all of them dead center except for the last one. He hit it too far to the left, and it spins and falls off the pedestal.
“Sorry, Dad. After I fired the first four shots, I didn’t think about the weight lightening. I’ll be more careful next time.” He smiles at me apologetically.
He takes a seat next to me, letting out a flustered breath.
“I won’t let you down again, Dad,” he says.
I look at him in shock and ruffle his hair with a smile on my face. If it were my father, he would have taken the gun and beat me with it for missing my target until the fear of missing had me pissing my pants. But like I promised Elise, I will be different.
“You could never let me down, mi figlio .”
He looks at me, and relief floods his face. I stand up, smoothing out my clothing.
“Come on, we have about four hours until your mom gets back, and you know she’ll be upset if we’re not washed up and cleaned for dinner.”
His face lights up again, and he jumps up, excited about whatever I am about to throw his way. No matter what I throw at this kid, he is excited to please me and make me happy. He wants to succeed and be the best at everything I put him up to. I remember when I forced him to face his fears. Elise wouldn’t talk to me for a whole week because of it, but he didn’t even realize he was facing them.
When he walked in the house with dirt smudged on his face, the first thing he asked me was, “How’d I do?”
I stand, watching my son. If someone told me that I would marry the woman I hated, whose family plotted to kill us both, and fall in love with her someday, I would laugh in their face. But I did marry her. I fell in love with her. I started a family with her, and I would do anything and everything possible for her and my son because they are my life. And I’ll be damned if I let anyone take that away from me.
The End