46. Luca
Luca
Twenty minutes, and two scotch on the rocks for my traumatized receptionist, later, Dante and Enzo finally come strolling into Josephine’s trashed office. Sans Enzo’s shirt. And even though his entire torso is covered in black ink, I can still see the drops of amber sprayed across it.
Despite her terrified stupor, Clara manages to lean in and ask Josephine, “Jesus, do they all look like that with their shirt off?”
Josephine leans her head against Clara’s. “Few less tattoos, but yeah.”
“I knew you were one lucky girl, but my god. I’d love to be a fly on the wall in that apartment.”
The four of us huff a laugh as Enzo makes his way to Clara. Crouching in front of her he gently sets his hand on her thigh and asks, “You okay, Claire Bear?”
She smiles through tear-stained cheeks and places her hand on his. “I’m okay.”
With his other hand, Enzo cups her face. “Good. I’d hate for my one and only to up and leave me.”
Clara leans into his touch. “Gonna be a lot harder than that to get rid of me.” She looks over at me. “This place would crumble without me.”
I smile softly at her. “Don’t I know it.”
“I am gonna need another raise, though.”
This time I bark out a laugh. “Don’t I know it.”
She looks up at Dante. “Thanks for not missing, Big Daddy.”
He smiles down at her and shakes his head. “I’ll let it slide.” He holds up his finger. “This one time.” Then he looks over at me. “Clean-up crew on their way?”
“Should be here any minute,” I tell him. “Sent an email of the entire staff to take a paid personal day tomorrow too. Figured I’d take that off this one’s hands. Think she’s done enough for the day.”
Josephine rubs small circles on Clara’s back. “Yeah, I’d say so.”
“I’m assuming they need to go in my office?”
Enzo’s eyes grow wide and Dante nods. “I’d probably have them start there. It’s going to take a while.”
“Longer than what’s out there?” I nod toward the hallway. Enzo’s eyes go even wider as he side-eyes me. “Well, alright then.”
“What about the security guards?” Josephine asks regretfully.
Enzo sighs before standing back up to his full height. He, Dante, Sebastian, and I all share a look before Dante says, “The four of us will contact their families tomorrow.”
“We will pay for each of their funerals and ensure their families are taken care of for the rest of their lives,” Enzo adds. “It’s the least we can do.”
“I’ll get the money transferred to the families’ accounts first thing in the morning,” Clara states.
All five of us shake our heads, but she raises her hands, effectively stopping our protests.
“Let me. You can pay for me to take a vacation later.” I smile and shake my head at her antics.
“But tomorrow, let me work. Let me help their families.”
“That’s our girl,” Josephine says before kissing Clara’s temple.
The elevator dings, and Josephine immediately tightens her hold on Clara, while Dante, Seb, Enzo, and I all draw our guns.
Slowly, Dante moves toward the door and peeks his head out.
Lowering his weapon, he looks at us and says, “It’s the cleaning crew.
” He looks over at Enzo. “Wanna come help me cover up the bodies quick, so we can get Clara out of here without her having to see them again?” Enzo nods his head.
“Maybe one of them will have an extra shirt for you while we’re at it. ”
Enzo wiggles his chest at him. “Awe. You know you like staring at all of this. Don’t ya, Big Daddy?”
“I told her she’d get a pass, not you.” Dante levels him with a glare, and Enzo just laughs. Enz pats him on the back and ushers him out the door.
My eyes find Sebastian, only to find him staring at the ground. And for once, I know what he needs before he does. We all do it, but more than anyone, Sebastian needs to not put the weight of the world on his shoulders.
And it may be partially our fault. We rely on him for too much, too often.
And while we know he is indispensable and irreplaceable, I know by the look on his face, the one I’ve seen far too often as of late, we’ve made him feel inexhaustible.
Like he needs to be firing on all cylinders at all times.
Like his talents are limitless. His drive is limitless.
His ability to see and fix everything is limitless.
But he's not. He is not limitless.
As amazingly talented, smart, hard-working, and committed as he is, everyone has their limits.
And if he doesn’t learn that the fate of the world is, in fact, not on his shoulders, he’s going to crumble.
“Sebastian.” His eyes don’t lift from the floor.
“Mio Re.” Slowly, he looks up at me, and I nod to Clara. “Talk to her.”
Sighing heavily, he turns to look at Clara still sitting on the couch next to Josephine.
“I’m so, so sorry,” he says softly. Confusion crosses Clara’s face as she looks up at him.
“If I had known you were here, I never would’ve—” He swallows harshly and shakes his head.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Josephine move to stand, but I subtly signal her with my hand to stay put.
He needs to do this on his own. “If I’d known you were here, Clara, I would have never locked the floor.
I would have had us all get here sooner. I’m—I’m so sorry.”
Clara’s eyes gloss over once again as she looks to me.
I give her a subtle dip of the chin before she looks back to Sebastian and stands from the couch.
Just when I think she’s going to take the sweet approach, Clara places her hands on her full hips and narrows her eyes.
“Sebastian Moore, don’t you dare.” Seb does a double take and I have to curl my lips in to stop from smiling.
“Considering you are the smartest person I know, you thinking what happened is your fault is one of the dumbest things I’ve heard. ”
Now I have to put my hand over my mouth. So does Josephine.
Clara takes two small steps so she’s standing directly in front of Sebastian.
She crooks her finger at him and makes the come hither motion.
Knowing there’s no use, he bends down so he’s at eye level with her.
“You cannot control everyone and everything. You are not God, Sebastian. You’ve got to learn to unclench and let go. ”
“But I—”
“Sebastian, I can’t forgive you because there’s nothing to forgive. Do you understand me?”
Sebastian stares at her for a moment, and I see the moment when what she’s saying to him resonates. It’s like something visibly shifts inside of him. And as I watch it happen, I feel like I finally understand the severity of what he must be feeling. “I understand.”
Clara gently kisses his cheek as Sebastian closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and smiles. “You can’t fill from an empty cup, sweetie,” she whispers in his ear.
“I know,” he says softly before standing upright.
Clara smiles at him a moment longer before looking over at me. And almost instantly, I see the exhaustion hit her like a brick wall. “Can you all take me home?”
“Are you sure you want to go to your apartment by yourself?” I ask her. “You’re more than welcome to come and stay with us.”
“I’ll just have John from next door come over.
Or maybe Craig from two floors down. Oooo, or maybe Adam from the apartment above me.
He’s the best big spoon. Ahh, fuck it. I’ll text them all, whichever one of them gets there first,” she shrugs and Josephine smiles widely as she walks to Clara and grabs her hand.
“You are literally my idol.”
Clara nods her head in agreement. “As I should be.”
Josephine walks Clara past me, but as she does, she stops to whisper in my ear. “Can you take me home, too?”
I quickly kiss her cheek. “Absolutely.”