Chapter 21
Romeo
I’m lying here with my eyes closed, and instead of drifting into the peaceful sleep I expected, my mind won’t shut down. I’m in deep, deeper than I ever anticipated, and I don’t know how to move forward from here.
How do I act in the morning? Do I pretend last night never happened and risk crushing Lucia? Or do I face her with the truth and admit that something fundamental has shifted between us, and I feel it too?
I’m not sure if I have it in me to be that honest. Not with her. Not with myself. Once I say it out loud, there’s no turning back.
And what happens when she finally gets what she thinks she wants? Will she still want me? Or will she realise she could do so much better? Because I’m terrified she’s the one thing I won’t survive losing.
I’m pulled from my thoughts when she suddenly presses her lips against my shoulder, in a soft, lingering kiss. I presumed she was asleep, but I was obviously wrong.
“Ti amo, Romeo De Luca … più di quanto saprai mai (I love you … more than you’ll ever know),” she whispers into the darkness, and my mind and body freeze.
Although they are words I’ve never spoken aloud, to anyone, for one breathless second, I’m tempted to reply, “I love you too, Lucia De Luca,” but the words get stuck somewhere between my chest and my throat.
They’re too big, too raw, too much.
Until this woman came along, I didn’t realise how much I needed to hear those three words. Everything felt hollow before her.
I hold my breath and pray she didn’t feel the shift in my body, because I’m a fucking coward. I can’t go there with her, not now. Not until I’m sure.
The panic twisting in my chest vanishes the second my phone starts to ring. The sound is jarring and so loud in the silence that I feel Lucia’s body jolt beside me.
Is this the end? Do they finally have him? Has fate stepped in and decided for me?
I reach for my phone on the bedside table, expecting to see Dante’s or possibly Dominic’s name on the screen. What I’m not anticipating is my mother.
She’s trying to FaceTime me at three o’clock in the fucking morning. For a second, I hover my thumb over the screen, tempted to ignore it. She doesn’t deserve a damn thing from me, not after everything she’s done. But still … she’s my mother. What if something’s wrong?
With a quiet sigh, I sit up and accept the call.
The sudden glare from the phone cuts through the darkness like a blade, and I have to rub my eyes, blinking hard as they struggle to adjust.
When my focus finally comes, and I get a good look at my mother’s battered, bruised face, I leap to my feet.
“What the fuck happened to your face?” I growl. “Who did that to you?”
“Romeo,” she cries. “I-I need your help.”
“What happened?” I roar as I move to the end of the bed and snatch up the tracksuit pants I dumped there earlier. “Was it him?”
“He checked himself out of rehab. He was angry because I hadn’t been visiting him. I don’t get my disability cheque until the end of the week, and without a car—”
“Where are you?”
That fucker has crossed the line this time, and there’s no coming back from here.
“I’m hiding at the park down the street from my house. You know the one?”
I somehow managed to slide my pants on with one hand. “Don’t move. I’m on my way.”
“Please hurry. If he finds me, I’m not sure what he’ll do.”
I drop the phone onto the bed and shrug into my T-shirt. When I pop my head through the neck hole, I see Lucia rushing from the room.
If she thinks she’s coming with me, she’s mistaken.
By the time I grab a hoodie and slip into my shoes, she’s already returned, fully dressed.
“You’re staying here,” I snap.
“No, I’m not,” she retorts. “I’m not letting you go on your own.”
Not letting me.
I bark out a laugh, but it’s not a humorous one. I’m a grown fucking man. I don’t answer to her … I don’t answer to anyone. I’ve been navigating life solo for as long as I can remember.
“I’ll bring Killer inside; he’ll look after you until I get back.”
I go to move past her, but she grabs my arm. “I’m coming, Romeo, whether you like it or not.”
“It amuses me that you think you have a choice here, sweetheart.” I meet her eyes, giving her a look that tells her I mean business. “You remember what happened the last time I took you with me?”
“Nothing happened. We both made it back here safely.”
“You got seen!” I yell, louder than I meant to, and the words hang heavy in the air.
That thought stops me cold.
Am I so blinded with rage that I’m not thinking straight?
Is this a setup?
Doubt clouds my mind for a second, but I shake my head. No. I saw her face just now. She was beaten black and blue. It’s not the first time that bastard laid his hands on her, but I promise it will be the last.
“We can stand here all night arguing,” she snaps, “but that’s not going to help your mother.”
She’s right.
What if he’s already out there searching for her?
What if he gets to her before I do?
A cold shiver runs down my spine, and not the kind you can easily shake off.
Without another word, I wrap an arm around Lucia’s waist, lift her clean off the floor, and carry her to her bedroom. She lets out a startled gasp when I deposit her inside.
“Lock the door. Please don’t come out until I get back. I’ll let Killer in on my way out.”
Her shocked expression lingers in my mind as I close the door and hold the handle a moment longer. I hear the rattle as she tries to open it from the other side.
“I mean it, Lucia. I promised Dante I’d keep you safe. And I can’t go tearing through the entire fucking park in the middle of the night looking for my mother and that dead man walking if I have to worry about you too.”
I break every record known to man on my drive to the park. It’s a solid twenty minutes from the safe house, but I make it in just over ten.
I tear into the parking lot, not slowing for the speed hump ahead. The car jolts violently as I launch over it, and the sharp yelp from the back seat hits me like a punch to the gut.
My stomach drops.
I slam on the brakes, tyres screeching as the car fishtails before lurching to a stop. That’s when I hear it again, this time it’s a low, pained cry.
I twist my body, peering into the back, hoping that I’m just hearing things, but when I notice Lucia curled into a small ball on the floor in the rear, I see red.
I’m out of the car in a flash and already yanking open the door before she can react.
“What the fuck, Lucia?” I shout.
She looks up at me with those innocent doe eyes of hers and winces as she rubs her side. “I told you I was coming.”
I grasp either side of my head, tugging on the strands of my hair in frustration. “How—”
“I snuck in when you were letting Ki-Ki into the house.”
“Fuck my life,” I groan, tilting my head towards the starlit sky. “Do you ever do as you’re damn well told?”
When she doesn’t answer, my eyes snap back to her just in time to see her grimace.
I’ll take that as a no.
“This isn’t a game. Your entire existence and mine are on the line here.”
She frowns. “How is your existence on the line?”
I throw my arms up in frustration. “I’ve been tasked with your safety. That means I’m responsible for your well-being. If something happens to you,” —I jab a finger at my chest— “I’m the one who takes the fall.”
“Don’t worry about Dante,” she replies, with a casual flick of her wrist. “I’ll handle him.”
The fun-loving brother-in-law she knows and the ruthless Mafia Don I know him to be when push comes to shove, are not the same man.
“Listen here,” I say, leaning into the car and getting up in her face.
“I’m going to lock this fucking door, and if you so much as think about getting out before I get back, I’m going to drive you to the bum fuck of nowhere, where that psychotic cunt is currently hiding out, and personally hand deliver you to him myself. ”
I don’t miss the flash of hurt that crosses her face, and the second I see it, I regret every word.
I didn’t mean it. Not one damn syllable.
I’d never willingly put her in harm’s way, I hope she knows that. But I had to say something, anything, to get through to this stubborn woman, and that was the best I could come up with on short notice.
“Stay put,” I growl in a final warning as I reach into the front of the vehicle to retrieve my key fob.
Just as I go to close the door, she scrambles up onto the seat. “Romeo.”
I pause. “What?”
“Please be safe.”
And fuck me, if those words don’t feel like a kick straight to my ball sack.
This is precisely why I wanted her to stay at home. It’s only natural I’d still worry if she were back at the house without me, but this?
Out here in the open, no streetlights, no houses nearby, and nothing but a flimsy sheet of glass between her and whatever the hell might be lurking in the dark?
This is a whole different kind of risk.
And now, instead of focusing on the job at hand as I scour this goddamn park for my mother, my mind is back in that fucking car park, stuck on the woman I love.
Worrying about her.
Praying she listens.
Hating that I care this much, all the while knowing I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I’ve searched the entire perimeter and there’s still no sign of my mum. Is she still here?
I pull out my phone and send off a quick text. I don’t want to call her just in case he is nearby.
Me: Where are you?
My hand drops down by my side as my gaze moves back around the park. It takes a minute or so, but I finally get a reply.
Mum: Over by the swings. Are you here?
Fuck, that’s on the far side of the park.
I don’t even bother replying. I flick on the torchlight on my phone and start moving in that direction.
With every quickened step, my anger builds. Sticks and dried leaves snap underfoot, loud and sharp, but I don’t care. I don’t need to be quiet. I don’t want to be.
If that worthless piece of shit is out here somewhere, I hope he hears me coming. Because if he finds me first, he’s going to wish he hadn’t.