Chapter 6 Katerina
KATERINA
I stare at Luca, horrified at what just slipped from my lips. Did I really just ask the father of my child if he'd kill himself?
My hand flies to my mouth as if I could physically catch the words and stuff them back inside.
Not just the suggestion that he kill himself, but revealing my secret as well.
Telling him the truth changes everything.
The secret that's lived inside me, that's shaped every decision I've made since holding that positive pregnancy test, is now in the hands of a man who abandoned me without a second thought.
Will he demand rights to Enzo? Try to take him away? Use him as leverage in whatever game he's playing with his family?
Luca's face hardens, jaw clenched tightly. His gray eyes bore into mine with an intensity that makes my skin burn.
"Is that what you want, Katerina? For me to disappear again? This time, permanently?"
"No." The word comes out too quickly, too honestly.
I hate that I still care, hate that even after everything, the thought of him gone forever is unbearable.
I back away, needing distance from him, from this conversation, from the terrible mistake I've made.
"For six years, I've lived with the fear that one day, you'd walk back into our lives and tear everything apart."
His laugh is cold. "Mission accomplished."
I look up at him, feeling at his mercy. "He's happy, he's settled, he's…"
"Mine." The word reverberates through the room. "He's mine, Katerina."
"He's not yours." I lift my chin, straighten my body as a surge of fierce protectiveness floods through me.
“You don't get to disappear for seven years and then claim ownership of my child.
I carried him. I birthed him. I've been there for every fever, every nightmare, every scraped knee.
" My voice grows stronger with each word.
"Where were you when he cried for a father?
When other children asked him why he didn't have a dad? "
“It’s not my fault—”
“The hell it’s not.” I step toward him, closing the distance I just created. "You want to know something, Luca? If you try to take him from me, I'll kill you myself."
The words aren't empty.
I feel the truth of them burning in my blood.
I would put a bullet between those gray eyes before I'd let Luca tear Enzo from the only life he's known.
Luca's eyes flash with something dangerous, something feral. It's the look of a predator backed into a corner, wounded but ready to strike. “Did my father know? When he forced me out, did he know you were carrying my child?”
What is he talking about? He’s the one who left, deserted the family.
“Don’t try to rewrite history, Luca—”
He lets out a dark, derisive laugh. “I’m not the one who rewrote history.” He shakes his head. “I get that everyone else would believe it, but you… I thought you knew me better.”
“Don’t put this on me,” I snap. “I knew you, Luca. I knew how things were with your family. I knew you wanted out. And you got out. Built your own empire in Chicago. Congratulations. Now you can go back and leave us all in peace again.”
He shakes his head. “Not happening. When do I get to meet my child, the one you kept from me?”
“You weren't kept from anything. You left us."
"Us?" His eyebrow arches. "There was no 'us' for me to leave. You never told me about him."
"Would it have mattered? Let's be honest about what you are to Enzo. A sperm donor." I spit the words with all the venom I've stored up since the day he left. "Nothing more."
The muscle in his jaw twitches. I've struck a nerve, and the wounded, abandoned part of me is glad.
"That's bullshit and you know it." His voice is deadly quiet. "What we had was real. Even if you hate me now, you didn’t hate me then."
"What we had?" I scoff. "What exactly did we have, Luca? A few heated months before you disappeared without a trace?"
He steps closer, eliminating the space between us until I have to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact.
Heat radiates from his body, and memories flood back unwanted.
His hands on my skin, his lips on my neck, whispered promises I was fool enough to believe.
"You know it was more than that." His eyes drop to my lips for the briefest moment. “Even now, when you hate me, there’s more.”
I hate that he's right. Hate that despite everything, my pulse quickens and my skin tingles with awareness of him. Hate that after seven years, he can still make me feel this way with nothing but his presence.
I shove against Luca's chest, needing distance before I do something stupid like throw myself in his arms again. "Back off. You don't get to waltz in here and pretend you were some victim."
His hand catches my wrist, not painfully but firmly enough that I can't pull away. "You haven’t been listening if you think I just left. If you think that I woke up one morning and decided to disappear. I was given two hours to get out of New York before they put a bullet in my head."
I freeze, unable to process what he's saying.
"Don Lorenzo, Alessandro, and the elders dragged me into a room, told me I'd broken our code and that my punishment was exile or death." His grip loosens, thumb unconsciously stroking my pulse point. "Two hours, Katerina. No goodbyes, no explanations. Just get out or die. My own fucking family."
My heart hammers in my chest. "You could have called—"
“They wanted me dead, Katerina. Calling you could have put a target on you. I mean, why are you here except for my family to watch you?”
“I’m like an ambassador.” My words come out weak, because even before now, I knew I was more like a pawn. But Don Lorenzo had been kind to me. He always seemed to value my input in dealing with the Bratva and their tenuous partnership.
“Bullshit. You’re too smart to believe that. I didn’t reach out because I knew it would put you in danger.”
"How noble," I spit, pulling my arm free. "Your consideration is overwhelming."
His jaw clenches. "If I'd known you were carrying my child, things would have been different. I would have found a way to take you with me."
A bitter laugh escapes me. "Oh, that makes me feel so much better! You wouldn't have taken me because you loved me. I’m only worthy of you because I was pregnant with your baby."
Pain flashes across his face, genuine and raw.
"That's not what I meant and you know it.
" He steps closer again, voice dropping to that intimate tone that used to make me melt.
"I loved you, Katerina. Maybe I didn't say it enough, but I did.
And yes, if I'd known about our child, I would have moved heaven and earth to keep you both with me.
" He looks down. “Or maybe not. I’d have done whatever would have ensured your safety.”
The words tilt everything I know about the world upside down.
All these years, I've built a narrative where he simply didn't care enough to stay.
The possibility that he was forced to leave, that he might have not called me to protect me, threatens to unravel everything.
"It doesn't matter anymore. The past is done. What matters now is Enzo." I turn to leave, desperate to escape this room, this man, these feelings threatening to drown me.
Just as I reach for the door handle, his fingers close around my wrist, spinning me back toward him.
The sudden movement brings us chest to chest, his scent engulfing me.
“It does matter.” Frustration etches deep lines between his brows, his grip firm but not painful. "I never stopped thinking about you. Not for one day."
"Let go of me." But my words lack conviction.
"Not until you hear me." His eyes search mine, desperate for understanding. "I might not have done the right thing, but I never intended to abandon you or our child.”
Before I can process what's happening, he pulls me against him, one hand cupping my face with a gentleness I remember from seven years ago.
"I never stopped loving you, Katerina." His mouth crashes down on mine, and the world narrows down to nothing but him.
I should push him away. I should slap him.
I should remember every tear I've shed, every lonely night, every time Enzo asked about his father.
Instead, my body betrays me.
My lips part beneath his, muscle memory taking over where rational thought fails.
His kiss is exactly as I remember.
Demanding yet tender.
Every cell in my body ignites, responding to him as if we were never apart.
As if he never left me broken and alone.
My hands find his chest, curling into the fabric of his shirt, pulling him closer.
His arms tighten around me, lifting me slightly off my feet as the kiss deepens.
One hand tangles in my hair, cradling my head as if I'm something precious, something he can't bear to lose again.
I'm drowning, falling, burning alive in his embrace.
What am I doing? This man walked away from me and now I'm melting in his arms like some lovesick teenager?
My mind screams caution while my heart yearns to regain what we lost.
I don't know which one to trust anymore.