Chapter 10 Katerina
KATERINA
I sit at my kitchen table, tracing the rim of my coffee mug as dawn creeps through the curtains.
Sleep abandoned me hours ago, my thoughts too tangled with memories of Luca's touch, his words, his persistence.
Three times this week, he's appeared at my door. Flowers the first day. A gentle request to meet Enzo the second.
Yesterday, a demand that made my blood boil, who was I to keep a man from his son?
As if he hadn't kept himself away for seven years.
I press my fingers to my temples, fighting the headache brewing there. The problem isn't just Luca's determination.
It's how easily I still respond to him.
One look from those steel-gray eyes and I'm twenty again, breathless and hopeful, believing his promises.
"You'll never lose me," he'd whispered once, lips against my neck, hands holding me like I was something precious.
Lies. All of it.
I sip my coffee, now cold and bitter, a bit like my life.
Through the window, I catch sight of Enzo in the garden, constructing some elaborate game with sticks.
His dark hair falls across his forehead exactly like his father's.
"He deserves to know his father," Luca had argued yesterday, standing too close, smelling too good. "And I deserve to know my son."
The audacity of it makes me want to scream. What about what I deserve?
What about the nights I spent alone, pregnant and terrified?
What about the explanations I've crafted over the years when Enzo, or anyone else, asks about his father?
Yet watching my boy now, I wonder if I’m selfish.
If my fear of being hurt again, my desire to punish Luca, is hurting my child instead.
Luca moves through the world with the same magnetic confidence he always had, like nothing can touch him.
Like choices have no consequences.
He wants back into our lives as if it's the simplest thing in the world even as we all know he’ll be leaving again.
And part of me wants to let him in because apparently, I’m a stupid fool. Because when he looks at me, I still feel seen.
When he touches me, I still feel alive.
And when he speaks of wanting to be a father, I want to believe him.
That's what terrifies me most. Not that he'll leave again, but that I'll let him stay.
A knock at the door scatters my thoughts. I already know who it is before I even open it.
"We need to talk," Luca says, voice rough with exhaustion. There's a fresh bruise blossoming along his jaw, a cut at his temple.
I step aside without argument.
The sight of him like this, beaten and vulnerable, is yet another thing that chips away at my resolve. I'd heard about the ambush from Valentina early this morning.
Apparently, he and Victorio barely escaped with their lives.
The thought of him dying before Enzo ever knew him…
"You look terrible," I say, going to the kitchen and pouring him coffee.
"And yet you're still the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." He takes the mug, our fingers brushing, shooting electricity through me. I could power the state with the surge he sends through me each time he touches me.
"I heard what happened." I lean against the counter, putting distance between us. "I’m glad you’re alright."
He shrugs. “It’s a shitshow.”
“Alessandro’s allegations are ridiculous.”
"Are they?" His eyes search mine. "You believe I'm innocent?"
"I know you wouldn't betray your family." I cross my arms. "Whatever else you are, you're loyal to them."
"Just not to you." It's not a question.
“You did leave, Luca. And you only came back for them.”
“That’s not—”
“But I’ve decided you can meet Enzo.”
His head snaps up. "What changed?"
"Nothing. Everything." I look down into my empty mug. "You almost died yesterday. And I realized if something happened to you, Enzo would never know you. I don’t have a right to take that from him.”
He gives a small laugh. “But you have no problem taking it from me.”
God, what a jerk. “I didn’t take anything from you, Luca. You left, remember?”
“It wasn’t by—”
I hold my hand up. “You can meet him, but this isn't permission to disrupt our lives. I won't let you hurt him."
Pain flashes in his eyes. "Why would I hurt him?"
"You have a knack for hurting those you say you care for."
His jaw tightens. “That’s not fair.”
“But it’s true.”
He sets down his coffee, and I hate the guilt I feel at the pained expression in his face. “Where is he?”
“You want to do this now?”
He lets out an exasperated breath. “Yes, Katerina, before you change your mind, I’d like to meet the son that I didn’t know I had.”
“Fine.” I leave him in the kitchen and go to the front door. “Enzo. I need you to come in.”
“In a minute.”
“Now, sweetie. It’s important.”
I hear an exasperated Ugh. I seem to have annoyed two of the men in my life.
He comes racing around the corner. “What?”
“Come inside. I need you to meet someone.” For a moment, I stand still, looking at my son, knowing in the next few minutes our lives are about to change and feeling terrified about it.
What if this goes terribly wrong?
What if Luca plays the devoted father for a week, a month, and then vanishes again when the novelty wears off or needs to return to his new life in Chicago?
What if Enzo falls in love with him only to have his heart broken?
What if I do?
“Who do I have to meet?” Enzo asks, leading the way into the house.
“It’s Mr. Dante… Luca…” Your father.
“I know him already. Sorta.”
We step inside, and Luca is standing in the middle of the living room. He’s combing his fingers through his hair and rolling his shoulders as if he’s nervous. “Hello, Enzo.”
“Hi.” Enzo’s brow furrows as he looks up at me in confusion.
I’m not sure how to go about this, but I’m pretty sure I’m the one who needs to do the big reveal.
“Come sit with me, sweetie,” I say, taking Enzo’s hand and moving the couch.
Enzo keeps a suspicious gaze on Luca as he lets me guide him to the couch.
“Remember how you asked about your dad?”
Enzo’s head whips around to look at me. “Yeah. You said he had to go away.”
“I did. But now he’s back.” But for how long?
I glance up at Luca, still looking nervous and yet hopeful.
I can feel it softening my heart toward him. Dammit.
“Luca Dante is your father.”
Enzo slowly turns his head toward Luca.
Luca gives him a smile as he squats down to Enzo’s level. “I’m so happy to finally meet you.”
Enzo leans in closer to me. “Why were you gone?”
That pain Luca seems to wear a lot now returns. “I didn’t want to go. If I’d known about you, I wouldn’t have.”
Those words send a new pain through me. I wasn’t worth staying for. Only Enzo would have been.
“You didn’t know about me?”
“I didn’t.”
Enzo turns to me.
I hate that I might come out looking like the bad guy. “He had to go before I knew you were coming, and I didn’t know how to reach him.”
“He doesn’t have a phone?” Enzo stares at me with disbelief.
“It’s my fault she couldn’t reach me,” Luca says. “I’m sorry for that, Enzo. Honestly. I hate that I missed so much of your life. But I’m here now.” The tenderness in Luca's voice nearly breaks me.
This is what I feared most.
Not his indifference, but his devotion.
Because how can I keep my walls up when he looks at our son with such raw love?
“Do you like to play?”
Luca smiles. “I sure do.”
“Do you like cars?”
“I love cars.”
"I have lots of cars," Enzo announces proudly, pulling away from me. "Wait here!" He races to his room.
Alone with Luca, I feel exposed, vulnerable.
"He's incredible, Katerina," Luca says softly. "You've done an amazing job with him."
"He makes it easy," I manage to say. At least most of the time. He has his father’s quick temper and impulsivity.
"He has your spirit." Luca stands, moving closer to me. "Your fire."
"And your eyes,” I say. “And sometimes, your stubbornness.”
Luca smiles and something passes between us.
Not forgiveness, but an understanding.
A shared pride in what we created together.
"I know you don't trust me.” Luca’s gaze is piercing. "But I’m not abandoning either of you.”
I want to believe him. God help me, I want it so badly I can taste it. The possibility of finally having the family we’d planned all those years ago…
But desire is dangerous.
Hope is dangerous.
And Luca Dante is the most dangerous of all.
After all, I've heard promises before.
I've believed them before.
Enzo bursts back into the room, arms overflowing with toy cars, face alight with excitement. "Look! This one's my favorite." He tumbles his collection onto the floor at Luca’s feet.
My son drops down to sit, Luca joining him.
I’m amazed at how quickly Enzo has accepted Luca as his father.
No anger for being away.
No shyness toward the stranger who is now his father.
“Did you play with cars when you were little?” Enzo runs a sports car into a pickup truck.
“Sure did. I used to have construction trucks too… like bulldozers.”
“And a cherry picker?” Enzo asks excitedly.
Luca thinks for a moment. “Maybe. I know there was a backhoe.”
Enzo scoots closer to Luca, his eyes shining with a light I haven't seen before. It tells me how much he missed not having a father.
Sure, there are men in his life.
Lorenzo had been like a grandfather in his own gruff way.
Pyotr sometimes would take Enzo out for “boys’ things” when he worried Enzo might not be getting enough testosterone-fueled activities.
But he’s never had a father figure.
I think of all the times I’d caught Enzo staring at other children with their fathers.
How he’d act like he didn’t care that he didn’t have a father to come to father-son events.
I thought I'd given him everything he needed, but watching him now, animated and eager, I realize what he's been missing.
“Do you still have them, Daddy?”
Luca stills, his eyes filled with emotion as he looks at Enzo. I feel it too. How easily “Daddy” fell from Enzo’s lips.
Luca clears his throat of emotion. “Maybe, Son. I’ll check the attic.”
Luca's eyes meet mine over our son's head.
I give him a wan smile.
Yes, this is sweet.
It’s amazing how quickly children love.
How completely they trust.
But they can also be devastated if… or in this case, when that love and trust are betrayed.
“I’m going to make some snacks,” I say, rising from the couch, needing space to breathe, to think. In the kitchen, I press my palms against the countertop and close my eyes, as if that will steady me.
What am I doing?
Am I giving Enzo something precious or setting him up for heartbreak?
Am I finally doing right by my son or making the same mistake twice by letting Luca in?
The sound of their laughter filters through from the living room.
“No, Daddy, it doesn’t go like that.”
I want this for Enzo. I want him to know his father.
I want him to have what I can’t give alone.
But I also know how this could end. Luca's promises might be sincere today, but tomorrow could bring another ambush, another accusation from Alessandro, another reason he has to leave.
The Dante world is built on unsteady ground, even as I’ve tried to build a solid foundation for Enzo.
I pull out a box of crackers and get the bar of cheese from the refrigerator. As I assemble a plate, I feel torn.
Maybe I shouldn’t have allowed this.
Of course, it doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done.
Whatever is going to happen will happen.
The best I can hope for is that Luca and I find a way to co-parent.
But deep down, there’s dread. Dread that both Enzo and I will end up alone again.