Chapter 31 Luca
LUCA
I'm drowning in darkness when the pain pulls me back. Sharp, insistent, excruciating.
My eyelids weigh a thousand pounds. Each breath feels like inhaling broken glass.
But I'm alive.
The pain confirms it.
Memories cascade through my mind.
Finding Katerina.
Trying to escape.
A gun pointed at her.
Throwing myself in front of her as he fired.
The impact of the bullet tearing through my chest.
The warmth of my blood leaving my body.
Worth it. I'd take a hundred bullets for her. I just hope she survived.
I force my eyes open. The antiseptic smell hits me, followed by the steady beep of a monitor.
I’m in a clinical room but it’s not a hospital.
It’s an area my father created in the house for times just like this.
When medical treatment is needed, going to a hospital is impossible.
"Katerina." My throat feels scorched. I try to sit up and the room spins, pain detonating across my chest.
"Easy, Luca." Valentina’s hand gently presses my shoulder back down. "She's fine. She's with Enzo."
"You're sure?"
"Yes. She’s been by your side most of the time, but she needs rest and to take care of Enzo.”
Relief floods my body, cutting the intensity of pain. "She wasn't hurt?"
"Not physically." Valentina pours water into a cup and holds it to my lips. The cool liquid is heaven against my parched throat. "Though she's been tormenting herself. She thinks this is her fault."
"I need to see her." It’s not that I don’t believe my sister, but I need to see proof with my own eyes.
"You will." Valentina adjusts my sheet.
I try to push myself up again, but my body betrays me.
White-hot pain radiates from the bullet wound, and I collapse back against the pillows, jaw clenched to keep from crying out.
"Fuck." I hate this weakness, this inability to act.
Valentina shakes her head at me. "Doctor says you nearly died. The bullet missed your heart by centimeters."
I don't care about my heart. All I care about is Katerina. Seeing she’s safe. Needing to comfort her after the horrors she witnessed.
"I need to go to her."
"You need to heal," Valentina counters. "She needs you alive, not bleeding out because you're too stubborn to rest."
“She needs me.” I hate feeling useless. I'm trapped in this broken body while Katerina carries wounds I can't help heal.
The door opens, and Alessandro steps in with Adriano trailing behind.
The sight of all my siblings gathered around my hospital bed would be touching if it didn't feel like a war council.
"Don't try to get up," Alessandro says, noting my restlessness. "You've done enough."
At first, I think he’s being an asshole, accusing me of causing problems.
But then I realize there's no condescension in his tone.
He’s saying the words like I’ve done something right.
"What happened after I went down?" I ask, even though speaking takes a great deal of effort.
Alessandro exchanges a glance with Adriano before answering. "Maksim's holed up in what's left of his compound. We took out sixteen of his men."
"Twenty," Valentina corrects. "Four more died yesterday from their injuries."
"It was a bloodbath," Adriano adds. "Exactly what we were trying to avoid."
I bite back a retort. They might not have wanted war, but war came for us anyway. It came for Katerina, for my son.
“We fared better,” Alessandro says, shooting a glare at Adriano. “Maksim sent a message this morning. He wants to talk."
"Talk?" I laugh, then wince as pain shoots through my chest. "He kidnapped Katerina as bait and now he wants to talk?"
Alessandro's expression doesn't change. "He's coming to the table because we left him no choice. His power structure is fractured. Half his captains are dead."
"Good," I spit.
"It's better than good," Valentina says. "It's an opportunity."
I look between my siblings, suddenly understanding. "You're forcing him into a peace treaty."
Alessandro nods. "On our terms.” He outlines the terms he plans to set, which are fairly punitive. Dad would be proud.
"He'll never agree to that," I say.
A hint of satisfaction crosses Alessandro's face. "He has no choice.”
“He did order the killing of our father and kidnap little Enzo. I think he’s getting off easy,” Valentina says with disgust.
I don’t disagree. I vote for annihilation, but it’s not my business. As long as Katerina and Enzo are safe, I’m out of it.
Alessandro nods. “I think Maksim now realizes that I’m no pussy and that we’ve got your back.”
“Even if you're the black sheep of the family,” Adriano tosses in.
"Black sheep?" I raise an eyebrow despite the pain. "I've been called worse. By you, specifically."
Adriano's mouth twitches, almost a smile. "Fair enough."
"Remember when you called him 'the family disappointment' that one Christmas?" Valentina chimes in. "Right before he flipped the dining table?"
"That was a good table," Alessandro sighs.
I manage a rough laugh. "You all deserved it. And the table was hideous."
"It was Grandmother's," Adriano points out.
"Yeah, but Mom was glad she got to replace it."
For the first time in years, we're laughing together. Not at each other's expense, but as siblings who might actually give a damn about one another.
It would be nice to have more of this. But even with pain and drugs, I know things aren’t finished between the Dantes and the Bratva.
"And if Maksim breaks his word?" I ask.
Adriano smiles thinly. "Then we finish what you started."
“You’re saying that?” I ask surprised. “The one who is afraid of bloodbaths?”
He gives me a face. “I’m not afraid of them. I just don’t like how messy they are.”
I’d roll my eyes, but I’m afraid I’d end up vomiting.
I listen to my siblings discuss the terms of the peace treaty, the territory lines being redrawn, the reparations Maksim will pay. Their voices fade into background noise as reality sinks in.
My job here is done. I came back to find out who summoned me home and why.
I stayed to meet my son and win back Katerina.
Along the way, I helped uncover a traitor and sparked a war that's now ending on our terms.
But my life is in Chicago. My business. My home. They’ve been neglected for too long.
“When I can stand again, I’m heading back home.”
The room falls silent. Three pairs of Dante eyes turn to me.
“This is your home.” Valentina’s eyes narrow, daring me to contradict her.
"My business needs me. I've been gone too long already." I'm way past the forty-eight hours I gave Franco.
"You can't be serious. Your life is here now. Your son is here." She glances toward my brothers as if to ask them to help her make me see reason.
"She's right," Alessandro says. "You've proven yourself. There's a place for you in New York. In the family."
Even Adriano nods. "The family needs you."
There was a time I’d have done anything to hear them talk like this. And I can’t deny that it’s nice to feel like I’m a part of the family. But my life is elsewhere.
“My business…” My brain glitches. The pain, medication, and bone-deep exhaustion make it hard to focus.
"Can be managed remotely," Alessandro cuts in. "Or sold. You've got more important things now."
A tug-of-war plays out in my head. Chicago represents everything I built alone, proof I didn't need the Dante name to succeed. But New York has Katerina and Enzo.
"It's not that simple," I manage. "I can't just abandon what I've built."
"And what about what you've built here?" Valentina crosses her arms, her expression filled with disappointment. “You’re going to abandon that?”
I need to explain.
I need them to understand I'm not running away this time.
I'm trying to build something better.
But the room tilts slightly.
I'm losing my grip on consciousness, the medication and fatigue pulling me back under.
Their concerned faces blur as darkness creeps in from the edges of my vision. I fight it, but I'm too weak, sinking back into oblivion before I can make them understand.
I close my eyes, suddenly exhausted. "I need to rest."
Just before unconsciousness claims me again, a wave of emotion washes over me.
I'm so fucking close to having everything I want.
My son.
The woman I love.
Even my siblings showing something like respect for once in our lives.
Yet Chicago pulls at me like a tether. My empire. My freedom. The life I built with my own hands when my family cast me out.
I can't abandon what I've created there.
But I won't abandon Katerina and Enzo either.
Not again. Never again.
The drugs blur my thoughts, but one certainty crystallizes through the haze. I need them with me. Both of them. When I leave New York, they're coming with me.
I’ll make Alessandro include her freedom from the Bratva as part of their deal.
Then I'll find a way to convince her to be with me.
Make her see that our future lies together.
I'll show her the life we could build in Chicago. A fresh start. Just the three of us.
That’s my last thought as my eyes grow too heavy to keep open and darkness overtakes me.