Chapter 32
LUCA
I blink and suddenly I’m somewhere else, in the back of an ambulance, sirens blaring, and my chest hurts like a motherfucker. I open my mouth to speak but all that comes out is a hoarse whisper.
“Sophia?”
“Don’t try to talk,” a female EMT says to me, putting an oxygen mask on me. “We’re on the way to the hospital.”
I open my mouth to protest, to tell her I don’t need the hospital, that all I need is Sophia but then I’m out again and when I come to there’s someone yelling in my face.
“Mr. Rossi, is it? We need you to stay awake, now, okay, open your eyes!”
Should be easy enough, but it feels like my eyelids have bricks on them. The next time I open my eyes I’m in a bright room, light beating down on me.
I squint against it, trying to sit up and a whole chorus of “Nos!” descend upon me.
“You’re about to have open-heart surgery, Mr. Rossi,” one of the nurses says quietly, and I fight harder, trying to get up, willing myself to move.
But my limbs barely wiggle. I’m weak and clearly injured and I don’t know which way is up.
“You’re just going to take a little nap,” the nurse chirps, but there’s too many doctors in the room and they’re all talking in lowered voices.
It’s bad. Open heart surgery? I need to get to Sophia. What did she say to me? Something she needed to tell me?
A daughter.
“We have a daughter, Luca.”
I’m remembering it wrong. I have to be. I’d have known if she had a kid, would have found it…but how? I didn’t even know her last name until she told me.
I fight to stay awake, but whatever they put in my IV puts me out and when I peel open my eyes it feels like there’s an elephant on my chest.
I can barely breathe, but a voice starts to come into focus.
“Push the button in your hand. It’ll help.”
I feel around for said button, find it, and press it, and warmth floods through my IV, taking the pain and pressure away. Or at least allowing me to care about it less.
“Is it you?” I ask, cracking one eye open, and sure enough, Sophia, her face tear-streaked, sits by my bed in a chair, her small hand in mine.
“It’s me. Fuck, Luca, I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” I ask, a little out of it as I try to focus on her face. Her features swim but then finally come into focus.
“For lying to you. For hiding…”
“Our daughter,” I finish as she trails off, and I just stare at her for a long moment. “Why did you hide it from me?”
“I didn’t know you. I thought, hell, I knew you were a mobster. I just didn’t know you were the mobster.” She chuckles, the sound high-pitched and nervous. “But I didn’t have high hopes that you’d even care. I was a one-night stand, after all.”
I clutch at her hand. “You were so much more than that to me.”
She blinks. “I was?”
I nod eagerly and it makes me dizzy, but I don’t care, squeezing her hand tighter.
“I think I fell in love with you the first moment I saw you.”
Her face flushes and she looks away. “No, you didn’t.”
I huff out a frustrated breath, grabbing onto her hand more tightly when she tries to pull away.
“Diego thought I was crazy, chasing a ghost for months after that night.”
“You looked for me?’
“Told you I did.”
“I guess I didn’t believe you,” she murmurs, looking shy now, after I’ve seen every inch of her, been inside her.
“I loved you then and I love you now, pixie,” I say to her, and I’ve never meant anything more in my entire life.
“You shouldn’t say things you don’t mean.”
“And you shouldn’t tell me how to feel,” I blurt out, trying to reach out to cup her chin. Oh. I’m handcuffed to the bed.
Of course I am. What did I expect?
“You should be mad at me,” she says shakily.
“Well, I’m not.”
“Not even a little?”
I shake my head, smiling. “It’s kind of impossible to be mad on this many drugs.”
She barks out a broken laugh. “Yeah, well, after they wear off you’ll be mad at me.”
“I don’t think so.” I pause. “Sophia?”
“Yes?” Her blue eyes meet mine.
“Can I meet my daughter?” I can’t help but grin. “Are her eyes as blue as yours?”
“No,” she says softly. “Green, like yours.”
It feels like a tiny arrow has pierced my heart.
I can’t even imagine it, a little girl with her button nose and my eyes. God, I hope the kid didn’t get my big nose.
“You’ll really let me meet her? I’d like it to be here. Don’t want her to see her old man in prison.”
Sophia winces, looking away from me again, clearly feeling guilty.
I want to tell her she shouldn’t. I want to tell her how much she’s given me now that I know we have a daughter. I want to tell her she’s the only thing that makes me feel alive.
“I’ll bring her in the morning,” she promises.
I smile, leaning back against the pillows. “I can’t wait. How am I doing, anyway?”
She sighs. “I don’t know. Docs won’t tell me anything because we’re not married.”
“Oh. I’ll fix that.” She stares at me for a minute and I just yell, “Doc!”
Sophia shushes me but a woman in a lab coat comes rushing in, her eyes widening.
“You’re awake.”
Doctors surround me and Sophia gets delegated to a back corner of the room. I frown, trying to keep my eyes on her as doctors shine lights in my eyes.
I wave them away with as much motion as I can muster from the handcuffs.
“I’m awake; I’m alive; leave me alone.”
Sophia hides her smile with her hand, but I can see it in those beautiful blue eyes of hers.
“You’ve had a very serious surgery, Mr. Rossi,” one doctor says, and I nod slowly.
“Open-heart, right?”
“A bullet pierced your left ventricle. You nearly bled out on the table.”
“But I didn’t. Right?”
She chuckles. “You didn’t. You’re not speaking to me from the afterlife, Mr. Rossi.”
I let out a mock relieved breath. “Good, because I wouldn’t want to miss all the fun I’m about to have in prison.”
The doctor twitches and Sophia laughs, hiding her face again. I grin at her over the doctor’s head.
“We’ll be keeping you for a week or so to monitor your healing,” she finally says, stopping her fussing over me. “But I think you’re going to pull through.”
“Thank you,” Sophia says quietly.
I nudge the doctor with my elbow. “Anything you want to discuss about my health, you can discuss with her. She’s my wife.”
Sophia stares at me, her mouth dropping open. “I am not your wife.”
“Yet,” I say cheerfully and the doctor looks between me and Sophia and the handcuffs, clearly confused.
In the end she shrugs.
“I’ll be back to check on you at the end of my rounds.”
I nod and the doctors leave. Finally, I’m alone with my Sophia again.
“What’s she like?” I ask, unable to stop myself, and Sophia smiles. She doesn’t hide it this time.
“She’s beautiful. She turns three in April.”
“And she has my eyes?”
“Mmhm. And your chin.”
I frown. “But not my nose, right?”
Sophia laughs. “No, she got my father’s nose.”
“I’ll have to meet him. Ask for your hand in marriage.”
“I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” she hedges.
I frown. “Why not?”
“Well, he hates mobsters.”
“I’m good with parents. You’ll see,” I say, because right now, nothing can bring me down. Maybe it’s the opiates coursing through my system or the near-death experience, but right now, all I feel is happy.
“Have you met many parents?” Sophia teases.
“Not exactly,” I admit, grinning sheepishly. My eyes widen as I realize I’ve neglected to ask about someone. “Diego?”
“They processed him and then brought him here,” she answers. “They wouldn’t tell me anything since I’m not family, but—”
“I’m his emergency contact. They’ll tell me.”
“I think he’s okay,” she says, and I nod.
“He’s got a hard head. I’m sure he’ll be alright.” I sigh, knowing there’s still one more person I need to ask about. “And Nico?”
“He’s being held without bail for attempted murder.”
I blink, surprised. “Mine?”
“Among others. Diego, too. Me.”
“He didn’t hurt you, did he?” I ask quietly, taking her hand when she offers it to me.
She shakes her head. “No. Barely touched me. I think…I think he might have, once he was finished.”
“Who else was there?”
“Three other guys. I didn’t get names, but the SWAT team arrested them before they could do much damage.”
“I want names,” I say through gritted teeth.
Sophia sighs. “You don’t need names. There’s nothing you can do from here, anyway.”
I go silent. There’s plenty I can do from here, if she could just get me a phone. Hell, they sell them at the gift shop. But I can’t ask her to help me do anything criminal. I’m lucky she’s even talking to me, after everything I did.
“Pixie, I’m sorry.”
Her blue eyes widen as she looks at me.
“You can’t possibly be apologizing to me, after everything.”
“All this started because of me. I should have just talked to you, explained what you meant to me.”
“Not sure that would have gone over really well.” She cracks a smile. “I was pretty determined to take you down.”
“Did you get what you needed?”
“No,” she says softly. “I didn’t. They’ll probably give you a slap on the wrist.”
“I might have to spend a few years inside,” I muse.
Sophia’s eyes instantly fill with tears, and I make a distressed sound in the back of my throat, wishing I could draw her closer.
“Come here.”
She perches on the edge of the bed and I lean against her, nuzzling against her neck.
“It’s going to be okay.” My voice is calm, quiet. Assured.
She nods, but she doesn’t speak, her eyes still streaming tears.
“Sophia. Things are going to be okay,” I say again, and she starts to cry, burying her face in my neck.
I hum to her, nosing against her throat and squeezing her hand because it’s the only way I can touch her with these damn handcuffs on.
“I lied to you.”
“You did,” I agree, kissing her forehead.
“My partner he…he didn’t die.” She finally takes my hand in hers.
“No?” I can’t say I’m surprised. That part of the story never really rang true.
“No. He’s the one that came to help me. Part of the team that shot you.” Her voice breaks and she starts to cry again.
“You did what you had to do, pixie. There was no way out of that other than calling your people.”
“I messed up so bad.”
“Maybe. I love you anyway.”
“Stop saying that!” she nearly-yells, but I can’t help but laugh even as she sobs against my throat.
“I love you, Sophia Bianchi. I love our daughter. What’s her name?”
Sophia sniffles. “Rosa. Rosa Elena.”
“Rosa Elena Rossi,” I say, feeling the name out on my tongue.
She winces. “It’s Bianchi, since you weren’t there to sign the birth certificate.”
“Wish I was.” I squeeze her hand. My palms are sweaty, but she doesn’t seem to mind. “Wish I was there for all of it, every appointment, her first laugh, her first steps.”
My voice breaks, goes raw.
“I’ll bring her to visit as often as I can.”
I shake my head. “Not there. Not in that place. Promise me you’ll never take her there, Sophia.”
She swallows visibly. “I’ll never take her there.”
“Do you mean that? If you want to come visit me, I can’t stop you, but I won’t have our daughter—”
She stops my words by pressing her mouth to mine.
I can’t help but grin against her lips.
My empire has crumbled at my feet. I’ve been beaten. Shot. My chest cut open.
But I feel like a million dollars with Sophia by my side and the promise of getting to meet my little girl.
It’s all that matters now.