Chapter 29 LUCA
LUCA
Old cedar and black ink hang thick in the quiet air of the study.
Down the corridor, behind my locked bedroom door, Nora is still sound asleep under heavy blankets, her breathing slow and steady after hours of fighting exhaustion.
But here, across the mahogany desk, Adrian stands like a statue carved out of stone.
He grips the London flight manifest in one hand, thumb pressing into the paper, his head bowed to avoid my gaze.
Adrian keeps his voice low and tight. "The London guards on her family are in place. Her father's restaurant has four plainclothes men outside, and her mother has someone watching her around the clock. They are safe. Bellini has no idea."
I sink back into my leather chair. "Good. At least that part is handled. So why do you look like a man waiting to get shot?"
Adrian tucks the folder under his arm, his jaw clenching hard. "Sofia has been trying to talk to me since after the kidnapping."
I tap my pen on the blotter. "And what did you do?"
"I told her my post was at the west gate and that you ordered everyone to stay indoors," Adrian answers, his knuckles going pale against his clipboard.
I stare at him. Adrian has been my brother in everything but blood since we were boys sleeping under wool blankets in this drafty fortress.
He came to our home after his parents were murdered right in front of him, covered in their blood, dragging himself here just to keep me safe.
I know the exact tremor in his voice when he is lying to himself.
He remembers every single day with Sofia since he arrived at eleven, bruised and half-starved, and Sofia had marched right up at four years old to thrust a bruised pear into his dirty hands.
Adrian had kept that fruit until it rotted because nobody had ever given him anything before.
He has spent his whole life watching over her.
When Sofia broke her arm climbing the fig tree at eight, Adrian carried her two miles down the hill to the clinic on his back, weeping harder than she did while he swore on his life he would never let her fall again.
When she was twelve and terrified of thunder, he sat on the cold floor outside her bedroom door all night with his back against the wood, tapping twice every hour so she knew he was there.
Even now, he remembers how she leaves fresh pear on his window when he works guard shifts in the rain, the sound of her laugh echoing off the stone stairs, and how she tucked a silver medal into his vest before our first raid in Palermo.
And I know about the pantry before the kidnapping.
I found the two of them breathing hard in the dark behind the wine racks, Adrian's hand pressed against the stone next to her cheek, his mouth red and swollen while Sofia clutched his collar like he was the only solid thing left in the world.
He had backed away from her like he burned himself on hot coals.
I push back my chair. "You broke her heart, Adrian. She is sitting out in the garden crying into a scarf because you talked to her like a prison guard."
"It is my job to keep her alive!" Adrian snaps, his voice cracking down the middle.
His chest heaves under his black vest as he slams a fist against the desk.
"You saw what Bellini did! He stole her right out of our grip, and Nora and Nonna had to buy her safety back with blood and nerve.
If Bellini discovers Sofia is my weakness, he will take her again just to break me.
I cannot protect her if I am holding her hand! "
"So you push her away completely?" I take a step around the desk, stopping right in front of him. "You think ignoring her keeps her safe? You are hurting her yourself, Adrian."
Adrian grits his teeth, knees locked tight against swaying.
"I am doing my job for this family. She almost died out there.
Nora and Nonna saved her life, not me. She deserves a normal man, Luca.
Someone who doesn't wash gunpowder and blood out of his cuffs before dinner.
I am backing out now before Bellini uses me to get her killed. "
I don't argue with him. I pull my arm back and drive my fist straight into his jaw.
The crack echoes off the high ceiling. Adrian's head snaps sideways, his boots skidding across the rug as he crashes into the heavy oak side table. Books tumble onto the floor with a loud thump. He shakes his head, spitting a bead of dark blood onto the hardwood.
"That was for talking down about my sister," I growl, shaking the sting out of my knuckles. "And for acting like a coward."
Adrian wipes his mouth with his sleeve, glaring up from the floor with wide eyes. "Luca..."
I jab a finger at his face. "You love her. You have loved her since you were both kids. Do not sit there and pretend this is about duty. You are just terrified of feeling something you cannot control with a gun."
The heavy study doors swing open before Adrian can answer. Matteo strolls in with an apple in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other, Enzo trailing right behind him with a smug grin plastered across his face.
Matteo tosses the apple into the air and snatches it clean. "Well, look at that. Luca finally cracked your jaw. I had fifty on that. Pay up, Enzo."
Enzo nudges Adrian's dropped folder with the toe of his boot. "I'm not paying shit. Not when we've got bigger news. Sofia has a date tonight. We're setting the itinerary."
Adrian freezes while wiping blood from his chin. "She does not have a date."
Matteo leans his hips against my desk with a grin. "She does now. Paolo from the Naples crew. Good smile, nice bike, doesn't scowl at her like a cemetery statue. We're sending them to that seafood place by the harbor with the candlelit tables."
"That place is an exposed security nightmare," Adrian grits out, his hands balling into white-knuckled fists at his sides. "The perimeter has three blind spots and the terrace faces open water."
"Which makes it romantic, you idiot," Enzo snorts, his gaze fixed on his nails. "Paolo says he's going to order the lobster for her. Sofia loves lobster. And he's bringing her those little yellow buttercups she likes from the hillside."
"Yellow freesia," Adrian snaps without thinking, his chest hitching. "She hates buttercups. They make her sneeze. And she gets sick on shellfish if it isn't fresh off the boat."
Matteo takes a slow, loud bite of his apple, chewing thoughtfully. "Hear that, Enzo? Write it down. Freesia, not buttercups. What about the ride there? Paolo wants to take her down the coastal highway on his motorcycle."
Enzo mimes a dramatic clutching motion with his arms. "Yeah, Sofia holding on tight around his waist. Wind in her hair. Her hands slipped inside his leather jacket to keep warm while he hits ninety on the curves."
"No motorcycle," Adrian rumbles, a dangerous tremor vibrating in his chest. "The roads are slick from the mist. She doesn't have a proper helmet."
Matteo shrugs and pops another slice into his mouth. "Paolo will keep her warm. Then afterwards, a walk along the pier. He told me he might kiss her right under the lighthouse. Very sweet. Sofia deserves someone who doesn't treat her like an armed target. We'll order champagne for the table."
"Enough!" Adrian roars.
Adrian snaps. A savage snarl rips from his throat as he lunges across the room.
He kicks my wastebasket into the wall, sends an inkpot shattering across the desk, and shoves Matteo back so hard the apple flies out of his hand and rolls across the floorboards.
"Touch her and I'll bury him in the cellar! Both of you shut your fucking mouths!"
He spins around, breathing like a wounded bull, and tears down the hall toward the stairs to find her before anyone can stop him.
The heavy corridor doors slam shut behind him with a crash that rattles the paintings on the wall.
Matteo bends down to grab his apple, cleans it off against his shirt, and winks at Enzo. "Told you so. Works every single time."
I bend down and retrieve a pen off the floor. "Is Paolo really out there with her?"
Enzo turns back to the doorway with a laugh. "Not at all. Paolo is working guard duty at the north warehouse. Adrian just doesn't know that."
I shake my head, flexing my bruised hand, and look out the window toward the courtyard. For once, the chaos in this house might actually solve something.
Matteo nudges my arm with his shoulder. "Come on. You don't want to miss this."
The three of us hurry down the service stairs, ducking into the ground-floor gallery that overlooks the lower gardens.
Outside on the stone terrace, Nora sits on a wrought-iron bench with a warm mug in her hands, listening closely while Sofia paces in front of her, gesturing with both arms in furious circles.
"He wouldn't even look at me, Nora!" Sofia complains, her cheeks flushed red. "He stood at the door like a marble block and told me his post was at the west gate! After everything that happened in the pantry, after Bellini kidnapping and all he acts like I don't exist!"
Nora blows across the surface of her hot tea. "That's because men are emotionally stunted toddlers. Give him twenty minutes of silent treatment and he'll be banging on your door with flowers and an apology."
Adrian bursts through the garden archway like a battering ram, his chest heaving, his split lip still shining with fresh blood. Before Sofia can finish her sentence, he reaches down, catches her beneath her knees and shoulder blades, and sweeps her straight up into his arms.
Sofia beats her palms against his heavy shoulders. "Adrian! Put me down! What are you doing, you brute? Let go of me!"
Adrian carries her away from the bench toward the privacy of the old lemon grove, ignoring her flailing completely. "You're not going anywhere with Paolo." He holds her securely against his chest like she weighs nothing at all.
Nora scrambles to her feet, eyes wide. "Did he just caveman her off the terrace?"
Matteo waves Nora inside through the cracked glass doors of the gallery. "Get over here." Nora slips inside the archway with us, and the four of us crouch behind the stone balustrade, peering through the leafy lemon branches.
Adrian sets her down beside the stone fountain. Sofia stumbles back a half step and smooths her sweater. "Put me on my feet right now, Adrian Romano! Have you lost your mind?"
"Matteo told me about your date," Adrian says, breathing hard, his jaw set like iron. "Paolo. The seafood restaurant by the harbor. The motorcycle ride along the coast."
Sofia blinks, stunned, before a look of pure confusion crosses her face. "What date? What motorcycle? I don't have a date with Paolo! Paolo is on patrol duty at the north warehouse!"
Adrian freezes. The fury drains right out of his eyes, leaving him staring at her like he just walked into a wall. "You... you aren't going with him?"
Sofia steps into his space until her chest brushes his vest. "It was a lie, you giant idiot. Matteo made it up to make you jealous, and you fell for it! Why do you do this, Adrian? Why do you run away from me?"
Adrian bows his head, fists clenched tight at his sides.
"Because I'm terrified, Sofia. I watched Bellini steal you away.
I couldn't stop it. If I let myself have you, if anyone figures out you're my whole world, they will use you to destroy me.
I'm a killer who cleans blood out of his shirts. You deserve a real life. A safe man."
Tears well in Sofia's dark eyes. She reaches up, cupping his bruised jaw in her hands, her fingers brushing the cut on his lip. "I don't want a safe man. I want you. I have loved you since I was four years old with that stupid pear. Stop hiding behind your gun and look at me."
Adrian shudders under her touch. He covers her hands with his own calloused palms. His voice drops to a raw, ragged whisper. "I will become better for you, Sofia. I swear it. No more hiding. No more pretending that I can walk away."
He leans down and pulls her against his chest, crushing his lips to hers. Sofia wraps her arms tightly around his neck, standing on her tiptoes as the kiss deepens under the shade of the lemon trees.
Matteo thrusts an open palm out behind the balustrade. "Pay up, Enzo! Full tongue contact! That's fifty in my pocket!"
Nora swats Matteo's arm with a sharp smack. "Shh, keep your voice down! If you ruin this moment, I will shove that apple down your throat."
"His form is terrible," Enzo grunts, eyes narrowed through the leaves. "He's gripping her waist like he's securing a duffel bag of stolen cash."
I watch the two of them in the grove, my chest tight. "Shut up, both of you. He's doing just fine."