4. Luca
Luca
By the time we’re dressed, Sarah has gone quiet again. We have lunch at my mother’s every Sunday. Normally, she’d be giving me shit about something by now—the amount of food my mother is going to make, the fact that half my family can’t mind their own business, or the way I drive.
Instead, she’s standing by the window looking out at the backyard.
I pause in the doorway and watch her for a moment.
Her auburn hair falls in a thick curtain down the middle of her back.
Sunlight catches on the strands, pulling copper from the darker red.
One arm is wrapped around her waist while the fingers of her other hand tap absently against her elbow as she thinks.
The freckles across her cheeks are faint this morning.
I cross the room and slip my arms around her waist. She relaxes immediately and leans back against me. At five foot four, she fits neatly against my chest, the top of her head brushing my shoulder. Some of the tension leaves her body.
I rest my chin on top of her head.
“Baby Girl, there are some things we need to talk about.”
A sigh escapes her.
“You want me to lie to Katie.”
It’s not a question.
“Yes.”
For a second she doesn’t move. Then she turns in my arms and looks up at me.
“Luca.”
I already know I’m not going to like whatever comes next.
“I know.”
“No.” She steps away from me. “I don’t think you do.”
The softness disappears from her face.
“Katie is my best friend.”
I let out a slow breath.
“I know.”
Sarah turns away from me and drags both hands through her hair.
“She just lost her mom a few months ago. Do you understand that? Do you understand what that did to her?”
“I do.”
“No, I don’t think you do.”
She starts pacing, crossing the room before turning back. Her arms fold tightly across her chest before she unfolds them again a second later. Sarah has never been good at standing still when she’s upset.
“I sat with her while she planned her mother’s funeral, Luca. I listened to her cry. I watched her try to hold herself together when she was falling apart.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” she fires back. “Because right now it feels like you’re asking me to betray her.”
Sarah stops pacing and looks at me.
“She trusts me.”
I open my mouth.
“No. Let me finish.”
I shut it again.
“She trusts me, and now you want me to sit across from her at lunch and pretend I don’t know something that could completely change the way she sees her relationship.”
She lets out a sharp laugh and shakes her head.
“I don’t even know how I’m supposed to do that.”
I drag a hand across the back of my neck.
“Sarah—“
“No, seriously. How?” She throws both hands up. “What am I supposed to do when she starts talking about Michael? What am I supposed to do when she asks me if something’s wrong? Lie? Change the subject? Excuse myself and go hide in the bathroom?”
I don’t say anything.
Sarah waits for an answer, but the longer the silence stretches between us, the more her expression changes.
“I had finally started trusting Michael. He is so good to her, Luca. Like insanely good to her.”
“I know he is, Baby Girl.”
“But if he is who you say he is, how is that even possible?”
The words linger in the air between us. I don’t need to answer. The look on my face is enough. Sarah’s gaze drops briefly before returning to mine, and I can practically see her replaying the conversation in her head. When she speaks again, her voice is quieter than before.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she says, stepping closer.
“It’s okay.” I reach for her hand before she can continue explaining herself. “I get it. We do some pretty fucked up stuff. I’m not gonna deny that, and I’m not gonna make excuses for it either.”
I wait until she meets my eyes again before continuing.
“But I know two things to be true. Mikey loves Katie, and I sure as hell love you.”
“Have you ever killed someone?” she asks.
I could lie. I could tell her there are things she doesn’t need to know. I could pretend the answer is more complicated than it is.
“Yeah.”
Her throat works as she swallows.
“Why?”
I hold her gaze.
“Because they threatened the family. Because they went against Mikey.”
She stares at me. I can almost see the argument happening inside her head. She wants a better answer than that. She wants something that makes sense in the world she came from. Instead, all I can give her is the truth. In my world, those reasons were enough.
“Why is he so important?”
“Mikey?”
She nods.
“Because he’s responsible for everything.”
Sarah frowns.
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning every major decision goes through him.”
I rub a hand across my jaw.
“The businesses, the money, the shipments, the investments, the people working under him. If there’s a problem, Mikey deals with it.”
She stays quiet.
“When two people have a dispute, Mikey settles it. When somebody wants permission to do something, they go to Mikey. When somebody gets arrested, Mikey decides how it’s handled. When there’s a threat to the family, Mikey decides what happens next.”
Her eyebrows pull together.
“So he controls everything.”
“Pretty much.”
I shrug.
“Think about Amato Operations alone. Restaurants. Hotels. Real estate. Shipping. Investments.”
I hold her gaze.
“Now add the rest of the family business on top of that.”
Sarah is silent.
“People aren’t just afraid of Mikey because he’s powerful,” I say, shaking my head.
“They’re afraid of him because his decisions affect everybody.”
“So what happens if somebody doesn’t listen to him?”
I shrug.
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“What they did.”
Sarah waits.
“Maybe they lose money. Maybe they lose their business. Maybe Mikey finds something they don’t want found and uses it against them.”
Her eyes widen slightly.
“And if that doesn’t work?”
I hold her gaze.
“Then Mikey, Marco, or I beat the shit out of them.”
Silence.
“And if that doesn’t work?”
“Then they die.”