Chapter 3

CHAPTERTHREE

THE FIORE MEN dropped Luca on a couch in a formal living area that looked like it hadn’t been touched since the eighties. It was a far cry from where he’d ended up in a basement with Dom, but he didn’t fool himself into thinking this was any safer. At least they’d left him alone for the moment, which gave him time to take in his surroundings and get his bearings.

He shifted on the couch, trying to get comfortable, but it was impossible given his hands were still bound behind him, along with his ankles. Did they really consider him a threat? Even if he had a weapon, he probably wouldn’t know how to use it.

The walls were a dusty rose with heavy floral drapes and matching firm couches, and on the coffee table sat a silver tea set that looked more for show than actual use.

This is a mob boss’s house?

Luca wouldn’t have believed it if not for the lone picture frame sitting in front of him. Just like the rest of the room, the photo looked stuck in time, but he could clearly see it was the same four people that had been in the picture Dom showed him, just several years younger. The two boys wore similar scowls to their father’s, and only the woman smiled, though close-lipped.

Gabriella,Luca thought. Would he be meeting her? Did she know what had happened to him, or was she in the dark as much as Caterina Rossetti was from “family” business? This was different, though. He was her son. How could she, or any of them, have just given him away like he didn’t mean anything?

It shouldn’t have bothered him at all to be away from these people, and truly, he was grateful he hadn’t grown up in this life. But somewhere deep inside, he still felt the sting of rejection and wondered why. What had he done to be ostracized?

“Luca.”

A deep voice full of gravel made him jerk his attention to the entryway, where the man from the photo stood. He looked much older than Luca had expected; his body was rounded but sagging in a way that seemed like the world had dragged him down with it.

On instinct, Luca went to stand up, to put himself on the same level and not be intimidated, but his bound feet tripped him up and he fell back on the couch.

“Frankie.” One word from the boss, and one of the men from the car appeared. “You search him?”

“Yes, boss.”

“Then cut him loose.”

Without a word, Frankie pulled out a switchblade from his pocket and made quick work of Luca’s zip ties.

The relief he felt was instantaneous, and he stretched his arms out in front of him, willing the blood to flow back into his hands.

As Frankie disappeared somewhere in the house, Fiore slowly made his way to the couch opposite Luca. The difference between this man and Vincenzo Rossetti was stark, and the thought of how an obviously older, ailing man like this could possibly be in charge crossed Luca’s mind.

Fiore sat down with a groan, pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket, and mopped his face. Then he tucked it away and focused back on Luca. His dark eyes didn’t show any hint of sentimentality, but what did Luca expect from a man that had thrown him away?

“So you’re the one,” Fiore said, more to himself than Luca, scanning over him as a scientist might a new species he’d just discovered. He grunted. “You gotta be, what? Twenty-two—”

“I’m twenty-four,” Luca said before he could stop himself. But something about the fact that his own father didn’t even know his age grated on his nerves. “Something you’d know if you hadn’t thrown me out like a piece of garbage.”

Fiore’s eyes turned to slits, but other than that he gave no indication that he’d heard, or cared about, what Luca said. There was no flicker of emotion in his eyes, no hint of regret at what he’d given up. He just sat stoic and unaffected, with an expression that told Luca better than words that he meant absolutely nothing to this man.

Well, in any kind of paternal capacity.

“You look like my Gabriella. They had said, but…” Fiore nodded. “The resemblance is quite uncanny. No wonder Rossetti was flaunting you about. He knew word would get back to me to corroborate Ennio’s story.”

Luca shook his head. “Look, I don’t care about any of this. You, the Rossettis, whatever feud you have going on. I don’t want any part of it. I just want to go home.”

Fiore rested his thick forearms on the arms of his seat. “This is your home.”

Luca almost laughed, but caught himself. “I…I’ve never been here before.”

“Yes you have.”

Luca looked around the living room at the outdated décor. “No I haven’t. I think I would remember.”

“You were born here, Luca.”

Wait…what?

“Upstairs in one of the main rooms. As were all my sons.”

Luca’s mind began to spin, and his eyes immediately flicked to the ceiling as though he could see the room under discussion. But all he saw, as the impact of what he’d just been told continued to hit him over and over again, was a tacky chandelier hanging above his head.

“Your mother very much wants to see you.”

“She’s not my mother,” Luca snapped, and for the first time since Fiore had walked into the room, his eyes grew cold.

“She is the woman who birthed you, fed you, and gave you life.” He leaned forward in his seat and pinned Luca with a stare that made his blood turn to ice. “You will not disrespect her again.”

Luca chewed on the inside of his cheek, his instincts telling him to obey and keep his mouth shut. But he was done playing the victim, the scared little hostage. He’d done enough of that at the Rossettis.

“I just meant I don’t know her. My mother lives in Connecticut—”

“No. The people we gave you to live in Connecticut. They owed us a debt. You are not theirs any more than that house is your home. You are mine and my wife’s son, and it’s time for you to come home.”

Oh my God.This man was crazy. He expected Luca to pack a bag and move in with no care to his life. No care to his family—or the only family he knew…

“I’m not doing that. I’m an adult and I have a life. You can’t just order me home because you suddenly want me here.”

“I don’t want you here.”

The words were like a knife, and while Luca didn’t really care what this man thought of him, to hear his own father tell him he wasn’t wanted was more offensive than he’d expected.

“I need you here. You’re my heir. Your place is now here with me. Whatever freedom you had before ends today; you don’t have a choice.”

Luca blinked, shock settling in as Fiore shifted to the edge of the seat and pushed his hefty body to his feet. He walked across the room to Luca and stared down at him, a disgruntled look on his face. Then, without a word, he turned and headed to the door he’d originally come through.

Please let him be leaving. Please let him be leaving…

Luca wouldn’t be that lucky, though. He wouldn’t be lucky ever again.

Whatever freedom you had before ends today; you don’t have a choice.

Where the hell did these people get off thinking they had the power to decide someone else’s fate? First the Rossettis, now the Fiores, both of them telling him his life was basically over. This couldn’t be reality. This man—his father, even though he shuddered to use the term—couldn’t possibly think Luca would ever be forced into this. He’d rather die.

His stomach sank as those three words ran through his head again.

He’d rather die than live without his freedom. It was a sobering thought, and also the reason he didn’t hear Fiore amble back into the room.

He wasn’t alone, though. Behind him, Gabriella peered around her husband, and when she got a good look at Luca, a soft gasp left her. She left Fiore’s side to move in Luca’s direction, but when he flinched as she reached out to him, her face fell and she dropped her hands. She looked down nervously at the couch and sat on the other end, giving Luca space.

“It really is you,” she said so quietly that Luca barely caught it. Where her husband was oversized and far past his prime, Gabriella was a wisp of a woman, decades younger, and with dark, wavy hair. Her eyes roamed over Luca, and when they landed on the freckle they shared on their cheeks, she smiled.

“No denying you’re mine,” she said lightly, as if trying to make a joke, but Luca scowled.

“That didn’t seem to count for much when you decided to give me away.”

Gabriella’s eyes widened, and Luca heard Fiore grunt his name, but he didn’t care. He didn’t feel anything more for this woman than he would a stranger on the street. They might look alike, but that was it. He didn’t know her or Fiore, and more than that, he didn’t care to.

“I didn’t want to. I didn’t—”

“Gabby,” Fiore said sharply. “You don’t owe him an explanation.”

“But I think we do. We’re strangers to him, Constantino. He deserves to know why.”

Luca wouldn’t argue with that. Even if he wanted nothing to do with them, he was still curious about how he’d come to be Luca Davis, and who Fiore—or Constantino—and Gabriella were. And what about his brothers?

Constantino wiped his brow with his handkerchief again and waved his wife off, as if to say, Do as you want. Luca doubted he let anyone else do what they wanted. Maybe Constantino’s weak spot was his wife.

“You have to understand what things were like back then,” Gabriella said, folding and refolding her hands in her lap. “The Rossettis were ambitious and willing to do anything to hurt us—”

“Why?” Luca cut in.

Gabriella shifted her weight. “Power, of course. It makes people do crazy things.”

Luca cocked his head, watching the way she fidgeted. She was lying. Or at least leaving out an important part of the story.

“You were so young,” she said. “Defenseless. An easy target. I— We couldn’t bear to lose you. Your brothers were already in this world and able to fight back, but you…” She shook her head. “We sent you away to save you.”

As Luca took in what she was saying, he looked back at Constantino, but the old man only sat there, expressionless.

“You sent me away to save me,” Luca said slowly. “And then you brought me back tied up in the trunk of a car.”

Gabriella blanched. “What?”

Luca held up his red, irritated wrists. “Is that how you wanted to welcome your long-lost son?”

“Enough,” Constantino barked, but Luca ignored him.

“Why couldn’t you have left me where I was? You already have two sons. I have a life in Connecticut. A really good one—”

“I don’t,” Gabriella said. “We don’t. Not anymore.”

“What do you mean not anymore?”

“It means you’re the last of my bloodline,” Constantino said. “You are the only thing that stands between the Fiores retaining power and those no-good Rossettis thinking they can rule the city.” Constantino leaned forward, resting his thick forearms on his knees. “Don’t you understand? Vincenzo and Dom killed your brothers in cold blood. You don’t think they were going to do the same to you?”

Luca wasn’t sure why he was so shocked. It wasn’t like Dom was a pillar of society. Hell, he’d threatened Luca’s life on an hourly basis when they first met. But to hear that Dom and his father had murdered these two men—Luca’s brothers—in cold blood made a shiver skate up his spine.

“Yes.” Constantino nodded. “Now you’re starting to understand. If there is anyone for you to blame for the upheaval of your life, it is the Rossettis. They love nothing more than to fuck over a Fiore.”

“Constantino,” Gabriella said under her breath, and laid a hand on Luca’s arm. Her wide eyes implored him to believe their tale of woe, but still something didn’t add up. As ruthless and formidable as Dom and his father were, it always seemed they had a reason for their actions.

I mean, they kidnapped me to stop a bloodline, right? Yet here he was, still alive…

Luca scrubbed his hands over his face, his mind racing. “This is…this is a lot.”

“Of course it is,” Gabriella said, her voice soft. “Why don’t we show you to a room and you can rest up a little? We can bring you something to eat.”

For some reason Luca’s mind immediately flashed to Chef making him chorizos, and he wondered if the Fiores were into poisoning their prisoners that way. Then again, if he was the heir to the family, the likelihood they were going to off him was pretty slim…right?

Gabriella got to her feet. “Come with me, I’ll show you where you will be staying.”

More like where I’ll be held against my will.

Luca kept quiet, though, choosing to go with her rather than spend another second in the presence of a man whose only mission seemed to be telling Luca what he could and couldn’t do.