48. Kylie

Chapter forty-eight

Kylie

" W hat the hell, Luca. I said I wanted to be left alone." Luca scans the room until his eyes land on my chest where I'm clutching the blankets. I'm about to yell at him again when he lunges and yanks my phone out of my other hand. "What are you doing? Give that back." I scramble out of the bed and rush him. He swipes up on the phone, but then raises his arm in the air when I reach him and make a grab for it.

"What's your code?" He demands, wrapping his free arm around my waist and brings me to his chest. I keep trying to jump up and grab it out of his hands without success.

"Are you crazy? Give me my phone back." Wrapping both of my hands around his arm, I lift my feet off the ground to put all my weight into the movement, but he still doesn't budge.

"Uh, do you need help?"

I snap my gaze to the door to find Gio and Rafael with eyes wide as they stare.

"No. I've got it. You guys go home."

Luca's calm voice has me snapping my gaze back to him and growling. How dare he?

In my peripheral vision, I see Gio lift his hands up as they back away. I know I must look like a crazy person to them right now, but I can't get my emotions under control. I feel my world crumbling around me. My heart squeezes at the thought of not only losing Luca, but also Gio, Rafael, and even Joseph. They've become my extended family in such a short time and have brought a new light into my life when I needed it the most. How am I going to let that go? How do I give up my brothers and the love of my life?

Sobs burst out of me as I go limp in Luca's arms.

"Angel, baby, please, whatever it is, we'll work through it. Just tell me what's wrong." I hear him set my phone down on the dresser before he wraps his other arm around me and strokes my back. I drop my forehead to his chest and give into the despair consuming me.

Luca leans his face on the top of my head, crooning to me. Instead of pushing him away, I burrow into his chest, wishing I could forgive him. I don't know how I'll ever be strong enough to leave him. When I think about it, I die a little inside.

I can't. I just can't.

"Shhh. It's okay. I swear to you, baby, I'll make everything right again. I just need to know who I have to kill to fix it." He kisses my cheek and I fist his shirt in response. "I promise you, Angel. I will fix whatever has upset you. There's nothing you can say that will ever make me leave you, if that's what you're worried about. Just tell me what's going on and we'll work it out."

All it takes is his implication that I'm the reason for this discord and all the anguish turns into a burning fire that ignites and fills my soul. Every bit of the scared, sad little girl in me turns into a woman scorned and willing to burn the world down around me.

An unholy growl rips out of me. I jerk my head back, catching his chin, but I don't care. "You jerk!" Rearing back, I punch him in the chest. And then do it again and again. "I hate you. I hate what you did. I don't care that it was before you fell for me, I-I-I."

"Whoa. What the hell?" Luca grabs my arms and pushes me back, so that he can stoop to look me in the face. "What are you talking about? You hate that I did what?" His brows scrunch as he searches my face, looking for a clue .

I yank myself out of his arms and dive for my phone. This time, he doesn't stop me. I key in my code, bring up the text. I click on the recording and then extend my hand out to shove the phone in front of his face so that he can hear his own words.

"What about Kylie?"

"What about her?"

"Didn't you have plans with her tonight? We can hold Betty until tomorrow. I'm sure Gio and I can occupy her until then."

"You can have your fun with Betty later. Kylie is just a fuck toy. She's available whenever I want. Besides, I'm already thinking about trading her in."

The sound of a door opening comes through the recording right before the words that cause me to die inside each time I hear them play out.

"Don't worry, you and Gio can have your fun with her before I do."

The recording cuts off, and the room goes silent.

My chest heaves as I search his face, looking for any sign of remorse. Instead, Luca goes stone cold. Realizing all hope is gone, I wrench my hand back and throw my phone at him, not the least bit satisfied when it hits his chest and falls to the floor. I turn to leave but before I can take even one step, Luca tackles me onto the bed.

"It's not what you think. Let me explain." Luca flips me around so that he can pin my back to the bed, bringing us face to face.

"Really, Luca. Really? You're going to use that sad, old as time—it's not what you think—line?" All the fight leaves my body when I realize he's going to give me lame excuses. I'm already tuning him out when the sound of his laughter jerks me back to the moment.

My eyes widen in disbelief, then narrow as my anger comes rushing back.

"What the hell?" I attempt to tug my arms out of his hold so I can punch him again. He doesn't budge even a little.

The bed shakes from the force of his laughter and I see red.

When he finally brings his laughter under control, he lifts his head and his eyes skate around my face with a tender look, throwing me off kilter again .

"Baby, you're so fucking cute when you're mad."

I'm so confused by his behavior it takes me a moment before I resume trying to break free. I almost succeed this time.

"Get. Off. Me."

I don't know why I thought I couldn't leave him because my anger is so huge right now that I could leave and never look back.

If only I could believe those words.

Luca moves my hands higher to clasp both wrists in one of his hands. Then he has the gall to lean his head on his free hand and smile down at me as if everything in our world is okay.

It's not okay. It's far from okay.

I feel my brows furrow and tilt my head. "You're unhinged, aren't you? I'm leaving, you know that, right? You can't keep me here. You let me out of the contract. I'm gone as soon as I can get free from you."

More chuckles. "You're not going anywhere. You're going to let me explain and then I'm going to love you so hard, you won't be able to walk tomorrow."

I turn my face away so he doesn't see my eyes glistening.

"Angel baby." Luca puts his hand on my face and turns me back to him. "I'm sorry for laughing. I swear I did not mean any of those words. My only intention was to keep you out of danger. I promise. Just let me explain everything." He searches my eyes for my compliance and I hate that he's put a dent in my resolve. He must see it because he nods before stealing a kiss.

I jerk to the side, but he's already pulling back.

"Enough. You better be able to back up this story or I'm gone."

"I can. I love you, Angel, and I was already going to tell you this as part of our talk that never happened because of the break in." He sighs. "I hate that our night got interrupted, but it actually ties in with the recording." He nods toward my phone on the floor.

I furrow my forehead, feeling confused about how the two could be connected .

"How?" I'm so desperate to hold onto him, I'm afraid if he lies to me, I'll believe it.

"Do you remember the blonde server the first night we met? You asked me about her?"

"Yeah." Hope sizzles in my gut. I knew she was trouble, and it seems I'm about to find out why my instincts warned me about her.

"I believe she's the one who sent you the text. She's also the one who got arrested the other night for breaking into my home." He frees my wrists and runs his hand through his hair.

"Great. I'm glad you caught her, but how does that explain what you said in that recording?"

"I'm getting there. There's something I need to tell you and I hope you'll keep it to yourself. Your dad being a cop, he knows already. We even discussed it when he came to see me at the office. So I don't want you to worry about them when I tell you this. Still, it's not something we talk about with outsiders."

I'm even more confused. Nothing is making sense.

Luca sighs as if he's bracing. "I wish I didn't have to tell you. You're what's good in this world, and I don't want to taint you. But if I want a future with you, you have a right to know what you're getting into." He searches my eyes, for what I don't know. "Okay, here goes." He puffs out a breath. "My dad's side of the family is part of the Chicago Italian mafia. The current head of the family is my cousin Rome. You met Leo at the restaurant. He's Rome's younger brother. Remember when I said I have little contact with them? That's why."

I blink, waiting for him to tell me he's joking.

"My dad was in the family all the way. He wasn't a good guy. The things he made my mother do …" Luca swallows, his face twisted in pain. "When I turned twelve, he told me it was time to become a man and a member of the family. As my initiation, he pulled me into a room to witness my mother being raped by one of the foot soldiers. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and I rushed to push the guy off her, but my dad yanked me away and made me stand there as he explained it was her punishment. He insisted I watch since I was considered a man now. "

I gasp. Horrified by what he's telling me. Tears fall from my eyes, but this time from the anguish of watching this strong man I'm in love with, struggling.

"I hated him. He never did it in front of me, but I knew he beat her. She was always covered in bruises and was so meek around him. I swore when I was bigger, I would protect her, but I never … never would have guessed he would let her be raped by the men in the family." He looks down at my stomach, swallowing his emotions before he continues. "She took her life later that night."

His name tears out of me. I desperately want to crawl inside him and mend all the broken pieces and it kills me that I can't.

"I think the humiliation of her son being forced to watch what they did to her was more than she could cope with." Luca rolls to his back, staring at the ceiling.

I turn to my side, not touching him except to entwine my fingers with his. He squeezes our clasped hand, but doesn't look at me.

"I never forgave him after that. I was actually planning to kill him myself for what he did, but then he was murdered in a drive-by a couple weeks later." Finally, he turns his head to face me. "I swore I would never become part of the family after that. I wanted nothing to do with them. If they could do that to my mother … I couldn't." He takes a deep breath. "When Rome's father had me brought to them after father's death, I told him to kill me because I would never work for him. Not after what they did to my mother. Rome, who was only seventeen at the time, stepped in and told his father to let me go. I don't know what he promised him, but I was allowed to leave that day and he never bothered me again. I spent the few remaining years of my childhood with my mother's sister. A year later, Rome's father was murdered and Rome took control of the family at the age of eighteen."

"I'm so sorry, Luca. I … I don't even know what to say."

"It's okay, baby. You have a good, loving family and I'm glad. I would never wish my upbringing on anyone, even my own worst enemies." Luca brushes the strands of hair off my cheek. "That's what I was going to tell you when you mentioned the picture in my watch drawer. I struggled with opening you to that darkness. "

My gaze drops to his chest as I process this information. I hate hearing what he went through as a child, but I love him more for his strength, even as a scared twelve year old boy. However, this still doesn't explain the recording. "If you're out of the family …"

"How does it explain the recording?" He asks.

"Yeah."

He rolls to his side, facing me. "The night Leo approached you at the restaurant, I brought you straight home, but I was furious he cornered you. They had no reason to get involved with you when I've had little contact with them all these years. Gio and I went to Rome's house later that night. I wanted to make sure they knew you were off limits. What I found out, though, was Rome's enemy had planted a mole in my company. They wanted to take down Rome using me. When I said those words, my office had been bugged. Rafael found the listening devices and we devised a plan to fool them. I needed to make sure they believed you were not anyone special. I was afraid they would try to kidnap you to get to me." He shakes his head. "I had no idea there was another threat to you besides them."

"Is that why you avoided me the weeks after our first date?" The puzzle pieces start to click into place.

"Yeah. It killed me, but I couldn't let anyone watching know that you meant anything more than just sex. We set up that meeting and pretended we didn't know about the bugs and planted the idea we thought Betty, the Sweet Connections receptionist, was the mole. I asked Rafael to bring you up so that I could say those awful things to protect you from their attention. Thanks to Rome, we knew they were going to break into the Sweet Connections office and steal files. So, we planted fake ones and caught it all on camera for proof to give to Rome. Our trip to Miami was a cover to get us out of town while he took care of his enemies."

"But instead, I got kidnapped for real. "

"Yeah, you did. Fuck, if it wasn't for your mom recognizing that guy, I don't know that we would have found you in time. That night reinforced what I already knew. You meant too much to pretend this contract could ever be enough."

I blow out a relieved breath. "So, did Rome take care of the situation? The threat is gone?"

I don't even want to think about what that means.

"Yeah. It all went down while we were with you in the hospital. I hope it's safe to say that you shouldn't mention this to your dad."

"No. I won't. He's retired, and I don't want any undue stress on him, anyway. If the police go after Rome, it will not be because of me or my dad."

"I don't want you to worry about them. Rome has really turned the family around. I can't say that everything they do is legal, because it's not. But Rome has honor. And he protects his family. As much as I've tried to distance myself from them, he still considers me family, and you've shown me how important that is."

I worry my lip. "He won't ever pull you into doing anything illegal, right?"

"No, baby. I'm not in the life and I never will be."

I breathe out a sigh of relief.

"You do know that Sweet Connections isn't exactly legal, right? You can't ever tell your dad or anyone else about that, either."

"I know. It's okay. I mean, I signed on for it and I get the necessity of it. I don't know what I would have done without it, and you're right. Who am I to judge if it keeps girls off the streets?"

Luca rolls us so he's back on top of me. "You're one of a kind, Angel. You know that?"

"Yeah, well, you just better be glad I believe you, because hell was about to rain down on you if you really meant the things I heard on that recording."

His eyes soften. "I would never say those words about you. Even when I didn't know it, I was always in love with you."

"I think it's safe to say, I feel the same."

"Say it." He demands.

I run my hand through his hair and smile. "I love you, Luca. "

"That's my Angel." He leans down and takes my mouth before proceeding to shower me with his love.