Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
I felt so much love for my father that my heart hurt. I squeezed his hand, but softly. I didn’t want to wake him up.
Right now, everyone that mattered was okay, but I was very aware of how badly it could all have ended. I was so exhausted and so unhappy about my own situation, but I couldn’t sleep. There was one person I needed to speak to. I knew he was waiting outside. He’d refused to leave, even after the doctor had discharged Anya, oh well, Bianca, he still couldn’t go home. She was in the next room resting while he was outside waiting.
I rose to my feet, pressed a kiss on my father's head, and walked out quietly.
Luca was sitting on a plastic chair with his eyes closed and his arms folded across his chest, as though in need of comfort. I wanted to go over to hug him. Even more than me, he had taken the biggest emotional tumble, but he was physically okay, and for that, I was incredibly relieved. But still, I needed an explanation, and I hoped he would finally give it to me.
I needed him to tell me the truth himself. I needed it so desperately I felt actual dread that he might try to lie to me again. Slowly, I headed over and took a seat by his side. His eyes came open then. He hadn’t been sleeping like I’d thought, but it took me a while to work up what I wanted to say.
"Who are you exactly?" I asked.
He smiled, but it was a sad smile. It made me want to reach out and touch his suffering face.
“I’m just a guy who is good with numbers and because of that, I got caught in a trap set by the Mafia boss my father worked for. I was forced to clean his dirty money for him or risk losing my unborn child."
"That's why you moved to our town?" I asked. "To get away?"
"Yeah," he replied. "For Anya's sake."
“Her name is not Anya, is it?”
He shook his head in a defeated gesture. “No, her name is Bianca, Bianca Rossi … and I’m Luca Rossi.”
“Why did you have to suddenly run?”
"The deal the Don and I had was connected to my father’s stay in prison, and because his term was coming to an end, he decided to play dirty. He deliberately charmed Bianca’s mother with lies and drugs and enticed her away from Bianca and me even though he never wanted her. I accepted her decision to leave and I didn’t even blame her because ours was a loveless marriage and she didn’t understand what she had done. But I knew, as he did, that she would want to come back to us once his lies unraveled, and she realized he didn’t love her at all.
“And once she did try to come back, he could pretend that I, and not he was the one at fault. I had tried to take what was his, which by his code of honor was a mark of intolerable disrespect towards him. I knew he would then tell me I could keep my head and my family if I continued to work for him. The slippery snake wanted to tie me up for a life. I decided to run while I made my plans to bring his organization down. But I am too valuable to him. So he came after me.
"This time, he didn’t want me to work for him anymore. He just wanted me to teach his men everything I did for him and then he would have got rid of me and Bianca … and you. Do you understand now why I had to run, lie, fight back … and kill”
I stared at him in shock, but finally, I understood. “I would have done the same,” I whispered fiercely.
He swallowed hard with emotion. I thought he was going to cry, but he clenched his jaw and just gazed at me wretchedly.
"So, he's dead now?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied. "I killed him. And his henchmen are scattered away, useless without their boss."
I went quiet while I digested his statement, but before I could speak again, he did.
“This ... this risk to you was why I couldn’t open up. Why I needed to let you go. I couldn’t get you involved until my situation was resolved. I knew they were eventually coming for me, and it was somewhat manageable with just me and Bianca, but if you were involved, then things could have become even more uncontrollable and tragic. I couldn’t stand the thought of you getting hurt, so I had to let you go. Even now it kills me to see the bruises on your face. That’s my fault. That’s-"
“It’s not your fault,” I said, interrupting him. “If I had stayed at the ranch the way I was told to Bianca would never have come out of the panic room and you would have done what you were supposed to,” I said.