AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Setting down his silverware, he wipes his mouth, staring at me the whole time. Tossing his napkin onto the table, he asks, “And you didn’t think it was worth telling me?”
My attempt at laughter falls flat. “I didn’t think you would take it that seriously,” I murmur with my heart in my throat.
His lowered brow and the hardening of his gaze do not bode well. “I’ve never met your parents. As far as I’ve known, they’ve been out of the country all this time. Now you’re telling me they’re back. How did they react to your resignation?”
This is all wrong. I should’ve approached it differently. Now he’s asking questions I can’t answer and staring at me until I have to look down at my plate to avoid his gaze. “I didn’t tell her. Let me explain,” I add in a louder voice when he throws his hands into the air and mutters angrily in Italian. “That’s not the kind of news you just drop on somebody during a phone conversation.”
“What were you planning to do? Take out an ad in the paper?” he jeers, smirking.
“I wanted to talk with you about it before I said anything in case I need to be careful.”
“But you didn’t talk to me about it,” he points out through clenched teeth. “You kept it a secret. Have you been afraid to talk to me?”
I can’t help but scoff, though that is part of it. “Face it, you already have more than enough on your plate. This is my problem, and I have to come up with a solution.”
“We’re together now, so there’s no such thing as your problems or my problems. They’re our problems.”
“Says the guy who doesn’t want to talk about work over dinner,” I remind him, snorting.
His nostrils flare with every breath, each a little shakier than the last. “That’s different, and you know it. Tell me the truth. Why are you so hesitant to tell your parents you left your job and we’re together?”
“Why do you think?” I can’t help laughing, though, not because anything is funny. I don’t understand him. “Luca, come on. I love you, I want to be with you, but let’s not pretend there isn’t anything complicated about our relationship.”
“You don’t have to tell me that,” he murmurs, and I know he’s thinking about everything he’s gone through for us.
“The second I announce your name, they’re going to know who I’m talking about, and it’s going to shock them. Same thing with the job. They don’t know I was shot. They don’t know I was taken. They don’t know we’ve ever met, much less that we’re in a relationship and I’m living on your father’s estate. And once they find out all of this, they’re going to lose their minds.” I wish I were exaggerating. If anything, I’m underplaying it. “Do you see how complicated this is?”
“All I see is two people in love who want to make a life together. Career changes happen all the time.” He even shrugs, like any of this is that simple.
“You don’t know my parents,” I remind him with a dry laugh.
“Because you won’t let me,” he counters.
“For fuck’s sake, it’s not that simple! Just like it wasn’t simple for you.” Touching a hand to my chest, I explain, “I can make the choice for myself to be here, to be with you because I can weigh the dangers. I know what I’m dealing with, and I can make an informed decision. They can’t. Vitali or anybody else gets wind of me having parents living nearby… what do you think is going to happen? I have to think of them, too, just like you have to think about your family.”
He holds up a finger. “There’s a difference. Only one of us is willing to risk everything.”
“What have I not risked? My life, my job, my reputation. And at least your family can defend themselves. My parents? A lawyer and a retired school teacher? What the hell are they supposed to do?”
“I’ll put a detail on them!” he shouts, infuriating me when he rolls his eyes.
“Oh, and I’m sure none of the neighbors will think anything weird about that. Think, Luca. You’ve never been part of the actual, real world. This is much more complicated than you’re making it out to be.” I hate making him flinch at my accusation, but it’s the truth. He only thinks he knows what’s at stake.
A wide range of emotions pass over his face, his features hardening into a cold mask I witnessed back in the early days of our acquaintance. “I guess there’s only one answer, then. I guess this is all too much, and I was out of my fucking mind to think otherwise.”
“Don’t do this,” I beg when he gets up from the table.
He responds by shoving his chair back violently, sweeping an arm over his side of the table, and knocking his plate to the floor. Red sauce splatters over the freshly washed hardwood, but the way he is glaring at me chills my blood.
“I’m good enough for you to fuck,” he growls out, taking one slow step after another around the table to where I wait, frozen in fear. “I’m good enough for you to play house with. But you never had any intention of this being forever.”
“That’s not true.” I whimper while he leans down, a hand on either arm of my chair. There’s no choice but to lean away, though there’s no escaping his growing rage. “I love you. I want to be with you.”
“So long as the rest of the world doesn’t know, so you don’t have to be embarrassed,” he concludes.
Seeing the blank fury in his eyes is breaking my heart, where I’m used to seeing nothing but love. I have to believe it’s still in there, that we can get through this. “That’s not true,” I insist weakly. “You want to protect the people who matter to you. I feel the same way about my family.”
I’m face-to-face with a wild animal. Unpredictable. What’s he going to do? Throw me out? Maybe something worse? He bares his teeth, snarling like he wants nothing more than to break me, and I flinch but won’t look away. My reaction makes him shove away from the chair with a growl. “Don’t bother waiting up for me tonight,” he grits out, turning his back. He doesn’t look my way as he leaves, his footsteps ringing out like an accusation. “I’ll sleep up at the house.”
