Breathing heavily, Luca sits up and nods. “I believe so, but you don’t have to worry. We have surveillance around the house, there’s always one of us with you. Tomorrow, I’m taking you to the shooting range and signing you up for self-defense classes in the evening.”
I certainly hadn’t noticed having a personal bodyguard every time I left the house. But now that I think back, I can’t remember the last time that I was alone. “What?”
He pauses for a moment, trying to ascertain my question.
“There are cameras outside the property. We’ve got Dante’s men watching over the house, and I’ve been talking with him about?—”
“No.” I cut him off before he can tell me what he’s been discussing with Dante.
That man despises me.
“No, what?” Luca shakes his head, meeting my stare.
“I don’t want Dante’s help. He’s the reason for this mess. He’s the reason my son’s life is in danger!”
Luca runs a hand through his hair. He’s trying to remain calm, I can see the inner turmoil cross his face. “He just wants to help.”
“I don’t want his help,” I grit between clenched teeth. “I blame him.”
“Fine. Blame him all you want, but he’s the reason we’re all living under this roof, here to protect you.”
I’m taken aback by his remark. That doesn’t sound right. It certainly doesn’t sound like Dante.
“Excuse me?”
Luca glances away.
Silence.
“Don’t you dare hold back now!” I storm across the room, my hand gripping his arm, pleading with him for the truth. “Tell me everything, Luca!”
“The scholarships, at least the hockey ones, were all orchestrated by my father. It was his way to ensure my allegiance and that I’d join the family business after college.”
“You’re fucking kidding me.” I drop my hold on his arm.
“Tell me about it,” he grumbles. “My future, laid out for me without my consent.” He stands, rage tearing through him, his jaw clenches, his fists tightening at his sides as he struggles to keep his composure. Each word that leaves his mouth is edged with frustration and helplessness, a storm threatening to break at any moment.
“Well, tell him no. Don’t follow in his footsteps. Leave him, quit. Walk away. He doesn’t own you and he can’t lay a finger on Zeke. We won’t let him.”
Luca lets out a bitter laugh, the sound jagged and hallow. “I can’t walk away.” His words send a shiver down my spine. The darkness flows so easily out of him that it startles me.
I’m not afraid of him. His father, on the other hand, Dante frightens me. “What the hell, Luca? Why not?” I ask, wanting to know what’s stopping him. “You can apply for financial aid. If it’s your father’s money hanging over you?—”
“It’s not his money,” he growls and glances down at the floor, the heaviness hanging over him like a storm cloud.
Luca avoids my stare.
He won’t look at me, the guilt weighing heavily on him.
My heart hammers like a pounding, steady rain. I’d failed to see it earlier, or perhaps I wanted to ignore it.
“You murdered a man,” I whisper, remembering what he’d told me minutes earlier.
His tongue darts out, and he chances a glance up at me. “Are you scared yet?”
Eighteen
Liam
