“Why would you say that?”
“Because it’s my fault they’re gone.”
LUCIANO
Luciano neededSimone to know everything. Then, she would recognize the monster he’d become and let him go. It had to be now… before he told her how he felt.
“How did they die?” she asked.
He could see that she was holding her breath, probably terrified he’d killed them himself.
“They were killed during an assassination attempt. Someone wanted me dead, and they were collateral damage.” Tears threatened to spill, but he didn’t care. He felt no shame. It was impossible to talk about them andnotfeel.
Even he wasn’t that callous.
She kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry.” She draped her arms around him and held him close, then broke away to sit beside him. When she draped her legs over his lap, he placed a possessive hand around her bare foot and caressed her skin.
“I’m filled with guilt,” he said. “Guilt that I survived. Guilt that, five years later, the killer is still out there. Guilt that I have feelings for another woman. It’s killing me.”
Her eyes grew large. “Me? I’m that woman?”
He smiled. How could he not? She had no idea what she brought to his life.
“I’ve never met anyone like you. You followed me around for weeks. You didn’t give up, you did everything you could to learn about my illegal activities. I was impressed by your perseverance.” He massaged her foot. “You’re very beautiful. You’re smart. You have gritandgrace. You push past your fears, and I appreciate that about you.”
“God, Luciano, you say all the right things.”
“It’s the truth. We haven’t known each other long, but I’m thirty-three-years-old. I know myself, especially after having gone through so much. I know what I like, what I need in a partner. You challenge me, you push back. I like that. But I’m struggling with the commitment I made to my late wife.”
“Tell me about her.”
“Linda was a friend’s sister. We met when I worked for the Santini family business.” He winked. “She knew what I did, but she didn’t care. We married, had a son, then a daughter. My life was very different.Iwas very different.”
“Your life sounds perfect.”
“I adored my family.”
Talking to Simone helped. He’d hoped it would, but he couldn’t know for sure… until he did it.
“They were killed when my car exploded.” He put it out there in its rawest form. No point glossing it over. It was what it was.
Compassion poured from her eyes. “Ohgod, that’s awful.”
“My wife’s car needed repairs, so I told her I’d take it in for her.” Pain sliced through him like a thousand knives to his heart. “She worked part-time and, on those days, the kids went to pre-school.”
“How old were they?”
“My son was four. My daughter two.”
She kissed his cheek, clasped his hand. “I’m so sorry.”
Emotion clogged his throat, but he pushed on. He needed her to understand the weight he carried around. He needed herto appreciate the reason for his deep-seated vengeance. “I left before she did, so I only know what the arson detective told me. She put the kids in the car, and when she started the engine, the car exploded. They were killed instantly.”
Anguish poured into every crevice of his being, but he pushed on.
“I thought it was a hit by another family, but it wasn’t. I wasn’t sleeping. I couldn’t eat. The grief consumed me… until it turned to anger. I was determined to find the killer, but I couldn’t. My brother, Gabriel, who owns several vineyards in Italy, insisted I come live with him. Elsa and Carrera made me go. When I got there, Gabriel had this crazy idea that we should start our own winery. I was numb and barely hanging on. I went along with it because I didn’t care.”
Her soft caresses on the back of his neck grounded him. “How long were you there?”
