Page 38 of Luca

He nods and blows out a breath, the scent of mint gliding over my face.

“I’m going to tell you some things that are going to be hard for you to understand, that are going to sound absolutely impossible to believe. But I need you to trust me, then we can leave this house and never come back.”

“Where will we go where Carlo won’t be able to find us, Luca? He has contacts all over. If I leave instead of getting into the car, he’ll hunt me down—you down—and kill us both. You know it’s true.” Hope, desperation, and nearly paralyzing fear war for dominance in my mind.

“That’s the thing. He’ll know where we are. But he won’t be able to take you.”

My brows scrunch as I look into Luca’s sincere blue gaze, a little afraid at this point that he’s lost his damn mind.

“What’s going to stop him?”

“My cousin.”

Chapter eleven

Luca

Giada’s wide eyes and stunned silence allow me to continue, though I’m not sure how well she’s going to absorb everything I have to say. When she walked in here three minutes ago and told me that her brother had arranged for her to leave with the Russians, a plan began to form in my head. Finn told me Carlo had been working with the Russians, and he had intel that if Carlo could drum up some support, the Russians would help him in taking back control of the ports. I knew of the Russian involvement and knew the plan had failed when Finn found the man who was helping Carlo, Orlando Farina, the son of another powerful Mafia family in Massachusetts and killed him for trying to take Finn’s wife. No one wanted any part of trying to take down the Monaghans after finding out what Finn had done to Orlando, except apparently the Russians.

“If you’re married to me, it will offer you some protection. They’ll think twice about taking you.”

“It won’t matter if we’re married, Luca. When Carlo finds out, he’ll kill you. We'd be running for the rest of our lives, and heaven help us if he finds us.”

“We’ll go to my family. Trust me, he won’t dare come after us.”

“What are you talking about? Who’s your family?”

“The Monaghans.”

Giada backs up a step, and I allow my hands to fall from her, her eyes staring at me as though she has no idea who she’s looking at. I suppose she doesn’t, not really. No one in this house does, and I’m about to let her in on a secret that would surely get me killed if anyone outside of this room hears what I’m about to divulge.

“H-How…what…” she fumbles out.

“We don’t have a lot of time, Giada, and I swear to God I will explain everything to you—”

“I think now’s the time to try, Luca. Especially if you’re proposing marriage.”

I’m not going to lie, the way she straightens her spine, demanding answers from me, is a relief. She walked in here so broken, so defeated. Her brother is essentially selling her to the Russians to garner support since his plan a few weeks ago went up in flames. At least, that’s what I’m assuming. It’s not as though he’s opposed to the idea of selling women. And if Francesco told him he has control over Giada’s future, selling her to the highest bidder with the most for him to gain isn’t out of the question. But now I’m seeing the inner strength I’ve always admired in the way she tilts her chin, her gaze demanding answers.

I take a step back, allowing her more room.

“Before I tell you my truth, I need to ask one thing of you.”

“Are you really in a position to be asking me for anything?”

“Are you really in a position to not hear me out?” I shoot back.

Her brow quirks and she waves her hand, motioning for me to continue.

“If, after hearing me out, you decide I’ve betrayed you and your family to the point that there’s no way you can trust me, please give me a little time before you sound the alarm. What I’m about to tell you, Giada, will no doubt make your brother or any other person in this house want me dead. Please, for the sake of the girl whose secrets I kept, promise me you’ll give me a chance to leave.”

She blows out a breath and the long column of her neck bobs as she swallows. “I can do that.”

I wipe my hands on my shorts and grab a shirt, throwing it over my head, and begin a rushed explanation. “I didn’t happen to meet your brother in a bar seven years ago. I planted myself there to figure out a way to get into his organization. But not because I was some low-life criminal looking to get an in with the Mafia. I wanted in because before I came to Boston I was told some things about my past. Some things that were kept from me when I was growing up with my father, who, turns out, wasn’t my biological father. My parents are from Boston and your father had mine killed for falling in love with a woman from the Monaghan family. He took it as a betrayal of loyalty, and when the man who I thought was my father was sent to wipe my real father and his family from the earth, he couldn’t finish the job. He took me and ran.”

She takes a deep breath, looking around the room as if someone is going to jump out at her. “Luca…this is…”

“I know, Giada. It sounds like something out of a book that no one could possibly believe would happen in real life. But it did. It happened to me. Frank, the man who raised me, found out he was dying and came clean about all of it. I have pictures of our fathers together. Frank was a capo who handled things for Francesco when he didn’t want anyone to know. Francesco played a major role in his capos hating my family for murders that Francesco ordered, not Cormac Monaghan. He’s the reason the two organizations have been at war for all these years. Why Frank never told me where I really came from. He didn’t want this life for me but couldn’t stomach the idea that when he died, I’d be left alone in this world.” I let my mind wander to that conversation, the betrayal I felt in being lied to for all those years. It’s similar to the betrayal written all over Giada’s face. “After Frank died, I was so fucking angry. I wanted revenge for the lives your father had taken from me. I contacted my cousin, Finn, and we came up with a plan that would get me my revenge and get Finn the control he wanted in Boston.”

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