Page 117 of Trapped

“The itchy blanket,” he murmured. “They brought me to someone’s house and put me to bed on this hard mattress, and it had this wool, scratchy blanket.”

“What about before that?”

Delilah shot me a vicious look, and I closed my mouth.

“I told you, I don’t fucking remember. It’s all clouded in confusing images. I remember heat and smoke. I remember a strange man pulling me from the house. I blacked out before I got to the car. And then…I woke up in a strange bed. A woman and a man introduced themselves to me—Ilya and Svetlana. They told me a fireman had saved me. That my parents were dead, that the house had burned down. They told me a heated blanket in the living room caught fire.”

“That’s a lie?—”

“I know. I mean, I figured that out later, but…” His voice trailed off, and he tensed. “For the longest time, I believed them. I used to crawl under the blanket, turn it on, and read. I figured I’d forgotten to turn it off. They made me think that I’d made a mistake, that it wasmyfault.”

Heat curled around my throat.

Luca inhaled, his breath hitching. “I thought someone would come to get me. One of my aunts or uncles, a grandparent,someone, but nobody ever did. They locked me in a room and said it was for my protection. I was so scared at first, but they were patient. Told me they were my new family. I didn't have achoice but to trust them. For a while, they treated me well—fed me, clothed me, taught me Russian. They said it was for my own good, so I could understand their world. And I believed them because I was just a kid. What did I know?"

My stomach churned. “They manipulated you.”

Luca glanced at me, his eyes hollow. “Yeah, but I didn’t know that back then. They made me believe everybody had abandoned me. That I had no one else. I started to accept it. They made me part of their…family.”

"Is that why you never reached out?" I pressed.

“I couldn’t have even if I wanted to. They kept me locked up. I wasn’t allowed access to anything where I could look up my family. All I could do was focus on trying to survive. I knew my situation wasn’t normal, but I thought I deserved it for killing my parents. My mind still found ways to blame myself for their deaths. By the time I was old enough to know better, I was a shell of a person. I didn’twantto come home.” Luca paused, his gaze fixed on the floor. “I’d accepted that I didn’t belong anywhere else.”

I raked a hand through my hair. “Jesus.”

“I was becoming a problem. When they let me out, I started fights with anybody, I smashed up things, and I drank until I puked. The only person I got along with was Delilah, who was trapped in her own prison. When they locked me up, I had nothing to do but stare at the four walls of my prison. Then Mikhail stepped in and gave me a job.” He exhaled sharply, the sound almost a laugh, but bitter. “That’s when it started. I worked my way up the ladder. I had to be useful. I learned how to do things for them—small errands at first, but eventually, theylet me do more. It was the only way I could earn some kind of freedom. I convinced myself it was the right move. It was easier than facing that I was stuck.”

I leaned forward. "Is that when you decided to get revenge?"

“In the beginning, it was just about survival. Keeping them off my back, avoiding punishment. But the more I worked for them, the more I started to see things differently. I watched how they operated. I saw the lies. It was like a switch flipped. I realized what they’d taken from me.” He clenched his fists. “I thought about the family I’d lost, about you. I knew you were out there, living your life while I was trapped. That’s when everything changed. It stopped being about surviving and started being about getting even.”

“I had no idea,” Delilah whispered. “Why didn’t you talk to me?”

Luca’s lips thinned. “You were the Pakhan’s daughter. I couldn’t take that risk.”

Silence filled the room. I studied his face, piecing together the cousin I once knew from the man sitting across from me. The transformation was unsettling, and yet...I understood it.

Luca stared at his hands. “I had to prove that I was more valuable alive than dead. I was nothing to them at first. Just a tool. But I made myself indispensable. I watched, I learned, and I waited.”

Delilah shifted beside him. “How did you stay under the radar?”

“I became one of them,” Luca replied, his voice cold. “I blended in. I kept my head down and never gave them a reason to suspect me. It took years. Every time I thought I was getting close, they’dtest me, push me to see if I’d break. I had to play the part perfectly, or they’d kill me.”

He lifted his gaze, meeting my eyes. “I waited for the right moment. I thought, maybe if I got close enough, I could take out Mikhail, especially after seeing how he treated Delilah. But then...” His jaw tightened, and he glanced at Delilah. “Then you two walked into that shop.”

My chest tightened. “What changed?”

Luca shook his head, a bitter smile forming on his lips. “I realized the perfect moment would never come. I’d spent so long planning, convincing myself there’d be this flawless opportunity, but there’s no such thing. When I saw you both, I knew I had to act, or I’d lose my chance forever. Revenge wasn’t going to wait for me to be ready.”

“So you made your move.”

Luca nodded. “I had to. I wasn’t going to let them take anyone else from me.”

“I get it,” I whispered. “You got close to Mikhail and bided your time until you could make a move, but I need you to hear me on this—you were never forgotten. Not a day went by that this family didn’t think of you. We put up candles, said your name at dinner, and raised our glasses to you every Christmas. My mom, all of us… we never stopped thinking about you.”

I fished out my wallet, showing him the portrait I kept tucked inside.

He swallowed hard. I could see the storm of emotions twisting up inside him. Rage, regret, maybe even hope.

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