Page 131 of Mine Again
He cuts himself off, pinching the bridge of his nose. His expression tightens, like he’s debating whether to keep going.
“My father what?” I demand. Luca has always been direct. If he hesitates like this, it can’t mean anything good.
“Luca! Tell me.”
He lets out a wary sigh.
“Your father was his inside man.”
Everything in me goes still. The words hang between us, refusing to land.
He meets my eyes. “Our marriage was supposed to cement the trust between our families after the power in Sicily shifted.”
It’s like the floor dropped out from under me, and all I can do is grasp at the air, stunned, searching for something to hold on to.
Another revelation that shreds the beliefs I never questioned.
I stare at him, his words echoing in my mind.
“My father was a traitor?” It comes out as little more than a whisper.
Luca’s eyes hold mine. Steady. Honest. But careful.
“I think he saw himself as more of a liberator. But yes. He was helping the De Marcos’ enemies from the inside.”
My stomach twists.
I try to make sense of it, but it’s like the ground keeps shifting under my feet.
The man I feared. The man I obeyed. The man who raised me onla famiglia’slaws. And all this time, he was breaking them?
“Why would he do that?” I ask, incredulous. “He was about to become consigliere. The most powerful man in Sicily after the Don and his underboss. Why risk everything?”
My voice rises now, full of disbelief. “Why put our entire family in danger like that?”
Luca doesn’t answer right away.
Because thereisno good answer.
Eventually, he says, “Your father would have been promised something better.”
And I know he’s right. Antonio Accardi never did anything that wouldn’t benefit him.
“Does that mean he wasn’t killed by the Irish, like we were told?”
Luca exhales. “I don’t know. I never looked into his death. It could’ve been them. Or it could’ve been someone else. He made enemies on every side.”
For a second, I can’t speak. But then it all comes tumbling out.
“All this time… all these years I spent watching my father, fearing what he would do next. Dreading the moment he’d marry me off to someone else…
“And it was all a pretense… a lie.”
The ugliest truth crashes into me. My breath catches on the next words.
“Andyouknew.”
Lucaknew.He’d always known. And he didn’t tell me.
