Page 49 of Devil's Embrace
"What does this mean?"I couldn’t look up at his face, not yet ready to see what might be written there."For us, I mean.What happens now?"
His hand stilled in my hair for a heartbeat before resuming its gentle motion."I don't know.This wasn't...planned."
"None of this was planned."I couldn’t hide the hint of bitterness in my voice."Me witnessing your kill.You taking us in.Mateo Senior and Junior attacking.All of it just...happened."
His arm tightened around me, pulling me closer against his side as if protecting me from the very mention of his uncle's name."Not all of it just happened.I made choices.To keep you alive, to bring you here, to protect you both when Mateo and his son came."
I shifted, finally looking up at his face.In the firelight, his features seemed softer, the hard edges of the crime boss blurred into something more human, more vulnerable."Why?"The question had haunted me since the beginning."Why did you make those choices?"
He held my gaze, something raw and uncertain flickering in his eyes."I don't know how to balance this.What I feel for you and Mina...it doesn't fit in my world.I've never wanted to protect anyone before."His fingers brushed my cheek, a touch so gentle it made my breath catch."It makes me vulnerable.And in my business, vulnerability gets you killed."
The confession hung between us, more intimate somehow than our physical joining had been.I sat up slowly, the blanket falling away from my upper body without me caring.The cool air prickled my skin, but I barely noticed, too focused on the man before me and the walls I could see crumbling behind his eyes.
"And I've never been drawn to someone who terrifies me."I matched his honesty with my own."Because youdoterrify me, Luca.Not because I think you'll hurt me, but because of what you make me feel.What you make me capable of."I thought of the crystal decanter I'd thrown, of how I'd helped him kill Mateo, Junior without hesitation."The person I'm becoming around you scares me."
He reached for me, his palm warm against my bare skin as he traced the curve of my waist."You were always capable of this.You were always a fighter.A survivor.I just gave you permission to show it."
"Is that what we're doing?Giving each other permission to be who we really are?"
He considered this, his gaze never leaving mine."Perhaps.Or perhaps we're changing each other into something new."
I leaned into his touch, allowing myself the simple pleasure of skin against skin."This is impossible, you know.You can't leave your world.Your business.Your empire."
"And you can't fully enter mine," he finished for me."Not with Mina to consider."
The truth of our situation settled around us like a physical weight.No matter what we felt, no matter what had happened between us, we existed in different orbits, pulled together by circumstance but destined for different paths.
"She likes you."I thought of Mina's face lighting up when Luca entered a room, the way she'd trusted him instinctively despite everything."She never would have taken to Tyler like that."
Something flickered in Luca's expression—surprise, maybe even pleasure."She's a remarkable child.Strong.Perceptive.Like her mother."
"She deserves better than this."I gestured vaguely to encompass everything—the violence, the danger, the uncertainty."Better than a mother who's falling for a killer."
Instead of denying what I'd just admitted, Luca sat up to face me.His hand cupped my face, thumb brushing across my lower lip in a gesture that was both possessive and reverent.
"Is that what's happening?You're falling for me?"
I could have lied.Could have played it off as a figure of speech.Instead, I met his gaze directly."Yes.God help me, but yes."
He exhaled slowly, his forehead coming to rest against mine."I've built my life on control.On never needing anyone.Never caring enough that it could be used against me."His other hand came up to cradle my face between his palms."And then you walked into that alley with Mina, and suddenly everything changed."
"What do we do now?"I lifted my hands to rest them against his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart beneath my fingers."Where do we go from here?"
"I don't know."His uncertainty seemed at odds with the confident crime boss I'd first encountered."But I know I don't want you to leave.Either of you."
The simple truth in those words reached something deep inside me, something that had been lonely and afraid for so long I'd almost forgotten it existed.Something that whispered maybe, just maybe, there was a path forward for us after all.
"Then we'll stay.For now, we'll stay."
He kissed me then, so different from our earlier passion—this was softer, sweeter, a promise rather than a claiming.My hands slid up to his shoulders, then into his hair, holding him to me as the kiss deepened into something that felt dangerously like hope.
When we finally parted, breathless and flushed, he pulled the blanket back around us both, settling me against his chest once more.I went willingly, fitting myself against him as if we'd been doing this for years rather than minutes.
"We're making choices that will change us."His lips brushed my temple."Both of us.There's no going back from this."
"I know."I watched the dying embers in the fireplace cast long shadows across the study walls."But maybe there's no going back for either of us anyway.Maybe we've already crossed that line."
He didn't answer, just held me closer, his heartbeat steady beneath my ear.Outside, the moon rose over the Moretti compound, silvering the gardens where Mina played, illuminating the walls that both imprisoned and protected us.Inside, in the circle of Luca's arms, I found myself suspended between fear and hope, between what I had been and what I might become.
