Page 89 of Protection (Mobsters + Billionaires 2)
“His father treated my mother with relative respect because they were sleeping together.”
“Oh.” I pull my brows together. “Wait, does that mean Luca is your brother?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t think so. I did, however, find out she had a regular roster with a lot of the Stefano family.”
Anthony makes a face that pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter.
“That must’ve been hard for her.”
He nods. “It kept the peace, but it wasn’t what I’d call one hundred percent consensual, you know? She wasn’t given a lot of options for who she’d sleep with.”
I squeeze his hands. “I’m sorry.”
He gives me a sad little shrug, and I immediately despise Luca’s father.
“It’s not that his dad was horrible, but she was only protected in the way that one protects a tool of their trade. When clients got rough with her, she didn't have any recourse. She couldn't call the cops or go to the hospital. And, you know, a couple of times it was really bad, and sometimes Luca’s father wouldn't do anything about it. And some of these men she had to see more than once.”
He says the last part quietly, and I realize she wasn’t just an escort. She was a trafficking victim, very much like the ones we saw in Jakarta.
“Being on the other side of the law made her vulnerable, it seems,” I say, caressing his face as I kiss him.
“It did,” he admits. “She was incredibly vulnerable. You know, years before Luca took charge, she wanted to stop and do something else for herself. Luca’s father told her that unless she was willing to give ‘her pretty little boy’ over, she couldn’t retire.”
“Fuck. Anthony.”
“So she kept doing it.” He rubs his face. “To protect me. Until I was old enough to leave.”
“That’s awful.”
He looks down at the duvet, fiddling with it. “One night, when I was, I don’t know, thirteen, maybe fourteen, she was arrested for solicitation. It was a Saturday night and a busy holiday weekend, so she didn’t see the judge for bail until Tuesday.”
“Did you have anyone to stay with?”
He shakes his head. “Luca’s father’s men came knocking on Sunday morning, and I went out the fire escape. I knew what they were coming for, and I knew they’d take advantage of the fact that my mom wasn’t there to protect me.”
“Jesus, that you knew what they were after. Fuck, Anthony. I’m so sorry,” I say, caressing him, laying kisses on his face and hands. He tries to shrug again, but I’m not having it. “What did you do?”
“I hid. I took the fire escape down to a friend’s apartment. I knew they were out of town, so I broke in and stayed there for two days. Luca brought me food and let me know when it was safe to go back home.”
“What happened then? Did you tell your mom?”
“Yeah,” he answers, his eyes sad. “And she said that if I didn’t act so gay, they wouldn’t have wanted me in the first place.”
“Anthony, that’s awful.”
He shakes his head and lets out a long breath. “She normally kept that kind of thing to herself, but I knew she was exhausted and had been so scared for me. She must’ve felt so hopeless behind bars.”
“Still…”
He holds up a hand. “She wasn’t perfect, but she was a good mom. We were just in such a fucked-up situation. So, I butched it up and made a promise to myself that I’d never put myself in a scenario where I was locked away and couldn’t help the people I loved the most.”
“You made sure to follow all the rules,” I guess, my heart breaking for the little boy who never knew safety.
“I did. I followed every rule, and as soon as I was old enough, I joined the Army so I could be out of Luca’s father’s control.”
“Must’ve been scary to leave your mother behind.”
“Terrifying. But Luca got her out of there. Got her set up in a little place in Boca while I was off learning how to be a big damn hero.”
