Page 46 of Taken By the Underboss

"You really do look great in that dress,” he said loudly over the music.

"Aww, thank you."

"Can you keep a secret?" Luca leaned in and I realized just how drunk he really was.

"Sure. Your secret is safe with me."

"I wish Mira was here." He flashed me puppy dog eyes.

"Mira? You mean the girl who owns this dress?"

"Yeah."

"Are you and her together or something?"

He scoffed. "Yeah right." He leaned in conspiratorially even though no one was paying us any attention. "She's the don’s sister."

I leaned in to whisper back. "I know. I was there when he was talking about her tonight. So, if you two aren't together why do you wish she was here so bad?"

"Because I miss her."

"Where is she?"

"In college in the US." He pouted.

"Does she visit home often?"

"For big holidays. She's almost finished with school. Then she'll come back to be a big shot lawyer for the family."

"That's nice."

"Yeah. She's nice. Beautiful and really smart too. Way smarter than me."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"It is. I never went to college. I joined the family as soon as I was old enough."

"How old do you have to be to join?"

"If you aren't born into it, then you can't officially join until you're eighteen. So, that's when I joinedofficially. But my old man worked for Matteo's dad, so I always knew I'd join. Teo and I grew up practically like brothers."

"Wow. I didn't realize you two were so close."

"Yeah. Like brothers, well almost. His older brother died."

"Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be. The guy was a real asshole. He would have made a terrible don.”

“So, his brother was supposed to be don but he died?”

“Yeah, but we aren’t supposed to talk about all that.” He placed a finger up to his lips.

“Well, I won’t tell anyone.”

“I know you won’t. I can trust you. You seem very trustworthy. That’s what I told Teo when he asked if I thought he could trust you to join the family.”

A sick feeling twisted in my stomach at the mention of my current circumstances. I was glad to be friends with Luca and to get to spend time with him, even Alessandro had his moments, but would I turn my back on their friendship if it meant getting to go home again?

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