Page 73 of (UN)Bounded

“Azalea Creek, North Carolina.”

“We’ll definitely go visit,” I reassure him as we make it to the airport.

After goodbye hugs and promises to keep in touch and visit him soon, Gio gets on his jet. Luca comes closer to Bella while Karina stays a couple of feet behind, trying to chat with me. All I want to do is become a fly and listen to the conversation that’s about to go down between Luca and Bella.

Chapter 28

Isabella Bianchi

“Hey, Isa. Is this a good time?” Luca asks.

I look at him with curious eyes. “A good time for what?”

“Well, I think there’s no time like the present. I owe you a big apology, Isa. Time after time, I told you I was going to respect and support your decisions, only to do the complete opposite. I behaved like an ass, and it took you being in danger to finally realize how wrong I was,” Luca says as he plays with the hair on the back of his neck, the only telltale that he’s nervous.

I can tell he’s being sincere. I’ve gone through so much that, even though I want to make him sweat a little, I don’t. I’m tired, and at the end of the day, my brother is someone I want to keep in my life, so I let him off the hook.

“Thank you for acknowledging how dense and ridiculous you’ve been since I came here.” Luca chuckles, and I join him. “Imagine if someone had given you so much shit for dating someone you honestly liked. Even worse, giving me shit for dating one of your best friends. Did you honestly think Gabo would hurt me?” I ask him, curious to know why he was so crossed about me being with G.

After a long sigh, Luca says, “To be honest, Isa, I have no excuse. Deep down, I know you’re not my daughter, you’re my sister. But I guess I’ve taken the role to heart, and I just panicked about you getting involved with someone the moment you started to fly solo, so to speak.”

I bark out a laugh. Honestly, only my brother, with his sense of humor, would make me laugh after what I went through.

“Oh, brother dearest, you’re the best. I needed that. Flying solo…” I dissolve in a fit of laughter all over again.

“You’re welcome, Isa. But I truly am sorry for everything. Not just for being a pain in the ass about your personal life.”

And here it is—the elephant in the room. I guess we needed to address it at some point.

“Luca, you’re not responsible for Max’s actions. It was not like he targeted me for years and waited until I came to Italy. It was just the right time and the right place for him to do something stupid,” I tell my brother.

He sighs, his shoulders sagging. He’s going to blame himself for this for a while, and all I can do is support him in his healing process any way I can.

“Thank you, Isa. Honestly, thank you for being the best sister I could ever ask for.” He comes to hug me, and I notice he’s shaking a little.

Is my brother crying? God bless him.

After more hugs from Luca and Karina, they board their jet, and G and I get back into the G-Wagon.

“Where to now?” he asks me.

“Take me home, G,” I say as I snuggle with him in the backseat.

“Mario, to the villa.”

He nods as he gets on his comms to tell the team where we’re heading.

Home.

Chapter 29

Isabella Bianchi

It’s been two weeks since Max kidnapped me. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about those excruciating hours where I didn’t know if I was going to make it out alive. I was lucky enough that Gabo put a team in motion to find me when he couldn’t reach me. And even luckier that no one was harmed while saving me. The only scars I have now are the ones that can’t be seen.

After years of trying to contact my parents and never hearing back from them, I got an email from my mom the day after my little speech that went viral:

“Oh, my sweet daughter. It’s been so long. I know there’s no excuse for our silence, but now that we know the three of you are doing so well, we would love to reconnect with you all. Where are you staying in Italy? Maybe you could send for us, we would love to see you. I heard you’re dating a Godoy. We would love to meet him, and maybe talk business with him.”

---