Page 11 of Cardinal

"Yes, we're going. I need to have a nice little chat with them, and you need to get your stuff unless you really have nothing sentimental there. I am fine replacing all your stuff, but this will be your only chance to get anything personal unless you plan on returning yourself some other time. You won't be alone. I'll be there with you and some of my men." He remained firm in his decision, and his unmoving expression meant nothing would sway him.

"I don't want to see them." I bit out defiantly and stubbornly with a shake of my head.

Sighing softly, he looked down at me and patted my head. "You won't have to if you don't want to. You just have to go in and straight to your room to grab your stuff while I occupy your parents. I promise, unless you want to see them, you won't, not with me around." He assured me with a slight smile before letting me go.

"I'll punch you if I see them," I grumbled to myself as I bundled myself back up in the sheets.

"If that makes you happy, then sure." He chuckled with a slight roll of his eyes, making me wonder if he was serious or not. "Either way, besides the things I've listed so far, you're going to attend school as usual, graduate, then go to college nearby if you wish, or we can discuss more on what you want after graduation." A slight tension and dip in his voice towards the end made me wary of him because it sounded like he withheld or omitted something important. Then again, I could just be overly paranoid and on edge after everything.

Pursing my lips, I sat there silently, letting everything fully sink in with much confusion. Luciano befuddled me greatly with all he put forth. Clearly, he wasn't going to let me leave, but why? I was just another petulant teenager, surely, and he seemed like a busy man who probably couldn't or shouldn't be bothered by me. Yet, even though he gave me the option of fending for myself out there, he made it seem grave to the point where remaining with him was the only real option.

"Why are you doing this? I mean, I'll accept all your conditions and all, and I'm grateful for it all, but at least tell me the truth about everything." Yeah, I was more than fed up with being kept in the dark about shit involving my own life.

Luciano looked at me pensively for a few seconds before sighing softly. "Honestly, I don't know fully. Just something about you and how you looked at me that night." He shrugged me off with his seemingly half-assed answer. There was some truth to it, but it felt as if something was amiss again. "I mean, initially, I was going to let you go after you recovered, but given the light of new information regarding your situation, I just don't feel comfortable one bit, letting a young woman like you out there with no experience." Again, it was truthful, but I sensed something was omitted.

"Kind of hard to believe a man like you would have trouble letting someone like me go fend for themselves given your ruthless reputation," I remarked with a roll of my eyes.

"Have you done something to deserve brutality from me?" He questioned with a raised brow, crossing his arms and leaning back against the bedpost.

"No… I just… A man like you…" I didn't know how to put it nicely without possibly offending him.

"Shouldn't have a heart?" Well, he didn't sound too torn up about it. If anything, he sounded like he made a joke of it. "I've heard it all, princess. Nothing phases me anymore. I might not seem like it, but I still am a human at heart. I might not have much of a heart towards my enemies and those who break the rules of the syndicate, but if you're innocent, then you've nothing to fear from me. I'm not some bastard asshole who treats everyone as worms beneath me. My parents raised me better than that."

"I'm sorry… It's just so weird… Not to offend you or anything, but I'm somewhat fearful of you because I don't know you, yet you're so kind to me despite all I've heard about you. It's just a little confusing for me." I should be afraid of him, and I was, but not fully. His act of goodness taking me in and doing all of this really caught me off guard.

"No need to apologize. I'm more surprised at how well you're taking this given how your life got tossed into a pile of shit out of nowhere. I assure you, though, you have nothing to fear of me unless you wrong me. As long as you follow the rules I set forth, then consequences won't come to you." At least his soft little smile was genuine and comforting enough to settle some of my nerves.

"What are the rules?" And back under lock and key I went.

Brushing a hand across his jaw, he let his eyebrows furrow together for a second before replying to me. "Besides not wrecking my place, you are allowed nearly everywhere in the house except my office and all of the business wing unless stated otherwise. You will always have at least two guards with you unless you are in your private room. You're welcome to anything and everything in the place and on the property BUT the cars." Luciano paused and gave me a very pointed look, making me shrink a little with my nod in response.

Softening his face back up to a somewhat friendly smile, he continued. "Don't throw crazy parties. Ask me beforehand if you plan on throwing something with more than ten people. You are to inform me about your whereabouts. I don't particularly care where you go as long as I know where to find you. If I do ever tell you to do something, then I expect you to obey me without question."

Is he going to have me give myself to him? Kill someone? Oh god, what if he wants me to be his slave or something?

The thoughts sped through my brain and hung on my tongue, but before a word could come out of my mouth, he held a hand out to stop me. "No, I won't ever ask you to do anything illegal, immoral, or anything you'd find uncomfortable. I am not a complete devil, like what people make me out to be. If anything, I will tell you to stay home on certain days, stay safe in your room for certain times, or avoid certain areas."

"How will I get around then if I can't touch your cars?" As if I would even dare in the first place.

Luciano answered me casually with a soft shrug of his shoulders. "Your bodyguards will take you nearly anywhere you please without question. Keep in mind, I will give them orders not to take you anywhere unsavory or illegal for your age, so don't think about going out to any clubs or bars."

"Don't worry, I'm not that kind of person." And as if I wanted to do any of that after what happened. The last thing I wanted was to get roofied and dragged into some alleyway. Also, the thought of grabby hands on my body made me want to hurl. "But if you ask something of me that makes me uncomfortable—"

"Which won't happen." He assured me sternly with a curt expression.

"IF, like big if, then I get to refuse it or at least get an explanation before refusing it." Despite not being able to give my full trust to Luciano right now, I felt pretty confident that he wouldn't be some despicable man in that regard.

"Just know that if I ever tell you to do something, then it's for your safety. I wouldn't have you do something just to be an asshole, but fine, not as if I'd ever tell you to do something uncomfortable." He agreed with a wave of his hand.

"How am I going to pay you back for all of this? Or what's the catch?" No such thing as a free lunch is what my parents grilled into me; well, they grilled me on the fact that nothing in life was ever truly free.

"You be a good girl and live here with me, that's it. You don't have to pay me back for any of it. I'm doing this because I want to and because I want you to have the good life you were almost robbed of." There was that unsettling feeling again. Something went amiss, but what?

"Can I be alone now? I'm tired and want to nap." I needed some time to myself to process everything fully and accept it all.

"I'll be back later to wake you for a late lunch then and give you the stuff Leah's gonna drop off later. If you need anything, the guards are right outside your door." He seemed reluctant to leave as if he had something to say but didn't.

Great, how the hell am I supposed to live with him when he wasn't being fully transparent with me?

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