Page 94 of Lunar Crest University

Fuck.

Chapter Thirty-Four

LUCA

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH, 2023

The last twenty-four hours have been an absolute shitshow.

While Finley converses and laughs with my family as if nothing ever happened, she doesn’t show the same courtesy to me. I’m surprised she even emerged from the room at all—I thought maybe she’d hide up there for the remainder of our trip. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she did, but she definitely didn’t hide that she was upset with me. She ignored me for the majority of the day, and if shedidhave to speak to me, it was in one-word responses or a glare.

So, naturally, my mother would glare at me afterward too.

Mi mamádidn’t even have to know what was going on to side with Finley over me. That’s just how much she has taken a liking to her. Or perhaps she just knows me too well, knows what a shithead I am and that I probably ruined any chances of her getting a daughter-in-law or grandchildren.

I don’t know what ever made her think she’d get grandchildren fromme.

Or think I’d ever getmarried.

Those things aren’t in the cards for me.

When the day finally ends, and I follow Finley upstairs for the night, I’m surprised when she walks into the room and leaves the door ajar behind her. Either she’s calling a truce, or she’s riled up for another argument. I don’t care either way—I’d let her punch me in the face if it made her feel better. The space is killing me; the silent treatment iskillingme.

I sit on the edge of the bed, facing the bathroom, as I watch her stand in front of the sink and brush her teeth. She dons a cute little pink pajama set, and her hair is thrown up into a bun on the top of her head. I’ve watched her nightly routine a handful of times, so I know she’s stalling as she moves slowly, taking off her makeup and washing her face at a snail’s pace.

She wants to talk about something.

I suck in a deep breath, readying myself for whatever she’s going to throw at me.

When she stands in the doorway of the bathroom, flicking off the light as she stares at me, I don’t allow my gaze to waver as I stare back.

“What happened to make you want to whisk me away for a few days?” Her voice sounds tired as she speaks. “I know you said to keep me safe, but from what? What exactly happened?”

I sigh. “Ever since we got back from England, there’s been a black SUV parked at the end of your street every night. The morning of the day we left, I found cameras in your apartment. In your kitchen. Your living room.”

“What?” she squeaks.

“I took care of them, but that’s why I brought you here,” I tell her truthfully. “I wanted to get you away in case Javier was planning anything.”

Her entire body wilts as her face falls into her palms, and she slides her hands down her face slowly as she heaves a deep sigh.

“How many more secrets are there?”

My jaw clenches as I tilt my head sympathetically. “Finley.”

“I feel like I have no idea who you are,” she whines softly, her voice cracking. Tears well in her eyes as she looks up at me. “And maybe I never did, but I look at you…and I’m scared. I’m scared of all this, Luca.”

My chest tightens. “You don’t have to be scared when you’re with me.”

“I’m not scaredwithyou. I’m scaredofyou.” Holy fuck. The ache in my chest is concerning, I think. “I’m scared of what’s going to happen. I’m scared to go back home. Is he going to kill me? Do I have to live life looking over my shoulder now? Think every shadow is someone watching me?”

I think it’s breaking my heart to see her like this. Is that what this is? Is that what it feels like? The squeezing inside my chest? The pressure that feels like it could kill me?

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” I say.

“You already happened to me.”

A bullet to the chest would feel better than this.

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