Page 113 of Sweet Deception

I'm even more confused. Nothing is making sense.

Luca sighs as if he's bracing. "I wish I didn't have to tell you. You're what's good in this world, and I don't want to taint you. But if I want a future with you, you have a right to know what you're getting into." He searches my eyes, for what I don't know. "Okay, here goes." He puffs out a breath. "My dad's side of the family is part of the Chicago Italian mafia. The current head of the family is my cousin Rome. You met Leo at the restaurant. He's Rome's younger brother. Remember when I said I have little contact with them? That's why."

I blink, waiting for him to tell me he's joking.

"My dad was in the family all the way. He wasn't a good guy. The things he made my mother do …" Luca swallows, his face twisted in pain. "When I turned twelve, he told me it was time to become a man and a member of the family. As my initiation, he pulled me into a room to witness my mother being raped by one of the foot soldiers. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and I rushed to push the guy off her, but my dad yanked me away and made me stand there as he explained it was her punishment. He insisted I watch since I was considered a man now."

I gasp. Horrified by what he's telling me. Tears fall from my eyes, but this time from the anguish of watching this strong man I'm in love with, struggling.

"I hated him. He never did it in front of me, but I knew he beat her. She was always covered in bruises and was so meek around him. I swore when I was bigger, I would protect her, but I never … never would have guessed he would let her be raped by the men in the family." He looks down at my stomach, swallowing his emotions before he continues. "She took her life later that night."

His name tears out of me. I desperately want to crawl inside him and mend all the broken pieces and it kills me that I can't.

"I think the humiliation of her son being forced to watch what they did to her was more than she could cope with." Luca rolls to his back, staring at the ceiling.

I turn to my side, not touching him except to entwine my fingers with his. He squeezes our clasped hand, but doesn't look at me.

"I never forgave him after that. I was actually planning to kill him myself for what he did, but then he was murdered in a drive-by a couple weeks later." Finally, he turns his head to face me. "I swore I would never become part of the family after that. I wanted nothing to do with them. If they could do that to my mother … I couldn't." He takes a deep breath. "When Rome's father had me brought to them after father's death, I told him to kill me because I would never work for him. Not after what they did to my mother. Rome, who was only seventeen at the time, stepped in and told his father to let me go. I don't know what he promised him, but I was allowed to leave that day and he never bothered me again. I spent the few remaining years of my childhood with my mother's sister. A year later, Rome's father was murdered and Rome took control of the family at the age of eighteen."

"I'm so sorry, Luca. I … I don't even know what to say."

"It's okay, baby. You have a good, loving family and I'm glad. I would never wish my upbringing on anyone, even my own worst enemies." Luca brushes the strands of hair off my cheek. "That's what I was going to tell you when you mentioned the picture in my watch drawer. I struggled with opening you to that darkness."

My gaze drops to his chest as I process this information. I hate hearing what he went through as a child, but I love him more for his strength, even as a scared twelve year old boy. However, this still doesn't explain the recording. "If you're out of the family …"

"How does it explain the recording?" He asks.

"Yeah."

He rolls to his side, facing me. "The night Leo approached you at the restaurant, I brought you straight home, but I was furious he cornered you. They had no reason to get involved with you when I've had little contact with them all these years. Gio and I went to Rome's house later that night. I wanted to make sure they knew you were off limits. What I found out, though, was Rome's enemy had planted a mole in my company. They wanted to take down Rome using me. When I said those words, my office had been bugged. Rafael found the listening devices and we devised a plan to fool them. I needed to make sure they believed you were not anyone special. I was afraid they would try to kidnap you to get to me." He shakes his head. "I had no idea there was another threat to you besides them."

"Is that why you avoided me the weeks after our first date?" The puzzle pieces start to click into place.

"Yeah. It killed me, but I couldn't let anyone watching know that you meant anything more than just sex. We set up that meeting and pretended we didn't know about the bugs and planted the idea we thought Betty, the Sweet Connections receptionist, was the mole. I asked Rafael to bring you up so that I could say those awful things to protect you from their attention. Thanks to Rome, we knew they were going to break into the Sweet Connections office and steal files. So, we planted fake ones and caught it all on camera for proof to give to Rome. Our trip to Miami was a cover to get us out of town while he took care of his enemies."

"But instead, I got kidnapped for real."

"Yeah, you did. Fuck, if it wasn't for your mom recognizing that guy, I don't know that we would have found you in time. That night reinforced what I already knew. You meant too much to pretend this contract could ever be enough."

I blow out a relieved breath. "So, did Rome take care of the situation? The threat is gone?"

I don't even want to think about what that means.

"Yeah. It all went down while we were with you in the hospital. I hope it's safe to say that you shouldn't mention this to your dad."

"No. I won't. He's retired, and I don't want any undue stress on him, anyway. If the police go after Rome, it will not be because of me or my dad."

"I don't want you to worry about them. Rome has really turned the family around. I can't say that everything they do is legal, because it's not. But Rome has honor. And he protects his family. As much as I've tried to distance myself from them, he still considers me family, and you've shown me how important that is."

I worry my lip. "He won't ever pull you into doing anything illegal, right?"

"No, baby. I'm not in the life and I never will be."

I breathe out a sigh of relief.

"You do know that Sweet Connections isn't exactly legal, right? You can't ever tell your dad or anyone else about that, either."

"I know. It's okay. I mean, I signed on for it and I get the necessity of it. I don't know what I would have done without it, and you're right. Who am I to judge if it keeps girls off the streets?"

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