Page 80 of Broken Prince

“I heard you talk to them in your office. I came up to make sure you were okay…” She looked away. “You told them that you didn’t care—that I didn’t matter.”

That was it. How was it so easy for this girl to believe the lies but she couldn’t believe the truth I showed her.

“Truth is, Cassie, I was fighting your place in this world with all I had. I was trying to make a choice for you, a choice I had no right in making.” I gave her a small smile. “I wanted to be selfless, spare you this life that, no matter how much I will want to shield you from, will taint you. But pretending, keeping you at arm's length, not taking what you were so generously offering, made me miserable and I think it made you a little miserable too.”

“Luca…” she whispered, taking a tentative step forward.

I raised my hand to stop her in her tracks. We could not play this game any longer. This back and forth was dangerous for her and me.

I had to set this ultimatum now, even if I didn't want to.

“So you can go now, get everything I promised you. You’ll keep on going on with your life and sometimes think of me or not… Get that lovely, quiet, white picket fence life you deserve.” I stopped to take a deep breath. I could picture it, this lovely hallmark life for her. She deserved nothing less but the pain it woke in me constricted my lungs in a steel vise.

“Or you can stay here, with me, but not as my housekeeper or whatever but as mine.” Just saying the words eased the pain. “But you need to know that, if you choose me, there’s no turning back, Cassie. Once you’re in, there’s no out. I’ll get your brother back; he’ll move in with us, and we’ll build our lives. I must go back to my role. I’ll be the capo again, and if by some kind of miracle you decide to stay, you’ll walk in the darkness with me, holding my hand and keeping the path lit up with your goodness. You’ll be the little voice of reason in my ear when the darkness engulfs me; you’ll be…you.”

“Why?” she asked, wrapping her arms around herself as if she needed the comfort.

“Why what?”

“Why should I stay?”

I gave her a tired little smile. “You know why. Of course, you do. And the thing is in this life we don’t know how much future we have left. I witnessed that front row by taking the future of two people I loved more than life. What’s gone is gone and in my line of work nothing is guaranteed, the future even less and I crave to have you in it. Is it fair? Absolutely not. Do you deserve better? Undoubtedly. But, Cassie, anima mia, there’s only you.”

“What does it mean? Anima mia?” she asked, her voice a soft whisper.

I sighed, opening the door. “I’ll tell you. If you decide to stay I will. But think long and hard because no matter how much I want to keep you, I’m done lying. This life is no fairy tale and I'm not a Prince Charming and it will be a commitment you won’t be able to just walk away from.”

“Where are you going?”

I let out a humorless chuckle. “I’m going to go get really, really drunk with Dom and the wannabe Tony Manero and when I’ll come home, either you’ll be here or you won’t, but either way, Cassandra West, I’ll never regret meeting you. Because you showed me that even a sinner like me could love, that despite everything I was not dead inside, that my heart could still feel, and just for that it had been all worth it.”

Chapter Nineteen

CASSIE

I was lying in my bed, watching the moving shadows of the moon play on my ceiling. I reached up and traced the necklace Luca bought me.

He gave me a way out, everything I wanted. He promised he would get Jude back and I knew his words were binding but he also asked me to stay, and when he looked at me, letting his guard down, I knew I was lost, and even if I had not been ready to admit it to myself yet, letting myself love a man like him was terrifying.

I wanted to leave him and this life behind. He’d been right, I had wanted a quiet life and I knew I’d never have that being with the capo of the Mafia. I was not an expert and Dom had been right, my Mafia references had been limited toThe Godfathertrilogy and a couple of seasons ofThe Sopranos, but I was not an idiot. I knew it was a lot of blood, violence, and death.

I’d even dialed the number of the lawyer as soon as Luca texted it to me, but no matter how much I’d wanted to press send, I couldn’t because of the idea of walking away and never seeing him again; never feeling how I felt terrified me a lot more than being part of this world I knew nothing of because there was something I knew. I knew I'd be with Luca and I knew he would keep me safe and would be there for me and Jude, and this was enough to make the choice that I felt was right for me.

The commotion from downstairs interrupted my thoughts. Without thinking I slipped out of the bed and ran downstairs but stopped midway down the stairs.

Luca was there with Dom and Savio, Dom somehow trying to keep him up.

The three men turned toward me and the surprise in Luca’s face morphed into something that made my stomach flip as his dark eyes tracked up my body.

I realized at that moment that I hadn’t bothered putting on the robe, and my tank top and booty shorts I slept in didn’t leave much to the imagination.

I was about to excuse myself and run back into the room, hoping to die of mortification before seeing these men again, when I noticed blood dripping from Luca’s right eyebrow and the bloodstains on his left side. I rushed down, my embarrassment suddenly forgotten.

“You’re hurt–” I whispered, standing in front of him.

“It’s not my blood,” he replied darkly.

I nodded, gripping his hand, leading him into the kitchen.

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