Page 137 of Luca
I smiled. “She loves it here. Now that we are seeing the faces we talked about, she’s demanding to see her Uncle Aiden, Tyran, and Kyran.”
“Smart girl,” Tyran drawled.
“Will you visit us?” A sigh filled the screen. I wasn’t sure whose it was.
“I think we need some time,” Aiden said. I swallowed. They were mad, not that I could blame them. I kept so much from them.
“Forgive me.”
“Maggie, we’d forgive you anything,” Kyran said softly. The door to my bedroom opened and I looked over my shoulder. Luca stood there, leaning against it and in full sight of the screen. “But him…” I returned my gaze to the screen and Kyran’s eyes watched Luca. “... I cannot forgive him. He took too much from me. From us.”
The lump in my throat grew. Aiden and Tyran didn’t contradict him, somber expressions on their faces.
“I don’t want to lose you,” I choked out.
“You won’t,” Aiden assured, his voice hoarse. “You’ll always be our family. Penelope will always be our family. But for now, it is best we don’t visit your home and your husband doesn’t visit ours.”
My family. The love. It felt so fractured at the moment, but I knew I was where I belonged. Luca and Penelope were my family. My world.
“Thank you for…” I couldn’t find the word. Or feeling. “Thank you for being the best brothers a girl could ask for.”
A terse nod and the call ended.
I released a sharp breath, my lungs constricting. After the call ended, I stared at the dark screen until Luca came up behind me.
He didn’t hug me. He didn’t touch me. Yet, his presence comforted me.
“You can visit them whenever you want.”
I met Luca’s eyes. It was the first time we’d been alone since we reunited.
“And Penelope?” I asked. “Can she visit them with me whenever she wants?”
A muscle in his jaw twitched. “No. She’s never leaving my sight again.”
I knew he fought the impulse to tell me off. He just got her back and worried about losing her again. I didn’t expect a different reaction, but it still shattered my heart.
He was okay with getting rid of me. The revelation that he was okay to live without me sent a raw ache through my chest.
How fitting.
The heartbreak I held at bay for almost three years came crashing down like a tsunami crashing against the shorelines.
It was destructive and merciless, leaving nothing in its wake.
Yet, I refused to just settle. I wouldn’t live the rest of our lives like two strangers, being civilized to each other just for our daughter’s sake.
“You can’t blame me for all of it,” I croaked. His expression darkened. “Yes, I fucked up, Luca. But so did you. The lies, betrayal. Do you think it was easy to leave?” I choked, fighting my tears from rolling down my face.
“It seemed you left without a problem.” His voice was judgmental. Accusing. Bitter.
I swallowed. “That’s not fair.”
God, were we over before we even truly began? Our second chance was null and void. I hoped the third chance at love would be our happily ever after. But hope was for fools.
“You’re right, the blame is not only on you.” My eyes snapped to him in surprise. I waited, scared that I heard him wrong. Or maybe misunderstood him. “I went back to that day so many times and wished I’d told you.”
Hope bloomed in my chest. Did he mean it?
