Page 23 of Devil's Embrace
"Don't you?"He gestured to the folder containing my information."We both lost our families.We both had to become survivors."
"I didn't lose my family the way you did.My parents abandoned me.They're still alive."
"Which is worse?Quick death or slow rejection?At least I never had to see the disgust in my parents' eyes."
His words hit too close to home, bringing back memories of my mother's face when I told her I was pregnant.The way her expression had hardened, how she'd said I was no longer welcome in their home.The phone calls that went unanswered after Mina was born.
"We're still nothing alike."I gripped my glass tighter."I don't kill people."
Luca studied me, his blue-gray eyes seeming to see right through me."No.But you'd do anything to protect Mina.So would I."
"Protect her?"I repeated, incredulous."You're the one she needs protection from."
"Am I?"He took another sip of whiskey."Think about it, Emory.Has your daughter been harmed under my roof?Has she been frightened or neglected or made to feel unsafe?”
I opened my mouth to argue, then closed it again.Apart from our initial separation, Mina had been treated well.Fed, clothed, even entertained.The unicorn pancakes, the playroom, the gentle way Luca had spoken to her at breakfast...
"That doesn't change what you are.What I saw you do in that alley."
"No, it doesn't."He didn't justify himself, which was worse than if he had."But it might help you understand why."
"Why what?Why you kill people?Why you kidnapped us?"
"Why I had no choice but to bring you here after what you witnessed."He set his glass down on the desk."And why I haven't killed you, despite it being the simplest solution."
A chill ran through me at his matter-of-fact assessment of our situation."So why haven't you?"
He moved closer, studying my face with an intensity that made me want to look away, though I forced myself to hold his gaze."Because Mina reminds me of myself.Because no child deserves to lose their parent the way I lost mine."
"But you're keeping her from her home, her life—"
"I'm keeping her alive," he interrupted, his voice hardening for the first time."If my uncle knew about you two, he wouldn't hesitate.Children are collateral damage in his world."
The way he said it—with absolute certainty—made my blood run cold.I thought about the photographs in his file, the one of Luca as a teenager, eyes empty of emotion.
"What happened to you after the fire?"I asked, surprising myself with the question.
Something flashed across his face—pain, perhaps, or memory."Mateo happened.He took a grieving child and turned him into a weapon.By sixteen, I'd learned how to kill efficiently.By twenty, I'd stopped feeling anything when I did it."
It should have disgusted me, terrified me.Instead, I felt an unwelcome pang of sympathy.What chance did a child have against that kind of upbringing?What kind of man could he have been under different circumstances?
"We're still nothing alike."But the words lacked conviction even to my own ears.
Luca seemed to hear the uncertainty.His gaze held mine as he stepped closer, his presence overwhelming in the confines of the study."We both did what we had to in order to survive.The only difference is the choices we were given."
I looked away, unable to maintain eye contact any longer.The parallels he drew unsettled me deeply, not because they were false, but because they contained just enough truth to make me question everything.
A sudden noise from the hallway made us both freeze.The floorboard creaked, followed by the distinctive sound of footsteps approaching the study.Luca moved with startling speed, setting down his glass and positioning himself between me and the door in one fluid motion.His hand moved to his waist, where I now noticed the outline of a gun beneath his shirt.The protective gesture confused me—was he shielding me from whoever approached, or simply ensuring I couldn't escape?
Three sharp knocks on the door broke the silence.
"Enter," Luca commanded, his voice instantly harder, colder than it had been moments ago.
The door swung open to reveal one of his men—not Marco or Vincent, whom I recognized from our arrival, but another suited figure with the same dangerous efficiency in his movements.His eyes flicked to me briefly before focusing on Luca.
"Sir, we have a situation at the perimeter.Car approaching the south gate without clearance."
Luca's posture shifted subtly, tension radiating from his shoulders.Before I could even think about using this distraction to my advantage, his hand shot out, gripping my wrist firmly but not painfully.The message was clear: don't run.
