Luca lifts a brow, not confirming, not denying.
“Il Dontravels often. He speaks with many. He enjoys meeting good men without all the… what is the word?” He waves a hand. “Drama.”
Maverick scoffs, then coughs to cover it up.
But I agree with him. I’m sure the Italian Boss brings drama wherever he goes.
Luca goes on.
“He would never use another name to deceive you. Never to manipulate. If you have crossed paths, it was simply the Don living as a man for a day.” He taps his chest. “Not as a king.”
Spike frowns. “Why the hell would a Don want to do that?”
Luca’s smile softens, almost sad.
“Because even powerful men need moments where they can simply breathe,” he says. “Where they can exist without soldiers, without expectations, without the weight of an empire on their shoulders.”
He sits back, folding his hands.
“And if he did speak to you once as a man?” He gives the faintest shrug. “It was only because he trusted you.”
A thick silence follows.
Not suspicion.
Not fear.
Just… the unsettling realization that any one of the men we’ve crossed paths with over the years could have been the leader of an Italian empire.
Luca finishes softly:
“But understand this,signori…if you met him before, it was never to judge you. Never to evaluate you for war. It was because he wished to see the world without his crown.”
He smiles faintly.
“And because he already considered you friends.”
“Why not come out now?” Spike repeats my question from earlier.
“You’re not ready to accept his truth,” Luca says calmly.
“And what truth is that?” Bones asks, voice low, dangerous.
Luca smiles with a sigh of playfulness, like he’s holding a secret he finds almost beautiful.
“That…” he says softly, “…Il Donis not the man you expect.”
“Meaning what?”
“Meaning,” Luca continues, hands spreading elegantly, “your idea of a Don is… how do you say…” He wiggles his fingers. “A stereotype. A story told in movies. A monster in a tailored suit.”
He chuckles lightly, shaking his head.
“And sì, he can be the very monster people think him to be if the situation requires it, butIl Donis also something else entirely.”
Tank leans forward. “So what the hellishe?”
Luca doesn’t flinch.
