Luca reaches across me and cuts up my steak before holding out a piece towards my mouth. I try to grab the fork but he pulls his hand away. “No. I will feed you. Since you are incapable of taking care of your own self. I will do this for you.”Be my guiding hand.
“I can feed myself,” I say with a blush. I don’t want Luca to feed me like I’m some child. I already feel so young still at only nineteen. I don’t want him to look at me as if I’m a baby.
“I will do this. Eat.”
I look into Luca’s eyes and see that he is perfectly serious about this. It’s a look I’ve seen in my own sister’s eyes many times before. Unmovable.
Slowly, I open my lips and Luca places the steak on my tongue. I chew it even more slowly while keeping my eyes glued to his. Once I’ve swallowed, Luca picks up another piece to feed to me.
He doesn’t stop feeding me until the entire steak is gone.
“There,” he says, even going so far as to wipe my mouth for me with my own napkin.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because you need help, Nina. And I’m willing to help. You have to learn to give in and find strength and maybe then you’ll learn how to stand up for yourself.”
“I’m doing that right now. By standing up to you.”
There’s a glint to his eyes. “You have spunk in you as well, I take it. Maybe you’re not so different from your sister. But I didn’t mean stand up to me. I meant you need to learn to stand up to your sister. She’s the one you struggle with. I can tell. I don’t want a weak wife. It’s why I didn’t want Susanna. She’s too weak. Too insubordinate. Too stubborn.”
“Don’t let her hear you say that. She’ll show you how un-weak she really is.”
“Just because she’s not afraid to run her mouth off, doesn’t make her strong. She’s a scared woman. Soon, she’ll learn. But it won’t be me who teaches her. You’re my main focus as my wife now.”
I duck my chin and stare into my hands. Luca places his fingers under my chin and raises my gaze to meet his.
“Do you feel bad that I chose you over your sister?”
“A little,” I admit.
“Why?”
“Because then she wouldn’t hate me. Life would have just been easier if you had chosen her.”
“I never intended to make life easy for anyone. Not you. Not Alek. And not your sister.”
Another shiver runs down my body and settles in my stomach. “I’m worried you’ll hurt me.”
“I won’t beat you. But I will be firm with you. Now, it’s been a long day. It’s time we head back to my house.”
“Your house?”
“You’ll be moving in after all.”
“Right. Of course.” How could I forget? I won’t be living with my mom and Susanna any longer. The thought makes me both relieved and sad at the same time.
Luca stands up and offers me his arm.
“I should say goodbye to my family first,” I say. “Before we go.”
“It’s not like you’ll never see them again.”
“I know. But still.”
After a beat, he nods and I practically run to my mom’s side and give her a big hug. She holds me close for a long time.
“Be safe,” she says into my ear.
