Just like that, a gaping hole seemed to swallow me whole. Brandohadbelieved him before we were married.He believed him!He would always believe him.
I could feel it, a familiar chasm between us starting to open, this man’s arms the ones holding it apart while it might or might not keep us apart.
Maggie Beautiful had once mentioned the word love between her and Luca. Yet he had children with other women after her, even betraying his wife for them all, including Maggie Beautiful.
Was that how he kept his heart safe? By showing his enemies that he could give over his body to more than one woman? Making them seem like nothing but breeding machines for his army? He was made of stone but virile.
See, he had fooled me too—once. I thought the same thing of him. He loved nothing but duty and honor—this life.
Part of that was true, but part of it was still a mystery. After he told me that he’d killed the sheriff’s wife on purpose, when I went to see him in jail, I knew there was more to his story. The part that he hid away from the world. Even his family.
“Love is worth more than the stakes, isn’t it?” I asked.
He met Brando’s eyes. “That depends, Rose, on the man and his opinion of such things. It is not your heart that is vulnerable, is it? A woman of such faith, as yourself, should know a thing or two about that.”
“No, not my heart,” I agreed. “Just my soul.”
“There,” he lifted his wine glass insaluti,“is my answer. Whymyson.”
I borrowed Romeo’s glass and lifted it in response. “You finessed the answer right out of me,” I said, “though it was on the tip of my tongue to begin with.”
“You wouldn’t have answered me otherwise. You answer a question with a question when you are purposely trying to be vague. Peculiar indeed.” Luca laughed, his eyes moving to Brando.
“You started out with nothing, son, and built up to…this. I do not mean worldly riches either. Before all of this was yours, your woman claimed you without a penny to your name or knowing your worth in this world. After she herself comes from riches and talent beyond what is natural. Your heart and soul are all the value she needed. I approve of this.”
Rocco broke into the moment by lifting his glass, and everyone followed his lead, joining in what Luca had made out to be a toast, but was really his approval of our relationship. Time would only tell of his acceptance of it.
Before conversation could begin again, or arms were even lowered from the “toast,” a sound like a cat on the attack rent the air.
Mia had been sucking on a soft breadstick, and she lowered it from her mouth at the noise, looking around. “Itty?” She asked, her eyes widening, her legs kicking. “Itttyyyy!”
“No, my baby,” I said, taking a glob of swollen bread from her chin and wiping it on a napkin. “That’s not a kitty, that’s your grandmother.”
Apparently, the owner of the empty seat didn’t want it and was being forced to take it anyway.
Luca stood as Maggie Beautiful came stumbling into the room, eyes crazed and claws out. Before any of us could stop her, she snatched a knife from the table, going for Luca.
Brando stood, so did his brothers, but Luca held up a hand, and every man stilled.
“My Wildflower,” he said calmly. “You have come for me.”
“Don’t you dare call me that!” His words had stopped her, though, and something passed between them, something potent and consuming.
He was turning his eyes on her, and she was about to offer herself up on one of the silver platters. Though she was fighting the pull with all that she was worth.
Fight the good fight!I wanted to scream. But I swallowed it down when Brando gave me a look that meant he wasn’t trifling around.
“My Wildflower. That is your name, no?”
“No, my name is Maggie Beautiful.”
He took one step around. She took a step back. The knife trembled in her hands.
How wrong I was before—only one person on this earth could stop this man from damage.
She stood before him, trembling with suppressed hate and love.
Innocent. Free spirited. Vibrant.Margherita Granchio—Luca Fausti’sWildflower. It made complete sense. Her first name meant “daisy,” and she was the classic wildflower. His classic wildflower.
