“Looks like he does have some of his father’s ambition after all,” Carmen mused. “I won’t breathe a word. Smart girl for not giving in to that offer. A weaker woman would have caved to stop being a social outcast.”
Perhaps that was the beauty of having grown up with a normal childhood. I hadn’t faced the same expectations that most of these women faced. Sure, I’d been fodder for gossip before, but this was like high school on steroids. There was a lot more to play for than prom queen in this life.
“Whatever is going on with Xavier, it was enough to drive you away and something tells me that Luc won’t be happy with that. It’s only a matter of time before things start to change. Luc was already a favorable option, but with you and your little one, he’s going to be a solid favorite.”
“I don’t understand. If you have an issue with Xavier, then why wouldn’t you…” I let the sentence hang.
“That family, let alone that man, is not worth starting a war over,” she explained. “We have plenty of people we care about under his thumb. It benefited everyone to play the long game. You’ll have our family’s backing when the time comes. Things will be a lot easier when it’s the both of us at the top. I look forward to working with someone I can actually trust.”
“You don’t even know if anything is going to happen to him,” I said. Gabe had mentioned that there was uneasy tension and that things needed to change. Although it had made me nervous, I didn’t think anything would come of it, but with Carmen echoing his thoughts I began to wonder if there was trouble brewing. “Even if it does, there are plenty of others that will want that spot.”
She drained the rest of her mimosa and set the glass back on the table. “True enough, but my money is still on both of you. And I haven’t made a bad bet yet.”
I wasn’t sure I shared Carmen’s certainty on the entire situation. Given the way I had left, I felt as if my card was marked, and unfortunately that likely meant Luc’s chances at working his way up in the business had probably also been tarnished.
“And if you need anything at all to help you along the way,” Carmen told me, “just say the word. We’d only be too happy to help.”
Chapter Twenty Seven
Luc
Mia had disappeared back home after brunch. Franco had most likely whisked her away from a situation he knew nothing about. And while I spent the rest of the day making amends, my mind couldn’t have been further from the conversations that were taking place. It spun, instead, with the truth and the lies that had been used to cover it. It ran with what needed to be done, what I needed to accomplish.
Idling in the driveway of Gabe’s place the next morning, I watched as Mia stood outside the door talking to him, Franco standing there as a silent witness. She gestured wildly with her hands in the way she did when explaining something. Glancing over her shoulder, she clocked the car and cut their conversation short, making her escape toward me.
“What was that about?” I asked as she shut the door and clicked her seatbelt into position.
“Gabe wanted Franco to come with me.”
“And how did you convince him to let you come alone?”
“I said I needed some time alone with you to talk everything through. Clear the air.” There was something more to it. The way she had been gesturing told me that it wasn’t as simple a conversation as she wanted me to believe, but I left it for now.
We needed to tread carefully with Gabriel. Both of the Moretti twins were close to us but Mia living with Gabe was a complication. She could only push back on so much before he would become suspicious. This would become easier if she agreed to give us another chance. I’d have her under my roof, and we’d be able to discuss plans without creeping around like a pair of teenagers or setting off any alarm bells. The last thing we needed was to raise suspicions. This secret was one that needed to be contained or I’d lose everything I’d earned over the years. All the work I’d put in would amount to nothing, and it would push me to the edges of the family. After months of being in the thick of it, I wasn’t willing to give up what I had worked so hard for.
“You’re quiet.”
“Hmm?” I asked, coming out of my thoughts.
“You’re quiet,” Mia repeated.
“I’m trying to stay calm.” The storm of emotions that had kicked up ever since Dante had spilled the secret and Mia had filled in the blanks had left me feeling unsettled. An integral part of my life, the person I modeled myself after was not the man I thought he was. My mind kept running over Xavier’s presence during my childhood. It was minimal, there at pivotal points due to his title as Godfather. When Charlie died, he’d tried to reach out but after a few unsuccessful attempts we fell back into old habits. Distant aside from business. Strangers unless called upon.
Something inside me had dislodged and I wasn’t sure how to secure it back into place. I had no idea where to start in a bid to try and piece my identity together until driving home last night, when Dante had mentioned my mother. It hadn’t been part of my plans. The seething anger that I felt toward my mother was better contained than unleashed. At least, those had been my first thoughts, but the more I stewed on it, it ate away at me until I wanted to see her. I wanted to ask her why and how she could have lied to a man who adored her even when they were no longer bound by vows.
We pulled into the parking lot of the residential home and Mia’s eyes grew. “What are we doing here?”
“I wasn’t sure you’d agree to come with me if I told you,” I explained, looking straight ahead. Mia was under the assumption that we were meeting to further discuss everything. Mom had put her in an impossible situation and Mia probably had no desire to speak to her, but I couldn’t do this alone.
“You should have just been honest,” she told me. Looking at her, I could see the tension in her shoulders. Perhaps an omission of the truth had not been the best way to go about this. “You need to do this,” she sighed eventually.
With a curt nod, I got out of the car and walked around to help Mia out. I was ready to march up and get this over with when she caught my hand and stopped me. “Luc,” she said gently. I turned back around to face her. “You need to keep your cool.”
“How am I meant to do that?” It came out sharper than I meant it to. I tugged at her hand and she moved toward me and I hugged her close. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Mia looked up at me and I couldn’t help myself. I needed her so badly, needed to feel stable and grounded for the first time in months. Without the sun, I wondered what happened to everything that had once been in its orbit. From personal experience, I knew that they lost control, spiraling into the abyss. Leaning down, I pressed a kiss to her lips, fully expecting her to push me away, and I was surprised to feel her arms around my neck as she responded. How could one person complete you the way Mia did with me? How could one person rule your life with simple actions? How could you allow it? How could you have no control over it? When we pulled apart, there were a few moments of quiet as we processed what just happened.
