It’s better if he leaves because I have enough to deal with. I’m still traumatized from what happened in Scotland, and now that I’m hooking up with Kane, I don’t want to complicate things any further.
Besides, I need to focus on helping Fina, not getting laid.
At least that’s what I tell myself as I shovel cereal into my mouth and silently fume. Coco trots back in a few minutes later, and once I’ve slurped the last of the milk down, I feed her.
Just as I finish my second cup of coffee, the sound of footsteps alerts me to another presence.
Kane looks up and grins. “Coffee, Luka?”
15
Luka
My head pounds, and I’m genuinely concerned I might vomit all over the pristine tiled floor. It’s been a long time since I got this wasted. Turns out I’m a lightweight these days, which is why the shots I was dumb enough to accept while partying with a bunch of actresses and models went straight to my head.
I’m praying coffee helps. And if it doesn’t, then I might just raid Angelo’s drinks cabinet to test whetherhair of the dogactually works.
Chiara glares at me from her chair, and I don’t have the energy to smile. She’s upset with me. And who can blame her?
Kane’s probably told her about my fuck up last night. Hell, TMZ may already have the story of how Luka Di Rossi fell out of a club, off his face, and ended up punching a photographer.
It was monumentally stupid, both for my career and also for our family.
My gaze slides over Chiara as I make my way toward the coffee machine. I note the bruises around her wrists and the dark shadows under her blue eyes. It’s enough to make me stop dead.
What’s happened to her? I take hold of her wrist and look more closely.
“Who hurt you? Was it Angelo?”
She snatches her wrist back.
“Why do you even care?”
“I care,” I whisper. “Tell me.”
“Really? If you cared, you’d have asked whether I was okay after being abducted, locked in a room, and then hunted by armed men in a forest.”
My jaw drops in shock.The fuck?How did I not know this? Then it dawns on me. I let my insecurities get the better of me and then disappeared on a work gig. And once that was over, I drank myself into a coma and never took the time to check in with anyone.
The only reason I’m here now is that I had our lawyer’s number on my phone and he called Angelo. Once Martin resolved mydifficultieswith the local police, he organized a flight home for me.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I growl at Kane. The fucker shrugs, unrepentant.
“You weren’t answering your phone.” Shame washes over me. He’s right. I had a ton of missed calls and ignored them all.
Chiara shoves me back and jumps up from her chair. I watch in silence as she picks up her coffee and storms off, the little dog following in her wake.
“Fuck.”
“Yep, you’re a fucking idiot,” Kane agrees. He finishes making a double-shot espresso and hands it to me. “Get your shit together, Luka, or I’ll make sure you never set foot in this house again.”
Angelo has an unerring ability to make me feel like a little kid. He glares at me while I stare at a photo on the wall. It shows him and Fina on a beach as teenagers, grinning at the camera. His arm is around Fina, and they look as close as two siblings can be.
It’s yet another reminder of my outsider status. No matter that we’re related by blood, I will never be a full member of this family.
“Have you any idea how annoying it is for me to get a call from Martin to say you were in the lockup after punching a reporter?”
I shrug.
