My brother's betrayal, Luca's return, our rekindled love, it was all destined to collapse.
My loyalties have always been divided, but my heart knows the truth. Enzo comes first. Always.
Even if saving him costs me everything else I hold dear.
25
LUCA
Something's off with Katerina.
I’d finally broken through, feeling like we regained what we’d lost seven years ago.
But after that call yesterday, she now flinches when I reach for her, withdraws when I try to get close.
The walls I spent weeks tearing down are rebuilding themselves.
I watch her from across the kitchen as she makes Enzo's lunch for school.
Every few minutes, she checks her phone, her expression tightening before she quickly looks away.
"You planning to tell me what's going on?" I keep my voice casual though my instincts are screaming danger.
"Nothing's going on. Just tired."
Bull-fucking-shit.
I cross the room, trapping her between my body and the counter.
For a second, I see a flash of the old Katerina, desire darkening her eyes before she hides it with indifference again.
"Talk to me," I demand, softer this time.
Her gaze drops. "There's nothing to talk about."
"Is it Chicago?" I press, the thought suddenly occurring to me.
She stiffens, and I know I've hit something.
"We’re together now.”
She shakes her head. "We should talk about this later. I need to get Enzo up for school."
As she slips past me, I catch her wrist. "Katerina, whatever you're hiding?—"
"I'm not hiding anything." She yanks free. "And I'm not yours to interrogate."
The words are a slap in the face. She hasn't spoken to me like that since I first returned.
Something is very wrong. And I'm going to find out what it is before it tears us apart again.
I pour myself a whiskey despite the early hour and stare out at the sprawling Dante grounds through the cottage window.
The empire I built in Chicago feels distant now, like someone else's life.
Yet my people are waiting, expecting their boss to return.
But Katerina and Enzo, they're mine too. And I'll be damned if I leave them behind again.
