Chapter 12 - The Open Road
The engagement dinner in Chicago felt like a lifetime ago.
That night, my stocking had been soaked in blood, and my heart had been consumed by fear. I had looked at Luca Moretti as a boss, a master, a terrifying force of nature.
Now, as he walked away from Daniel and met me halfway up the driveway, I just saw the love of my life.
“What are you smiling at, Mrs. Moretti?” Luca asked, sliding his hands around my waist.
“Just thinking about a girl who tripped over a floor jack,” I teased.
Luca grinned, shaking his head. “There was no floor jack.”
“I know.”
He leaned down and kissed me, deep and slow, right there in the open sunlight. No shadows. No secrets. No hiding.
From the car, Leo honked the horn again.
“Hey!” Leo yelled out the window. “Are we going to get gelato or what? The engine is warm!”
Luca pulled back, laughing. He looked at me, his eyes sparkling with a mischief I had never seen back in Chicago.
“Well?” Luca asked, offering me his arm. “Shall we take my father’s car for a spin? I hear the coastal roads are beautiful this time of year.”
I looked at the car. The metal gleamed. The oil stains were gone.
I looked at my son, bouncing happily in the front seat.
And I looked at the man who had risked everything to save us both.
“Yes,” I said, taking his arm. “Let’s go.”
We got into the Mustang. Luca took the wheel, lifting Leo into my lap in the passenger seat.
Luca shifted into drive.
The tires crunched over the gravel as we pulled out of the villa gates, turning onto the winding cliffside road that overlooked the endless, glittering ocean.
We drove with the windows down, the wind whipping through our hair, the roar of the engine carrying us forward into a bright, unbroken future.
May you like
The past was behind us.
And the road ahead was finally, beautifully, ours.
