Chapter 11 - THE DEPARTURE
The mansion was thrown into chaos immediately.
Luca ordered the perimeter doubled.
He spent the next three hours on encrypted phone calls.
I watched him transform back into the ruthless boss I had met nine months ago.
The walls he had let down around me and Leo were suddenly back up.
High and thick.
At midnight, I found him packing a black duffel bag in his bedroom.
“You’re going to New York,” I said from the doorway.
He didn’t stop packing.
“Yes.”
“You don’t know if it’s a trap, Luca. Twenty years? And suddenly he’s alive?”
Luca threw a heavy jacket into the bag and zipped it shut.
“I have to know, Caroline.”
He walked over to me.
He looked down, his dark eyes filled with a storm of emotion.
“If my father is alive, everything changes. The entire structure of the families on the East Coast will shift. It’s going to be a war.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick envelope.
“I’ve transferred funds into an offshore account in your name. Enough for you and Leo to live comfortably anywhere in the world.”
I stared at the envelope.
“You’re sending us away again?”
“I’m keeping you safe!” His voice rose, echoing in the large room.
He immediately softened, closing his eyes for a second.
“Caroline. If I go to New York, the people there will look for my weaknesses. And you... you and Leo are my weaknesses.”
My heart skipped a beat.
He had never said it out loud.
I stepped closer to him.
I didn’t take the envelope.
“We aren’t running,” I said firmly. “I’m not a maid terrified of losing sixty-seven dollars anymore. We stay here. With Daniel.”
Luca looked at me, studying my face.
“You’re stubborn.”
“I learned from the best.”
He reached out, his hand cupping my cheek.
His thumb brushed gently against the scar behind my ear.
“I will come back,” he whispered.
“You better.”
He leaned in and kissed me.
It was desperate. Deep.
May you like
A promise sealed in the quiet of the night.
When he pulled away, he picked up his bag and walked out the door.
