Chapter 170: Weddings Are A Tedious Affair
But the mont stretched awkwardly.
Because Veronica didn’t relax into him the way she usually did.
He felt the tension in her shoulders.
The stiffness in the way she held herself.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, uh... I’m fine."
He pulled a chair closer to the bed, sitting down so their faces were level. "I tried to hurry back," he said, attempting a lighter tone. "Weddings are a tedious affair."
Normally she would have rolled her eyes. Or made a sarcastic comnt.
Instead, she stared at him for a long mont.
"You have to let
go, Luca."
His brows furrowed imdiately. "Let you go where?"
"We have to end this," Vee said quietly. "Now."
For a mont Luca simply blinked at her.
Completely thrown.
"What are you talking about?"
Veronica pushed herself up slightly against the pillows, frustration flashing across her face. "What am I talking about?" she said incredulously. "How can you even ask
that? I... we are a disaster!"
Luca stared at her like she had suddenly started speaking another language. "Says who?" he asked flatly. "Did they up your morphine or sothing? Are you delusional right now?"
"I can’t let you keep doing this," she said.
"I still don’t understand," Luca replied. "Keep doing what?"
Veronica looked at him like the answer should have been obvious. "The things you do for ."
"I don’t get it," he said slowly. "What do I do for you?"
Her chest tightened.
Because suddenly the words Don Genovese had spoken earlier echoed loudly in her head.
He saved your sister.
He is giving up a life with a woman who dedicated herself to him.
He is willing to suffer just to keep you.
Her throat felt tight.
"You saved my sister," she said quietly.
Luca shrugged slightly. "So?"
"You destroyed your marriage."
"That marriage was dead before you existed."
"You almost killed your wife because of ."
"That was her fault."
"You’re fighting your father!"
"Been doing that since I was twelve."
"You shot your brother."
"I didn’t even do that for you. I did that for ."
Each answer ca faster than the last.
"You don’t see it, do you?" Veronica whispered.
"See what?"
"You’re burning your whole life down for ."
"Veronica," he said slowly.
"Yes?"
"I am not sacrificing anything."
Her brows pulled together. "Yes you are!"
"No, I’m not."
"Luca!" Vee snapped.
Luca straightened in the chair, eyes fixed on her face with an intensity that was unnerving. "If you want
to understand your logic, you will speak in clear terms," he said firmly. "but don’t get
wrong," he continued, leaning closer, his hand sliding across the bed to catch hers. "it doesn’t matter what you say, I am not letting you go. I can’t. I... I cannot, Vee. The thought itself is unbearable."
The honesty in his voice was painful.
"Luca..." she murmured, shaking her head. Her eyes moved slowly across his face, taking in the exhaustion he clearly hadn’t bothered to hide. "Look at us," she said quietly. "Look at ." She gestured weakly toward her bandaged leg. "When will this end?"
He followed her gaze to the thick white bandages wrapped around her thigh. His jaw tightened. "Its not happening again, Vee," he said quickly, desperately. "I promise you." His thumb rubbed gently across the back of her hand. "I... Vee, please." He was begging. Actually begging.
But Veronica closed her eyes for a mont, rembering the conversation from earlier.
"Your father thinks you are giving up too much for ," she said slowly, opening her eyes again. "sacrificing too much for
and he thinks I may not be worth it."
Luca’s head dropped slightly as a curse slipped through his teeth. "Fucking old man."
Of course. Of course his father had co.
And of course he had poisoned her mind.
"Listen to ," he said urgently. "You love , right?"
"You know I do."
"Good," he said imdiately. "I love you. That is never going to change." He shook his head, disbelief flashing across his face. "Why wouldn’t you be worth it? And I hate the fact that the word worth even factors into anything here." He stood abruptly, pacing two short steps beside the bed before running his hands down his face in agitation. "I just want to love you," he said and turned back toward her. "That’s not too much to ask. I can’t be without you. Do we have to care what people think?" His voice broke into a frustrated breath as he threw his hands up slightly. "Fucking hell!" He dragged in a deep breath looking desperate, frustrated, terrified.
Because to Luca, the problem seed painfully simple.
He loved her.
She loved him.
And yet sohow they were still standing here talking about walking away.
And he couldn’t understand why.
"What if your obsession moves to soone else?" Vee asked quietly.
"What if you fall in love with soone else?" Luca redirected the question imdiately. "Or soone you already were in love with? Like Cassidy. He called. Checking up on you."
Veronica’s brows lifted slightly. "Speaking of Cassidy!" Vee began.
Luca nearly exhaled in relief.
The shift in subject felt like soone opening a window in a suffocating room.
He would talk about Cassidy for the rest of his life if it kept her from circling back to the idea of leaving him. "Yeah," he said quickly, eagerly. "what’s up with him?"
"He is a Bastione now."
Luca’s brain took a second to process the sentence.
Then his head tilted slowly.
"Excuse ?"
Veronica adjusted slightly against the pillows, wincing faintly at the movent of her injured leg before continuing. "Yeah... Val said he ca into the shop the other day to order pizza," she explained. "Ricardo saw him. Saw the tattoo on his neck."
Luca’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Hmmm...."
Cassidy joining the Bastione family was strategically odd.
The Bastiones were not exactly known for welcoming outsiders easily.
And Cassidy... well, Cassidy had never exactly struck Luca as the mafia type.
"I don’t know what to make of that," Luca admitted finally, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully. "but I will have Marco look into it."
(I would just like to say ’thank you’. Thank you to you all. I dont know how I did it but I got the most amazing readers ever. This book was supposed to be for WSA 2026, but seriously, I don’t even care about that anymore. I just want to write. You guys make
so, so very happy. Your comnts, like every single ti, i have a stupid smile on my face. Thank you so much.)
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