Chapter 147: You Are My Son
He looked up from where he had been sitting against the headboard. "You said sothing to snack on." Luca said.
"Sue . I don’t get to cook for my own son very often."
"Mum don’t make it look like its my fault we do not have a relationship." Luca said as she placed the tray beside him on the bed.
Carol sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, smoothing her hands over her jeans. "How is Bianca? Last ti I saw her she was four to five years old."
"She is good."
"Still pretty?"
"Stunning." Luca said.
Carol nodded slowly, absorbing that. "Wasn’t enough?"
Luca picked up a fork and stabbed a pancake. "A year ago, it was. The prettiest girl, the familia getting more control, more power...it was really supposed to be enough." He finally took a bite.
It was annoyingly good.
"And now?" Carol asked.
He glanced at her, irritation flashing in his eyes. "Why are you asking
all these? Its not like you give a shit!"
"Hey! You will watch your language around . You may be a killer boss out there, in here, you are my son! Are we clear?"
Luca held her gaze. The power struggle flickered between them—two stubborn people refusing to back down.
Then Luca sighed and dropped his eyes back to the tray.
"Yes ma’am." He took another bite, chewing slowly.
"This girl, she makes you happy." Carol asked.
Luca let out a slow breath, leaning back against the headboard with the tray still balanced awkwardly over his lap. The pancakes were half gone now, the honey sticky on his fork, the cocoa cooling slowly beside him. He stared down at the plate for a mont before answering. "More than that. She makes ...feel."
"Why not divorce the wife?"
Luca gave a dry laugh under his breath. "Have you forgotten how close our family and the Vitales are?"
Carol shrugged lightly, as if the weight of mafia alliances ant nothing in her quiet Singapore ho. "What are you afraid of?"
"The fallout."
"So you are just going to keep your happiness on the side. And how does she feel being the other woman? Or are you exactly like your father and didn’t tell her?"
Luca’s jaw tightened. "She found out. Mom, it’s complicated. Okay? That is all I can say." Luca snapped.
"You have a picture?"
"Okay, this is absurd! Totally absurd. Ten years ago, you wanted nothing to do with
and now you want
to download my entire life into your lap?"
The frustration finally spilled over.
Years of distance. Years of silence. Years of knowing his own mother had chosen to walk away from his life the mont he had found her again.
Now suddenly she wanted details.
Carol stood up abruptly. "Fine! Carry your cross by yourself. Die a little bit more inside everyday. Good night!" She moved toward the door, pausing just long enough to throw one last remark over her shoulder. "And clear and do your dishes when you are done. I am not your Nonnina."
Then she left the room.
"Jesus Christ," he muttered under his breath.
He picked up the fork again.
The truth was... she wasn’t wrong.
He was carrying a cross. He considered turning off airplane mode and calling her.
Just to hear her voice. Just to know she was safe.
But the thought vanished almost imdiately.
He had already exposed enough by coming here.
Instead he reached over to the dresser and picked up his phone again.
The screen lit up instantly.
Veronica’s smiling face filled it.
Luca stared at the picture for a while before muttering quietly into the empty room. "Fuck!"
*****
"What do you an he joined the mafia?" Veronica yelled as Valentina gave her the story she got from Ricardo.
"You should have seen him Vee. You would know sothing had changed."
The idea didn’t just feel wrong. It felt absurd.
"Why...why in the world would he do that?"
"You?" Valentina said.
"What does that even an?"
Valentina shrugged lightly. "Maybe he thinks that’s what you want in a man. I an you did leave him for a mafia boss."
"I didn’t...leave him! I....I...okay maybe I did. But it wasn’t like the conventional girl breaks boy’s heart. Luca was relentless. I..." Veronica kept stamring as she spoke. Her words tripped over themselves in her rush to explain sothing she hadn’t even fully processed herself.
Because the truth was ssy.
Luca had entered her life like a hurricane. There had been no slow transition, no careful emotional shift from one relationship to another.
One mont she had been dating Cassidy, living a perfectly normal life.
The next mont she had been pulled into Luca Genovese’s orbit—dangerous, intoxicating, impossible to escape.
And she hadn’t exactly fought very hard.
The realization made her stomach twist with guilt.
"Do you think I should talk to him?"
Valentina tilted her head thoughtfully. "I think you should tell Luca first."
Veronica groaned imdiately. "I don’t know. Luca would consider that information threatening. Especially since he works for a rival family. How did he even get in there?" She muttered. Her thoughts spiraled rapidly.
Cassidy had been a teacher. A normal, decent guy who spent his weekends grading papers and complaining about school board etings.
What kind of chain of events turned that man into soone wearing a mafia tattoo?
"Oh my God," Veronica whispered suddenly. Her eyes widened in horror. "This is all my fault."
If she hadn’t t Luca... If she hadn’t broken Cassidy’s heart... If she hadn’t gotten tangled in this insane world of cri families and dangerous n...
Maybe Cassidy would still be grading math exams instead of carrying guns.
"Wouldn’t it be neat? Two mafia dudes fighting for you." Valentina chuckled.
Veronica shot her a look of pure disbelief.
Valentina shrugged again, unbothered. "I’m just saying."
"Tina...do you really think Cassidy can go up against Luca." Veronica gave her sister a silly look.
"I think he can try."
"It’s suicide." Vee said.
"I think he knows that."
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