Chapter 5 - The Woman He Wasn’t Supposed to Care AboutThe first time Luca Moretti told me I was going into hiding, I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because sometimes the human brain receives a sentence so absurd it refuses to process it properly.
“No.”
We were standing in his office at 10:43 p.m.
Mateo was asleep.
The photograph Dominic had sent sat on Luca’s desk.
“You don’t understand,” Luca said.
“I understand perfectly.”
“No, Claire. Dominic named you.”
“That doesn’t give you ownership over my location.”
“This is not about ownership.”
“It sounds exactly like ownership.”
His palm struck the desk.
Not violently.
But hard enough to make me jump.
He saw it.
Instant regret crossed his face.
“I’m sorry.”
I hated that I appreciated the apology.
He lowered his voice.
“You protected my son. Dominic believes that makes you important.”
“To Mateo.”
“To me.”
Silence.
Neither of us moved.
Luca realized what he had said.
So did I.
He looked away first.
“You’re an employee.”
I folded my arms.
“That correction was almost insulting.”
“It was intended to clarify.”
“It clarified plenty.”
His jaw tightened.
“There is a safe property in Vermont.”
“I’m not leaving Mateo.”
“He would come.”
“And school?”
“Remote.”
“Friends?”
“Temporary.”
“His entire life?”
Luca’s eyes flashed.
“You want me to gamble with his safety?”
“No. I want you to consider what happens if every threat teaches him that normal life disappears.”
“You keep using that word.”
“Normal?”
“It is not available to him.”
The sadness beneath those words stopped me.
“Maybe you should make it available.”
“How?”
“Leave.”
He stared.
“Leave what?”
I looked around.
“All of it.”
His face became unreadable.
“You imagine I can resign?”
“I imagine powerful men love pretending they’re trapped by systems they control.”
His expression sharpened.
“You know nothing about the system I control.”
“Then explain it.”
He walked toward the window.
For a long time, he said nothing.
Finally:
“My father built an organization around ports, unions, freight contracts, gambling, protection, and things I won’t describe to you.”
“Okay.”
“When he died, Dominic expected control.”
“But you got it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Dominic was unstable.”
“What does that mean?”
“He hurt people for entertainment.”
Cold moved through me.
“My father was many things. But he understood unnecessary violence was bad business. Dominic did not.”
“So your father chose you.”
“Yes.”
“How old were you?”
“Twenty-seven.”
“And you just accepted?”
He laughed without humor.
“There was no application process.”
I sat down.
“What if you walked away now?”
“The organization fractures.”
“Maybe that’s good.”
“Three rival groups fight over territory. Businesses burn. People die.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
“You’ve convinced yourself nobody else can hold things together.”
“No. I know several men could.”
“Then give it to them.”
His eyes narrowed.
“And when one of them decides Mateo is leverage?”
That was the center of it.
Power protected Mateo.
Power endangered Mateo.
Luca had built the cage and now couldn’t find the door.
“Then change the thing instead of abandoning it.”
He studied me.
“You make everything sound simple.”
“It isn’t simple.”
“You’re telling a man whose family has operated outside the law for three generations to become legitimate.”
“Yes.”
“That is absurd.”
“So was hiring a waitress because she tackled your kid.”
That shut him up.
Over the next week, nobody went to Vermont.
Security doubled.
Mateo attended school with two plainclothes guards.
I returned to my apartment once, accompanied by Rafael, to pack more belongings.
Then something unexpected happened.
Life.
Mateo needed help with spelling words.
Caesar ate half a science project.
Rosa taught me to make fresh pasta.
Luca began joining us for breakfast without his phone.
Not always.
But often.
I learned he hated bananas.
He learned I put too much sugar in coffee.
I learned he played piano late at night when he thought everyone was asleep.
He learned I sometimes sat outside the music room listening.
Neither of us mentioned it.
One Saturday, Mateo asked to go to the zoo.
Luca said no.
I said yes.
They argued through me.
Eventually, we went.
Six security men pretended not to be security men.
One wore sunglasses despite heavy cloud cover.
“You people are terrible at subtlety,” I told Rafael.
“We discourage subtle threats.”
Mateo dragged Luca toward the penguins.
For three hours, he became a normal child.
He ate cotton candy.
Asked seventy-four questions.
Dropped his dinosaur into a fountain.
Luca rolled up his sleeve and retrieved it.
I laughed so hard I had to sit down.
He looked at me, dripping water.
“You’re enjoying this.”
“Immensely.”
“Remember who signs your paycheck.”
“Rosa processes payroll.”
He stared.
I smiled.
Something changed between us then.
Not in a dramatic way.
No music.
No lightning.
Just the sudden awareness that he was looking at my mouth.
And I was looking at his.
Mateo interrupted.
“Can we get ice cream?”
We moved apart.
“Yes,” we said together.
That night, the estate felt different.
Too quiet.
I found Luca on the terrace with a glass of whiskey.
“You drink alone often?”
“Less frequently since you arrived.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“An observation.”
I leaned beside him.
“Dominic?”
“No movement.”
“That worries you.”
“Yes.”
“Because?”
“When my brother is quiet, he is planning.”
The river reflected moonlight below.
I shivered.
Luca noticed.
He removed his jacket and placed it around my shoulders.
It smelled like cedar and something clean.
That was an unfair detail to notice.
“Thank you.”
He stayed close.
Too close.
“Claire.”
The way he said my name made my stomach tighten.
“What?”
“You should leave.”
I looked at him.
“You’ve been saying that since I arrived.”
“I mean me.”
I understood.
A different kind of danger.
“Why?”
His eyes moved across my face.
“Because I am beginning to forget the reasons I shouldn’t want you here.”
My breath caught.
“Maybe they’re bad reasons.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“They’re excellent reasons.”
“Name one.”
“You deserve a life where armed men do not follow you to the grocery store.”
“True.”
“You deserve someone whose family arguments don’t require armored vehicles.”
“Also true.”
“You deserve—”
“Stop telling me what I deserve.”
His eyes hardened.
“Why?”
“Because men say that when they’re afraid to say what they want.”
His voice dropped.
“What do you think I want?”
I should have stepped away.
Instead:
“Me.”
The word hung between us.
He reached toward my face.
Stopped inches away.
Giving me the choice.
I closed the distance.
His hand settled against my cheek.
Then he kissed me.
It was gentle for approximately one second.
After that, months of restraint seemed to collapse in a moment that had only taken weeks to build.
His other hand found my waist.
Mine caught his shirt.
Then a gunshot cracked through the night.
Luca threw me down.
Another shot shattered the terrace door.
Security alarms screamed.
Men ran from every direction.
Luca covered my body with his.
“Stay down.”
A red dot appeared against the stone wall behind him.
Sniper.
Rafael shouted from inside.
“Luca!”
Another gunshot.
Luca jerked.
His body collapsed against mine.
For one horrifying second, I couldn’t understand why.
Then I felt warmth spreading across my hand.
Blood.
“Luca?”
He didn’t answer.
“LUCA!”
May you like
And somewhere upstairs—
Mateo began screaming for his father.
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