Page 94
“She’s going to be okay.” Lucia’s voice is barely audible. “Physically, at least. Dehydration, malnourishment, and bruising are clear even in this light. Nothing that won’t heal with time and care, though.” She looks up at me, and her palpable gratitude tightens my chest. “You brought her back.”
“I said I would.”
“I know.” She extracts herself carefully from the nurse’s sleeping form and crosses over to me in bare feet. “I just…” She stops, pressing her forehead to my chest and fisting my jacket. “Thank you, Marco.” She sniffles and pulls back to wipe her face with the back of her hand. “If it’s all right, I’d like to stay with her tonight.”
I kiss her forehead before I step out.
An hour later, Nico finds me in the kitchen, his expression grim. My stomach clenches. The room smells of coffee and freshly baked bread, but I’ve got no appetite.
“Tomas Greco’s gone.” His whisper is meant for my ears only. “Enzo kept him alive to extract every name connected to Bruno’s network, just as he said he would after the trial. We’ve had him in the holding cells under the east wing for three weeks.”
Greco knows our protocols, our safe houses, and our weak points. He’s a weapon in Bruno’s hands now.
The pieces slot into place with a click I feel in my jaw.
“Bruno played us from the start, using Jenna as a distraction to get our best men focused on the warehouse and give him the chance to break Greco out of his cell.”
My hand smashes down on the counter, rattling the dishes on the drying rack.
“I should have known.” My voice comes out flat. “The rescue came too easy.”
“Looks that way.” Nico delivers the facts without emotion. “We saved the girl, so we should focus on that at least.”
I dip my chin. Right now, there’s nothing to do but adapt and press on.
“Let’s put extra eyes on every Benedetti asset. Double the patrols and triple the security rotations. Find out who helped Greco escape. There’s another leak somewhere in this compound, and I want it plugged before it drowns us.”
After Nico leaves, I linger in the kitchen, wondering if I’m always going to be one step behind and always reacting instead of acting.
A few quiet days follow after the rescue. Jenna recovers slowly, spending most of her time with Lucia, and their friendship finds its footing again. Lucia’s lighter when Jenna’s around, laughing more, being playful.
The marriage proposal lingers in a corner of my mind. She’s given no definite answer yet, and while I worry that we need it to completely secure her protection, I give her a few days to decide.
During those days, shadows continue to pool under her eyes. She picks at her meals, nudging food around her plate. Four days after the rescue, I discover her in the bathroom gripping the sink, her face pale as paper.
“Lucia.” I’m at her side instantly, my hand on her back as tremors run through her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” She shakes her head. “Just…stomach issues. Probably something I ate.”
I want to press, demand the truth, and try to fix whatever’s wrong. But I remember my promise to trust and let her come to me, so I nod and let it go.
A night later, I come home early to find her out cold on the couch. She clutches a sheet in her hands, and even in rest, her expression carries a sorrow that stops my heart.
She stirs when I cross over to her, her eyes opening slowly before settling on my face. The paper slips from her fingers onto the cushion.
“Lucia?” I sit beside her and examine what appears to be a list of test results. The pregnancy one is marked with a definitive negative. “What is this?”
“I thought I was pregnant.” Her voice cracks. “I had all the symptoms. The nausea, the exhaustion. I was so sure. I’d even started imagining it, planning for it, and shaping a future around it.” She presses the heels of her palms against her eyes. “Mason took me to a clinic last week. A doctor he knew ran the test. It came back negative, Marco.” Tears spill over. “Negative.”
The word hits me twice. First the loss of a child I didn’t know I wanted until now. Then, a beat behind, the blow that she went to Mason and his handpicked doctor instead of me. The unspoken question lodges like a splinter, but she’s coming apart in my arms, so Mason can wait. Her body trembles with tremendous force. “Hey. Hey, it’s okay. It’s okay.”
“Is it?” She pulls back to meet my eyes, her face blotched and raw. “Part of me was hoping for it.” She gulps hard, blinking rapidly to push back more tears. “Now I don’t even know what I feel anymore. Relief? Grief? Disappointment?”
Holding her chin with my right hand, I wipe her tears with my thumb. “What do you want, Lucia? Forget what you think you should feel and forget about what you’re scared of. What would make you happy?”
As she searches my face, she’s quiet for a long moment. Then she exhales. “I think I want a family with you, Marco.” She scoffs. “It’s stupid, based on things I’ve said before, but it’s the truth.”
My heart stops for a beat, but when it kicks back to life, it roars like a high-capacity engine.
