ELENA'S POVLuca wasn't back yet but he had called to say that something had cropped up and he may be away for the night.I had simply responded to him and dropped my phone back on the table in the living room.The bell rang and I sighed, looking at the video intercom, seeing one of Luca's men at the door so I opened the door.He simply came in, bowed, and stretched a file towards me.“Open it,” I said calmly.This wasn't the time to let my guard down. For all I know, it could have a bomb so I always took precautions.The man who understood nodded and opened it. Nothing.Good.“Who sent it?” I asked, collecting the brown envelope from him“Lorenzo” he informed.Ah, my information on the man had arrived.I nodded and waved the man away. He quickly left the room and I began to pull the files out of the envelope. This was perfect.“Shall I prepare the table for lunch?” I heard someone's voice and I looked up to see Rosa making an entry.She was dressed in simple trousers and a tee shirt
ELENA'S POV “It should have been impossible” I paced about, saying all sort of things while he just watched.Luca was just leaning on the wall of our room, his head tilted back and his eyes following my tense figure about.I was even surprised that he had cut his trip short, he did say he wasn't going to be home for a few days but immediately I informed him of what had happened, he immediately rushed back home.And now here we were. Talking. Or rather here I was, ranting while he watched and listened carefully“Elena, you're being paranoid” he muttered, pushing himself off the wall and stalking off towards me.I stopped my frantic pacing and wagged a finger at him. “paranoid? Luca, that was fucking dangerous and could have put everybody at risk” I lamented.He took a deep breath and held my shoulders squarely, his arms slowly rubbing it. “Breathe, Elena. I understand why you're this pissed off but last time I remember, I told you not to pry…” his voice was calm but I knew he was frus
ELENA'S POV“Oh look at this, this is beautiful and I think it'll look great on you,” One of his aunts said, placing a diamond necklace around my neck as we stayed in the Jewelry section of the boutique we were in.“Yeah, it looks really beautiful” I muttered, refusing to look down at the really beautiful necklace with a large diamond stone.No, it would be too tempting.“Come along dear, let's check the rings on this end,” another of them said, pulling me along before I could protest.When Luca had said we were going out, I'm pretty sure he didn't mean this but here we were now.His aunts came along and said that they wanted to take me out for shopping because they wanted us to do an actual ceremony and Luca didn't want to say no so he agreed but something had cropped up and he couldn't come along. He had wanted to ditch that plan but I assured him that I could take care of myself.Now I wasn't sure of that anymore.I was stuck in a mall filled with very beautiful pieces of jewelry a
ELENA'S POV“Must we do this?” I asked Luca with a smile even though I was secretly happy about this.After I had come home a few days back, he had told me that he wanted to take me out on a date today.I was happy when I heard that, it had been such a long time since I had the luxury of going on a date with him due to the workload in the family and now I had my chance.“Yes we do,” he said for the umpteenth time as he led me through the dark woods.Yep, we were going to the same spot by the cliffs“Do we have to go to the cliffside again? I'm scared of heights, you know?” I asked, tugging on his arm, my floral dress swooshing with the wind.He stopped and looked down at me. “Do you think I'd let you fall?”“No, I trust you”A smile broke on his face and his dimples hollowed as he smiled. “Then don't be so paranoid, I won't let anything happen to you and yes we do have to go to the same spot for sentimental reasons” he continued walking with me by his side“Okay fine, but why though?
ELENA'S POVToday we had gone to the court and we dissolved the fake marriage and did another just for formality to show that we were starting afresh and I was fucking happy.It was already late at night when we got back because he had insisted on taking me out on a walk where he could spend more time with me2 days ago, he had made that proposal on the cliff side and now we were married. We had been married before but not in the sense of the word and I was happy because he had told me he loved me.I honestly thought I would have to wait for eternity before I would hear those words from him.Sighing as soon as I got into the room, I kicked off my shoes and put them aside, a smile on my face as I watched him take off his jacket.“You look like you're in a good mood” he teased, turning around to look at me.I laughed slightly and rolled my eyes. “Like you're not looking how I feel. You look how I feel. Happy” I muttered.“You're right. I earned myself a lifetime of you. It's something w
ELENA'S POV“Good morning, want some?”, Luca was already in the kitchen, stirring coffee in a cup which he extended to me as soon as he saw me.I was wrapped up in one of his large hoodies which he had worn for me after cleaning me up last night.“Oh… you're up” my voice came out low and I stumbled to the counter, my eyes lids heavy.He chuckled and handed a cup to me which I collected and mumbled a thank you for.“Someone didn't have a good night's sleep” he teased, resting his hand on his counter while staring at me with a soft mushy look.I looked at him over the rim of the cup and scoffed. “Oh no, I wonder why”He cackled at that and straightened up. “Last I checked, you were the one whㅡ”“No no, don't bring that up” I quickly shushed him, bringing my hand up to silence him.He laughed again and came around to my side, wrapping his hands around my waist while I struggled not to choke on the coffee.“You look beautiful this morning. As always” he whispered.I swallowed down the cup
LUCA'S POV She was still staring at me with those large does eyes of hers and I was waiting for her response. “So why are you looking at me like I said something that was impossible” She blinked and relaxed her head on my shoulder. “It's a bit surprising that you want to employ me in your club or bar or whatever. Is it safe?” I nodded immediately, stroking her hair. “Completely. The woman in charge, she'll take care of you and you know I won't ever put you in a place where your safety isn't guaranteed” She was clearly thinking about something judging by the little creases on her lips. “I do wanna know though. How are you comfortable trusting me with this, In your space when you know what I am” she raised her eyes to me and I melted at the sight. When did I get this smitten over this woman? “You're not a what, Elena. I don't know what you think you are but I know who you are and do you wanna know who you are?” I kissed her forehead softly. She nodded, her eyes fluttering close f
LUCA'S POV “When you said you were coming over with your wife,I sure as hell wasn't expecting her” Bianca said, pouring me a glass of wine while she gave Elena who was looking around the club excitedly a glare.I took the glass from her and took a sip from it.“Don't say that again firstly and also she's the new mixologist. I'm here to tell you that you're in charge of her and no goddamn thing must happen to her”, I said, my eyes fixed on Elena who was sliding her hand across the counter.Bianca forced a smile and straightened up, the tiny shirt she wore hiking up to show her a bit of her bra.“When did you start dressing like that?”, I frowned at her.She looked down at her body like she hadn't realized what she was wearing. “Well it's a strip club after all”“Don't give me that shit, you're not one of the girls and you weren't wearing that before I came here” I frowned at her.Her smile faltered. “Oh, there's someone watching me?”“My club, remember?”“I also remember you entrusted
ELENA'S POV“Kill her…”“We should have killed her when we had the chance”“Kill her now”They all advanced towards me with their guns at the ready.No, no. Make it stop.I wanted to scream, to open my mouth but no sound came out, I was all alone.“He's not here to save you now”“You can't even live without him”“Weakling”One of the men with the dark eyes raised his gun, his face quite hazy as he squeezed the trigger.I screamed immediately, thrashing about when someone held me tightly.“Elena?!” The voice sounded distant yet so familiar and the person was holding meNo, they wanted to kill me.I tossed about in the strong person's hold until I was tired.“Calm down. It's just a dream” a voice that was unmistakably Luca's reached my mind that was clouded with fog.I opened my eyes and spent a few seconds trying to adjust to the bright sunlight that was filtering through the blinds before I could focus on Luca who was above me, his arms holding my hands tight.“Luca…” I whispered.He
AUTHOR'S POV“What do you mean you didn't get that done?!” Bianca screamed at the man who had come to give her the reports.The man bowed his head slightly and sighed. “Look, Miss Conti. We did do our best. Things went haywire at the last moment” he explained.“Things went haywire?! Paulo, I paid you three million just to do this one thing. Get rid of the bitch but you're telling me things went haywire?! Do you know how much that cost me?!” She yelled, her eyes wide.The man clothed in black clothes that seemed to buff out his muscular physique snapped back immediately. “And do you know how much it cost me?! 28 men! Dead! Those were the best in my ranks and they're 6 feet deep now! What do you think this is to me?!”Bianca almost flinched when he advanced towards her but he stopped himself in time and looked away, his body brimming with anger.“As I can see, things didn't just go haywire. What happened?” She managed to calm herself down to speak.He sighed. “The don came. Don Luca cam
LUCA'S POV My shoes clacked against the stoned floor as I walked into the small shelter where I had discovered years back and made mine.I probably looked like a murderer or an assassin with the way that my cloak seemed to blend in with the night. Good. I felt like a murderer anyway and I was entering this building with every intention to kill.After I drove Elena home, I helped her to bed, made sure she was fine, and left as soon as she dozed off.Exactly 12:07 am now.“Don Luca…” someone's voice came from the shadows matching my steps as I neared my destination.“Yes, Lorenzo?” I asked, twirling my keys around my index finger while my eyes were fixed straight ahead.“The men are clearing up the scene and they're almost done”“And who's my guest for tonight?” I asked, stopping at the door.“The driver. The last car to tumble over. Thankfully he had only sustained a few hits to the head so he's alive and in the perfect shape to talk. We've…treated him good already” Lorenzo's voice dr
ELENA'S POV “Hold on!” Luca yelled from his car before he rolled his window up just as a bullet bounced on it.Fuck, that was close. I had always wondered why he had made all his cars bulletproof and now I was seeing why.Lorenzo who was still returning fire turned to me. “The boss?” He yelled over the sound of tires and guns.I gripped the steering tighter. “Yes!”Looking into the rearview mirror, I spied 5 enemy cars. 5. Okay, that was still a lot.Luca's car sped up, overtaking mine and speeding to the front of the road where the alley ended.What in the fuck was he doing.Lorenzo stopped shooting and looked at what was happening, a look of confusion on his face.“Wait, pull over!” He suddenly yelled at meI didn't turn to look at Lorenzo but my eyes widened. “Are you crazy, they're right behind us!”Luca's car reached the mouth of the alley and with a skilled drift of his car, he swerved his car to the side to block the entrance of the alley.How were we supposed to leave?! What
ELENA'S POV“Get me all the information you can on him, leave no stones unturned” I said to Lorenzo a few days later as I packed up my stuff in the bar where I now worked as a mixologist as planned.Lorenzo had been sent to drive me back home and he was walking me out of the bar already when Bianca came up to me.“Elena, can I talk to you for a second?”I nodded and told Lorenzo that I'd be out in a minute before going to meet her at the door.“What?” I asked, folding my hands across on my chest.It had been a week since Luca had a crash and he was discharged two days after so I had resumed work three days back and so far, I had no problems with Her, she even seemed nice.“Look about that day in the hospital. I'm sorry. I just lost it when I found out you had a connection with the person who tried to kill my boss. Don Luca has helped a lot of people so when I did my research and I found out that you knew him… I just assumed the worst. Was he your friend? I saw a photo of you both year
ELENA'S POVI had been here for about 20 minutes already and the atmosphere was silent as I had placed my head on the bed frame, letting his run his fingers through my hair.After he had told me that, we hadn't spoken about it. I was silent and so was he. We just stayed in the calm environment saying nothing.“You know… I want you to hate me he suddenly spoke up and that made me want to raise my head up but his strong arms pulled me down.Another testament to how weak I was. He was injured and still far stronger than I was.“What the fuck does that mean? Why would you want me to hate you?” I asked confused.“Because then I'd know that what my dad said was true. He used to tell me that I was unlovable and I did believe him so tell me how it's possible that you love me?” His grip on my head loosened.I used the opportunity to release myself from his grip. “You're not. You're the best thing that happened to me. We've both come out from homes that tried to restrict us from growing but th
ELENA'S POV “NO! LET GO OF ME!” I trashed in Gareth's strong arms, tears brimming in my eyes.What had happened?I was at the bar one moment then I saw the news going on about a car crash. Luca's car.I had called and called but he hadn't answered so I quickly left with Gareth only to receive a call from Doctor Giovanni who said that Luca was in an accident and he thought I should know about it.Thankfully Gareth had raced to the hospital but now he didn't want me to enter the room. I couldn't even see the insides of the goddamn room.“Gareth, let me go” I thrashed in his arms, kicking wildly.“Ma'am, I think you need to wait for the doctor to give his permission for you to go in” he said, trying to make me see reason.I heard the sound of rushing feet and I turned around to see Bianca rush in, her hair messy and her eyes wild.“Is it true?” She asked.I turned my face the other way and I heard her gasp. “Oh fuck, is he alright?” She didn't wait for me to answer, she started marching
LUCA'S POV “When you said you were coming over with your wife,I sure as hell wasn't expecting her” Bianca said, pouring me a glass of wine while she gave Elena who was looking around the club excitedly a glare.I took the glass from her and took a sip from it.“Don't say that again firstly and also she's the new mixologist. I'm here to tell you that you're in charge of her and no goddamn thing must happen to her”, I said, my eyes fixed on Elena who was sliding her hand across the counter.Bianca forced a smile and straightened up, the tiny shirt she wore hiking up to show her a bit of her bra.“When did you start dressing like that?”, I frowned at her.She looked down at her body like she hadn't realized what she was wearing. “Well it's a strip club after all”“Don't give me that shit, you're not one of the girls and you weren't wearing that before I came here” I frowned at her.Her smile faltered. “Oh, there's someone watching me?”“My club, remember?”“I also remember you entrusted
LUCA'S POV She was still staring at me with those large does eyes of hers and I was waiting for her response. “So why are you looking at me like I said something that was impossible” She blinked and relaxed her head on my shoulder. “It's a bit surprising that you want to employ me in your club or bar or whatever. Is it safe?” I nodded immediately, stroking her hair. “Completely. The woman in charge, she'll take care of you and you know I won't ever put you in a place where your safety isn't guaranteed” She was clearly thinking about something judging by the little creases on her lips. “I do wanna know though. How are you comfortable trusting me with this, In your space when you know what I am” she raised her eyes to me and I melted at the sight. When did I get this smitten over this woman? “You're not a what, Elena. I don't know what you think you are but I know who you are and do you wanna know who you are?” I kissed her forehead softly. She nodded, her eyes fluttering close f