HIS FORBIDDEN BRIDE

CHAPTER 12

I was nervous.

More nervous than I was for the board wives dinner.

Luca's mother had invited me for tea. Just us. In her private sitting room — a room I had never been in before.

Luca tried to come with me.

"She wants to talk to me alone," I said.

"That's exactly why I should come," he said, frowning.

"Luca. She is your mother. If she wanted to poison my tea, she would have done it last night when I embarrassed her friends."

He didn't laugh.

"She is not going to poison you," he said seriously. "But she can be... blunt."

"I handled the vipers. I can handle your mother."

He kissed my forehead. "If she says anything that upsets you, text me. One word. I will come and carry you out."

"Deal."

I walked to her sitting room alone, in a simple cream dress — my own, not one Luca bought. I wanted to be me today.

She was already there. Tea set out, two cups. No staff. Just her.

"Lila. Come. Sit," she said. She was in a soft blue dress, no jewelry except her wedding ring. She looked smaller today. Not the cold Mrs. Romano from the mansion entrance.

I sat.

She poured tea for me. Her hands shook a little.

"Thank you," I said.

We sipped in silence for a moment. Outside, rain was starting.

"Lila," she finally said, "I owe you an apology."

I almost dropped my cup. "Ma— Mrs. Romano—"

"Maria," she said. "Call me Maria. When we are alone. If... if you want."

"Maria," I whispered. It felt strange, but right.

She smiled, sad. "When Luca first told me he was marrying to save a debt, I was furious. I thought... I thought you were like Sophia. That you would take his money and leave. That you would trap him."

"I understand."

"No, you don't understand yet," she said. She looked out the window. "When I married Luca's father, I was like you. Young. No money. No class. His family hated me. They called me the village girl too. Just like Valente called you."

I stared at her.

"You? But you are—"

"I am now. But I was not always Mrs. Romano. I was Maria from the south. My father was a fisherman. I had three brothers. We had nothing. Antonio — Luca's father — met me at the port. Fell in love. Married me in three months. His mother did not come to the wedding."

My throat tightened. "What did you do?"

"The same thing you did last night. I learned to fight with words. To stand tall even when my knees shook. To cook better than their private chefs so they could not say I was useless. It took me five years for his mother to call me daughter."

She turned back to me, eyes wet.

"When I saw you... in that too-big dress on your wedding day, shaking but holding your father's hand... I saw myself. And I was scared for you. So I was cold. I thought if I was cold, you would leave before they could hurt you like they hurt me. Before this life could harden you."

"Maria..." My eyes were filling too.

"I watched you this past month," she continued, her voice breaking. "You wear my son's shirts like armor. You smile at the guards. You thank Ms. DeLuca every time she brings food, even though no one thanks staff here. You stayed when Sophia tried to destroy you. You defended my son last night like he was yours. Like he was not a mafia boss, but just your husband."

"He is just my husband to me," I said quietly.

"I know," she whispered. "That's why he loves you. My son... I have never seen him look at anyone like he looks at you. Not even me. When you spoke to Valente last night, he looked at you like you hung the moon. Antonio used to look at me like that. Before he died."

A tear fell down her cheek. I reached over without thinking and held her hand. Her ring — like mine, but older — clinked against my red one.

"I was wrong about you, Lila," she said. "You are not Sophia. You are not a gold digger. You are a fighter. And you are exactly what this family needed. Someone who knows the price of things. Someone who will keep my son soft. Because this world... this business... it makes men like him hard. Too hard. He needs someone like you to remind him he is still human."

I was crying now. Openly.

"I don't know how to be a Romano wife," I whispered. "I keep thinking I will mess up. That I will embarrass Luca."

"You already are a Romano wife," she said, squeezing my hand. "Last night you proved it. You didn't just sit there and let Luca fight for you. You fought for yourself. For him. That is what we do. Romano women fight."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small velvet box.

"I want you to have this. It was Antonio's mother's. She gave it to me after five years. When she finally accepted me."

I opened it. Inside was a thin gold bracelet, with small red stones.

"It matches your ring," she said. "Red for protection. She told me it protects Romano wives. Now I give it to you."

"Maria, I can't—"

"You can. And you will wear it to dinner every night. So Valente and Ricci know that I accept you. That you have my blessing. That you are not alone in this house."

She helped me put it on. It fit perfectly.

We both cried a little then. Two women from villages, married into a mafia family, drinking tea in a big lonely mansion while rain fell outside.

---

When I came back to our room, Luca was pacing.

"Well?" he said immediately. "What did she say? Did she upset you? Are you crying? Who made you cry?"

I laughed, wiping my eyes. "No one made me cry. We both cried. Happy tears."

He stopped pacing. Saw the bracelet.

He went still.

"Is that... my grandmother's bracelet?" he asked, voice low.

"Your mother gave it to me," I said, holding out my wrist. "She said it protects Romano wives."

Luca walked to me slowly. Took my wrist gently. Looked at the bracelet. Then at me.

"She never takes that off," he whispered. "She wore it even at my father's funeral."

"I know."

He looked up at me, eyes so soft it hurt.

"She accepted you," he said, like he couldn't believe it. "She really accepted you."

"She said she saw herself in me. Young village girl who married a Romano."

Luca pulled me into a tight hug. Buried his face in my hair.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"For what?"

"For being you. For making my mother smile again. I haven't seen her smile like that since Father died. I thought... I thought this house would always be cold. But you... you make it warm."

We stood like that for a long time, hugging in the middle of our room, rain hitting the windows.

Then a guard knocked. Urgent.

"Boss? Miss Sophia is at the gate. She says she needs to speak to Mrs. Romano. She says it's about her father."

My father?

My blood went cold.

Luca's arms tightened around me.

"Tell her to leave," he said to the guard.

"She says if Mrs. Romano doesn't come, she will call the police and tell them Mr. Romano is holding her father hostage for debt."

What?

Luca's face turned to stone. Mafia Luca was back.

He looked at me. "Lila, your father is safe at home. You know that. I spoke to him yesterday. Sophia is lying. She is desperate."

"I know," I said, but my hands were shaking. "But what if—"

"No what if. Stay here. I will handle her."

"No," I said, surprising myself. "I will come with you. She wants me. Let her see me. Let her see this bracelet. Let her see that her games don't work anymore."

Luca stared at me, then smiled — proud again.

"That's my wife."

He took my hand, laced our fingers, bracelet shining on my wrist, rings clinking.

Together, we walked downstairs to face Sophia again.

But this time, I wasn't alone. I had his hand. I had his mother's bracelet. I had his name.

I had everything I needed to fight.