Luca

28 - Whatever it takes

Sofia

I’m nervous as Luca leads me into the study. The Don, Marnie, Lydia, Toby, Dray, and Lorna are all sitting on the two leather couches in the middle of the room. I guess Amber is in her room with her nurse because she’s no longer in this room.

When Luca came to my room, I was terrified of what he would do to me. I honestly thought he would hurt me because of what happened. I was prepared for it, but I wasn’t at the same time. I didn’t want Luca to hit me. Being beaten is like breathing to me, but I wanted Luca to be the man he promised he would be.

Luca didn’t hurt me. In fact, he never even raised his voice to me. Luca believed me when I said that Amber getting hurt was an accident. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me. And when Luca held me so tenderly, I knew I didn’t want to leave him.

I don’t know what it is about Luca, but I trust him. I’ve never trusted anyone other than Lorna and Marchello before. But Luca makes it so easy to trust him. I believed him when he said he would never let Dray lay a hand on me again. Luca was so angry with his brother, and I didn’t know how to calm him down. But knowing that he wasn’t angry with me, something settled inside me.

Lorna gets out of her seat next to Lydia and Toby and hugs me. “I’m okay,” I whisper. She looks at Luca, giving him a stern look before retaking her seat without a word.

I wish she wouldn’t look at Luca like that. He hasn’t done anything wrong.

Luca leads me over to the armchair made for two, and I sit beside him, my hand still firmly in his. All eyes are on us, and I don't feel comfortable at all.

The things Luca said to me upstairs gave me a new sense of meaning. I don’t need to be afraid because Luca will protect me. I still have a lot of fight left in me, but I know when to pick my battles. Even talking back to a man like Dray will only lead to my death. I’m not a stupid woman, and I do not want to die. So, I’ll play meek and mild until the day I learn to defend myself. When I’m married to Luca, that will mean something. People won’t be able to mess with me then.

God, I can’t deny how Luca makes me feel when he’s near me. He makes me feel… strong.

I don’t know if I’m setting myself up for a fall, but I have to make things work. Having sexua.l chemistry is a good thing in a marriage. I don’t think Luca will make me totally unhappy, and I’ll do what I can to make sure Luca is happy. If my husband smiles, then I’ll smile.

“I’ll get right to the point,” Luca says, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “Sofia is part of this family now, my soon-to-be wife, and you will all treat her with respect!”

“Respect.” Dray scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“Dray!” The Don snaps while sitting forward in his seat.

“I can’t believe you’re making Luca do this!” Dray snaps at his father. “She shouldn’t be here; she’s a damn Romano!”

I swallow hard. I am never going to get away from my father’s sins. Sure, I can change my name and pretend Roberto Romano is nothing to me. But the fact remains that I am a Romano and no one will ever let me forget.

“Come, Sofia,” Lorna holds her hand out to me. I don’t take it because Luca wraps his arm tightly around my waist, holding me against his side. “We’re leaving.”

“Sit down, Lorna!” The Don demands.

Lorna turns to Draven. “No. You swore to me that Sofia would be safe here. You said that she wouldn’t be hurt, but look at the state of her!” She yells while pointing at me. “All of these bruises because of your son!”

The Don’s eyes widen in anger. I know this isn’t going to end well. I can’t lose the only mother figure I have. Lorna means everything to me, and like any good mother, she’s angry that I was hurt and she wants to protect me. But she cannot show such disrespect to Don Vidal. He’ll kill her without blinking!

I jump out of my seat and take her hands in mine. “Lorna, please calm down.”

“No,” she shakes her head. “I won’t sit back and watch someone else hurt you.” Tears form in her eyes, and it breaks my heart.

I can sense the anger coming from everyone behind me, and I know something bad will happen to Lorna if I don’t sort this out.

“Please sit down. No one is going to hurt me again, Luca promised.”

“He promised you last time!” She yells.

I blow out a breath. “I know that, but Luca wasn’t here, Lorna. He didn’t know this would happen. But if you don’t calm down,” I swallow hard and lower my head for a second. When I look back at Lorna, I whisper, “I don’t want to lose you. Please?”

Lorna sighs and reluctantly retakes her seat beside Lydia. I take a deep breath and sit beside Luca. He entwines his fingers with mine and rhythmically strokes his thumb over my knuckles. Strangely, it calms me down.

“Lorna,” the Don says, and Lorna looks at Draven. “I understand why you’re angry. You love Sofia as if she were your daughter, and that’s why I’ll let what you just said go this one. I’m not exactly thrilled by what happened either. It shouldn’t have happened, and I will deal with it.”

Lorna tips her head at the Don, but she doesn’t say anything in response.

“Dray, look at me,” Luca says. Dray looks directly into my eyes before looking at Luca. It’s not hard to see that the man hates me, and that doesn’t bode well for my marriage to his brother. “Whatever problem you have with this marriage, get over it! Because it’s happening, Dray. Whether you like it or not. Whatever your problem is with Sofia, I suggest you move past it because if you ever hurt her again, we’re gonna have a real problem.”

I swallow hard and keep my eyes on Luca’s and my entwined hands.

“You swore to me that you wouldn’t hurt her again.” Luca continues. “You lied to my face, Dray! Touch her again, I’ll rip your throat out with my bare hands!”

“Don’t threaten me!” Dray jumps out of his seat, and Luca is quick to follow. “I get that you’re pissed off with me, Luca, but don’t threaten me.”

“It wasn’t a threat, Dray, it was a promise!”

Dray narrows his eyes. “You’d talk to me like this over a Romano?”

My heart is in my throat. I don’t want Luca and Dray to fight because of me. They’re twins, two halves of the same person, and I’m no one other than the woman being forced to marry one of them.

At least it’s the good one, Sofia. Be grateful you didn’t get the woman beater. God knows what life you would have had with that one.

“She’s not just a Romano, Dray.” Luca hisses. “Sofia is gonna be my wife. She will be a Vidal soon, and she deserves your respect. I get that you were upset because Amber got hurt, but you had no right to lay hands on Sofia the way you did. It wasn’t her fault, Dray, and you know it!”

Dray runs his hand through his hair, breathing deep through his nose at the same time. “Look, I know what I did was wrong, okay? I know I have to let you do this, but I don't have to like it, Luca. You’re gonna be marrying Romano’s daughter, a woman you’ll never love. What kind of marriage is that?”

One of convenience.

Luca shoves his hands into his trouser pockets.

My eyes lock with Toby’s. He shakes his head with a smile on his face. He then rolls his eyes playfully, which serves to tell me that he’s had his fair share of problems with this family. The look also tells me that everything will be alright in the end. I shoot Toby a grateful smile.

“You don’t know how I’ll feel in the months to come, Dray. There may not be love,”

My stomach turns over. I don’t expect Luka to fall in love with me, but a loveless marriage can’t be a happy one.

Without love, what is there?

“But there will be friendship and respect.” Luca continues. “It doesn’t matter how this marriage thing came about and why.”

I notice a slight twitch in the Don’s left eye. It was so slight that it wouldn’t have been noticeable to most.

But I notice everything. It was a trait I learned living with and trying to protect myself from my father. The twitch tells me that there is more to this marriage than a union with my father and his business. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’ll figure it out soon enough.

“The fact remains that I like Sofia, Dray.”

I smile shyly at Luca’s words.

Luca likes me, and I’m happy because I like him too.

Marnie smiles at me, and I can tell my face is burning with embarrassment; I can feel it in my eyes. Regardless, I smile back, biting my lower lip.

“I can’t have you hurting Sofia, Dray.” Luca sighs. “In doing so, you hurt me, too. I know seeing Amber in pain and frightened angered you, but it wasn’t Sofia’s fault. Maybe if Sofia had been told everything about how Amber is, then this wouldn’t have happened. But it did happen, Dray. We’re all to blame for not being upfront with Sofia. Olga was there too. Did you give her the same treatment you gave Sofia?”

Dray sighs while folding his arms across his chest, and he shakes his head.

“You broke your promise to me, Dray. You said you’d never hurt Sofia again. I promised her that she’d be safe, and you made me look like a liar. To me, Sofia is more than just a Romano. She’s my wife, and I won’t let anyone, including you, lay a hand on her again. Because if there is a next time, you and me,” Luca waves his hand between himself and Dray. “Are done.”

Dray narrows his eyes. “You’d cut ties with me over a woman?”

Luca says something in a language I’ve never heard before. Dray replies in the same language, and I’m confused.

Is this some weird identical twin thing?

They seem to go back and forth between arguing and agreeing. I wish I knew what they were saying. This goes on for at least ten minutes while everyone else watches the two of them closely.

Luca points at me while seemingly asking Dray a question, to which Dray nods his head. The two of them suddenly press their foreheads together like two wild wolves showing love and respect for each other.

“Ti voglio bene, fratello,” Dray tells Luca.

“I love you, too.”

Dray pulls away from Luca and turns to me. I swallow hard and look at Lorna; she’s watching me intently. I look back at Luca. He smiles while holding his hand out to me. I take it and get out of my seat. Luca gently pulls me against his side and wraps his arm around my waist. I lean into his warm body.

Dray drops his shoulders, and the stance makes him look less intimidating. Dray looks me in the eye when he says, “I’m sorry, Sofia. I shouldn’t have hurt you. I don’t have any excuses, so I’m not gonna make any. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but I promise that I won’t lay a hand on you again.”

“Thank you,” It was barely audible, but Dray heard me. He tips his head, slaps Luca on the back, and then leaves the room.

Everyone is suddenly talking over each other, and my head is spinning. I don’t know how much longer I can keep going. I have a migraine coming thanks to the bang to the head.

“Sofia?” I look at Marnie as she stands beside me. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” She says while stroking the back of my head. “I want you to know that I haven’t let Dray off with what he’s done. Dray will also have to deal with his father’s punishment.”

I swallow hard. I wasn’t expecting that.

“Marnie, I am so sorry for what happened to Amber. I didn’t know…”

Marnie shakes her head, cutting me off. “Sweet girl, it wasn’t your fault. Luca was correct when he said that we should have informed you of Amber’s condition. We didn’t, and that’s on us. Amber stood up for you and made sure we all knew that her friend didn’t do anything wrong.”

I smile because Amber is so sweet.

“I really love Amber, Marnie, and I would never do anything to hurt her deliberately.”

Marnie smiles. “I know you wouldn’t. I swear on everything I love that Dray will never hurt you again, Sofia. He’s been warned of what he’ll lose should he even think about it.” I don’t ask what that might be. Marnie kisses my cheek and walks away.

Lorna takes Marnie’s place beside me and wraps her arm around my shoulders. She tenderly kisses my head, and I smile. “Are you sure about this?” She asks quietly.

“I don’t have a choice, Lorna. I have to do what my father wants; only then will I be free of him. No matter what happens to me here, it has to be better than what Papa puts me through.”

“Make him love you, Sofia.” She whispers in my ear. “Make Luca fall in love with you. Whatever it takes, you can do it, I know you can. Once you have his heart, you’ll be invincible.” She kisses my temple, and I let the weight of her words sink in.

Whatever it takes.