Luca. I knew Emma wasn't joking when she requested to be my mistress. I was hoping it wouldn't come to that, but it had. I could see it in her eyes. She was battling her emotions just as I was. I wasn't angry at her when I walked away. I was mad at myself for putting her in a situation she would think so low of herself. Aldo sensed something was wrong, but I hid it from him. When Teressa approached us, I was surprised, but I chose to pass away the time by hearing what she had to say. She claimed she saw us by accident, but I knew my mother was behind it. My mother wanted me to start courting Teressa immediately, and I was mad at her. Teressa told me that Emma and her friend were partying with some men, knowing how easily I got jealous. It got to me, but who was I to get jealous? As much as I wanted to go to where she was and drag her away from the men, I knew she would be free to do as she liked in a couple of months. I also knew that my reaction to her request was what led her to do
Emma. The words came like a knife to my heart. A deep cut that I knew would never heal. Luca stood before me with tear-filled eyes and said he was letting me go. "We still have four months," I protested, and he ran his fingers through his hair. "We wouldn't if those bastards had succeeded and you had died. Please understand, Emma. You have to leave. I am cutting off from you, and I will make a public show of it so they will know you are no longer connected to me, and they will stay away from you. This is my cross to bear alone, not yours," he said, and against my better judgement, I began to cry. I knew I promised to close my heart, but it was easier said than done. I couldn't. My emotions were all over the place. I cursed everything. We shouldn't have gone on that vacation. If we had remained home, nothing would happen. "Luca, I will stay indoors. I won't go out. Please don't do this," I pleaded. I was desperate. I knew he needed me just as much as I needed him, and his heart was
Luca. I roared with all my might. My pain was real, my heart was broken, and my soul had been ripped from me. Why was I doomed? Emma was everything I had ever wanted in a woman; perfect in every way. She was my soulmate, and I had to let her go. I had to let her go, so I do not lose her. There were two many unknown people after me, and she wasn't cut out for this life. My heart was bleeding. Images of her crying in the car reeled in my mind. All I had to do was change my mind, and all this pain would be gone, but I knew the pain would be worse if I let her stay and she got killed. She bared her heart out and pleaded with me; little did she know I was more in love with her than she was with me. Why did I have to do well in the family business and rise to the top? I was ambitious, and look where it got me. The one thing I wanted so much, I could never have. I knelt on the floor in my bedroom and wept. Usually, she would hold and try to console me, but now that it was over, who will do
Emma. I cried so much that I couldn't breathe. On our way to Celio, I had several panic attacks, and Gerald had to stop the car to calm me down. "Take me back to Ashfield!" I protested, and Gerald could not say anything. He felt sorry for me. I never knew I could feel this hurt in my life, but here I was, hurting, deep to my soul. It felt like part of my soul had been taken from me. It felt like hell. I had never experienced this level of pain before. A pain that had an impossible cure: Luca. All the emotions rushed through me like fire, and I wailed. "How dare you, Luca. How dare you do this to us? How dare you say I can't handle your lifestyle?" I screamed to no one precisely. He had broken both our hearts. I swallowed my pride and pleaded with him not to do this, but he did. Did he have a knack for suffering? I hugged myself and wailed all the way to Celio. When I entered my father's house in Celio, I went straight to my room and did not say a word to anyone. I locked the door,
Luca. I thought I was living in hell until Emma left. I had never experienced so much pain in my life. I could not think straight anymore. I closed myself off from everyone. Barely saw my friends and couldn't stand company. I was a mess. Maybe I should have held on and damned the consequences. The pain I felt was worse than losing a loved one; there was a void in my heart that could never be filled up. I was dead from the inside out. My parents and Catalina had left my house because of my hostility. Usually, Emma was always there to calm me down, but she wasn't anymore, and everything around me was falling apart. I knew I was slowly becoming a monster, but there was nothing I could do. A huge part kept telling me that what I did was for the best. It had been a month, and there had been several attacks on my life. All of which I sustained minor injuries and survived. The attacks let me know I did the right thing by letting Emma go. Hopefully, she would find someone worthy of her and
EMMA TWO YEARS AND SIX MONTHS LATER. It wasn't easy living without Luca, but my heart had somehow healed itself. My family was a tremendous support, and I did not know how I would have survived without them. They supported me through it all. I was heartbroken throughout my pregnancy, and there were times that I was tempted to go to Ashfield and confront Luca. Still, I would hold back whenever I remembered what Tevin told me about him moving on. It was a contract, and I wasn't supposed to get my heart tangled in a mess, yet I did. I had come out badly bruised and injured. I was still picking up the pieces of what was left of my broken heart, and I thanked the goddess for helping me through it. There were times that I sit up in bed thinking about Luca, but they were fewer now than in the past. I moved out of my father's house when Katya, my daughter, turned one. We needed our space, and thanks to my bakery business, I could afford a small place. It had two rooms, a living room with th
Luca. "Where is Deigo Gallo?" I said and punched the bastard in the face. My white shirt was bloody, and I had taken off my tie. I wasn't tired. If the bastard didn't give me what I wanted, I might just beat him to death like I did the others before him. "I don't know, boss," the bastard said, and I punched him hard on the cheek. I wasn't his boss, and that was the wrong answer. "Sources said you housed him three weeks ago in Barlo. How dare you insult me in a territory that I own? You know I am looking for that bastard, and you chose to house him." I said and sent another punch. "Alpha, please," Gerald pleaded, and I growled at him. "Leonardo Badalcci has rubbed me the wrong way." I snarled and walked away. "Lock him up in silver chains, his sons and wife too," I said. "Please, Don Luca, my wife is innocent in all of this," the bastard said. I could not believe he had the effrontery to speak after his beating. "Does it look like I care?" I asked him, and the coldness in my so
Emma. I was nervous about seeing Aldo. As we drew near Ashfield, I had nuts in my stomach. I just kept telling myself to breathe through it. The inevitable was about to happen. There was no guarantee that Aldo won't tell Luca about Katya. I was afraid of what they would do to my daughter and me. I could not believe I agreed to follow Heather to Ashfield. Telling her no would have been impossible; just as she said, she would have done the same for me. I just had to keep my fingers crossed not to cross paths with Teressa or Luca for the week I will be in Ashfield. I secretly prayed to the goddess to help me. I did not want to cross paths with them. I learned Luca had become a monster, and he killed people with ease now; what if Teressa decides that Katya and I are a problem and kills us? "Calm down, Emma; nothing can happen to you in Aldo's house. He will protect you. Terressa can't come there, and as I said, Luca rarely visits Aldo. He is more likely to hang out with Castelo than Ald