God.
I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t raise a child inside this nightmare.
Luca fired again before grabbing the passenger door open. “Get inside!”
I scrambled toward the SUV.
Suddenly another shot rang out.
Pain exploded through Luca’s shoulder.
He staggered.
“Luca!”
His men immediately closed around him while returning fire.
But even injured, Luca looked terrifying.
He ignored the blood soaking through his coat and shoved me into the vehicle.
“Drive!” he barked.
The SUV accelerated violently.
Two more vehicles followed behind us as gunfire echoed through the garage.
I twisted around in the seat breathing hard.
Luca climbed in beside me seconds later while one of his men slammed the door shut.
The convoy sped out into Manhattan traffic.
Nobody spoke for several moments.
The driver focused ahead. The bodyguard in the front seat spoke rapidly into an earpiece.
And Luca sat beside me bleeding through his coat.
I stared at the blood spreading across black cashmere.
Memories crashed into me instantly.
Long nights waiting for him. Panic every time unknown numbers called. The metallic smell of blood hidden beneath expensive cologne.
This life.
This terrible life.
“You’re hurt,” I whispered.
Luca glanced down briefly. “It’s nothing.”
“It’s a gunshot wound.”
“I’ve had worse.”
That wasn’t comforting.
Vanessa climbed into the front passenger seat from another vehicle after a quick stoplight exchange.
She turned around immediately.
“Safe house?” she asked.
Luca shook his head. “No.”
“Luca—”
“He knows the safe houses.”
Nikolai.
Of course he did.
Vanessa looked toward me. “And her?”
Luca’s eyes moved slowly back to my stomach.
“She stays with me.”
“No.”
The word came out instantly.
Luca looked exhausted suddenly.
Not physically. Emotionally.
“You are carrying my child while a Bratva boss actively hunts my family,” he said quietly. “You don’t get to disappear again.”
Anger flared through me.
“Your family is exactly why this happened.”
The SUV fell silent.
Vanessa watched us carefully.
Luca leaned back slowly despite the blood on his shoulder.
“You think leaving protected the baby?”
“Yes.”
“You were alone.”
“I was hidden.”
“You were vulnerable.”
“I was free.”
That hit him.
I saw it clearly.
Because despite everything… Luca understood that life beside him had often felt like a beautiful prison.
He rubbed a hand across his jaw.
“When did you find out?”
I hesitated.
Then answered honestly.
“After the Russo shooting.”
Luca closed his eyes briefly.
He remembered.
Everyone in New York remembered.
A meeting between mafia families ended in bloodshed after betrayal inside the Russo organization. Three men died. The newspapers called it a suspected gang incident.
I remembered standing barefoot in our penthouse afterward while cleaners scrubbed blood from Luca’s white marble floors.
And realizing I was late.
Pregnant.
Terrified.
“I couldn’t do it,” I whispered.
Luca looked at me again.
For the first time since seeing him in the boutique, something in his expression finally cracked.
“You should have told me.”
Tears burned unexpectedly behind my eyes.
“I didn’t know if bringing a child into your world was cruel or selfish.”
The vehicle grew painfully quiet.
Even Vanessa looked away.
After a long moment, Luca spoke softly.
“I would have burned the world down before letting anyone touch you.”
“That’s exactly the problem.”
His gaze sharpened.
“You think I’m the monster.”
“No,” I whispered. “I think you became one to survive.”
That silence lasted the rest of the drive.
—
The penthouse hadn’t changed.
Of course it hadn’t.
Luca Moretti owned the entire top floor overlooking Central Park. Forty million dollars of glass, marble, and terrifying security.
The moment I stepped inside again, memories crashed into me hard enough to steal my breath.
The piano near the windows. The black staircase. The fireplace where Luca once slept beside me after a nightmare he pretended not to have.
Home.
God help me. It still felt like home.
Medical staff arrived immediately for Luca.
He ignored them until one older doctor snapped sharply, “Sit down before you bleed on my shoes.”
Vanessa almost smiled.
Apparently everyone feared Luca except his physician.
I stood awkwardly near the windows while guards secured every entrance.
The baby shifted heavily again.
“You should sit,” Vanessa said quietly behind me.
I turned.
She looked immaculate despite surviving a gunfight.
Not one blonde strand out of place.
I studied her carefully.
Beautiful. Controlled. Dangerously intelligent.
“Are you in love with him?” I asked before thinking.
Her expression barely changed.
“No.”
The honesty surprised me.
“Then why are you with him?”
Vanessa glanced toward Luca across the penthouse.
“Because powerful families survive through alliances.”
Ah.
An arrangement.
Maybe I should have felt relieved. Instead something strange twisted painfully inside my chest.
Vanessa folded her arms.
“He never stopped looking for you.”
I looked away.
“I left deliberately.”
“He knew that.”
“Then why search?”
For the first time, Vanessa’s composed expression softened slightly.
“Because he thought you were dead.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“What?”
Vanessa lowered her voice.
“Your abandoned car was found near the docks three months ago.”
My blood went cold.
I stared at her.
“That’s impossible.”
“It exploded.”
Suddenly I understood.
The car.
The old sedan I traded to a man in Queens for cash after leaving Manhattan.
Dear God.
Luca thought someone killed me.
I looked toward him automatically.
He sat while the doctor stitched his shoulder. Face emotionless. Eyes distant.
How long had he believed that?
How many nights?
Vanessa’s voice turned quieter.
“He nearly started a war over it.”
Something inside me cracked painfully.
Because despite everything wrong between us… I knew Luca.
And I knew grief would have destroyed whatever humanity remained inside him.
The doctor finally finished.
Luca stood immediately.
“Everyone out.”
The room emptied without argument.
Even Vanessa.
Soon only Luca and I remained inside the massive penthouse.
Thunder rolled softly outside the windows.
New York glittered beneath us.
And suddenly we were alone for the first time in months.
Luca approached slowly.
I noticed the exhaustion in his face now. The strain beneath the composure.
“You thought I was dead?” I asked.
“Yes.”
The single word carried terrifying weight.
I swallowed hard.
“For how long?”
“Until today.”
Six months.
Six months of grief.
No wonder he looked at me like he’d seen a ghost inside the boutique.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
Luca laughed once. Bitter.
“That’s the first time you’ve apologized since I met you.”
Despite myself, I almost smiled.
Then his expression darkened again.
“Why Brooklyn?”
I stiffened.
“You had me followed?”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“I smelled thrift-store detergent on your coat.”
I blinked.
Only Luca would identify my hiding location through laundry soap.
“That’s unsettling.”
“You married unsettling.”
The old familiar tension flickered briefly between us.
Dangerous. Intimate.
Then his eyes lowered to my stomach again.
Slowly. Carefully.
“Can I?” he asked quietly.
My breath caught.
He was asking permission.
Luca Moretti never asked permission.
After a long hesitation, I nodded.
His large hand rested gently against my stomach.
The baby kicked instantly.
Luca froze.
Completely froze.
I watched every wall inside him collapse at once.
A soft disbelieving sound escaped him.
Again the baby moved.
And Luca stared at me like the world had fundamentally changed.
“That’s my child,” he whispered.
Emotion tightened painfully inside my chest.
“Yes.”
His eyes lifted to mine.
I expected anger. Accusation. Control.
Instead I saw awe.
Pure overwhelming awe.
Then suddenly alarms exploded through the penthouse.
Red security lights flashed.
Luca’s head snapped toward the hallway instantly.
One of his guards burst through the doors.
“Boss!”
Luca moved in front of me automatically.
“What happened?”
The guard looked pale.
“There’s been a breach downstairs.”
Gunfire echoed faintly through the building.
My heart stopped.
Luca reached beneath his jacket immediately.
Another weapon. Always another weapon.
“How many?”
“We don’t know yet.”
Then the guard hesitated.
Fear crossed his face.
“They’re not asking for territory.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“What are they asking for?”
The guard looked directly at me.
“They said they want the baby.”
Every light in the penthouse suddenly went dark.
And somewhere below us, someone screamed.
THE END OF PART 2 – LIKE, SHARE AND COMMENT “FULL STORY” IF YOU WANT TO READ FULL STORY.
