And… eight months with community service?
Eight months with community service. I would take that over three years.
Definitely, but…
It was still too long. It was still too long to have any expectation from Amelia. She shouldn’t have to wait, and I shouldn’t dare contemplate it. I was a criminal, and in true criminal style, I was in prison. Locked up and out of her world. She could do better than that. Even if her waiting for me really was a possibility, I didn’t know if I could commit wholly to the good behavior part. It wouldn’t be because I didn’t want to. The people here were all assholes. Staff and prisoners alike.
With the way how things were with me already banished to solitary confinement, I didn’t know what the next eight months would bring.
Amelia shouldn’t have to deal with that.
“Lucian, this is good news,” Pa pointed out seeing my hesitation.
“Sure, it’s the best.”
He and Claudius exchanged worried glances.
“What’s the matter with you?” Claudius asked. “It still sucks. I know it still sucks, but it’s better than three years. Three years and one month.”
“She can’t be with me.” That was the bottom line. “Claudius, make sure she gets back to LA safely.”
Claudius laughed and stood up. “Look, brother, I’ll see you at next month’s visit.”
I frowned at his lackadaisical attitude. I was being serious. More than serious. I was facing reality and stepping out of the bubble of the dream I’d created when I was with Amelia.
“Claudius.” I called to him but he ignored me.
I watched him walk away, then turned back to face Pa, who was already giving me a pensive look.
“You know, as much as I adore her and had my loyalty to Raphael, I was against this made-up union between the two of you. You and Amelia. Right from that day when Raphael called us into his office and gave you his stipulations to take over the business. I was against it because I didn’t want my kid being dragged into some arranged marriage. I was against it, and I was against the fact that you wanted to give up everything for her. I don’t have to explain why because you know what I went through with your mother. You know what you went through with your mother. But Lucian, this turned into something else. You have to admit that. It turned into something else. Falling in love is never part of a plan. It just happens. Don’t lose it. Think. Think about what you’re doing.” He rose and stood, still staring at me, still giving me that look. That look that burned straight into my soul.
He left too, leaving me to my thoughts.
Amelia would be in next.
There was so much to say, and I didn’t know how to say it. Or what to say.
Where did I begin?
The door opened again, and in she came. The guard by the door pointed to me.
As I looked at her, everyone else faded into the background, everything faded into the background, and it was like we were the only two people here.
I stood up as she moved to me. Her hair was down, hanging in long velvet waves about her shoulders, curling up at the edge of her elbows.
The peach summer dress she wore flirted with her legs. It was so unlike the cop version of her. Back when I’d met her, she would have never worn anything like that with so much color. She looked beautiful. She didn’t look like Amelia Taylor anymore.
This was Amelia Rossi as herself, without the shadow of the past that haunted her.
When she got closer, she quickened her pace and ran straight into my arms, and instinctively, we kissed. Kissed like we always did when we saw each other. This was a kiss, though, of longing and love. A kiss to soothe a wounded soul.
I was only reminded of where we were when the guard came over to scold us for the contact.
“Do not kiss the prisoner,” the large meat-headed man barked. “Public displays of affection are not allowed.”
The roughness in his voice made Amelia jump.
“I’m sorry,” she quickly apologized.
That was what I meant. Hearing someone speak to her like that pissed me off, but I controlled myself.
“Doll.” I smiled at her.
She reached up and touched my face. Caressing my jaw with the softness of her fingertips.
I could have stood here forever. Forever in this moment. I loved her, and since I loved her, I had to do what was right for her.
“Sit, please.” I ushered her to sit on the bench in front of me, where Claudius and Pa had previously sat.
“You look awful.” She winced. “What happened?”
“Guys jumped me. It’s fine. Don’t worry about me, goddess. How’ve you been?”
She nodded and smiled, but the smile never reached her eyes. “I’m trying.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you. For your father’s funeral.”
“No, you can’t be sorry for that.” She shook her head, and I couldn’t help but look at her long, elegant neck and the silky-smooth skin along the curve of her shoulders.
“If I weren’t such a bad person, I would have been there for you, right?”
“You aren’t a bad person.”
“I’m guilty, Amelia.”
“Luc, you must know about the reduction of the sentence.” She nodded.
“I know. But it doesn’t change anything.” I bit the inside of my lip.
“It changes the time from three years to eight months. That’s significantly different.”
I stared at her. This was the part where I was supposed to tell her to move on. I was supposed to tell her that love wasn’t enough and that she could and should do better than me.
How did you tell the woman of your dreams all of that?
How would I do it?
“You can’t be with me.” That was how. “Goddess, you… can’t and shouldn’t be with me.”
She stared at me as if I’d just slapped her in her face. She held my gaze for what seemed like eons before she spoke.
“Why?” Her eyes continued to bore into my soul.
“You deserve better, and I would be lying if I told you I love you and not tell you the truth.”
Her breathing stilled, and a tear ran down her cheek. “Then don’t lie to me and tell me that’s what you truly believe. Don’t do it, Luc, don’t. It’s eight months. It’s nothing.”
“It’s not just the waiting. It’s everything. The waiting is the cherry on top, and damn, I can’t promise good behavior when there are people here out to kill me if they can. I’ve seen this before. The littlest thing I do to defend myself, and that chance for a reduced sentence will be taken away from me.”
She shook her head again. “Well, you will promise me good behavior. It’s the least, and it’s nothing. I chose you. I choose you. It means the good and the bad. It means everything. I don’t want to be with anyone else. You’re it for me, so don’t you dare tell me you can’t promise good behavior and tell me bullshit about me doing better. There is no better than what your heart wants. Don’t you dare take another dream away from me.”
“Dream?” I couldn’t believe her words were for me, or the depth of her love for me.
“I dream, always of being with you Lucian. I need you.” She pulled in a labored breath. “We need you,” she added. Her voice was on the edge of a breath.
I tried to make light of the situation as I processed this. “They don’t need me, goddess. They all take care of themselves. Jesus, look at Claudius. He’s boss, what more can I say? And Pa never needed anyone ever anyway. Maurice is wrapped up in Gigi and –”
“No, not them.” She interrupted and her cheeks flushed. “Us.”
I didn’t know what she meant until she slipped her hand over her stomach.
Then a sudden coldness hit my core, and a flush of adrenaline coursed through my body.
My heart raced. My mouth fell open.
I… moved to her, dropped to my knees, and pressed my hand to her stomach.
Her tear-filled eyes met mine.
“Amelia, what are you saying to me?” I gazed long and hard at her. I dared not allow the thought of what she was saying to enter my mind. Things like that were too good for me.
Family. My own…
“I’m… pregnant. My, um… pills, um, birth control ran out before I got to Chicago.” She started to cry, and I hoped like hell she didn’t think I was mad. “With everything going on, I forgot I needed them, and I… I’m sor—”
I placed a finger on her lips. “No, no. Don’t say it. Don’t tell me you’re sorry. This is more than a dream for a guy like me.”
“Really?”
“Oh yes, yes, yes.” Although my hands were shaking, I took hold of hers.
“You can’t let me deliver this baby by myself. I don’t want to do this without you. We need you.” She held my gaze.
“And I will be there. I will be there for you both, Amelia Rossi, because you are mine.”
For the first time in my life, a strong sense of purpose filled my soul. It mixed with the love I felt for her.
I would be there for her and be the kind of man she deserved.
The kind of man they deserved.
Eight months later…
It had felt like this day would never come.
It felt like a forever ago since I’d made that promise to Amelia, and while I’d seen her every month when she visited, it almost felt like I hadn’t seen her.
It was torture not being with her, torture watching her stomach grow and not being there to take care of her the way I wanted.
Torture just getting pictures of my baby’s scans and not seeing him.
Him.
We were having a boy, and we decided it was fitting to call him Raphael. We both came up with the idea. It felt honorable. I liked that.
Raphael Lucian Morientz. That was to be his name.
At least I got to have a hand in naming him.
It felt like torture not being there after for both of them.
But…
Today was the day that all changed. Today was the day when I’d shed my old life, this place, and all that I used to be.
Today was the day when I was going to be the man my goddess deserved and the kind of father my boy could look up to.
As I took that walk down the corridor that led outside the correctional facility, hope filled my soul.
The hope that came with a second chance. A second chance I desperately wanted.
I was reminded of that game I’d played once with Amelia when we’d first met.
The game of leaving behind the world and becoming anything I wanted to be.
This was real. No games. It really was real, and I could be anything now.
I’d had to put up with all manner of shit while inside just to secure this moment, because it was worth it. She was worth it.
They were worth it.
And there she was…
As I emerged from the door, the door I’d only seen once in eight months, I saw her.
She stood by her car waiting for me. Pregnancy was a good look on her, and she’d grown even bigger than the last time I saw her.
Beautiful, my goddess.
She moved to me at the same time I moved to her. I wanted to pick her up and hug her hard, but I settled for the contact I got from holding her and our precious baby between us.
“Luc, you did it.” Tears ran down her cheeks.
I didn’t care what I looked like, but I started crying too. “I did. I promise you this will never happen to us again. I swear it.”
“I know. I know.”
I cupped her face, then lowered to my knees to kiss her stomach. “Thank you for waiting for me.”
“As if I wouldn’t. I love you, Lucian Morientz.”
I couldn’t have felt more awe at her heartfelt words. “I love you too, and I am going to spend the rest of my life making you happy.”
“Thank you. That works, because I plan to do the same thing to you.”
“You don’t have to do anything.”
“Well, it’s too late. I already went shopping and bought you a bonsai tree.”
I laughed. “Really?”
“Hmmm mmmm. It needs butterflies though,” she giggled.
“Okay, goddess, anything else we need?”
“Just each other.”
That sounded like everything I could ever want.
Epilogue
Luc
Two years later
“You know, I don’t know how you do it.” Maurice eyed Sinclaire dangerously.
I’d caught him watching Sinclaire full of suspicion all afternoon. The same way he did whenever he saw him.
He was doing the same thing now as my boy, Raphael, chased Sinclaire around the rose bush. I chuckled at the spectacle. Raphael could barely run on his little legs, but Sinclaire pretended to look terrified.
Claudius, Maurice, and I had been sitting on the terrace for the last hour watching them.
Amelia was out teaching her weekend ballet class.
This was something we did regularly and definitely when Sinclaire came to visit. We’d have drinks and watch the baby try to catch him.
“How do I do what?” I asked, knowing what he meant but just messing with him.
“He means have the cop here who wanted your woman and probably wants to steal your son,” Claudius filled in, sipping on his beer. He quirked a brow and narrowed his eyes at me.
“Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?” I challenged.
“Yes. Course I do. The man’s still after your woman and he wants to steal your baby. Woman first though.”
“Do you see Amelia here?”
“That doesn’t mean squat,” Maurice jumped in, curling his lips under in distaste. “She’s teaching. He knows what time she’ll be back. Also, I saw him at the school, hanging around outside like a creeper.”
“What were you doing at the school? Signing up for dance lessons?” I laughed. “Pretty certain Amelia could give you a one-on-one and have you doing leaps through the air in no time. Come Christmas, you could be the sugar plum fairy.”
Even Claudius laughed at that.
“Very funny, wise guy. I was actually following him.” Maurice smirked.
“You don’t need to do that. What would you have done if Amelia caught you?”
“Dance, and style it out.” He nodded.
“Right.” Claudius shook his head. “I can just imagine you doing that. She’d probably slap you for making a mockery of her profession.”
Like always, talking about dancing made me think of how much Amelia loved it. My wife loved dancing, and I was so proud to tell anyone who asked that she was a teacher and ran her own dance school. Her own dance school here in Chicago and a summer school in Italy I’d built for her on the grounds of the vineyard, where I set up business to procure the finest wine and grow the most exotic bonsai trees.
That’s what I did now for a living. Both there and Chicago. I put myself and my skills to good use, and true to his word, Maurice followed me wherever I went. He’d given up the mobster life too and worked with me.
“I still don’t trust him,” Maurice huffed.
“Nor I.” Claudius drank more beer.
“Well, I do,” I replied with conviction and returned my gaze to Sinclaire and Raphael.
We’d had this conversation many times. When Sinclaire came to visit, he didn’t just come to see Amelia. He came to see us as a family.
I owed him a lot. He’d made a lot possible for me. If not for him, I’d still be in prison seeing my sentence through with five months left to go.
There’d been no parole mentioned for me probably because that minimum sentence was all they could pin on me. My crimes were so much more severe than the punishment I’d received.
Because of Sinclaire, I’d been able to make it home for my baby’s delivery, which ironically was two weeks after I’d been released. Raphael had come early, and I was so happy I’d been there to welcome him into the world and be
there for Amelia as she gave birth to him.
So, no matter what, Sinclaire was good in my books. He didn’t have to do what he did for me. He never had to. I knew I would always be indebted to him.
Sinclaire picked up Raphael and brought him over to where we sat.
The two were laughing.
Sinclaire handed him to me, and I took my boy proudly, loving that he put his little arms around my neck.
“That kid gives me a whole month’s workout.” Sinclaire smiled, taking the seat next to me.
“He’ll probably go to sleep now for hours.” I brushed my nose over Raphael’s tiny one.
“That’s good, right?”
“For him.”
“So, you guys done talking about me?” Sinclaire looked at Claudius and Maurice.
“No, so much more to say,” Claudius answered, resting back against the chair.
“Like what, boss?” Sinclaire chuckled.
Claudius straightened. “Don’t call me that. It doesn’t suit you, and I would never have you work for me.”
I rolled my eyes at him. He was such a prick sometimes, but speaking of who suited what, my brother definitely suited the part of Don to the Chicago mafia.
“Not even if I got you those cigars you like?”
Claudius squinted. “Cough it up, cop, and we’ll see.”
“Nah, you have to beat me in poker first.” Sinclaire smirked.
“You’re on.”
Just then, the door to the sunroom opened, and Amelia stuck her head out.
A bright smile washed over her face as she looked at me holding Raphael.
“It’s Mama, Papa.” Raphael beamed, stretching his little hands out to her.
She glided over to us, took him, and gave me a kiss.
“Why is there mud all over the baby?” She winced.
“Blame your boy over there.” Maurice pointed his finger at Sinclaire.
“Hey, kids love dirt. Plus, didn’t you know a good mud bath is excellent for the skin?” Sinclaire answered with a mischievous smile.
“Bullshit.” Claudius smirked.
“Claudius, language,” Amelia chided.
“Sorry.” He smiled. “Bull poop.”
Amelia rolled her eyes and looked back to me. “Should we do dinner?”
Mafia Love (The Accidental Mafia Queen Book 3) Page 18