I was listening. I was definitely listening, and I was thinking about myself months ago. I probably would have kicked me if I were the Luc of the past. Raphael basically offered me the world, but I turned it down to be with Amelia.
Not just for her though. I turned it down for me.
She was what I wanted more than a billion-dollar fortune.
I just hoped everything worked out for us.
Chapter 21
Amelia
Dad opened the door to the studio.
The dance studio. My dance studio.
I sucked in a sharp breath when I saw it. Like everything else, it was the exact same.
We walked inside, me just ahead of him.
I looked at myself in the large floor-to-ceiling mirrors that ran around the room.
The place was big enough for a class, big enough to be a separate entity.
Dad had had this room done up specially for me. The floors were sprung, the mirrors perfect. Bars ran alongside the far end of the studio and down the length of the left side. It used to be helpful for my pointe work and bar exercises.
I’d loved it, still did.
Being in here made me feel completely at home.
“How I long to see you dance.” Dad beamed.
I laughed. “I doubt I would know how to do a pirouette or even a hop.”
“I don’t believe that. Talent like that never leaves you. Always, it stays with you.”
“I don’t know. I would love to. I just can’t bring myself to. Plus, we’d need music and stuff.”
“Stuff?” He smirked. “Like what kind of stuff?”
When I was younger, I used to substitute that word for everything. He’d play along with me.
“Stuff.” I giggled.
“Okay, how about we minus the stuff and see what happens?”
“You really expect me to dance, right here, now?”
“My love, I may never get to see you like this again. Who knows what tomorrow may bring?” He nodded.
We allowed ourselves to have yesterday. We went through some old pictures and family pieces of nostalgia. Then I got on to planning this mission to Rockford.
We were going to leave tonight. Everyone would start getting here in a little while.
Dad pulled in a labored breath and released it. “Humor a tired old fool who wants to make up for lost time with the love of his life.”
I stared at him definitely feeling that love, knowing that I wanted it in my life again. Knowing that I didn’t want to be without it.
He walked to the stereo system, tapped away at the console, and the song of my heart filled the room.
Swan Lake.
Damn him, he knew what to do to reach me.
I… wasn’t sure, though, that I wanted to be reached in that way.
But the music… like always, it guided me. Guided my body. Took over and became a part of me, and suddenly, I became Amelia Rossi.
It started with a sway. I closed my eyes, and I was transported back to a time when all there was, was music.
In my mind’s eyes I saw myself as the eager five-year-old who walked into the dance studio holding her father’s hand. The music filled the air, infectious and vibrant. Calling to me. Telling me to simply forget the last ten years and be the thing I loved.
A dancer.
I let go of it all, everything. All the pain, the disappointment, and the emptiness of losing my mother. My mother and my father.
If I was being truthful, I knew when I left home, I’d lost them both.
My body moved away from the sway, moving like it did the night of my last main performance. When the scouts from Julliard came to my school and loved my performance.
I opened my eyes and stepped out into a turn, remembering the routines as I flowed. The yoga pants I was wearing and my hair up in a ponytail were perfect, allowing me the freedom to move in the way I choose.
Arabesque, pirouette, pirouette, glissade and a hop. That was it.
Then on my toes, arms out, head up, and then four skips into a leap.
That leap… wow, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirrors as I flew through the air and landed on the tips of my toes. I hardly looked any different to what I was years ago. I didn’t look any different to who I used to be.
“Dance, Amelia,” Dad called with laughter and pride in his voice.
And that was the moment I let go and truly unlocked myself.
The music took me, and I just went with it.
Jumping and spinning, flowing as if I weighed nothing, flying through the air.
When the music stopped, several people were clapping, and I almost believed I was back at the performance for real.
My hand flew up to my cheeks when I saw both Luc and Millicent standing by the door.
Luc.
I moved to run over to him, to throw myself into his arms and savor the euphoria that rippled through me at having been able to dance again.
But I stopped and turned to my father, who was beaming at me with a smile full of love and adoration.
I rushed up to him instead and hugged him.
“Thank you,” he whispered into my ear.
“No, thank you. “
He smiled down at me, then glanced at Luc, inclining his head toward him. “Go, go be with your guy. Have some normal if only for a few hours more.”
Normal.
Yes. I turned to go to Luc and skipped into his arms, giving Millicent a bright smile as I approached.
Alarms sounded just before I reached Luc, stopping me in my tracks.
What was that?
“Someone’s in the house,” Dad called out.
“You said the security was turned off.” I winced, turning back to him.
“It is. That was a homemade trip wire I placed in the library.”
“What’s in the library?” Luc asked.
I looked back to him. “The safe.” My heart squeezed.
“What’s in the safe, Amelia?”
I looked to Dad before confirming that, and he nodded. “The key to the diamonds.” We’d put it there yesterday.
“Fuck. Stay here.”
Dad was already moving past us. Luc rested a hand on him to hold him back.
“Stay, Raphael.”
“This is my home. How dare they come in here,” Dad snarled.
“Mr. Rossi, please,” Millicent offered. “Please stay, you… aren’t well.”
Beads of sweat formed on her upper lip. Strange because it wasn’t exactly hot in here. Must be the anxiety. I felt that too.
I moved past Luc and Dad.
“Amelia, you stay here with your father and Millicent.”
“No, I won’t stay. We go together.”
“Remember what happened when you—”
I didn’t allow him to finish. I moved on ahead of him through the door. He followed after me and took hold of my arm to pull me back.
“Jesus, Amelia, don’t you understand I’m trying to keep you safe?”
“Yes. I do. I understand, but you know I’m not useless. I want to see who this person is.”
“Stay beside me and don’t break away. Stay with me.”
“I will,” I assured him.
From his back pocket, he whipped out a gun and handed it to me. He then took out his gun from his side pocket and held it up ready to fire.
Like I promised, I stayed beside him, and we proceeded up the steps and on to the second floor, where the library was situated.
Who could it be?
Who was it?
And… how did they know to go to the library?
How the fuck would they have known that? It was just Dad and me talking that day in the garden when I spoke of the safe. There’d been no one else.
No one saw me when I went to the library. I made sure of it.
I heard shuffling in there as we approached and books being thrown around.
“How the fuck hard can it be to find a case?” came a voice I recognized well.
It couldn’t be.
Luc and I walked into the library and saw not only Jefferson but Holloway inside.
They stopped throwing the books from the shelf and turned to meet our gazes.
“Well, well, I see we just discovered who the rats are,” Luc mused, pointing his gun at them. “Not one, but two of them. Vermin. Fucking vermin.”
My mouth and throat were dry.
Shock flew through me. Shock and surprise, tangled with betrayal. More betrayal. I would never have guessed it was them.
It was fine for Luc. He didn’t know them like I did. I thought they were my friends.
But then I guess I was kidding myself.
I didn’t know them at all.
Jefferson and Holloway, my God.
They were my enemies.
Continue the journey in Mafia Love
Thank you so much for reading Luc and Amelia’s story, and for reading my book. I hope you enjoyed it and will continue the journey in Mafia Love where their story completes.
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Also by Khardine Gray
Other Books by Khardine Gray
Series
The Accidental Mafia Queen
The Vandervilles
Standalones Novels
His Girl Next Door
Blossoms of The Heart
Mr. Delicious
Mailroom Delight
The Rules of Attraction
Falling For Him
Never and Always
I Love You again
One Wild Night
Shape of My Heart
Hearts Entwined
Complete Me
I Only Have Eyes For You
The Objection to Affection
Box Sets
Play of Love
Contains Shape of my Heart, The Road Trip Formerly called One Wild Night and Hearts Entwined.
To check out these titles please visit
https://www.amazon.com/author/khardinegraynovels
Acknowledgments
To my readers.
Where would I be without you….
This one’s for all of you.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support, and for reading my stories.
Hugs and LOVE xx
About the Author
Khardine Gray is a USA Today Bestselling author who loves writing sizzling hot contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and paranormal romance.
Her books have sexy, drool-worthy heroes who will make you melt, and sassy, fun loving, ambitious heroines.
She simply adores her readers and loves spoiling them.
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Mafia Scars (The Accidental Mafia Queen Book 2) Page 19