by M. D. Melai
“Alright,” he laughed as he picked up the luggage. “I’m going to take the bags upstairs and let you two talk,” he said, before turning and heading back to the foyer.
“I’m sorry about him,” Violet apologized.
“You do know I have lived with him all my life, plus I have four older brothers—I’ve heard much worse,” I laughed.
“So embarrassing, though. But anyways, Bora Bora was absolutely gorgeous! I took so many pictures. Let me show you,” she said as she pulled out her phone.
Violet scrolled through her phone and showed me over a hundred photos. Most of them were of her and Dante, but the ones of the scenery were breathtaking. I didn’t know that such a place was so beautiful, and I had seen my fair share of the world. I made a mental note that I would have to visit there at least once in my lifetime.
“So, what all happened while I was gone?” she asked as she put her phone down and relaxed into the couch cushion.
“Umm…” I paused for a moment, trying to decide where to begin.
I went to see Viktor Heinrich, Emilio moved out, and oh, I’m a complete screw up.
There was so much to tell her, but before I could begin, Dante came bounding down the stairs.
“Where’s Emilio and all of his things?” he asked as he rounded the corner where Violet and I were.
“He moved out…about a week ago,” I replied.
“What!” Violet exclaimed. “Why? What happened?”
“It was my fault,” was all I could say.
They both waited for me to continue. I gestured to Dante to sit down, and in that instant, the look they were giving me let me know they knew what was coming next wasn’t going to be good.
I figured that I might as well start with the biggest thing that I had to tell them. Go big or go home… right?
“I went to see Viktor Heinrich,” I said quickly.
Violet’s eyes grew wide, and her jaw dropped open.
“Are you insane?” Dante yelled instantly as he jumped off the couch. “What possessed you to do that? Are you seriously that demented that you would risk your life like that? Please tell me that you’re joking!”
I shook my head, and Dante started to pace the exact way that Emilio had. He had one of his hands pounding in the other, but I knew that was all reserved aggression toward me.
I had never seen Dante so erratic before. He was usually the calm one out of all of my brothers, and the fact that this was making him angry, made me realize that I had royally messed up.
“I’m not joking, but I can explain,” I said to him as I stood up.
I looked at Violet for reassurance, but she was just as furious as he was, and didn’t offer me any.
“I can’t even talk to you right now, Liliana. I’m leaving before I say something I’m going to regret.” And with that, Dante snatched his car keys from kitchen bar and stormed out of the house.
Well, that went exactly like I thought it would.
***
Neither Violet nor I saw Dante for the rest of the afternoon. Knowing Dante, he either drove straight to Emilio’s apartment or was at Benito’s giving him a piece of his mind.
“I swear Violet, no one got hurt,” I pleaded.
“I heard you the first, second, and third time you said it,” Violet said as she sat at her desk.
Violet had been quiet since Dante left. She had barely spoken two words to me. I knew she was upset, but giving me the silent treatment was something that neither of us had done before.
“Are you ever going to speak to me?” I asked.
“Yeah, after I’m done trying to figure out how you came to such an irrational and dangerous decision.”
“Well, you let me know when that is, because I’m tired of waiting for you to get there,” I said, before leaving the office and grabbing my car keys.
“Where are you going?” Violet yelled.
“To get something to eat,” I retorted sourly. “Sorry if it’s an irrational and dangerous decision. Apparently those are the only ones I make lately.”
She didn’t respond, and I took her silence to mean that she didn’t feel like fighting anymore. Violet and I had never been in this bad of an argument before. Usually, it lasted no more than an hour, but this time it was different—there was no sign of letting up anytime soon.
I needed to distance myself from the situation before I said something that I wouldn’t be able to take back.
I decided that take-out would probably be the best thing for me. I even took a long drive into the city just to get some. A nice drive into the city was just what I needed.
When I went inside to order, the restaurant was almost empty. I ordered my food quickly and found a seat at the bar while I waited. When the bartender asked if I wanted anything, it was tempting to get something stronger, but I didn’t. Instead, I settled for a glass of water.
“Lily.” I was deep in thought when I finally heard my name.
Thinking it was my order, I turned around on my bar stool to see Lucas standing there.
“Lucas,” I replied surprised. “What are you doing here?”
“I was just getting some dinner,” he said as he held up his to-go box.
“Yeah, me too,” I said.
“Lily,” the girl behind the counter called out.
“Well, I don’t want to keep you. Have a good night,” he said before he turned on his heel, and headed towards the door.
My original plan was to get my food and head back home, but honestly, I didn’t want to.
“Wait,” I called after him. “What are you doing tonight?”
***
“That was seriously the best meal ever,” Lucas said as he threw his napkin over his plate.
“I agree,” I replied.
I could feel the anticipation rolling off Lucas since we had started our meal. He had been dying to either ask or tell me something, and I couldn’t wait any longer.
“Is there something you want to talk about?” I asked.
“That obvious, huh?” he replied, and I nodded. “I’ve just been wondering why you decided to have dinner alone when Dante and Violet just got back this morning. And also why exactly Emilio moved out of the house?”
The questions took me by surprise—I couldn’t believe he didn’t know. I would have thought that someone would have told him about my outing.
I hesitated for a moment. Emilio, Dante, and Violet had all taken the news pretty harshly, but maybe Lucas would be different since he knew Viktor on a personal level.
“I went to see Viktor Heinrich,” I blurted, just like I had done when I told Dante and Violet. “And everyone is overreacting and upset with me.”
“You…,” he stammered, “did what!”
I was wrong, or so I thought.
He did an unexpected thing. Instead of yelling at me, he threw his arms around me and wrapped me up in a hug.
“Are you… glutting for punishment or something?” he said as he let me go. “Are you hurt? Did he hurt you, because I swear if he did—”
“Lucas, calm down. No one got hurt, I promise.”
“I…,” he hesitated, “don’t understand. Why? When? Where?” he said as the heat kept rising and falling from his cheeks. He seemed to be taking it easier than the rest, but he was still clearly upset.
“A few days after Dante and Violet’s wedding. We went to an old warehouse that my father used to own. The only reason I went was because I had to know what he wanted.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t know about this,” he said as he shook his head. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?” he asked more to himself than to me.
“Do you hate me?”
“I don’t hate you,” he responded quickly, before pausing. “Am I upset? Hell yes. I just don’t see why you did it, but… then again I do. I’m not happy about this, but I’m glad that you’re okay. If anything happened to you, then I don’t know what I’d do,” he said as he gave me another hug.
“Kill Viktor,”
I gladly offered.
“You’re right. I would,” he responded. “Just promise me that you won’t do anything like that again.”
“I promise,” I replied as he exhaled the nervous energy he had built up.
“Good,” he said. “I’m going to clean this stuff up, and then you’re going to tell me everything he said.”
I nodded and watched him walk toward the kitchen, relived that our conversation went better than the last two. Lucas and Benito had both been upset, but both had handled it with poise, unlike the other three.
How was I going to fix things with the Dante, Violet, and Emilio?
While Lucas was cleaning the dishes, I decided that I would explore. In the two years that I had known Lucas, I had never been to his apartment before. The living room itself was warm, like a home should be—it made me curious about the rest of the space.
As I walked around the apartment, I noticed pictures of him and me from our European adventure and pictures of him, Faith, and Nikolas. There were none of Viktor Heinrich or Mrs. Heinrich at all—I was still curious to see what she looked like.
Beside his bed was a picture of him, a man, and a woman. He looked just like his mother—same cheekbones and facial structure. But he had his dad’s body build and same hair color. Lucas couldn’t have been more than ten in the picture. They were all three smiling on a beach somewhere. I couldn’t help but smile back at them. I bet they were some amazing people. I wished I had had the chance to meet them.
“Well, I’m all finished. Now tell me…,” he said as he rounded the corner into his room.
I turned to face him and saw the worried look on his face.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude,” I apologized as I sat the picture back on his nightstand.
Lucas’s face became more relaxed, and he took a few steps toward me.
“It’s okay. I like having them beside my bed. It makes me feel like they’re watching over me—weird, I know. But it helps me to remember them, too. You would think with them being my parents that I could remember every detail of them and our life together, but sometimes the things that make them beautiful slip away,” he said solemnly.
“I get it,” I said as I took one last look at the picture and sat on the bed. He joined me a few seconds later. “Sometimes I feel like I’m already forgetting small things about my father, and it’s only been six months. When I picture him, I can only see him with his eyebrow raised in the way that I knew I was in trouble—maybe because I saw more of that in the last couple of years than I actually saw him smile.”
Lucas reached over and touched my hand. I looked at it before I intertwined our fingers. It was our way of comforting each other without overstepping the boundaries that we placed on ourselves. But I would give anything to overstep those boundaries right now.
He smiled in response to my reaction, and I could tell he was thinking the same as me.
“You have it, you know,” I said. He looked at me confused before I kept going, “your mother’s smile.”
“Yeah,” he said, keeping that wide grin, “that’s what I’ve been told.”
“That’s one thing you know you’ll never forget about her.”
He nodded his head and then he became very quiet. We stayed that way for a few minutes before he glanced at me and his smile returned.
“Can I show you something?” he asked.
A smile spread across my face, and Lucas rose and let out his hand for me to take. He led me to the second bedroom and switched on the lamp. The room was filled with various instruments: a guitar, violin, cello, and a small but beautiful black upright piano.
“Whose are these?” I asked as I made my way around the room and softly touched each carved instrument.
“They were my parents. Both of them were very musical, and they passed their love for music to me.”
“So, you play all these instruments?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’m rusty when it comes to the violin and cello, but I can play the guitar and piano pretty decent.”
“Show me,” I said as I opened the fallboard of the piano.
He gave me a slight grin before he made his way over to the piano and took a seat. He left enough room for me to sit next to him. I saw him crack his knuckles a few times before he placed them delicately onto the keys.
“What would you like to hear?” he asked, facing my direction.
“Surprise me,” I said, the smile never falling from my face.
He let a small grin escape before he shut his eyes and began to move his fingers over the keys. They danced along with the melody, and I started swaying to the beat. I didn’t recognize what he was playing, but it was hypnotizing. It felt calm and peaceful, and I was attuned to it.
As the melody grew, I felt like I was being painted a picture by the wholesomeness of the notes. It was simple and easy, which made me think about my relationship with Lucas. While parts of our relationship were hard, most of it came easily.
“What is this song? I don’t think I’ve heard it before,” I replied when he started to slow the pace of it.
“That’s because I wrote it,” he said, before fully stopping.
I turned my body to face him, and I could feel my smile widen. I was still trying to get over the fact that Lucas could play the piano, much less write something so beautiful.
“What was your inspiration?” I questioned curiously.
He didn’t respond immediately. The quizzical look on his face made me realize that he might not want to tell me.
“I’m sorry,” I recanted. “You don’t have to tell me.”
“You,” he said, catching me completely off-guard. He smiled at my expression as the realization finally struck me. Before I could speak, he answered my question. “I wrote this song for you, Lily.”
My heart dropped into my stomach as he finished the last note. Then he turned to face me, and nervousness washed over him.
“You hate it,” he said insecurely.
“No,” I replied. “It’s the single best thing that anyone has ever done for me before.”
My lips quivered as I stared as deeply as I could into his remarkably blue eyes. He looked back at me just as intensely—the connection between us apparent.
He lifted his hand and touched my cheek. His thumb rubbed the side of my face; his gaze never leaving mine. All I could do was hope and pray that he wouldn’t be the good guy I knew him to be and back off.
“Lily,” he said as his hand dropped onto his lap and he hung his head.
I wasn’t going to let him be the good guy this time. I placed my hand under his chin and lifted his eyes to meet mine. Without even thinking, I pressed my lips to his, and felt my heart being brought to life as he pulled me in closely.
Chapter 15
As our kiss deepened, I didn’t want this moment to end—ever. So when my phone started to ring, I wasn’t going to answer it. This moment with Lucas was more important than any phone call I received.
But by the third time my phone rang, I forced myself to answer it—knowing that it may be important.
“Hel…,” I started, more annoyed than ever before.
“Where are you?” Violet’s frantic voice shrieked through the receiver.
“I’m at Lucas’s apartment,” I said confused, and a bit taken aback.
“Thank God,” she breathed out before she told whoever was with her where I was at. “Okay, stay right there. Lorenzo and Paolo are on their way to get you. Do not leave!” she stressed.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Lucas looked at me questionably. I just shrugged my shoulders.
“Emilio’s personal cellphone was stolen from the night club and hacked, along with our house security system. We don’t know what they have or what exactly they are looking for, but we’re pretty sure it was the Heinrichs, and that they are looking for you. Sit tight and they should be there shortly.” She paused for a moment. “Be careful, Lil.” After that she was gone.
&nbs
p; “Lorenzo and Paolo are on their way here to get me. Emilio’s cellphone was stolen, and apparently, it and the house security was hacked or something.”
Lucas’s eyes widened in fear.
“Lily, they can track you,” was the first thing out of his mouth.
“I figured that was what was going on,” I said, looking at my locket.
In one swift movement, Lucas grabbed the chain and pulled it from my neck. I was so stunned I didn’t have time to think if it hurt or not.
“What are you doing?” I yelled at him as he took off to his kitchen, ripped open a drawer, and pulled out a small tool.
“I have to get the tracker out of it. Do you know when they took it?”
“I don’t know. Hey, you’re going to ruin my necklace!” I said as I watched him take the tool and pry into the side of the locket. Seconds later, I heard a pop.
“It’s just a locket! We can get it fixed! You, on the other hand, are irreplaceable,” Lucas said as he grabbed the tracker and headed towards the bathroom. I followed quickly as panic was starting to set in. I watched as he threw it into the toilet and flushed it.
“I can’t believe them!” Lucas shouted as I sidestepped out of his way. “This is getting out of control!”
“What? What are you talking about?” I stuttered as I followed Lucas into his room. That was when we heard a knock at the door.
Lucas placed his finger up to his mouth, letting me know that now would be a good time to shut up. He quickly made his way to his bedside table and pulled out two guns, placing the chambers in before handing me one.
“You stay in here, okay?” he whispered.
I nodded as he headed out the door. As soon as it shut behind him, I leaned up against it to listen.
“Who is it?” Lucas asked strongly.
“You’re a friend of ours,” I heard next, but it was muffled.
“Lily, you can come out,” Lucas called out next.
I opened up the door about the same time he did. Lorenzo and Paolo were standing there with their guns in their hands as well.
“Friend of ours?” was all I could say when they walked in. It seemed so strange for them to use that phrase to address themselves.