He Chose Her, So I Chose to Disappear Forever Chapter 02

He Chose Her, So I Chose to Disappear Forever Chapter 02

I stood frozen outside the door.

Those men knew Luca was next in line to lead the Moretti family. They also knew his “sister” could wear his clothes, sleep in his safe house, and ride in his car. Because Bianca was on the protection list, they laughed off every boundary she crossed like it was some harmless inside joke.

No one ever considered where that left me.

After a long moment, I turned and walked to the end of the hall, dropping the hangover remedy I’d brought for him into a trash can.

I pulled my coat tighter around me and pushed open the club’s heavy door. A cold December rain was falling over Seattle. Wind sliced in off the water, scraping across my skin.

By the time Luca got back to our house in Bellevue, I had been sitting in the dark living room for a long time.

He set his holster and car keys on the console by the door and walked toward me, holding a bouquet of white tulips.

“Elena, look. I had my guys search half the city for these.”

I said nothing.

Finding my favorite flowers this time of year must have taken some real effort. Whoever he’d sent to find them had probably turned the city upside down. All Luca had to do was remember I liked them.

He held the bouquet out to me.

I didn’t take it.

I looked at the man I had loved for five years and gave him one last chance.

“If you get on that plane, we’re over.”

The smile fell from Luca’s face.

“What?”

“If you go to Iceland with Bianca, we are over.”

His eyes darkened—the same look he used at the conference table to command silence. But a second later, he set the flowers aside, crouched in front of me, and gripped my shoulders.

“Elena, you’re overreacting. You heard what I said in there, didn’t you? That was just guys talking shit.”

He didn’t answer the question. He didn’t say he would stay.

And that was answer enough.

I just looked at him.

Luca’s grip on my hands tightened, his voice dropping lower.

“Bianca and I grew up together. Her father was loyal to the family, so we’re responsible for her. If anything was ever going to happen between us, it would have happened a long time ago. You wouldn’t be sitting here wearing my ring.”

His thumb brushed the black diamond on my finger. It wasn’t the official family signet, but it was the promise of protection he had given me before the world. For the past five years, no one in Seattle had dared to touch me, because they all knew I was the woman Luca Moretti had chosen.

Now, that same protection was the reason he expected my silence.

“She promised she’d keep her distance after the wedding,” he said. “That’s why she wants these last few days. When I get back, I’ll marry you in front of the whole family.”