Chapter 27 Honest talk

Chapter 27 Honest talk
LIAM’S POV
I had seen violence before. I try to avoid it as much as I can, I am still a guy in finance. I had ordered for lots of deaths. People who wanted people gone. People who messed with my money. I had funded it too. Cleaned it up until it looked like nothing more than a bad memory.

But I had never seen anything like her.
Luciana stood in the middle of the room like she belonged to the blood on the floor, like the bodies were offerings laid at her feet. Powerful men laid there, lifeless. Men who had believed themselves untouchable.
Now they were silent.

The air still smelled of gunpowder and iron. My ears rang, not from the shots, but from the weight of what she had just done. Julian and Alfred said something to me but I didn't hear anything they said. Too captivated by the beauty of her. She hadn’t flinched. Not even once. Her breathing was steady. Her shoulders relaxed. Her eyes calm like she was at her favourite beach.

She looked at me.
And God help me, I had never been harder in my life.
Not because of the bodies. Not because of the violence.
But because she was given a pulse of power by God.
I wanted to cross the room, grab her face and kiss her like I was starving. Like I had waited years for this exact version of her to exist when I didn't even know how this version existed. I swallowed hard instead, forcing myself to remember where we were.
She tilted her head slightly. “What?”
My mouth opened before my brain caught up. “You’re terrifyingly beautiful.”
Her lips curved into something darker. “Good.”
I exhaled a breath that felt like relief and damnation at the same time. I turned and lifted my phone, calling my crew before my instincts could drag me back to her.
“Clean up,” I said when my assistant answered. “Make it a statement”
“Yes, boss.”
I ended the call and looked back at her. She hadn’t moved. Blood stained the hem of her dress. It should have horrified me.
Instead, pride swelled in my chest until it hurt.
We left once the room emptied, the silence replaced by efficient chaos. The drive to the estate felt unreal, like the world was pretending nothing had shifted on its axis.
But everything had.
When we arrived, they were already waiting.
Men and women lined the hall, faces solemn, eyes sharp. The air buzzed with recognition. They felt it too. The change. Word must have spread fast.

Luciana stepped forward and the room bent toward her.
One by one, they knelt.
“A tia apparteni la me’ lealtà. A tia, finu a la morti.”
“To you belongs my loyalty, to you until death” A man at the front and centre said and the others followed.

Loyalty sworn in thick voices. When it was over, she turned to me.
“This is my husband,” she said.
The word hit me harder than any bullet ever could. Her husband. My wife.
“Husband,” she repeated, louder now. “You will show him the same respect you show me. In everything you do. In every decision. You will protect him and my children with your life. My family stands beside me today. And I will do well to serve you and not make you regret me. And if you do regret having me. You are dead”
The room answered as one. “Yes, Capo.”
My throat tightened. I nodded, unable to trust my voice.
She dismissed them with a flick of her hand, and the moment the doors closed behind the last of them, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the nearest room.
The door shut. I backed her against it without thinking.
“You,” I said, breathless. “You have no idea what you just did to me.”
Her eyes darkened. “I killed men.”
“That deserved it,” I corrected. “And you looked so damn hot doing it that I can’t think straight.”
She laughed softly, and it was the most dangerous sound I had ever heard.
I kissed her. It wasn't slow or careful. My hands framed her face, my mouth moving like I was trying to tell her everything I had felt and never said. She kissed me back just as urgently, fingers clutching my jacket.
“I’m so proud of you,” I murmured against her lips. “I wish I could help you more. In any way you want. Just come to me. Don't do it all by yourself this time. Remember I am always here.” I kissed her once more.
“I have been way more involved with you than you think"
She stilled.
Pulled back just enough to look at me.
“I think,” she said carefully, “that we should be honest with each other now.”
I huffed a breath and leaned my forehead against hers. “Yeah. I walked into that one, didn’t I?”
She nodded.
In my head, a thousand thoughts collided. I had never wanted to lie to her. I just wanted her to trust me first. But I would do anything for her. Anything.
So I started.
“You know how we first met?”
She scoffed. “Yes. At that party where you said you wanted investors. You stole my drink… and my diamond ring, and threatened me into a date if I wanted it back.”
I laughed despite myself. “I didn’t steal it. I just happened to have it. I wanted to return it. Total accident.”
“That is not how I remember it.”
“I was there to meet the mayor,” I said.
Her eyes widened. “Your investor was the mayor?”
“He wasn’t an investor. And it wasn’t an investment,” I explained. “I was setting up an agreement. I handle his money.”
She frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means I built my company because I needed a legal front. I move money. Illegal funds. Politicians, celebrities, people at the top who can’t afford mistakes. I keep it safe. I get paid very well.”
She blinked. “So… money laundering.”
“Kinda,” I admitted. “And they make sure nothing happens to me.”
She studied my face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“To protect you,” I said quietly. “And because I was terrified of losing you.”
She didn’t hesitate. “I love you no matter what you do. You know that. You are you and I love it like that. The good and the bad and the funny”
The words knocked the air from my lungs, laughing at the last statement but held her close to me.
“Your turn,” I said after a moment.
She smiled. “You already know I’m in the mafia.”
“Not that,” I said. “Why didn’t you reach out? You were safe enough to call me. To ask for help.”
Her gaze dropped. “I was ashamed to see you. Ashamed and guilty. I left and wasn't honest with you. I still had two little lives I took from you. I like this life. I hate my father, but I love what I am. I thought you would hate me.”
I cupped her face. “I will never leave you. You know that. I wouldn't have blamed you or have been angry. You are my entire world. I couldn’t breathe without you in it. So you had nothing to be worried about. The years you were gone were hell.”
Her eyes shimmered.
“I came to see you,” I confessed. “That day. I was so happy. I practiced what I would say in the car. Then I saw you laughing, while holding onto the girls with a boy and a man. You looked so happy.”
She frowned. “What man?”
I opened my mouth to describe him when there was a knock. “Are you guys decent?" It was Gia. I frowned at the interruption " you know what? Never mind” She sounded like she just rolled her eyes.
“Someone is here to see you,” she said finally
“Who?” she asked.
“Freddie.”
Her face lit up.
She was gone before I could react, the door opening as she ran out, leaving me standing there with my chest burning. I followed, anger coiling tight.
Then I saw him.
The man from Sicily. The one I thought had replaced me.
“Fred,” she said brightly. “This is Liam.”
No husband.
My brow lifted at that. I was ready to correct her but she continued.
“And this is
Fred,” she added.
He smiled. “Nice to meet you. I’m Luciana’s fiancé.”