Chapter 20
Lina's POV
We sat on the living room sofa. I held the hot cocoa, and he sat beside me without speaking, just quietly keeping me company. Outside the window were the myriad lights of Manhattan. The brilliant light shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows, falling on us, quiet and gentle.
I drank half a cup of hot cocoa, then suddenly remembered something. I looked up and asked him: "This morning in the school hallway, I ran into a guy named Alessandro, from the Verona family. Do you know him?"
The smile on Luca's face faded a bit, and a trace of coldness flashed in his eyes.
"I know him." He said. "The current heir of the Verona family, was very close to Antonio when he was alive."
"He passed by me in the hallway today," I said, "and in the afternoon at the library and school gate, someone kept watching me. His people?"
"Some are his, some are from Raven." Luca's tone was calm. "I've already sent people to handle it. I've doubled the security at school, won't let anything happen to you. I'll also keep an eye on the Verona side."
"What do they want to do?" I asked.
"Verona wants to use you to cause trouble for me, Raven wants to take you back." Luca reached out and gently touched my cheek. "But you don't need to worry. With me here, none of them can take you away."
I looked at Luca's serious expression and nodded.
During those fifteen years at Raven, I was used to facing all dangers alone, used to keeping my back to the wall, used to not trusting anyone.
But now I knew I could safely entrust my back to Luca.
Just as he said, he would protect me.
Eight o'clock at night, Luca's study.
I had a bitter face and refused to sit down, dawdling at the door.
"Can't we just relax today and let me rest once?" I tried to bargain with Luca.
Luca looked at me with a smile and beckoned to me. "Then come here first."
Looking at Luca smiling like a fox, I knew there was definitely a trap. "I won't, I won't come over."
"Lina, that's not what a good girl should do."
I shook my head even faster. "Then I won't be a good girl tonight."
In the end, I was still half-coaxed, half-tricked by Luca into the study.
One second I was still protesting non-stop, the next second my vision spun and I was lying across Luca's lap.
"Smack."
My butt instantly exploded with pain. I stared in disbelief, eyes wide. "Luca!"
When Luca heard me call him, he responded, but his hand didn't stop, still coloring my butt one slap at a time.
I got desperate and suddenly exerted force at my waist, trying to break free from Luca's grasp.
But Luca's hand was like a clamp. I couldn't break free at all, and instead earned myself a few more slaps.
"I'll study, I'll study!" Seeing that Luca had no intention of letting me go, I finally chose to temporarily submit, agreeing through gritted teeth.
Luca's hand stopped. From his lap I couldn't see his expression, only heard his voice. "Really?"
I nodded hard. "Yes!"
Luca finally released the hand clamping my waist. I immediately bounced up from his lap, covered my burning butt and retreated to the desk edge, glaring at him fiercely.
But he acted as if he didn't see my anger, smiling and pointing at the chair. "Sit properly, let's begin."
I sat down reluctantly. As soon as my butt touched the chair, the pain made me gasp. I could only perch on the edge with half a cheek.
Really, it was only a few slaps, why did it hurt so much!
I looked at Luca with a grimace, but there was no thought of wanting to flee in my heart.
I had been deceiving myself that this was an experience normal children would have, but actually my body's reaction was saying I really liked being treated this way.
I stared at the problem. My mind was a mess—sometimes it was that hidden gaze from the alley entrance during the day, sometimes it was Luca's gentle eyes when he said "because I wanted to see you," and there was also the pain that had exploded on my butt just now.
Seeing that I hadn't picked up my pen for a long time, Luca reached out and tapped the desk: "Spacing out?"
I quickly lowered my head, pretending to calculate seriously. The pen tip scratched on the paper for a long time, but I couldn't write out a correct step.
Luca sighed, leaned over, his warm breath brushing past my ear: "Here, the auxiliary line should be drawn like this..."
His finger lightly drew a line on the paper. His well-defined hand formed a sharp contrast with the white paper, and I started spacing out again.
"Lina." Luca's voice carried a hint of helplessness. "If you space out again, the punishment just now won't count as finished."
I shivered and immediately concentrated on the problem, but it was still to no avail.
Luca let out a low laugh. He put down his pen and turned to face me directly.
We sat in two adjacent chairs, very close—so close I could clearly see the smile in his eyes and his long eyelashes.
"What are you thinking about?" he asked.
"Nothing." I was stubborn.
"Thinking about nothing, yet you forgot what I just taught?" Luca raised an eyebrow, reached out and gently pinched my chin, making me look up at him. "Are you thinking about what just happened?"
My heartbeat instantly skipped a beat, and my cheeks got even hotter.
I didn't answer, which was tacit agreement.
Luca looked at my flushed cheeks. The smile in his eyes deepened. His thumb gently brushed across my jawline, the motion incredibly gentle.
"Lina." He called my name softly.
"Mm?"
"Going to your friend's house on Saturday, what gift do you want to bring?" Luca suddenly changed the topic, released the hand pinching my chin, and leaned back against the chair, as if that ambiguous gesture just now was only my illusion.
I was stunned for a moment before reacting that he was talking about going to Maggie's house.
"I don't know." I answered honestly. "I've never given a friend a gift before."
At Raven, there were no friends, only comrades and enemies.
Between comrades, there were only missions and cooperation, never anything like giving gifts.
I didn't even know what one should bring when visiting a friend's house.
"It's okay." Luca smiled. "I'll take you to choose tomorrow. What does Maggie like?"
"She likes cats, likes eating cookies, likes literature class." I thought about it and said seriously.
"Then we'll choose things she'll like." Luca nodded, then picked up the pen and pointed at the test paper again. "Alright, now let's continue with the problems. If you space out again this time, there really will be punishment."
Looking at the smile Luca couldn't hide in his eyes, I quickly sat up straight, pretending to look at the test paper seriously, but the corners of my mouth couldn't help secretly turning up.
That night's lesson lasted until almost eleven o'clock. When Luca said we could finish, I finally breathed a sigh of relief. I packed up the test papers and notebooks, stood up and prepared to go back to my own apartment.
When I reached the study door, I stopped, turned around and looked at Luca.
He was sitting at the desk looking at a document, a cigarette between his fingertips, smoke slowly dispersing in front of him.
"Luca." I called him.
Luca looked up at me. "Mm? What's wrong?"
"Thank you." I said.
Thank you for letting me touch a normal person's life.
Luca looked at me, was silent for a few seconds, then stubbed out the cigarette in his hand, stood up and walked in front of me.
He reached out and gently pulled me into his embrace, his palm lightly patting my back, like soothing a startled little animal.
"You don't need to thank me." Luca's voice was against the top of my head, low and gentle. "This is all what I should do."
I leaned in Luca's embrace, listening to his steady heartbeat, the faint scent of tobacco and cologne from his body lingering at the tip of my nose. I closed my eyes and buried my face in his chest.
Fifteen years of darkness, fifteen years of flashing blades and shadows of blood, fifteen years of loneliness and wandering.
In this moment, it seemed I had finally found a shore to dock at.