39

Something about the way he was looking at me pulled at my stupid heart. This woman mattered to him, and he worried I would mistreat her. It stung that he would think I’d lash out at the woman to spite him, almost enough that I was tempted to do just that. Almost.

But even though he was just as stuck with me as I was with him, he’d tried to soften the blow today. He’d taken me out of my cage and put a weapon in my hand. I had no doubt his intention had been to make me feel more empowered… even if we both knew I didn’t have a hope in hell of outgunning him.

I nodded, though I was sure it wasn’t necessary. The man seemed to be able to read my thoughts all on his own.

Then he flashed me a small smile and opened the door.

I wasn’t quite sure what I’d expected—maybe a woman with cold eyes and a hard-set jaw—but the beautiful woman who sat in the plush armchair in Dominic’s living room definitely wasn’t it.

She was tall and slim with high cheekbones and the most soulful dark eyes I’d ever seen. Her dark hair was lightly streaked with silver, and she wore it up in a simple knot at the crown of her head.

She stood when we entered the apartment, smiling first at Dominic and then at me. There was something so genuine about her smile, it sent a comforting warmth through my veins.

She crossed the room and embraced her son, standing on tiptoes to reach her arms around him despite her height.

She stepped back and looked at me. “You must be Fallon, cara mia,” she said. “I am Maria, Dominic’s mother.”

And then she hugged me. She hugged me just the same as she’d hugged her son, with her arms wrapped tight around me and her cheek pressed against mine.

Something twisted in my chest and a sob bubbled up, but I swallowed it back. It had been so long since a mother—anyone’s mother—had hugged me this way.

She let me go, but her hand was still on my arm, and turned to Dominic. “And now, my son, it is time

for you to leave.”

She shooed him toward the door. He smiled indulgently, but at the same time, I could sense the way he was assessing me, looking to see if I would breach the silent agreement I’d made.

Seemingly satisfied with what he found, he nodded. He held a hand over his heart like he’d been wounded. “A man can tell when he’s not wanted.”

Could he really? Because it seemed he hadn’t taken the hint when I’d practically screamed it at him. “You’re wanted plenty, Dominic,” Maria said with an impish grin. “Just not here, not right now.”

He flashed a boyish grin, and then he was gone.

“Come, Fallon, I brought you something,” she said, leading me to the small wrought iron table in the kitchen. A pretty box sat in the center of it. She sat down at the table and opened it up while I took the seat across from her. Inside, the box was filled with tiny decorative cakes. The sweet aroma was almost enough to send me on a sugar high.

“They look incredible,” I said, and they smelled even better.

“Grazie,” she said, placing a small plate for each of us. “I like to bake.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I bake for my boys all the time.”

“But I thought…” I trailed off, remembering our first date.

Maria shot me another impish smile. “You thought correctly, cara mia. Dominic has as much of a sweet tooth as this table, but he doesn’t know I know that. He thinks he’s been fooling me all these years.”

I laughed. It seemed this kind woman had a dark side. “And you don’t mind playing along one little bit.” She shrugged. “Well, let’s just say a woman needs to have her fun, si?”

“What’s it like?” I blurted out without thinking. I’d had no intention of getting personal with this woman, and yet, so quickly, it felt like the easiest thing in the world to talk to her, almost like I was talking to Corinne.

My heart clenched, thinking about my best friend. Would I ever see her again? Would I ever be allowed out of this apartment on my own?

“What do you mean?” Maria asked.

“I mean… being married to someone… to someone who…” Now that I’d started, I couldn’t seem to get the words out.

“Being married to a man like Vincent?” she filled in for me. I nodded, still having a difficult time with words.

“It’s not easy, particularly in the beginning,” she said. “My marriage was arranged, like yours. My family is much like the Lucas. And I won’t lie to you, I hated Vincent at first. I wanted a life of my own, si? He stood in the way of that, and I resented him for it.”

Yes, exactly! I didn’t want to be forced to give up my whole life. “But like with all things, I got over it.”

“Just like that?” I pressed.

“No, of course not. It took time.” She laughed, a sound that reminded me of wind chimes, while her eyes were far away. “We fought more than we talked that first year. Much more.”

Is that what was in store for me?

“I don’t want this,” I said, not because I expected Maria to do anything to stop it, but I needed to say it out loud and it not fall on deaf ears like it had with Dominic.

“I know you don’t,” she said, placing a hand over mine. “It may be hard to believe, but I promise that if I thought this marriage was a bad choice for either of you, I would speak up. I have done things…” She trailed off and looked down at her hands. It felt like she’d traveled to some far-off place, maybe to some distant memory before she came back to me. “I have done things to protect my family.” She met my gaze with a hard determination that told me this woman was no fragile doll. “I will protect you as well, Fallon. You will be part of the Luca family very soon.”

Part of her family? She squeezed my hand, but it felt like she’d wrapped her slim fingers around my heart and squeezed it. It had been so long since I’d felt like part of a real family.

The men who’d murdered my mother hadn’t only stolen my mother but my father as well. I stopped recognizing my father the moment my mother took her last breath.

“Thank you,” I whispered and then dug into one of the mini cakes before the tears in my eyes could spill over.

I didn’t want this marriage any more than I had a moment ago, but I wanted what she was dangling on a hook in front of me. To be a part of something, to belong somewhere. Maybe I could even understand Dominic’s commitment to his family when I looked at it through Maria’s eyes.

When a person had something so valuable, wouldn’t they do everything in their power to hold onto it, to protect it? That was loyalty, after all—the willingness to go to any lengths for another person. And Dominic was willing to go to the ends of the earth for his family.