Luca's pov
Strange, it was all too strange. When Dominic handed me the flash drive, when I retreated into my office and connected the device to my computer, I'd expected answers–something that solved the mystery that was Cara's past. What I had not expected to be baffled all over again. I'd sought to puzzle out her past with Grigori's new findings, not to get PUZZLED by them.
Pointer finger hooked over my lip, I squinted at my computer screen in deep thought, trying to make sense of the information on the sharply, glowing monitor.
From the first entry, Cara was found in a deserted apartment building at the young age of eight and was rushed to a hospital because she has been sick and starving.
I scrolled down to the next page, my heart compressing as I read the doctor's documentation on her health. Apparently she had suffered more than just physical health conditions. The report showed that she was also in a state of shock and delirium due to her bad fever.
"The child would cry and scream, chanting over and over about bad men in guns wanting to kill her like they killed her father." An highlighted text said.
I pushed forward on my swivel so I could get closer to the computer. What bad men with guns? What father?
Reading through the length of the eighteen page PDF document did nothing to answer the questions I had.
My eyes lifted back to the first entry and I absentmindedly ran the cursor around the very first paragraph, hating that it was the earliest record of her, nothing else before that.
Nothing about the murdered father or the men responsible for it and there wasn't even any information on the said father that I could use to find out more.
Cara's birth hadn't been registered.
"This is ridiculous," I muttered aloud, glaring at the closed door of my office.
I could storm past it, find Cara and make her spill everything I needed to sate my raging curiosity. I would have but then again it wasn't just some old family lore, there was something bigger, something that made Cara's beautiful blue eyes glaze over with fear the few times I brought up her past in any way. I remember the stiffening of her features when I'd inquired about the scars on her wrists. I didn't know much to tell when the obvious tragedy she was being haunted by happened. And it frustrated me to no end. Was it something connected to her father's murder? Or was it something that was connected later on during her time with the Torellos?
The reports had said something about her developing a fear of light flashes in her teenage years. Was that a trigger? A trauma response?
Fuck. For the life of me, I couldn't figure anything out. Grigori's information made everything seem like a bigger enigma. This business of being patient and waiting for her to tell me all on her own was proving difficult. I was a man who demanded answers and took them in whatever way I could, I didn't sit quietly and wait for someone to open up all on their own. I was not a fucking therapist fuck sake.
I snapped to my feet and headed out to find Cara, intent on making her talk. I had no idea how I was going to do exactly that but I was done with not knowing. It was time she told me everything.
I found her taking laps in the infinity pool, wearing the sexiest bikini I've ever seen. Or maybe it was just her body.
She spotted me on her next turn, her eyes lighting up and her focused expression morphed into a delighted smile.
"Hey there," she chirped, swimming back and getting out of the pool.
I took in her divine wet blond hair, her glistening lips, the droplets on her neck rolling down and over her taut nipples, more droplets on her slim waist. My gaze returned to face, to that heartwarming smile she was giving me, big and bright and lighting up my dark soul.
I instantly forgot all that I'd come to say.
I drank in the sight of her, feeling so damn enamored I didn't know what to do with myself.
She picked up a towel lying on one of the lounge chairs next to us. "Were you looking for me?"
"I was." I said in a voice tight with the emotions I was feeling.
She rubbed the towel into her hair. "Why?"
Why? I could hardly remember why. All that occupied my thoughts is the way her nipples were strained in her tiny bikini that barely covered her perfect tits.
Closing the gap between us, I took the towel from her, watching her confused and equally amused expression as I began drying her hair.
"I had something important to ask you," I said, stroking the towel through the length of her hair. She was staring at me with a patient smile, waiting for me to spill it out but that would mean a complete obliteration of the good mood we were having and I didn't want that. At least not yet.
As if on cue, my dick twitched in my pants, agreeing with me.
Cara placed her hands on my chest. "What is it you want to ask me?"
I paused with the towel to regard her for a moment. "Later." I said, discarding the towel to the side and grabbing her gently by the throat. "Now, I want to take you."
She giggled as I dipped down to pepper kisses on the corner of her mouth. "I'd get you all wet."
"As if I fucking care." I grunted against her lips.
I fused my mouth with hers, kissing her like a man starved. Cara moaned when I seized her tongue with my lips, her chest instinctively pressing into me.
I don't know how long we stood there plundering each other's mouth, all I knew that the fire was growing hotter and the need to ravish Cara came before all else. The interrogation about her past had long taken a backseat in my mind.
I deepened the kiss even further, my grip around her throat tightening ever so lightly. My c0ck flexed hungrily, growing heavy with desire.
All I wanted at the moment was to kiss her all over her wet skin, eat her luscious pussy then fuck her until she's begging and crying and shattering around my-
"So the rumor IS true."
Cara and I broke apart, turning to find the shocked faces of my father and Amanda.
Cara was the first to react. A gasp of horror left her, all the blood draining from her face and she unconsciously stepped behind me, her fear palpable.
It made my surprise wear off, annoyance taking its stead. "Father," I started in a calm voice that contrasted with the irritation I was feeling, "what a surprise to see you here."
A surprise indeed. My father never once visited me since I moved out of the mansion, he doesn't even have access to the pass for the penthouse. Except he had gotten through via the aid of my men or teleported, there was no other plausible reason that explained his presence.
I really did hope it was a case of teleportation and not my men letting him in without my permission. If not, I'd have to teach them a valuable lesson.
"The only surprise here is what I'd just seen." My father said in a deceptively calm voice. He stepped closer. "What in damnation is this? Are you really having an affair with your sister?"
I felt Cara flinch behind me.
My irritation churned harder. My voice grew terse. "She's not my sister."
"She is if I'm married to her mother. Which I am."
My tone was leveled. "Amanda isn't Cara's mother. Hasn't been since she got out of the foster care system. I'm breaking no law here."
My father's gaze hardened. A muscle ticked in his jaw. His rarely seen display of anger was slowly making an entrance. "Nobody cares about technicalities, Luca. The girl still bears the Torello name and that's all that matters. People will talk."
I spared Amanda a chilly look when she had the audacity to mumble in agreement. She pressed closer to her husband.
"You must have forgotten, father, but I do not care what anyone has to say about my affairs."
A crease appeared between his eyebrows. "So you'd rather have them smear her name."
I pinned him with an icy glare, my fist balling at my chest as the bitter realization that he had a point spread across me like arsenic. I might not give a fuck what the Cosa Nostra thought about I and Cara's relationship, their gossip might not affect me but Cara was definitely going to be affected. Especially when someone like Valentina exists. I could bet my fortune that she was the one who told my father about us.
Seeing as his words made the desired effect, the old Don straightened his spine, his dark eyes sharp and piercing. "Cara would leave with us at once. She can no longer live with you."
Something dark burst behind my eyes. "On whose order?"
My father gritted his teeth. "Luca-"
"She is going nowhere, father."
That did it for the cold, icy Don. He exploded. "Can you hear yourself?!"
Cara flinched again and it incensed my anger. Whatever terse response I was going to give was interrupted when she came out from behind me and spoke in a shaky voice. "I'll leave."
My gaze snapped to her. "You will do no such thing."
"Luca…" her eyes were pleading.
"No." I clipped.
"It is for the best."
"No."
"Listen to the girl, Luca." My father put in. He faced Cara. "Go pack your things."
Again, Cara interjected before I could say something daunting.
"I never said I'd be living with you." Her gaze was unflinching, challenging and despite the fury roaring in my chest, I felt a burst of pride and admiration.
My fierce and wilful queen.
"What do you mean by that?" Amanda snapped at her.
"I have no obligation to stay with you at the mansion. I'm a grown woman and I will choose where I live."
"Like you chose to be sleeping in the same bed with your stepbrother?"
I stepped in front of Cara, my entire body trembling with the urge to throttle my father's wife to death. "Contain your wife, father, or I'd do it myself." I growled.
My father regarded me with a gaze so intense a lesser man would have cowered under it but I was no lesser man and I never cowered before a man, whoever he was.
Tension stretched the silence between as we held each other's gaze, caught in a silent battle of wills. One I knew for a certain I was going to win.
"Merda," my father bit out. His focus turned on his wife. "Apologize this instant."
Amanda's eyes grew wider with indignation but the looks on I and my father's faces told her she was better off keeping her protests to herself. She shot a stiff look at Cara. "I apologize for what I said."
I found the apology to be half-assed but Cara seemed fine otherwise.
"No offense taken." She responded.
"I hope you keep your word by moving out." My father said to Cara.
"If the threat against her life disappears, maybe we'd consider it. Until then, goodbye father." I said, ignoring the frantic look Cara was giving me.
My father's eyes bored into me. "I hope you know what you're doing." He finalized before he turned on his heel and stormed off with his wife.