Chapter 45
Giulia’s voice cut through the air with an unmistakable authority, laced with a tone that made Amber’s stomach turn. She gestured toward the door, her lips curling ever so slightly as she said, “Amber, be a dear and step outside. I need a private word with my son. This is a family matter.”
There was no mistaking the disdain in her voice, the dismissal of Amber’s presence as if she were a servant hired for her convenience. The barely veiled sneer in Giulia’s expression only deepened the humiliation. To her, Amber would never be anything more than an interloper—the woman who had tarnished their family’s legacy and stolen their son’s loyalty.
Amber took a sharp breath, her fists tightening at her sides. She forced herself to turn toward the door, desperate to escape the suffocating judgment radiating from every corner of the room. But just as she reached for the handle, Giulia’s next words caught her off guard, slicing through the space with cold precision.
“I know what this is about, Luca,” Giulia continued, her voice thick with insincere pity. “I spoke to Carlotta, poor girl. She’s absolutely devastated. She thought she had a future with you, Luca. And after all she’s been through, this is how she’s repaid?”
Amber froze, unable to stop herself from listening. She knew she shouldn’t stay—shouldn’t let them degrade her any further—but Giulia’s words had her locked in place, a dark foreboding filling her chest.
Giulia’s brother—Luca’s uncle—jumped in next, his voice heavy with reproach. “Luca, you let a girl come between you once, and it nearly destroyed you. You remember, don’t you? You were drinking yourself to death, and it was Carlotta who pulled you out. Carlotta, who stayed by you and nursed you back to health. You owe her everything.”
Luca’s face twisted with anger as he looked at them both, the fury simmering just beneath the surface. “I see. You’re all here to fight for Carlotta’s cause, to tell me how ungrateful I am for walking away. But there’s nothing you can say to make me go through with this marriage—not anymore. Because—”
“Because of Nico?” Giulia interrupted, stepping closer and placing a hand on Luca’s shoulder. Her voice was soft, almost tender, but her eyes held a hard glint. “Luca, you can’t hold this against her. Carlotta is young, with her whole life ahead of her. No woman wants to be burdened with another woman’s child. She wants her own family with you, to give you children that are truly yours. Think about what you’re asking of her.”
A flash of realization crossed Luca’s face, and his anger began to rise, the lines of tension deepening in his jaw. He had suspected they would try to sway him, but not like this. “I suggest you all leave,” he said, his voice low, laced with warning. “Stay out of my business, stop meddling in my life.”
But Giulia was undeterred. Her face softened, the corners of her mouth curving into a smile that seemed all too pleased with itself. “Luca, we’ve thought about this carefully. We’re only trying to help you find a solution.”
Amber knew she should have left by now, but her feet felt rooted to the floor, her heart pounding as she listened to Giulia’s “solution” unfold—a solution that made her blood run cold.
“Carlotta and you can move forward without any… complications,” Giulia said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. “I could take Nico under my care. It would be best for everyone, really. He would have a stable home with his nonna, a real family that could give him everything he needs. You and Carlotta can be free to build your lives together. It’s a perfect solution.”
Amber’s heart shattered as the words sank in, each one twisting the knife. *Her son—a complication.* She pictured Nico’s small face, his innocent eyes, and the thought of him being taken away, treated as nothing more than an inconvenience. The vision of her son raised in this cold, indifferent family, surrounded by the whispers, the disdain they held for her—she could feel the bile rising in her throat. They would see him as nothing more than a burden, a stain on their perfect family image, and she could do nothing to stop it.
Her poor boy. What was she supposed to do now? Take him back to the States, where he’d be alone without family, relying on the kindness of friends and depending on their goodwill to take care of her son, when she lays in hospital bed? Or would it be worse to leave him to the mercy of the system, shuffled through foster care when she grew too weak to care for him herself? The thought was unbearable, a torment that clawed at her heart. Tears welled in her eyes, blurring the future into a terrifying unknown.
Luca’s face was turning a furious shade of red, his hands balled into fists at his sides. “He’s my son,” he hissed, each word heavy with restrained rage. His jaw clenched so tightly that the words seemed barely able to escape. “I’m not abandoning him.”
“Oh, Luca, don’t be so dramatic,” Giulia replied dismissively, waving her hand as if brushing aside a trivial matter. “You’ll have plenty of time to be with him since he’ll be here in Italy. Carlotta even promised me she wouldn’t keep him from you. She’s just… insecure about your attention right now, that’s all.”
“Mother,” Luca said, his voice dangerously low, “I’m telling you to stop this. Now.”
“Just give it a chance, Luca. You’ll see this is the best thing for everyone,” Giulia pressed on, undeterred. “Nico will come to love being here. He’ll have a proper family, and by the time the wedding comes around in a month, he’ll be perfectly happy with his nonna. You can ask him yourself in a week—”
“No!” The single word shattered the air like glass, an eruption of pain and defiance. Luca didn’t know if he had shouted it louder, or if it had been Amber’s voice that joined his. But the echo of it hung in the room, and suddenly, silence fell.
And then they saw him.
Nico, crouched at the base of the stairs, his small, pale face staring up at them, wide-eyed with a mixture of fear and confusion. He had heard everything.
A hollow ache pulsed through Luca’s chest as he took in his son’s expression, the hurt written in his young eyes. He had seen that hurt before, only it was a thousand times worse, maybe because of the realization that not only his mother but his father was going to abandon him too.
“No!” Luca said again, his voice steadier, stronger. He locked eyes with his son, not sparing a glance at his mother, who stood bristling nearby. “Nico isn’t going anywhere,” he declared, his tone resolute. “Because he’ll be with his mamma and papa—together.”
He shifted his gaze from Nico, crouched on the floor, to Amber, who stood by the door, looking hollow and shaken, her face drained of color, her eyes dark and haunted. She seemed frozen, caught somewhere between heartbreak and disbelief.
Luca’s eyes softened as he looked at her, and his voice, though quiet, held an unwavering determination. “For the rest of his life,” And he meant every syllable of it.