Psychotic Love (a mafia love story)

Chapter 27

LUCA'S POV

Echo leaves my bedroom and soon after I hear a knock on my door. I open the door to see Dario. I open it wider, allowing him space to walk in.

"What'd you do to her?"

"Im going to assume you're referring to Echo, and in the case that you are, I suggest you don't question me when it comes to her. Mind your business, Dario."

"I'm not trying to overstep, I'm just saying, what could she possibly have done for you to bruise her face like that."

I sigh. "She bite the living shit out of me and that doesn't justify it, but I just reacted...reflexively. I regret it, which is still weird because I don't regret much of what I do."

"What did you do for her to bite you?" Dario's questioning is beginning to piss me off.

"Enough with the questions. What do you want?"

"There are two things you need to know. Neither of them is good news."

I glare at him, he knows I hate this anticipation bullshit. I like when things get straight to the point.

"First, Arturo Marchetti has received his father's head..."

A smile grows wide on my face. My mind trails off. I can only imagine his reaction. The sheer terror when he opened that box to see his father's face rotting, being eaten by maggots that crawl through every hole in his head. I can imagine the putrid stench that probably filled the room before he even opened the box.

"Luca!" Dario waves his hand in front of my face. "Are you even listening?"

"No, repeat."

"I said, we need to be on the lookout for Arturo. I don't think I'd let the beheading of my father slide."

"Yeah, okay. What's the second thing."

"It's about Echo's family. I know you asked me to keep tabs on them, I've been looking into her mother and father for a couple of weeks. James, her father, has been in jail for a couple of days now, due to a fight at a bar. Her mother Sharlette recently visited an oncologist. She was diagnosed with very aggressive breast cancer about 4 months ago. She's been hiding it from Echo and her husband. It's now in the 4th stage."

"And Echo knows none of this?" I ask.

"Nope, not a single thing."

"Good, and I'm gonna need you to keep your fucking mouth shut. I don't need her knowing anything," I say, stepping closer to him.

"What the actual fuck. You're not going to tell her that her mother is dying?"

"No, because all she'll do is endanger herself trying to get to her. I'll tell her when the time is right."

"Luca, I don't think you understand. Her mom doesn't have a lot of time left. She has months, maybe even weeks."

I know I should tell her but I can't. Not right now. She's gonna run off and I'm not going to let her get away, which will only make things worse between us. And I also can't risk anyone getting to her.

"Dario, just follow orders."

Dario leaves my room and I leave to finish some work in my office.

•••••

About 2 hours into working I leave my office to check on Echo. I check her room and all around the house, in areas that she's allowed to be; I don't find her in any of them. I check outside, she's sitting on a blanket with a plate of food next to her, near the garden.

I walk up, taking a seat next to her. "Hey, princess, why are you just sitting out here all alone."

She scoffs. "As if I have anyone to sit with."

Her attitude is causing the ice underneath her to melt thin, but I told her I would work on my issues. I meant it. I take a bite of the food on her plate. It's pasta and what looks like some type of mystery sauce. The taste nearly makes me gag. "Who made this?" I say trying to clear my mouth of the horrid taste.

She looks over at me. Her face falls into a sad little frown. "I did."

"Oh."

She falls into a small laugh. I love the sound of her laugh. It's like medicine to my body. It calms and relieves me of all stress.

"It's okay, I don't like it either. I'm a horrible cook," she says.

"But you're an amazing artist, princess. When you're not in your art room sometimes I go in there and try to analyze a few of your paintings. Sometimes I have no idea what they mean but it doesn't matter, all I see is the beauty in them."

She gives me a slight smile.

"I entered three of them into an art show."

She turns to me.

"Really? Luca, no. Take them out, they're not even that good. They're not good enough for an art show."

Low self-esteem and dis-encouragement are written all over her face.

"Echo, they are more than good enough. Trust me. They'll do just fine."

I cup her cheek into my palm.

"You really think they're that good?"

I give her a laugh. I wish she believed in herself more. Why doesn't she?

"I know they're that good, princess."

She smiles, before taking a bite from the food she made. Her face turns sour.

"Yep, still disgusting." She giggles.

"Let's go get you something edible," I say teasing her.

We get up and enter the house. Once we're inside she grabs my wrist. I stop and turn to see her face.

"I need you to listen when I say this."

I nod my head.

"I'm really upset with you right now. I really appreciate your kind gestures but sometimes I need to be mad at you for a while, without you making it hard for me. Whenever you hurt me and do something to make up for it, I always seem to forgive you, even when I shouldn't. I don't know why I'm like that...I guess I'm just asking you to not take advantage of me."

If she were anyone else I'd tell her she should be strong enough to put her foot down. She shouldn't ask me not to take advantage, she should tell me, but she's not just anyone else. Echo is overly kind and forgiving. She needs to learn to stand up for herself but luckily doesn't have to do that with me. I will not take advantage of her any longer, but there are plenty of people who have and will.

I cup her cheek. "Be mad at me for as long as you want." I kiss her forehead.

"You're doing it again."

I roughly grab her face. "Be mad at me, I don't care...was that good enough?" I smirk.

She removes my hand. "I'm being serious, Luca."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. You want space?"

She nods her head. "That would be best, thank you."

"Okay, but I'm still going to make you food. One last hug, before I don't engage with you for a while?"

"No, Luca. No hugs, no kisses, nothing." she's serious.

"Okay, okay, but you're the one missing out."

She rolls her eyes before walking away. I watch as she does so, everything about her is so perfect. I love her.