Before dawn | Dark romance

Chapter 36 - The Lion's den

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"So, what are they like?" I ask Luca, turning my body towards him in the passenger seat of the sleek red Ferrari that was waiting for us on the runway when we landed in Sicily about five minutes ago. The excitement and nerves mix in my stomach, creating a tight knot.

After our ice cream adventure, Luca's bodyguards had practically shoved us back into the safety of the car. It felt very odd. I understand that with great wealth comes certain threats, but not being able to walk around normally and expecting to be ambushed at any moment seems excessive. I mean, there are other wealthy people around, right? I've never heard of them having this extensive amount of bodyguards around them 24/7. I've been wanting to bring it up to Luca, but every time the moment seemed right, I chickened out. I know that he knows that I've been meaning to ask him something, but I haven't, which has only piqued his interest.

Since Luca doesn't shy away from asking the blunt questions, I've been trying to distract him all day long, which has been exhausting.

We spent the day browsing through Rome. I told Luca that I wanted to see some of the tourist attractions because I had never been to Rome before. After a lot of begging and flashing him my sweetest eyes, he finally gave in, but it was done the Luca way. This meant that during our visit to the Colosseum, he made sure nobody else was around, closing off the entire place and making all the other tourists wait outside. We didn't make any friends that way, but it was thrilling to experience these sights through his world.

Luca glances over at me, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Who?" he asks, effortlessly maneuvering the car through the winding Sicilian roads.

"Your family?" I raise an eyebrow, trying to keep my tone light, but there's an undercurrent of anxiety I can't hide.

His eyes widen, his expression becoming more serious as he suddenly realizes that I am going to meet his actual family, other than Dante, Vinny, and his other brother, Santino. He suddenly slams on the brakes so hard, the back of the car fishtails to the other side of the road but comes to a screeching halt a second later.

"What are you doing?!" I want to yell at him for almost giving me a heart attack.

"Shut up while I think," he growls at me.

Is he talking to me like that? He better not.

"Idiot," I call him out, making his head snap over to me, his eyes blazing with rage, but I couldn't care less. I open the door and get out, shutting it very hard. We are in the middle of the Sicilian countryside, with rolling hills, majestic mountains, golden fields of wheat, and lush orange orchards. I don't know where I am, but I know that I need to get away from him.

"Maddie," I hear Luca's car door open and the sound of his fancy loafers on the gravel road. "Madeleine," he says again, sounding closer to me.

I feel his presence close, and I spin around, finding him inches away from my face. "Why are you walking away from me?" His eyes are filled with fire, but also some other emotion.

I raise my eyebrow at him and stand firm, trying not to crumble under this impressive and intimidating man. "I need you to listen to me very carefully, understood, Madeleine?" he says slowly and very calmly, his eyes following my every move.

I wrap my arms over each other, not backing down as he expects me to agree with him. "Who the hell do you think you are, talking to me like that?" I finally say.

His eyes blast with fire, and he gets right in my face. "I asked you if you understood me."

"I heard what you said," I say slowly but hold my ground against him.