Mafia Heir

Chapter 22

Luca

If Charlotte's career in art wasn't going to work out, she definitely didn't have a future as an actress either. She wore her emotions on her face like her make up, and right now the anxiety was radiating off of her. Her perfect rosy lips were slightly pursed and her brow furrowed with worry. The closer we got to her parent's house, the more anxious she became. She was nervous about me meeting her family, and it was so damn adorable. Little did she know I was also nervous about meeting her family, but for an entirely different reason.

I had a feeling it wasn't just about meeting her family. but also about everything that had happened in the last few weeks. It was a lot for anyone, and Charlotte was handling it like a champ. Part of it was her stubborn personality not wanting to show any weakness, but she took it all in stride and was reacting much better than I expected.

Something about seeing her anxious made my own nerves lessen. Like the feeling of being needed made me push all of my own emotions to the side. If she needed me to be the rock, to calm her worries and make her feel more comfortable, I would do it. Maybe that was the hero complex in me.

She was so tense I could even feel it in her muscles as my hand rested on her leg. Her eyes were locked on the scenery as we drove, but I couldn't help but steal a few glances at her. I still couldn't believe this was Jocelyn sitting next to me. My Jocelyn. The one I had a childhood crush on. The one who ran barefoot up and down the halls of Antonio's estate stirring up trouble everywhere she went. The one who's giggle would bounce off the walls late into the night as her mother told her stories and tucked her in.

The one who I thought was dead.

I had to stop thinking of her as that girl, though. Charlotte was a completely different person with a twisted past she didn't even know existed, and my childhood crush was turning into full blown attraction. Actually, we were way past that.

Charlotte stirred something deep inside of me that I didn't want to contain. She was fiery and authentic and every moment we spent together was so uncomplicated and fun. Letting my guard down came easy when I was around her, something that I had never done with a woman before. She had me feeling and acting in ways I never even imagined, and was a beautiful ray of sunshine in the hurricane that was my life. I started thinking about a future with this girl. Not the marriage-and-family kind of future, but the kind where I felt comfortable making plans with her for months from now. Why did it have to be any different now that I knew the truth?

It didn't have to be, but I was wired to believe it did. If you always prepared for the worst, you left little room to be hurt or disappointed. She'd disappeared from my life once before, she could easily do it again. I was fighting a battle I had no chance in. Once Antonio found out I had been seeing her against his wishes, this would be over faster than it began. The thought of that scared me more than I wanted to admit.

Even if by some miracle Antonio was okay with all of this, I knew she'd never last in this life. She would hate it. In the last several weeks, she'd only been given a tiny glimpse of it and I knew even that small taste was hard for her to stomach. She was too beautiful and too pure for the ugliness of it, and for the first time since I found out about this, I understood why Antonio had done what he did. I didn't agree with it, but I understood it.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked, setting her hand in top of mine. Her gesture had surprised me, I was so lost in my own thoughts that I hadn't noticed her face soften. She almost looked relaxed.

"Just the business meeting I have tonight." I lied, squeezing her hand.

"What type of business meeting starts at 3AM?" She teased.