Mafia Heir

Chapter 50

Luca

"Are you out of your God damn mind?" Elena hissed, tearing out into the hallway behind Antonio. "She very nearly died a few days ago and you think now is the time to come clean?"

"It's good to see you, too, Elena. It's been a long time." Antonio ignored her question entirely and folded his arms over his chest. Then, he turned to me. "This is how you take care of things?"

"You realize that the only reason we didn't tell her the truth is because you told us not to?" I glared. This man was unbelievable. He was really going to try to come here and blame this on us.

"But I'm not your boss anymore, remember?" He smirked. "You don't have to follow my orders."

"Look, I know I fucked up. But that doesn't change the fact that you framed a man for a murder that didn't even happen. This entire mess is on you, Antonio."

"Shut the fuck up." He spat. "I trusted you to take care of her. I told you, you had one more chance to get this right. One fucking chance and my daughter is in the hospital because of you. I should kill you right now."

"Don't you dare try to blame this on them." Elena hissed, stepping between the two of us. "Luca and Angelo have done more to protect your daughter than you ever have. Silvano knew about her long before she even met them and that is no one's fault but your own. Look at everything you've let us miss out on. All because you love this damn job more than your own family. Yu should be ashamed of yourself."

"I can't change what happened in the past, El. I'm sorry. I thought I was doing what was best for the two of you."

"But instead, you dragged her right into the crossfire your stupid war." Elena fought back tears. "And then you come here and pull this shit? You think you can paint yourself as the hero here? She's smarter than you give her credit for, Antonio. She'll see the truth."

"Hi mom." Seth walked around the corner with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. He had a sheepish grin on his face that made him look like a kid again.

"Oh... oh my god." Elena covered her mouth with her hand, tears streaming down her face. She rushed towards Seth, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest. Their reunion was both beautiful and heart breaking.

"Easy, mom." Seth chuckled. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I just can't believe it's really you. Look at you. You're so... grown up. My god. I can't... where is Gabe? Is he here?"

"He's back in Italy taking care of a few things. Lily, uh, his wife... they just found out she's pregnant."

"Oh Seth." She leaned back and put her hands on his cheeks. "I can't believe how much I've missed. I'm so sorry. And now it was all for nothing."

"It's okay, mom. We've got plenty of time to make up for." Seth smiled at her reassuringly. It was clear how much they had both missed each other. It must have been so exhausting keeping this charade up for so long.

"Elena, you know I did everything my power to protect the two of you." Antonio butted in.

"You swore to me you wouldn't let anything happen to her if we did this. You promised that if we disappeared no one would ever find out who she was and she would be safe. You made me miss out on years with my sons, never getting to see my children grow up together. I had to mourn them as if they were dead because of you." Everyone sat completely stunned, giving her our undivided attention. As scary as a furious Antonio was, it was nothing compared to Elena.

"It's not like it was easy for me either." He defended. "I had to watch another man marry you and raise my daughter."

Elena's eyes widened with rage."You son of a bitch. Josh is ten times the man you are and trust me, Charlotte and I were way better off with him. The only thing I regret is that I let you take my sons from me."

Antonio clenched his jaw. He wasn't used to not being in control of things, and his façade was fading quickly around here.

A nurse approached us. "Excuse me, I am going to have to ask you all to leave."

"I'm sorry," I said, trying to smooth things over. The last thing I wanted to do was leave Charlotte before I got the chance to explain. When she was ready to see me, I wanted to be right there. "We'll quiet down."

"It's not that." She frowned sympathetically. "Visiting hours are over."

"What?" I arched my eyebrow. "I've been here for days and no one has said anything about that."

"Yes, but now Ms. Parker is awake, and she's requesting that we uphold those rules."

"Ma'am, she's only been awake a few hours." Elena tried. "Can't one of us just stay out here? We won't bother her, but someone needs to be here when she's ready to talk."

"I'm sorry. It's up to her." She said, turning on her heels and walking back to the station.

I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. This entire place was a joke. How did they even let Antonio in here in the first place? This was ICU and it was supposed to be secure. And now they were kicking us out. 

"There is a hotel nearby." Angelo said. "I'll see if I can reserve a few rooms." 

"Why don't you let me take you to dinner, mom?" Seth suggested. "We can catch up a little?"

There was so much I needed to say to Charlotte, and I was desperate. I had to speak to her before I left. 

"I'm just gonna grab my stuff and I'll meet you out by the car." I told Angelo. 

He nodded, as he pressed the phone to his ear. He knew exactly what I was up to. 

I opened the door slowly, psyching myself up for this conversation. I had to make her see things my way. 

She was standing at the window with her back to me. With her hands over her face, I could hear her quiet cries and it nearly shattered me right then and there. I knew this would hurt her, and it was even worse that I wasn't the one to tell her. 

The noise of my footsteps alerted her that she wasn't alone anymore and she snapped her neck up.The second she saw me, her face twisted into an icy glare. 

"Char, please, just let me explain." I tried to reason with her, reaching for her hand.

Before I even knew what was happening, her palm connected with my cheek in a sharp slap. I backed away, processing what had just happened. I had never been slapped by a woman in my life but I certainly couldn't blame her right now.

"How could you do this to me?" She sobbed as if I was the one responsible for this entire thing. I had only played a small part in it but I was starting to realize my involvement had hurt her worse than I ever could have imagined. She trusted me, and I obliterated that trust.

"Baby, I wanted to tell you but your dad..."

"Don't you dare call that man my dad." She growled. "He is no father to me."

"That's fair." I nodded. "But he was my boss and I couldn't go against what he asked no matter how badly I wanted to. Trust me, I would have the second I found out if I could have." Each of her tears broke me more and more. All I wanted to do was comfort her, but she wasn't letting me anywhere near her. 

"Don't start with that mafia boss bull shit. That's a cop out." Anger radiated off of her like I had never experienced before. "How long have you known?"

I dropped my head and sighed. Knowing this would only make me more angry. "I found out when I went to Italy."

"So you lied to me for months." She reached out to slap me again, and I caught her arm. I wasn't going to let her do that no matter how upset she was.

"I didn't have a choice, Char." I swallowed the lump growing in my throat and fought back tears. I never cried for a woman before--hell I hadn't cried in twenty years, but she was pushing me damn close today.

"You've always had a choice, Luca. I've just never been it."