Gentle for her.

•Chapter Sixteen• A dinner date in Italy.

Kimberly's pov -

The restaurant was so pretty, the lights where very dim and soft music played. We had the whole place to ourselves, of course we did...Luca is a Mafia boss in this freaking country. It honestly still shocks me every time I tell myself that.

I took of sip of my white wine once I finally stopped looking around the very ascetically pleasing restaurant. "So" I said after swallowing down the delicious, but very expensive drink.

"How long have you been the leader" I looked into his emerald eyes, watching as a smirk crept across his lips.

"Really. Out of all the things we could talk about, you choose Mafia?" He folded his hands together.

He looked so sexy tonight, his dark hair was styled kind of messy but I liked it. He had a light grey shirt clung to his toned body, a few buttons popped open at the top and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

"If I'm going to be stuck around you for a while, I think I should at least know the basics about it, don't you think?" My head cocked to the side, his smirk only widening.

"My papa stepped down four years ago, I took over instantly. But before that, I was his right hand man—working with him constantly and always training"

Before I could reply, our food was placed in front of us. I thanked the sweet waiter before glancing down at my delicious lasagne dish, Luca had chicken pieces and pasta which also looked amazing. I took no time in digging in, enjoying the flavour that instantly hit my taste buds.

"This" I pointed down at my plate, "Is amazing"

Luca chuckled and it was like music to my ears, of course I wasn't going to let him know that though.

After a few mouthfuls, Luca opened his mouth to speak. "You told me that you don't know your father, what is it? Is he dead-"

I almost choked on my food as I looked up at him, he is so blunt and careless with some of his words and it always catches me of guard. "Not everything is about death and violence, Luca" I rolled my eyes.

"No he's not dead. Well, not that I know of...he was just never around—he left my mother when she was seven months pregnant with me" I spoke, with honesty.

He hummed at my response before taking a sip of his drink. "Everything is death and violence, in my world" he muttered after gulping down his mouthful of whisky.

"It doesn't have to be" I stated, looking up at him. He's eyes instantly flickered to mine, a sarcastic laugh left his lips as he shook his head.

"That's where you are wrong amore, there is no choice when it comes to my role. It's like-" he sighed, pushing his plate away from him and resting his elbows on the table. "You know what, never mind"

I instantly stuck my hand out and gripped Luca's large one, he stiffened at my touch and looked up at me. "Talk to me" I softly said, an encouraging look on my face.

He eventually let his fingers wrap around mine. "When my Mama was still here, it was different. She would try her very best to give me and my sister a normal childhood, she would take us places like the park and beach...my papa was so and still is so madly in love with her, that he allowed her to do those things" His grip on my hand tightened and I began to stroke the pad of my thumb over his knuckles.

"When she was murdered, everything changed. My papa turned the coldest he had ever been and so, he taught me to be that way. Well, he's always been harsh on my feelings since I first ever started training, but after my Mama died—it worsened. You know, it's like a part of my Papa left with her"

My heart ached at his words. "Was your mother involved in the Mafia—is that how your father met her?"

Luca instantly shook his head, a breathtaking smile forming on his face. I took a quick moment to admire it, his adorable dimple and pearly white teeth where astonishing. "No. My mama believe it or not, was my papas maid..."

I nodded before parting my lips. "You want to know what I think?" I asked him, watching his head bonce in a slow nod.

"I think that deep inside you have a genuine heart, Luca" I started. "A piece of your mother is inside you, guiding you—and maybe if you open up more and listen to your feelings, it will help you. After all, hiding away from them is dangerous. In the end, it only leaves you battling with yourself"

Suddenly, he snatched his hand away from mine and abruptly stood. "We should leave."

Giving him a confused look, I slowly lifted from my seat and followed him out. The Italian street was very busy and I couldn't help but grip onto Luca's arm for a little comfort, the last thing I wanted to do was get lost. To my surprise, he let my hand stay there as we made our way to the silver limousine.

Why is he like this? One moment he's so calm and the next he turns cold, not even opening his mouth to speak to me. The car ride home was silent and filled with a strange tension, that I couldn't explain. My eyes stayed trained on the window, watching the lights as we drove back to Luca's family mansion.

The car came to a stop and I decided on just pushing the door open for myself, I gripped onto my purse and walked ahead, my heels crunching on the leaves that had spread onto the driveway. When I got to the entrance, I realised that I had to wait for Luca to open up the doors. I tapped my foot on the floor, my arms folded over my chest as I saw him walking towards me from the corner of my eye.

"What's the rush, amore?" He smirked, pulling the keys from his back pocket.

Is he seriously just going to act like he never just stood up mid sentence, made us leave half of our food and left me very confused?

"I'm tired" I lied, stepping past him when he finally pushed open the doors.

I was two seconds away from walking up the marble steps, when his deep voice stopped me. "You remind me of her"

My body froze, my eyes tightly closing and opening again. He was close to me now, I could feel his warm breath lingering on the back of my neck. "My mama was a kind soul, she hated the things my papa did but she loved him that much aside from that...she chose to stay with him"

"You have a sweet, innocent heart and mind Kimberly—just like her, and I hate that I have gotten you caught up in trouble" His hands slid around my waist from behind, a shaky breath left my lips from his touch.

He squeezed my hips gently and let his warm lips graze my ear. He paused for a long minute, like he was thinking of saying something...but all that came out was a whisper of—"Goodnight" before he slowly let his hands slip away from me.

Not daring to turn and face him, I walked up the long stair case and when I reached my room, I quickly closed the door behind me, slowly sliding down it until my butt hit the cold floor.

This man was driving me insane.

But the thing that scared me the most, was that I was loving every second of it...

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