Son of the Devil

Chapter Thirty-One: King

"You're resigning?" Maria, Enzo's coworker, was the first to hear the news and immediately confronted him.

Enzo put a finger on his lips. "I asked the boss to keep it between us. Except you, no one else knows."

"Have you found another job?"

He hesitated. "Not exactly..."

The idea of leaving the country had been on his mind for months. Ever since he was forced into marriage with a man whose sole intention was to inherit his wealth, Enzo was aware that once he became Lucio's significant other, he'd be subjected to his control and live in fear for his life and the lives of his friends and family. The only way to get out of the mess was to sever his ties with Lucio. And what better way to do that than by using Lucio's own enemies against him?

"Well, if you want to keep it private..." Maria muttered with a smile. "Let's have a farewell party?"

Enzo glanced at her hopeful face and smiled. "I'll treat you to lunch. A farewell party might attract too much attention...I prefer to keep it low-key. But thank you for all your support."

Maria smiled back and nodded understandingly. "Always right behind you, kiddo. Good luck with your new journey."

The rest of the morning was spent with Enzo doing his best recreating the signature treats that made the bakeshop popular. His boss expressed regret for not being able to promote Enzo, but this turned out to be an advantage for him. Returning home, he found his sister packing with his nieces and nephews. To his surprise, it wasn't Gianna or the twins, Sofia or Matteo, who were having a severe case of tantrum, but the eldest, Luca.

"I don't know why he thinks it's cool to take someone else's belongings," said his stepsister Alessia. "Now he's pretending he can't hear me!"

Enzo peered inside Luca's room and found him moping by himself. But having spent most of his time with Alessia's children, Enzo could tell that Luca clearly knew he was wrong. It was written all over his face, and when Enzo entered his room and closed the door behind him, Luca squeezed his eyes shut.

So, there he was, faced with a three-year-old logic that if he shut his eyes and couldn't see his uncle, then his uncle wouldn't be able to see him too.

"Hey...I heard what happened," Enzo started, sitting on the bed next to him. "Care to explain?"

Luca scratched the back of his neck and averted his gaze. "I'm ashamed."

"I know." Enzo held his chin, making him look at him. Although he wasn't there and didn't want to condone his actions, he wanted Luca to always face him when it came to situations such as this. He wanted his nephew to understand that he would always forgive him. He might get upset or disappointed, but there was always room for forgiveness in his heart. "Is it because we're moving away?"

Luca thought about what he said and slowly shook his head. "I always wanted to move away," the boy confided much to Enzo's surprise. "Do you ever get the feeling of running away to a place where no one could recognize you? Where you could start all over again?"

"Are you...being bullied?"

Luca shook his head again. "I was being ignored."

Enzo was stunned. Luca was never the type of kid to open up about his frustrations of being a kid. In fact, he always seemed mature for his age. He had always been good, academic-wise and he had friends too, at least that was what Enzo observed when he dropped him off at school.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Luca shrugged and sat properly on the bed. "My friends don't hate me," he began. "On the contrary, I think they like me. But I feel lost sometimes, like they don't really get me. They're just trying to be nice and so they pretend they understand me. But whenever I open up about what I feel...they will look at me as if I'm the odd one out."