Mafia Betrayal

Chapter Twenty Two

Charlotte

The past few days had flown by.

Luca was like a changed person. We were getting along so much better, and to his credit, he was actually respecting my decision to take this slow. The only time his resolve had even wavered was at night when we'd go to our separate rooms. We both wanted the same thing, but I still felt strongly that we needed to sort ourselves out before we could try anything again.

Luca was doing everything he could to show me we could have a normal life. I had no idea where he disappeared to during the day, but he was home for dinner and to tuck Layla in every night. He was sweet and attentive and slowly getting back to the man I fell in love with. When I saw glimpses of him, it was hard to deny how deeply I was still in love with him. How badly I wanted this life with him.

For all of Layla's life, I dreamed about giving her a real family, just like this. Everyone here loved and adored her, she was happier than I'd ever seen, and absolutely thriving.

The only thing standing that stood in our way was Grant. Like usual.

Luca had him stashed somewhere , and I hadn't broached the topic with him since the first night.

Grant wronged Luca, and I understood his need for revenge. I understood he was doing what had t be done, but it didn't stop the way I was feeling.

It wasn't as simple as Luca wanted it to be. Killing Grant left me without answers or any kind of closure. I was the one he lied to on a daily basis. The one he strung along and let believe her one true love didn't want her. The one he manipulated at every chance out of some sort of sick obsession with hurting Luca. A bargaining chip. A pawn. And I deserved to know why.

Grant would be dead soon, if Luca got his way, and I wouldn't have the opportunity to know. I needed to convince Luca to let me see him once and for all.

Not knowing was making me crazy, and with Layla in school, I had plenty of time to stew about it.

Today, my distraction was having lunch with Lily and Jenni. Jenni's few-day visit quickly morphed into a few-week visit. She claimed it was because she wanted to be here for Christmas, but I had a sneaking suspicion it had more to do with Seth. They'd really made a connection, and he was the first guy I'd seen hold Jenni's attention for longer than a few hours.

"Maybe you should get a job at a little coffee shop." Lily suggested. I spent the better part of our lunch on the patio venting to them about how annoyed I was with all this time on my hands.

"Or maybe you just need to have another baby." Jenni teased, smirking at me.

"Right." I rolled my eyes. "Because bringing another child into our relationship will uncomplicate things."

"A child would just make everyone so deliriously happy, you wouldn't even remember why you were upset with each other to begin with." Lily chided, joining the fun.

"Maybe you should have one." I suggested, hoping to deflect this conversation. I wanted nothing to do with the thought of babies or pregnancy right now.

Lily's face fell a bit, and I could tell it had struck a nerve.

"Yeah, did you and Gabe ever want kids?" Jenni asked, not picking up on Lily's expression.

Lily took a sip of water before beginning to speak. "We did at one point. Actually a few years ago, I got pregnant."

I nearly choked on my salad. Gabe and Lily had a baby?

"We were having a little boy but I miscarried right at twenty-two weeks." She paused for a second, seeming to collect her thoughts. "Gabe was shot in a sting. It was really bad for a while and we weren't sure he was going to make it out of surgery. The stress caused me to lose baby."