Charlotte

I tried to keep myself busy in the kitchen to take my mind off what I'd just seen, but it was hard to focus on anything else. Layla and I ate alone, and I was hoping to get upstairs and go to sleep before having to face Luca. I wasn't sure I could ever face him again, especially without seeing that picture in my mind. Layla sat at the table playing with her doll while I cleaned up dinner.

"Hi angel."

The blood in my veins turned to ice at the sound of his voice. I glanced over my shoulder and watched as he came into the kitchen and sat down at the table next to Layla. I glanced away the second he tried to meet my eyes.

Thank God, he was alone.

"Hi daddy! Look what mommy got me today." She held her goggles up proudly. Swimming was pretty much the only thing on her mind, and the only way I could get her to be good for the rest of our shopping was to bribe her with pink princess goggles.

"Wow!" Luca admired, knowing exactly the reaction she wanted. He was already getting to know her so well. "Those are really cool! Are you going to try them out tomorrow?"

She nodded excitedly.

"Are you ready for bed, sweetie?" I asked, ignoring Luca's presence. It was nearly impossible to do, though, when I felt his watchful eyes burning into me with every move I made. My cheeks flushed with anxiety.

"I'm not tired!" Layla protested, picking up on the slight break in my resolve. I swear she had some kind of sixth sense about that kind of thing. She always seemed to throw her tantrums when she knew I had already had enough.

"Layla, listen to mom. You won't be able to swim tomorrow if you're tired." Luca looked at her sternly. His support surprised me and, had it been another time, I may have been thankful for it. Right now, all I could think about was getting as far away from him as possible.

"Okay, daddy. Will you come tuck me in too?" Layla insisted, and I prayed he had other things to do. Didn't she know I was trying to get away from her father?

Luca agreed, promising to be up in a few minutes. Layla and I went upstairs, and she was surprisingly compliant, climbing into bed. It only took one book for her to yawn and rub her tired eyes, signaling it was time to turn out the light.

"I love you, momma." She smiled up at me and I kissed her tiny forehead.

"I love you too, baby."

"Goodnight, daddy! I love you!" She turned to the door, where Luca stood leaning against the doorway watching us. I had no idea how long he'd been there watching us.

"I love you too, Layla." It was coming easily to him now. The first few times she said it, I noticed he hesitated, unsure of how he should respond to her. If I wasn't so flustered with him currently, I might find it endearing.

I kissed Layla one more time on the top of her head and flicked the lights off. Hoping to continue avoiding Luca at all costs, I rushed into the bedroom we were sharing, shutting the door behind me.

I wasn't surprised in the slightest when I heard it open behind me, but it was worth a shot.

"Can we talk?" He said with much more softness in his voice than I had expected. Talking hadn't really been our strong suit lately. It either ended with him threatening violence or me running from his office after watching another woman give him head. None of those sounded appealing to me right now.

What scared me most though that out of all of those options, the one that bothered me most was the last—the thought of him with another woman.

I turned to face him but didn't answer, not trusting what might come out of my mouth.

"I don't owe you an explanation, but what you saw this afternoon was not what you thought." He began walking towards me so slowly and cautiously that he was almost tiptoeing.

"It wasn't you getting a blow job from a woman in your office?" I folded my arms across my chest, shocked by my own brazenness.

"Like I said, I don't owe you any kind of explanation..." He gritted his teeth.

"And yet here you are..." I said.

We stood staring at each other, as if waiting to see who was going to blink first.

"Claire is a reporter." Luca growled, feeding off of the sass in my voice. "She interviewed me a few weeks ago and needed to get some more information."

"And she needed your pants around your ankles to do that?"

"If you would shut up for two seconds, I could explain that that's not what happened!" His voice grew louder. "She came on to me. I thought she wanted to get more information, but when we got to my office, she started kissing me and..."

"Stop!" I held my hand up, squeezing my eyes shut. "I can't hear this, okay? You're right. You don't owe me any kind of explanation. Fuck whoever you want to; just can't do it here." I said, not wanting to hear the finer details of how her head ended up between his legs.

"Excuse me?" he hissed, angered by my demand.

"Layla could have walked in that door instead of me, and then what would you have done? You want to be a parent so bad, well here is your chance. It isn't all fun and games. You can't bring your random hook-ups here and risk her seeing that."

"You think you can walk in here and tell me what I can do in my own house?" Luca stalked towards me, but I wouldn't back down—not about this.

"I didn't walk in here, Luca. I was forced here by gunpoint, if you remember right." I glared. "What you do is your business, but I won't have her subjected to it."

Luca grimaced, rubbing his chin as if searching for words that were escaping him. I was taunting him and could tell he was on the verge of snapping at any second, but it only egged me on.

At this point, my back was against the wall and Luca hovered over me. I could almost taste the alcohol on his breath. "This has nothing to do with Layla. You're jealous. It fucking kills you I let another woman touch me like you used to."

"No, that's not..." I tried to speak, but my throat dried up. Luca put his hand on the wall next to me, trapping me against it.

"Tell me, Charlotte, does it bother you that her fingers stroked my cock, nearly making me come through my pants? Or that her lips, those perfect, pouty red..." Luca smirked evilly, licking his own lips.

"Stop it!" I screamed, not wanting to hear another second. Tears pooled in my eyes, but I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

"You know what happened after you left?" His voice was almost a growl, animalistic. "I threw her on my desk and fucked her silly, just like I used to do to you." I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to drown all of this out. "I slammed into her over and over again until she screamed my name and tightened that perfect little..."

"Enough!" I shrieked, putting both of my hands to his chest and shoving him away from me.

Luca recoiled, but recovered quickly, lunging toward me with his hand raised. The pleasure on his face from seeing my fear was sickening.

"Do it." I begged. "Just hit me."

Luca hesitated a second, pulling away the tiniest bit.

"Will that make you feel better? Will that make me hurt enough for you?" I reached out, shoving him again. His body stumbled back, weakened by the liquor. "Just fucking do it, Luca. I can't keep playing these games with you!"

His face hardened, but he didn't move.

"You are a coward, you know that?" I hissed, finding my voice. "You want to hurt me so badly you don't care about anything else. You could have come when I called you and you didn't! You are so focused on making me hurt, you can't see how much this is going to hurt your daughter. Does it make you feel better to see me hurting? To break me down so much that I am literally standing here begging you to hit me so we can stop all of this bullshit?"

He didn't answer, his face unreadable. It was dangerous, but now that I was going, I didn't think I could stop.

"This is exactly why I kept her from you. You used to talk about how much you hated your father, but you've turned into him." I bit my lip, letting the tears fall free from my eyes.

Nothing happened at first, and then everything seemed to happen all at once.

Luca's hands were on my chest, shoving me backward against the wall. I scrambled back, trying to get away from him, but I was no match for his strength. His hand came down sharply on my cheek and the sting took my breath away.

"Don't ever bring up my fucking father again. Do you understand me?" He seethed, his hot breath stinging my tear-stained cheeks.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block him out again. This wasn't Luca, I tried to remind myself. His anger had taken over and this wasn't him.

"I would have given you everything, Charlotte. Everything." He bellowed. "And you still ran off with that damn detective. Fuck, for all I know, Layla could be his. Or is she Marco's? You always did have a soft spot for him."

His words hit me like venom, and I couldn't stop crying.

"Do you have any idea how much I fucking loved you? And you still took everything from me. What the fuck did you expect?"

I sucked in a sharp breath, knowing I needed to get ahold of myself. His hands felt like sandpaper on my skin as he held my shoulders, the same ones who once held me so safe and tenderly. That comforted me when my nightmares woke me up. That intertwined in my fingers and walked along the beach with me. That ran playfully through my hair and brought me so much pleasure. Now all they did was cause me pain.

"I'm sorry I left, Luca. But I didn't do this to you." I whispered.

I wasn't expecting what happened next. His eyes softened a bit, the distant look almost completely gone. He released his hold on me, dark tears streaming down his own face now. He looked horrified with himself and kept his body tilted so he wouldn't have to look at me and be reminded of what he had almost done.

"I'm sorry, Charlotte. I'm so fucking sorry."

My heart was completely shattered. He looked so broken standing in front of me. I knew I should hate him for what had just happened, but I had never seen a person in so much pain in all of my life. I never meant to break him this way, and it was killing me.

"Luca..." I called out, unsure of what I would follow it with. A million thoughts were going through my mind.

I hate you.

I love you.

I'm sorry.

Luca was out the door before I finished the thought, and I was alone.

No matter how hard I fought, I hadn't been able to stop the mafia from ruining both of us.