Luca

"Sing it again, mama!" Layla smiled sleepily as she laid her head on Charlotte's shoulder.

I leaned against the doorway, watching as Charlotte put her to bed. My heart ached for all that I already missed in her life, and I couldn't seem to look away for fear of missing something else. First words. First steps. I didn't get to dry her tears when she was upset, or bandage a skinned knee. Charlotte took all of that for me.

I couldn't shake the fury that consumed me, just by the sight of her. I kept going back and forth between hating her for what she did, but understanding it and wanting her to forgive me for the way I'd been acting. Mostly, I was furious and wanted her to feel an ounce of the pain I was experiencing. I couldn't comprehend how she could do this to me.

Did I really want her to suffer? To feel as betrayed and hurt as I did? I was ashamed for even having that thought, but a part of me felt like she deserved it. I didn't want to be that man, and if it was even crossing my mind, maybe she was right. Maybe I was just like my father.

"One more time, baby, and then you need to go to sleep." Charlotte stroked Layla's dark curls, tucking them neatly behind her ear.

"Are you going to stay with me?" Layla looked up at her, practically intertwining herself with Charlotte. Seeing them like this felt like a dream. I still couldn't grasp that this was my life. That Layla was mine. That at one point, her mother had been mine, too.

Charlotte smiled. "You don't need me to stay with you; you're a big girl. But if you wake up in the middle of the night and need me, I'll be right through that door." She pointed towards the bathroom door that connected this room to ours.

"With daddy?" Layla added.

Charlotte hesitated, but nodded. "With daddy."

Layla contemplated for a second and then snuggled deeper into Charlotte's chest.

"You want to sing it with me this time?" Charlotte asked.

Layla nodded excitedly.

The two of them started singing the words to Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and it broke my heart and filled it at the same time.

Layla smiled as Charlotte bent down to kiss her forehead. "Goodnight, baby."

"Goodnight, momma!" Layla cooed. "Goodnight, daddy!"

Charlotte whipped her head around, noticing me in the doorway for the first time. A smile crept across my lips at the sound of daddy. I had no idea how much I had needed to hear those words until they came out of my little princess' mouth.

Charlotte tensed as I walked into the room, approaching the two of them.

"Goodnight, Angel." I bent down and kissed her cheek. "I'll see you in the morning."

"I love you."

I sucked in a sharp breath. "I... love you too, Layla."

Fuck. My heart was putty in her hands. What was happening to me? I'd only known her for a day, but she was already everything to me. How did I even exist before her?

"Sweet dreams, baby." Charlotte forced a smile and then disappeared into the hallway.

I shut the lights off and followed her. When I got into the room, she was standing by the window. I didn't have to see her face to know that she was crying. I could always tell by the way her posture changed. Her slumped shoulders, the slightest tremble. The way she swept at her cheek, hiding her tears.

There were a million things that needed to be said between the two of us, but I couldn't seem to find the words.

"I have some things I have to do. Will you be okay up here?" I asked, scanning the closest for a sweatshirt.

"Layla's not around. You don't have to be nice to me." Her voice was heavy with emotion as she turned toward me.

I knew I should go to her and comfort her, but I couldn't bring myself to. She had taken so much from me, and a sinister part of me enjoyed seeing her pain.

"Have it your way." I scoffed, not in the mood for her bullshit. Charlotte always had a way of getting to me—for better or worse. She consumed me in everyway so that when I loved her, it was all I could think about, but when I was mad at her, I was fucking furious. And honestly, I didn't trust myself to be around her right now if she was going to be running her damn mouth like that. I tried to apologize, but she shut me out faster than I could even get it out of my mouth. What was the point?

"Luca, I need to go back to Savannah to get some of our things. I'll come back, I swear, but can we just go for a few days?"

Was she completely out of her mind? I knew exactly what her end game was.

"No." I said definitively. "I'll send someone for your things. If you leave here, you won't be coming back."

She opened her mouth to fight me on it, but luckily thought better. The fear in her eyes made me stop in my tracks. Maybe I was being too harsh on her. She thought she was protecting Layla; how could I be mad at her for keeping my baby safe? I thought about how fiercely she tried to protect Layla from me earlier. There was nothing in the world she wouldn't do for her.

An apology was nearly out of my mouth when her phone vibrated on the dresser. Grant's names flashed on the screen and all I could see was red. What did that bastard want now?

Panic blanketed Charlotte's face, and all of my remorse washed away. She was probably fucking Grant the entire time she was gone. If I ever saw the bastard again, he wouldn't leave alive.

I turned abruptly and stormed out.

Charlotte

I screwed up. I knew that. I made more mistakes than I could count, but I was willing to take responsibility for that. It didn't mean I deserved to be treated this way.

Luca was a shadow of the person I remembered. Harsh and ruthless, and someone I wanted nothing to do with. How would I ever get through this?

I picked up the phone quickly before I lost the call.

"Hello?" My voice was shaky.

"Char? Where are you? What's going on?" Grant sounded frantic on the other end of the line. He was going to come down to Rhode Island to visit us tonight, and with all of this going on, I completely spaced it.

"We're in New York." I sighed. "Luca... he came to the funeral and... he knows Grant." I paced back and forth in front of the large bay windows.

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Are you okay?" He finally said.

"I'm fine." I lied. How could I possibly be okay with all of this going on? I watched a friend of mine be beat within an inch of his life, told my daughter who her father was, was manhandled by the same person, and now I had pretty much sold my soul to the devil in order to keep Layla in my life. Okay was far from what I was right now, but there was nothing Grant could do about it.

"Layla?" His voice was hoarse, as if he was about to cry.

"Layla is ecstatic. You should see her with him." I smiled weakly, thinking of how quickly the two had taken to each other. It was like neither of them had skipped a beat. It was the one silver lining in all of this.

The guilt I felt for keeping them from each other constantly ate away at me. Without Jenni here to convince me I had done the right thing, I was seriously rethinking my choices right now.

"She knows?"

"I didn't have much of a choice, Grant. They should know each other... He's wonderful with her, actually. You should..."

"Charlotte, listen to me. You've got to get out of there." Grant insisted. "You've got to get Layla and get as far away as you can. He's going to kill you both."

Luca wasn't going to kill us. He adored Layla already, and for now, I was more valuable to him alive. At least I had that going for me. "Grant, we can't exactly just leave."

"You have to. I'll come get you. We'll get you out of there."

"Grant, I..."

All of a sudden, there was a knock at the door. "I've got to go. I'll call you soon."

"Char-" I hung up before he could finish the thought.

The door opened slowly, and I nearly had a heart attack when Marco appeared behind it.

"Marco!" I shrieked, throwing my arms around his neck.

"Yikes," He winced. "Easy Char, I'm injured."

I backed away, biting my lip. The sight of him shattered me. His face was swollen and bruised, and his arm was in a sling. Jesus, this was all my fault.

"Marco, I am so sorry." I said, tears pooling in my eyes.

"Hey," he said, walking over and sitting on the bed. "There is nothing to be sorry about. I knew this was going to happen from the very beginning."

"Look at you." I shook my head in disgust. What kind of monster did Luca have to be to do this to someone who was practically his brother?

I sat down next to Marco on the bed.

"Char, trust me, this is nothing. I've had much worse." Marco smirked proudly. "I want to talk about you. The only thing you should be sorry for is not telling me I was an uncle."

I sucked in a sharp breath. "I couldn't. Antonio told me the less you knew, the better. He said it would keep you safe. I'm so sorry about all of this."

"Seriously, Char, when I agreed to help you disappear, I knew this day would come. That Luca would find out."

"How could he do this to you?"

"I had it coming. I've lied to him for years." Marco shrugged. "Char, Luca is like my older brother. This is how we deal with things and then we move on. He might be pissed off right now, but at the end of the day, he knows I did what he told me to do. My job was always to protect you, even if that meant from him. Although it looks like I failed at that."

"What happened to him?" I asked, not wanting to believe that I had done all of this.

Marco let out a deep sigh. "Thats a tough question to answer, Char. A lot happened at once. You left and Antonio was arrested and Luca was thrown into the role of Don. It was like a complete one-eighty for him. You made him rethink all of this bullshit, even leaving, and then when you left, he suddenly became responsible for the whole damn thing."

He had considered leaving? Why had he never told me that? I begged him too. God, how different things could have been for us.

"He's not the monster you think he is. He's hurt and upset right now, and we both know he doesn't handle things like normal people. Luca isn't used to any type of problem he can't handle with violence. You've always been an exception in his life."

"Why are you defending him after all of this? Look what he did to you!" How did Marco have that kind of dedication? To Luca? To this family? It didn't make any sense to me.

"I told you. Luca is my brother. This," He gestured to his face. "I knew this was coming. Hell, it probably won't be that last time. But that's what I signed up for." Marco reached out and grabbed my hand. "Now, where is Layla? I've been dying to see her."

It was hard to keep a smile off of my face when I thought of my beautiful daughter. She was the one good piece of Luca, the one thing I could hold on to.

"She's asleep next door. You can peek in, but you can't wake her up." I warned.

"Ah come on! I've always dreamed of being the rowdy uncle who winds kids up and then gives them to the parents when it's time for bed." He teased. It was so good to see him laughing. I hadn't realized how much I had missed him. There were good things about this place, but I guess I had blocked most of those out.

"If you wake her up, the beating you got today will be nothing compared to what I do to you." I warned, arching my eyebrow at him. I was only halfway kidding.

Marco smirked. "See, and you thought you weren't cut out for this life."