Luca

When I walked into the kitchen, I was rubbing my chin, still trying to figure out why I agreed to go to Jamestown with Charlotte. I hadn't even come to terms with everything I learned yesterday, and now I was going to dive head first into another nightmare.

Elena.

She was my mother's best friend--like a second mom to me herself-- and I still had such vivid memories of her. Elena liked to sing, and her voice often filled the halls of Antonio's estate whether she was playing with then kids or cooking in the kitchen. She was strikingly beautiful-- hair as dark as a raven and a pair of piercing green eyes that could be both endearing and sharp depending on her mood. She was as generous and she was warm, but it was her strength that really made her so lovable. Elena was an integral pillar of our family, and when she was gone, the loss was felt more deeply than you could ever imagine. She was what kept Antonio steady, and with her gone, he was a madman with nothing to lose at the helm of one of the world's strongest criminal syndicates.

I was torn between wanting to see her, and being terrified to see her. It had been so long, but what would she have to say about all of this? I could only imagine she wouldn't be thrilled. For years, she protected Charlotte from her father's life, and here she was right back in the middle of it, all thanks to me. Would she be angry with me? Would she echo Antonio's request and ask me to stop seeing her daughter? Would she insist on telling Charlotte?

The second I walked in that house, Elena would know who I was, and it wouldn't be up to me on how to proceed anymore.

"So what do we even call her now?" Angelo took a gulp of his coffee. Carlo, Marco and Angelo sat at the table as Renee, my housekeeper, slid heaping plates of food in front of them.

"I guess Charlotte. Antonio made it very clear that he doesn't want her to know anything about who she really is." Carlo shrugged.

"Well, fuck Antonio. I think that is complete bullshit." Angelo was having none of that, and honestly I couldn't blame him. I was in an impossible place, and I had a feeling when it all came to a head, I would be the scapegoat.

"Enough." I ordered. All three of them snapped their necks towards me having not realized I came in. "No matter how pissed off we are about this, Antonio is still in charge and we have to respect his wishes." I sat down next to Angelo at the island. Renee handed me a plate, but I didn't have much of an appetite thinking about what was coming with afternoon.

"He's in charge in Italy, Luca. This is your group, you make the decisions for us." Carlo reminded me. As if I could ever forget.

He was right in some sense. I was in charge of our men here in America, and eventually all over the world when Antonio was gone. But until that happened, I still felt obligated to honor his wishes, especially ones he had been so explicit about.

"And I'm making the decision that we are going to do what he wants. At least for the time being. Nothing has changed. She's still under our protection, and there are still a lot of dangerous people after her. She is not to know any of this, am I clear?" I asked. It was more of a rhetorical question. I knew they would follow my orders no matter how strongly they opposed. We trusted each other without limit, it was the only way to survive in this life.

"Crystal." Angelo's tone was annoyed and he wouldn't meet my eyes. It was strange to see him so upset. He was usually the calm to my chaos, but he wasn't taking it well. It was emotional for all of us, which meant it was even more important for us to keep barreling through, to keep our eyes on the end goal here, and that was keeping Charlotte safe.

"How is the plan for the drop coming?" I asked, reminding him that there were other things we needed to be focused on right now. We were close to nabbing a contract with a new gang out of LA.

Santos formed his group while in prison. They were small in numbers, they made up for it in unpredictable bravado. Gangs were always that way. At least in the mafia, there was certain moral code. There were rules you could count on to be followed, professional courtesies given, it wasn't a free for all like in the gang world. I was wary of working with them at all, but they were willing to pay top dollar for weapons and this was strictly about business. This guy was greedy and he always wanted the best of the best, so this could be a lucrative partnership for us if everything worked out well.

"Everything is going as planned. Marco and I will go about thirty minutes early to make sure we are in the clear. Once we're in the clear, we'll let you know and you guys can head over. That ass wipe agent that Charlotte's been dating really stirred some shit up for us. Cops have been swarming the warehouse so we'll have to be more diligent than usual." Angelo ran through the plan again with me. I had heard it a million times before but he was right. Every single detail mattered in this--even more than usual.

"Good. Charlotte and I are going to Rhode Island today. I'll be back tonight, in plenty of time to make it. 3AM, correct?"

"You're what?" Carlo looked at me like I was speaking a different language.

I didn't really feel like explaining myself. I was already on edge because of this drop, and now with the added stress of seeing Elena, my patience was running thin.

"She wants to go visit her family." I answered flatly.

"You don't think Elena will recognize you?" Angelo quipped.

"Of course, she will. But I'm already on thin ice with Charlotte, and I can't exactly tell her the real reason I don't want to see her mom now, can I?"

"This is an absolute shit show, you know that don't you? What the fuck makes you think Elena won't blow your cover the second you walk in there?" Angelo tossed his fork to the counter in frustration.

"She's not going to. We all have the same goal here--keeping Charlotte safe-- and knowing the truth is only going to make things worse for her."

"How can you look at her and not see Jocelyn every single time? We haven't seen her for years and we're just supposed to ignore her presence?" Carlo ranted, clearly feeding off of Angelo's irritation.

"Jesus Christ, because it's my fucking job," I seethed. This conversation was hitting me in all the wrong ways this morning. "And it's your job to back up my decisions, no questions asked. So, if you can't do that, Carlo, I'd be happy to find another place for you for the time being. That goes for all of you. I have enough on my mind without worrying about you three going off the deep end. I need to know you're all in on this."

"We are." Angelo said, mellowing out a little bit. "Nothing will fall through the cracks on this one."

"Good. And unless something changes, this is the last time we're going to talk about this. And the information about her being Jocelyn stays with us. I don't want it traveling down the ranks yet. The less people who know, the better."

No one answered, but no one protested either.

A few minutes later, Charlotte came down the stairs ready to head out. If it was possible, I was even more nervous to be spending the next three hours alone with her in the car. I lied to people on a daily basis—I made a living out of being deceitful—but something about lying to Charlotte was eating at me. It was personal in the deepest of ways, and it felt gross knowing such a heavy secret about her, while she had no clue.

Charlotte

"Drive safe!" Angelo waved as Luca and I got into the car, ready for the trip down to my parent's house.

"Yeah, tell them hello for us." Carlo smirked, and Luca shot him an icy glare as he fiddled with his seat belt, finally slamming it into the lock with enough force to make me jump. He had a way of making the simplest things like putting on a seat belt intimidating.

"Do they seem like they're acting weird to you?" I frowned, watching as they wrestled around with each other for a minute before heading back inside. This place was like a tiny fraternity, and I hated to admit it was growing on me.

"They're always acting weird." Luca said, brushing off whatever frustration he was feeling toward Carlo. He threw the car into reverse, maneuvering out the driveway and onto the road in a hurry.

"Can you slow down a little bit? I'd like to get there in one piece." I arched an eyebrow at him. I could tell he didn't want to talk about what was on his mind, and he was doing his best to hide it. Usually, he had a killer poker face and it was hard to read his emotions, but this morning he was all over the place.

"Sorry." He smiled, setting his hand on my thigh. "I just have a lot on my plate right now."

"I don't suppose you want to tell me about it..." I had a pretty good idea what his answer was going to be.

"No," He said, keeping his eyes locked on the road. "I don't."

"Remember when you said you were going to stop keeping secrets from me?" I reminded him.

"And remember when you agreed that I would only tell you what I felt like you absolutely needed to know?" He smirked. "It's really not important. The club opening in Miami is giving me more of a headache than I expected on top of the other things we have going on in the business."

"Can I help at all?"

"You already are." He grabbed my hand, putting his lips to it and giving it a gentle kiss. "You help just by being you. I like putting all of that shit behind me when I'm with you. Now, why don't we talk about something else?"