But why would he have done that? He was acting rather curious when we were here this morning. Did it have something to do with that? Does Johnny somehow already know the truth about the owner of the café? How would that even be possible? I have only looked at the results once, and that was on campus, when Johnny wasn’t around. If it’s not that, maybe Johnny knows something I don’t, that Luciano really is involved with a part of Johnny’s past that he’s trying to put behind him.
“I…” What am I supposed to tell him? The truth? That I’m lurking in the shadows because he’s my boyfriend’s father, and I’m trying to determine his worth prior to telling Johnny? But if I do, that opens up a whole new can of worms. And I’d rather Johnny know the truth before this random dude with his hand gripping my throat.
But if I don’t tell him, he’s going to suspect I’m working against him, and maybe he’ll use the same professional courtesy Franklin has done to people who messed with him and end my life for the sheer fact that he can.
Luciano’s nostrils flare as he lets out a breath. “Tell me who.”
I frantically stare back and forth between his green eyes. They’re so fucking similar to Johnny’s.
“I am not a man you want to cross, Claire…if that’s even your name.” Luciano looks toward the street when a few people walk by, but we’re tucked into the shadows no one would be able to see us without venturing down this dark path. “Are you here on behalf of Franklin?”
With that name, I practically see red. The person who nearly took Johnny from me. The man that I desperately hope gets what’s coming to him.
Luciano cocks his head slightly. “You’re not, are you?”
I slowly rock my head from side to side. “No.”
Something seems to click within him, and his resolve softens. He doesn’t let me go, but his grip loosens barely. “Why are you here?”
“The coffee,” I spit out.
Luciano narrows his gaze once more. “I’m losing my patience with you.” His fingers twitch around my neck, like he’s about to squeeze it again and force the answer out of me.
I let my mind wander, to the very real possibility that Johnny finds out what happens tonight, and the reaction he’ll have once he finds out what his father did. I cannot allow Luciano to leave a mark of what he did, because Johnny may never forgive him. Luciano isn’t exactly winning any father of the year awards, but I’d be setting him up for immediate failure if he hurt a hair on my head.
The only thing I can do is tell him the truth, even if he doesn’t believe me.
“Theo is your son.”
Luciano stares at me, not saying a thing.
Is he in shock?
His lips part and his eyes wander then meet mine again. “That’s not…possible.”
“Lynne,” I say.
“No.” Luciano’s hand falls from me, dropping to his side.
I bring my own up to my neck in an automatic response to being held so aggressively. I study him while an unrecognizable flurry of emotions rushes over him.
He rakes his fingers through his hair, another thing Johnny has a habit of doing. A second passes in uncomfortable silence before he looks at me again, a pang of sadness in his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
And somehow, I truly believe it. If he really is in the dark world I think he is, it’s no shock that he reacted the way he did. I probably would have done the same if I were in his shoes. It’s difficult to know who to trust when everyone is against you.
“You can’t tell him,” I blurt out.
“He doesn’t know?” Luciano’s brows bunch together in disbelief.
I rub my neck. “No, not yet…I…”
He tugs at his bunched-up sleeve, pulling it down. “How? How did you find out?”
I bite at my lip, hating to recall another one of my deceitful moments. “An ancestry thing.”
“Why?” Luciano’s stare is serious and intense.
“Joh—” I stop myself too late and hope he didn’t catch that slip. “Theo doesn’t have anyone else. It’s just me. I don’t want that for him. Heaven forbid, if something happened to me— he’d be alone. He doesn’t deserve that.”