“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Did I say something to offend you?”
“You didn’t offend me.” He wouldn’t look at me. “I just… I don’t feel right about leaving you alone.”
“I thought this was what you wanted. I thought you wanted to leave me unguarded so the Vittorios…”
He made a chopping motion with his hand, and I broke off. He was acting like a mobster again, but his eyes told a different story. Was that why he didn’t want to look at me—to stop me from seeing how he really felt?
One of the bartenders came over and asked me if he could get me anything. I held up my champagne flute, and the guy turned to Luca. “Can I get you anything, Padrino?”
Luca faced the guy. “I’ll take a double bourbon, Nico. Thank you.”
The bartender poured his drink and handed it over. Luca pounded half of it in one swallow. “What happened to staying sharp?” I asked.
“Iamstaying sharp.” He downed the rest of it and handed back the empty glass.
I couldn’t stop staring at him. Something was happening here, but what was it? Something was changing between me and Luca. Why was he acting so distressed and breaking his own rules?
Someone jostled him from behind and distracted him. He glanced over his shoulder, and we had to crowd down the bar to make room for a new group trying to get served.
We both shuffled our feet in an uncomfortable silence until I couldn’t stand it any longer. “Do you want to dance?”
He shrugged. “Not really.”
“Well, if we aren’t going to dance, I have to go to the bathroom,” I told him. “Do you know where it is?”
“It’s up on the balcony. I’ll take you up there.”
He took my hand, and we started making our way through the crowd. He was sure acting protective considering it was his idea to give me plenty of space. Shouldn’t I be going to the bathroom by myself? Did he plan to shadow me into the stall?
We returned to the massive foyer, and he led me up the sweeping staircase to the upper landing. A wide balcony with an ornate carved railing overlooked the ball. I migrated to the edge and caught my breath at the spectacle going on below.
More people were dancing, and their costumes turned the whole pageant into such a surreal fantasy that I couldn’t look away. The Vittorio enforcers still occupied the same place by the buffet. One of the men who had been standing with Michael was gone. The taller of the two remained by his father. That must be Alessandro.
That meant the missing Vittorio was Giovanni, the son Dante called a worthless playboy. Where was he?
A scuffle broke out by the bar, and I spotted Giovanni standing between two women in the most ostentatious costumes I’d ever seen. They had included Day-Glo fabric in their dresses and masks that made them look cheap and trashy rather than edgy.
Giovanni was talking loudly, and the two women were laughing even more loudly. Other guests turned to watch, and all three were drinking wildly. They ate up the attention, even if it wasn’t admiring attention.
I looked around for Dante and Dominic… and at that moment, Luca’s hand touched my back. It rested there in a tender, protective gesture, and my insides melted in a fizzy bubble of excitement. He was touching me… likethat.
He eased closer to me, and my heart fluttered, but I didn’t turn around. His warm breath tickled my neck, and his lips floated through space to rest on my bare shoulder.
My knees wobbled. I could have collapsed in relief and emotion right there. I had to prop my hands on the railing as he slipped his arm around my waist.
“I missed you so much!” he whispered in my ear. “I thought I would die when you left.”
I swallowed down a lump rising in my throat. Was this the moment when we completed the cycle that started all those years ago? Was this the moment when I got back the boy I loved more than anything?
“I don’t think I can let you go,” he breathed. “I don’t think I can go through with this, not even for the family. I can’t lose you again.”
“Luca!” I choked.
His mouth pressed against my ear, and he crushed me to him. “I love you!” he husked. “I love you so much! Don’t ever leave me again.”
My hand flew to his head. I needed to kiss him and put my arms around him, but I couldn’t turn around with him holding me like this.
He relaxed his grip and took a step back. I turned, but he didn’t look like him with that mask over his face. He didn’t look like the man who could say those words.