????MAFIA POSSESSION ????????
( HIS ADDICTION ????)
BY, ROYAL DIADEM ❣️
CHAPTER 34
Copy and have your life shortened ????
THE SOUND of sharpie screeching against cardboard set Luca’s teeth on
edge, but he tolerated it because not knowing what was in the boxes would
make unpacking a nightmare. Caroline cli-cked the cap on the sharpie and
stood up with her hands on her hips, triumphant. “That’s all the kitchen
stuff.”
Luca looked around at the stacks of boxes in his empty living room and
felt an easiness,
a freedom of sorts. He wrapped Caroline in his arms
because he could. He could do that. They’d been together for months, but
he still marveled at these careless little intimacies. Her nose poking into his
chest, a casual sweep of his hand through her hair, the weight of her head in
his lap, her warm breath against his ear when she made a snide comment in
public, her fingers laced through his when they walked together.
It had all
been unthinkable in the spring.
He buried his face in her hair and breathed in the flowery scent of her
shampoo, now packed in a box with all the other soaps and cleaners. It
would sit next to his shampoo on the shower rack at their new place. It
would belong there, as she belonged with him—to him. Caroline was his.
He rubbed his hands up and down her back and smiled into her hair.
They were building a life together. The city was home, but it was loud, andcrowded, and full of memories. Some pleasant memories—ice cream shopsand toy stores and coffee shops. But many unpleasant memories lurked inalleys and around corners and hid in storm drains. The city had shapedthem, and Luca was grateful for it, but it was time to move on, to slowdown. Upstate offered quiet, cookie cutter suburbs and quaint Victoriancottages between cornfields and vineyards.
They’d visited many but fell in love with one little historic house in
particular. A pink stone facade, a large porch, recently renovated
bathrooms, beautiful dark wood floors, a quarter mile from the nearest
neighbor with large, ancient trees to frame the long gravel drive. It was a
perfect place for a beginning, wrapped in the vibrant hues of autumn and
the sweet smell of pine.
Caroline pushed against his chest to look up at him. “Feeling
sentimental?” she guessed.
He released her and shook his head. “Just enjoying the moment.”
He’d
been trying to do that more lately. It was so easy to get caught up in
planning for the future or dwelling on the past. But Luca was done
wallowing in regret for things he couldn’t change and stressing about what
would come didn’t help anyone. He liked to stay in the moment with
Caroline, to breathe the air around him and feel it settle in his lungs. He
liked to feel the warmth of the sunshine through the windows and sink into
the depths of the tropical forests caught in Caroline’s eyes.
Caroline hoisted a box onto her hip. “You gonna help me carry these
down, or are you just gonna stand there looking like a lovesick idiot?”
Luca tilted his head and clucked his tongue. “Watch yourself, gattina.”
“Or what?” she challenged. They loved these games.
Luca wrapped a hand around her chin to tilt her face up to meet him. He
kissed her slow and toxic, the way he knew made her weak at the knees.
She blinked at him slightly breathless when he pulled away. “Or I will have
to ruin you before we even unpack.” It wasn’t really a threat, it was a
prediction of events to
place, and exactly what she wanted.
She smiled and it lit up the darkest corners of Luca’s mind. The corners
where he hid his skeletons and shoved the crimes he committed. But that
was okay, because Caroline loved him in spite of all the dark, dusty corners.
She loved him, accepted him, skeletons and all. She showed him that hecould always choose to be better. He couldn’t change what he’d done, andhe might never atone for it, but he could be better than he was yesterday.
Giovanni understood and allowed him to slowly step away from hismafia duties. As everyone expected, Giovanni was a much better Don thanBruno had been. He made it a smooth transition for others to take over
Luca’s responsibilities and allow Luca to transition into a normal life. Aremote job in data analysis for the Morettis’ front company—completelylegitimate.
Caroline approved, which made it even better. He finally felt like he was building something instead of tearing things down, and he liked
that feeling.
Luca picked up a box and followed Caroline down to the moving truck.
A few more trips and they pulled the back of the truck closed with a slam.
They grinned at each other. Chilly autumn wind tousled Caroline’s soft
golden hair and turned the tip of her nose a pretty shade of pink.
Luca
breathed in the moment and sealed it up in his mind for a rainy day. It
glowed gold and sweet and chased away some of the shadows.
Another trip back up to the apartment to do a final sweep and make sure
they didn’t forget anything. Caesar, the German shepherd rescue Caroline
insisted they adopt, curled up in an empty corner chewing on a stuffed
rabbit toy. Luca bent down to scratch behind his ears. He would love the
new house. He’d have plenty of room to run and roll around in the dirt.
Luca hadn’t planned to love the dog, but he did. Caesar thought he was alap dog and leapt onto the couch while they were watching movies, hetracked mud through the apartment, and ripped his toys to shreds within aweek, but Luca loved him. Perhaps he saw some of himself in the big dog,wanting to be good and fighting against nature to some extent.
He hooked a leash onto Caesar’s collar and led him down to the truck.
Luca settled into the driver’s seat, Caroline beside him and Caesar inbetween them with his tongue hanging out. Luca started the car and noddedgoodbye to his old life.
CHAPTER 35(FINALE)
GIANNA MORETTI’S home felt different somehow than the mansion that
Caroline broke into eight months ago. It was the same building, the same
walls, the same furniture, the same tastefully expensive decorations, but it
felt warmer, more inviting, more like home. That probably had something
to do with the fact that she hadn’t been invited the first time she saw the
mansion and had been very emotionally unstable. But she liked to think it
was Gianna’s touch that warmed the halls.
A fire crackled in the fireplace, putting out at comforting warmth.
Instrumental Christmas carols played from a speaker Caroline couldn’t see.
The room smelled like the Christmas scented candles that filled the room
and it took Caroline back to Christmases before her mother died. Gianna
brought a tray of decorated cookies into the parlor and set them on the glass
coffee table. Little gingerbread men with perfect frosting faces and rows of
buttons down their fronts, butter cookies in the shape of snow men and bells
and wreaths. sugar cookie reindeer with delicate legs and glittery colored
sugar sprinkles in the buttercream frosting.
The Moretti parlor was full of holiday cheer. Giovanni and Delilah hung
delicate-colored bulbs on the branches of the tree beside the fire. They
smiled easily to each other and spoke in hushed tones with love sparkling in
their eyes as much as the candlelight. Luca stood beside the tree and
casually re-arranged the ornaments for a more balanced look.
Antonio
wrestled with a string of lights above the mantle, balancing on a suede
ottoman. Alessandro, with his arm around Lorna, laughed at his twin and
occasionally called out unhelpful suggestions. Lorna glowed in the
candlelight with a hand on her swollen stomach and a satisfied smile.
Everyone looked content. The atmosphere was warm and full of the
youthful excitement of Christmas.
Caroline took one of the butter cookies and it melted on her tongue.
Luca laughed at the face she made as she held it in her mouth, just tasting
for a moment before she chewed and swallowed. “These are the best
cookies I’ve ever had,” she told Gianna.
Gianna laughed, a full, musical sound that brought a smile to all her
children’s faces. “You don’t have to flatter me, Caroline,
we already like
you.” Caroline had to wonder again and Gianna’s capacity for forgiveness.
The first time they met, Caroline shot her husband, and now they were
celebrating the holidays together.
Gianna had always been lovely. Elegant and expensive in her own way.
There was a peace to her now, a soft glow in her cheeks to match her red
velvet blouse sprinkled with glittering stones like snow.
The black streaks
in her hair were gone, leaving her with a perfectly styled coif of silver. The
lines around her soulful, deep set eyes were deeper than they had been.
Perhaps she’d aged more in the months since her husband died than the year
before that,
but it suited her. She didn’t appear to resent that, or anything at
all. To look at Gianna inspired peace in one’s heart and restored faith that
there was good in this world.
She offered Caroline a gingerbread man. “Try the gingerbread. That’s
where my talent really lies.”
Caroline bit off the head. It was perfectly crisp, with just enough
sweetness to temper the sharp spice of the ginger. Caroline nodded her
head. “Fantastic,”
she said through her mouthful of cookie.
Gianna smiled gleefully. “I’ll send you the recipe.”
“Thank you.” Caroline looked at Luca, who was too busy trying to be
inconspicuous in moving the smaller ornaments to the top of the tree to
notice.
He did most of the cooking because he was better at it and enjoyed
it. He also did most of the cleaning because he complained that Caroline
didn’t ‘do it right.’ She tried. She really did. But he didn’t seem to mind,
though he did tease her about it.
Giovanni and Delilah decided that the tree was decorated to satisfaction
and stepped back to admire their work. Luca pretended that he hadn’t
moved any of the ornaments and admired with them. Gianna opened a box
and pulled out Christmas stockings.
The ones her sons had as children,
embroidered, shiny things that held sweet glowing memories in every thread. A red stocking with white trim and silver lettering for Lorna, a
simple green for Delilah,
a white and gold quilted stocking for Caroline
with fuzzy puffs dangling from the top. She accepted it graciously and
rolled the feather soft puff balls between her fingers before she hung it
above the fire next to Luca’s. His spelled his name in neat blue cross
stitches surrounded in silver embroidered snowflakes with tiny beads that
caught the light.
Gianna pulled a last stocking from her box. A tiny one, red and white
with ‘Baby Moretti’ spelled in silver glitter glue. Alessandro clapped his
hands and twirled the little stocking around, showed it to his wife, who
beamed at him and thanked Gianna.
“So you’re going to name your kid after me, right?” Antonio elbowed
Alessandro in the ribs.
“Not a chance.” Alessandro held the stocking close to his chest
protectively. The brothers took turns suggesting increasingly ridiculous
names for the baby.
“Rudolf was the most valuable reindeer.” Giovanni defended his
suggestion.
Luca hummed. “Only because his unique skills became necessary to the
corporate money machine. Were it not stormy that night, he would have
remained shunned for his differences.”
Alessandro scoffed. “It’s a children’s song, Luca. It’s really not that
deep.”
Luca shrugged, unapologetic, and Caroline’s heart swelled. She couldn’t
wait to marry him. She latched on to his arm and he gave her a fond look.
“Mom, Caroline and I have something we’d like to share.” Gianna’s whole
being lit up brighter than the star on the top of the tree. Luca gave Caroline
a squeeze. “I asked her to marry me, and she said yes.”
Gianna clapped her hands and Caroline could already see her planning
the wedding. “But we don’t want a big wedding,” She said quickly. “We
want to keep it small.”
Luca sounded almost apologetic. “I know how much you love planning
events, but we might not even want a wedding.” They’d discussed it at
length. A big production,
all pomp and circumstance just didn’t feel right. If
there were any ceremony, they’d want it to be small and intimate, only
those closest to them. Moving away from the city, from the business, had
been the best thing for them. Caroline found it easier to write on the porch surrounded by nature,
and Luca’s conscience had healed a lot from doing
legitimate work. A big wedding would contradict the simplicity they bothvalued so much in their lives.
Gianna seemed to understand. “I won’t say I didn’t have ideas for yourwedding,” she sighed. “But I trust you to know what you need.” She took
Caroline’s hand between hers. “And Caroline, darling, we’re happy towelcome you to the family.”
Caroline felt the magic of Christmas like she hadn’t felt it since she wasa child. It surged through her chest in warm golden light, squeezing untiltears prickled in her eyes. Alessandro, Lorna, Antonio, Giovanni, all smiledat her with welcoming, open arms. Caroline clasped Gianna’s hand andsank into Luca’s warmth beside her. After wandering lost for so long, thisfelt like home.
THE END