Luca: How’s Albania?
Lilly: It’s gorgeous. But fucking cold.
This makes me chuckle.
Luca: Settling in okay.
Lilly: Yeah. Everyone seems lovely. I’m pretty excited to get stuck into the work. I know I can’t save everyone, but I have to try.
I love that she is so passionate about the cause.
Luca: Those girls have the best woman looking after them. You are going to change their lives.
Lilly: Stop it! You’re making me cry.
Luca: I’m proud of you, Lil. I’ve heard nothing but praise from everyone you have worked with.
Lilly: Have you been checking up on me?
Is she teasing, or is she upset?
Luca: I neither confirm nor deny.
Lilly: Spoken like a true politician.
Luca: The palace is separate from the state.
Lilly: Oh, you’re good. Divert. Divert. Divert. lol
Phew, she is teasing.
Luca: Do you have plans for Christmas?
Lilly: No, I’ll be working.
Luca: Have you seen your sister recently?
Lilly: No, not in almost a year. Been saving lives and stuff. She understands, though.
This gives me the perfect idea to perhaps get back into Lilly’s good graces.
28
Luca
I’m getting ready to go to my parents’ home for Christmas Eve when my phone rings. ‘Lilly’ is displayed on the screen—looks like she got my Christmas present.
“Merry Christmas,” I answer the phone with a giant smile on my face even though she can’t see.
“You… I… how the hell did you do this?”
“Thanks, Luca,” Lauren calls out in the background. She sounds happy.
“I couldn’t let you have another Christmas without your sister.” The phone line goes quiet except for what sounds like sniffles.
“Thank you…” she hiccups through her tears, “… I don’t know how I can repay you for this?”
“You owe me nothing, Lilly.” Just knowing how happy she is, is more than enough for me.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you…” she repeats over and over again with a smile in her voice. “This is going to be the best Christmas, ever. Except…”
My stomach sinks, what did I miss?
“Except what?”
“Except you’re not here.” The phone goes quiet for a few seconds, then she backtracks with, “I’m sorry, Luca, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“I’d give anything to there with you.”
“You would?”
“Yeah, I miss you, Lilly.”
“I miss you too, Luca,” she confesses.
“I can’t get there to see you until after the new year.” Cursing my calendar and all the engagements I said yes to, to purely to keep my mind off Lilly, I sigh.
“There’s no rush. Maybe this time we should take our time.”
“I’d like that.”
Maybe she’s right. The first time we were together, we went from zero to one hundred pretty damn quickly. Now that I know there’s a chance between us, we have all the time in the world.
“Merry Christmas, Luca.”
“Merry Christmas, Lilly.” With a smile on my face, I hang up the phone.
Over the holidays, we spoke every day. Yeah, I know, we said we should go slow, but when it came to it, it was kind of hard to do.
“You seem happier.” Mamma sits beside me on the sofa—we’re about to ring in the new year.
“I am.” With the whisky tumbler in my hand, I lift it to take a drink.
“Is it the doctor?”
I’m surprised she knows about Lilly and I reconnecting, so I raise an eyebrow.
“It’s my job to know what’s happening with all my children. Plus, Natalia filled me in.”
“Lilly and I have reconnected.”
Mamma nods. “She has a good reputation at the charity for her hard work.”
“She’s amazing, Mamma.”
“Your face lights up when you speak about her.” Mamma reaches over and squeezes my thigh.
“I want to get it right this time, Mamma.”
“You know she’ll have to give up her job if you want to marry her.”
This is a fact, and this is what I’m afraid of. Looking over at my mother, I don’t know who Lilly loves more—being a doctor or me.
“She could still deal with the causes, but she could not be on the frontline like she is now.”
“That’s what I’m worried about.”
“Her call is strong, caro mio, My dear, and I know this would be one of the reasons that could make your relationship difficult.”
“I can’t let her go again,” I say, knowing she’s right as I look up at her.
She reaches out and cups my face. “Give her the choice. Do not take that away from her. Be prepared for her not to give you the answer you may want, but, above all, be patient. She has worked all her life to become a doctor.
Of course, my mother is right.
We’re both still young, we have plenty of time.
“Ti amo, I love you, Mamma.”
“Luca, Luca.” Natalia rushes into my apartment.
“Where’s the fire?”
Natalia glares at me.
“Luca…” Giorgio isn’t far behind her.
The look on their faces tells me something serious has happened.
“What is it?” I look between my siblings.
“It’s Lilly.”
What? I only spoke to her this morning.
“Tell me?” Panic laces every inch of my body as I wait.
“Lilly’s been kidnapped,” Natalia stresses.
The shock of her words makes me stumble for a moment. “Kidnapped?” I repeat the word as bile rises in my throat, and a light sheen of sweat forms across my forehead.
No.
No.
No.
“She was safe. She was supposed to be safe.” Anger bubbling to the surface as my fists ball tightly.
“All we know so far is that she sacrificed herself,” Giorgio informs me.
“Don’t say that,” I scream at my brother. “She’s alive. She has to be.”
Giorgio and Natalia both look at each other with pain etched across their faces.
No.
Please, God, no.
I should’ve told her I still loved her this morning. It was on the tip of my tongue, but things have been going so well this past month, I didn’t want to jinx anything. Falling to my knees with the weight of the world on me, my head falls into my hands. This can’t be happening not when I’ve finally got her back.
“Luca,” Natalia says softly, wrapping her arms around me. “We haven’t had confirmation so there’s still hope.”
Turning, I look at my sister through watery eyes. “I still love her.”
Natalia wraps her arms around me tighter. “I know you do.”
Once the initial
