“I think Luca wants the same thing from you, Remy,” Frankie added. “I think he wants you to understand the importance of who you are and who you’ll be once you marry him. He needs to trust you with your own safety, just as Ciro and Phoenix needed to trust us.”
I stood up and started pacing the back of the couch. “That still doesn’t make it right,” I argued. “He threatened my parents, for Christ’s sake,” I reminded them. “I can’t…that’s not okay.”
“No. It’s not,” Frankie agreed. “But if he did, there was a good reason for it, Remy. Luca doesn’t…he doesn’t fly off half-cocked. There’s reason behind everything Luca says or does.”
“I can’t quit my job,” I told them again. “I can’t let Luca take that from me.”
I honestly didn’t know if there was a middle ground with my career, but I did know that I couldn’t walk out on those kids. How was I expected to look myself in the mirror everyday knowing I was just another person in a long line of disappointments for them?
I couldn’t.
I had to be able to live with myself and I knew I wouldn’t be able to if I quit on them.
The worst part had been when Luca had fucked me over the couch. He had been demeaning and humiliating, but my body had welcomed his vicious intrusion. He’d be awful and I had hated him in those rough, degrading moments, but my body had obeyed his needs and had erupted for him.
It had been the most humiliating moment of my life.
It had also been the most sobering. How could I possibly still be turned on by a certified psychopath? I mean, he had to be one in order to threaten to kill his future in-laws, right?
There was also the glaring fact that, while Luca has said a lot of things, he’s never told me how he feels about me. He’s told me he wants me and that he plans on worshipping me, but that’s just physical and a show of respect. That’s nothing close to love. Hell, not even like.
I also wasn’t in the right frame of mind to listen to Frankie and Robbie’s reasoning. They weren’t asked to give up their careers by demand. They weren’t threatened to comply like I was. Our situations aren’t the same.
There was also the fact that my parents weren’t rich. They were financially responsible, but they weren’t rich. They spent a lot of money to send me to college and get my degree. For me to quit my job would be like spitting in the face of all their hard work. And I might not have been the best social worker out there, but I was dedicated to those kids. I am dedicated to those kids.
And to walk away from it all, why? So, that Luca Benetti could have…what? Like he had so eloquently pointed out earlier, he didn’t need me to get laid. He didn’t even need me to marry him. There were probably hundreds of women in the city dying to be the next Mrs. Luca Benetti. Was it because I witnessed him killing that guy? Was he just trying to keep me close so that I didn’t turn him in? Did he really not want to kill a woman, so this was his best option?
I shook my head.
No. Luca Benetti wouldn’t tie himself to a woman for like just so he didn’t have to kill her. He could have just scared me back to Nebraska. Hell, he almost did.
I looked over at Robbie and Frankie looked at me from the couch and I knew I couldn’t lie to them. They’d been nothing but nice to me, so I wasn’t going to return the favor by lying. “I can’t do it,” I repeated. “I’m going to leave. I’m going to leave Luca.” Robbie’s eyes watered, while Frankie just shook her head sadly. “He’ll destroy me if I stay.”
“He’ll kill you if you leave,” Frankie pointed out.
“Maybe,” I conceded. “But being dead is better than not being able to live with myself, Frankie.”
“Remy…please think about this,” Robbie implored. “How do you even plan to leave? Do you think you’ll be let out of this building without the guards notifying Luca? What about Emilio? It’ll be his life if he lets you get away.”
My heart beat a painful tattoo with her words. I hadn’t considered that. But Emilio’s life wasn’t more important than the kids I looked after. He was a grown man who chose this life. My kids weren’t responsible for the hell they were born into.
“I’ll figure something out,” I replied. “I…I just wanted to thank you guys for…accepting me and being my friend.”
Frankie stood up and gave me a sad smile. “I have to tell him,” she said. “You know that, right?”
I nodded.
I did know that.
“Thanks again,” I said before walking around to give both women a hug goodbye.
Walking out of Robbie’s apartment, I found Emilio waiting for me in the hallway. I looked up at him and put on my fakest smile. “Can you give me a tour of the building?”
Emilio gave me a curt nod. “Of course.”
Emilio spent the next hour showing me the entire building, while I spent the next hour searching for a way out of Kratos and out of Luca Benetti’s life.
Chapter 19
Luca~
Normally, I didn’t come to The Sapphire, but I knew a certain senator was going to be in attendance, and we had some business to discuss. After we had concluded our business meeting, which was me basically reminding the prick that I had his balls in a vise, I had stayed for a few drinks.
