Chapter 6 – The Ticket In The Pocket

The silence in the master bedroom was suffocating.

Luca stood perfectly still, holding the blue bus ticket between his fingers as if it were a poisonous snake.

“You were leaving,” he repeated, his voice dangerously quiet.

I tried to sit up, wincing as the pain in my shoulder flared.

“Luca, please let me explain—”

“Explain what?” He threw the ticket onto the foot of the bed. “That while I was fighting to protect my son from the Bellinis, the woman he trusts most in this world was secretly packing her bags to abandon him?”

His words felt like a physical blow.

“I wasn’t abandoning him!” I cried, tears instantly springing to my eyes.

“Then what is this, Rachel?” Luca demanded, gesturing to the ticket. “It’s dated for tomorrow. You bought it three days ago. Before Vanessa even brought that actor into the house.”

He ran a hand through his dark hair, pacing to the window and back. The betrayal radiating from him was palpable.

“Noah loves you,” Luca said, his voice cracking. “He thinks you hung the moon. And you were just going to walk out the door without a word?”

“Because I had to!” I sobbed, clutching the heavy silk blanket against my chest.

Luca stopped pacing. He stared at me, his jaw clenched.

“Why?”

I looked down at my hands. They were shaking. The truth I had buried for four years was clawing its way up my throat, choking me.

“Because I was falling in love with you,” I whispered.

The room went dead silent.

Luca didn’t move. He didn’t breathe.

I couldn’t look at him. I just let the tears fall, staring at the intricate pattern on the blanket.

“I was a maid, Luca,” I said, my voice trembling. “I scrubbed your floors. I washed your dishes. And every night, I watched you read bedtime stories to Noah. I watched the most powerful man in Chicago become a gentle, loving father behind closed doors.”

I wiped my face, sniffing quietly.

“When Vanessa moved in, she made it very clear what my place was. She told me I was nothing. And she was right. You were getting married to a mafia princess. You were building an empire.”

I finally looked up at him. My heart was completely exposed.

“I couldn’t stay and watch you marry her. I couldn’t stand in the background in a black uniform and pretend it didn’t kill me to see you hold her hand. So I bought the ticket. I was going to leave after the engagement dinner, so I wouldn’t ruin Noah’s night.”

Luca stared at me.

The anger completely melted from his face, replaced by a profound, overwhelming realization.

He slowly walked back to the bed and sat down.

He reached out and gently cupped my face in his large, warm hands.

“You think I wanted to marry Vanessa?” Luca whispered, his thumbs wiping away my tears.

I blinked, confused. “You proposed to her.”

“I proposed to an alliance,” Luca corrected softly. “I proposed to a treaty that would keep the Commission from trying to assassinate me and take my son. I never loved her, Rachel. I never even liked her.”

He leaned in closer. His dark eyes were burning with an intensity that made my breath catch.

“For two years,” Luca murmured, his face inches from mine, “I have rushed home from meetings just to see you smiling in the kitchen. I have sat through boring, meaningless dinners wishing I was eating burnt toast at the small table with you and Noah.”

My heart hammered against my ribs.

“Luca…”

“I thought you were untouchable,” he confessed, his voice rough with emotion. “You were so pure. So good. I thought if I brought you into my world, the darkness would ruin you.”

He looked down at my bandaged shoulder, a flash of guilt crossing his features.

“And tonight, it almost did.”

“I chose to jump in front of that gun,” I told him fiercely. “You didn’t force me. I chose my family.”

Luca’s breath hitched.

“Say that again.”

“I chose my family,” I repeated softly.

Luca didn’t hesitate anymore.

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine.

It wasn’t a hesitant kiss. It was desperate, deep, and filled with years of suppressed longing. He kissed me like he was a drowning man and I was his only breath of air.

I wrapped my good arm around his neck, pulling him closer, tangling my fingers in his dark hair. The pain in my shoulder vanished, replaced entirely by the overwhelming heat of his touch.

When he finally pulled away, we were both breathless.

He rested his forehead against mine, a genuine, beautiful smile breaking across his face.

“You are never taking a bus to Seattle,” Luca whispered.

I laughed, a wet, happy sound. “Okay.”

Before we could say anything else, the bedroom door creaked open.

We both turned.

Noah was standing in the doorway, wearing his oversized pajamas. He was rubbing his eyes, holding his favorite stuffed bear.

He looked at Luca sitting on my bed.

Then, he looked at the bus ticket lying on the blanket.

Noah’s eyes widened. He recognized the blue paper. He’d seen them before when he was moved from foster home to foster home.

“Rachel?” Noah’s voice trembled. “Are you leaving?”

He dropped his bear and ran to the bed, tears instantly flooding his eyes.

“Please don’t go!” Noah sobbed, climbing onto the mattress and burying his face in my uninjured side. “I’ll be good! I won’t make a mess in the kitchen anymore! Please don’t leave me!”

My heart shattered.

I hugged him tight, kissing the top of his head over and over.

“Oh, sweetheart, no,” I promised fiercely. “I’m not leaving. I am never leaving you.”

Luca picked up the bus ticket.

He looked at Noah, then looked at me.

Without a word, Luca tore the ticket in half. Then he tore it into quarters. He dropped the pieces into the small trash can beside the bed.

“Nobody is leaving, buddy,” Luca said, placing a large, comforting hand on Noah’s back.

Noah looked up, sniffling. “Promise?”

“I promise,” Luca swore.

He reached into his pocket. The same pocket where he had placed Noah’s crayon drawing earlier that night.

He didn’t pull out the drawing.

He pulled out a small, faded velvet box.

“Actually, Noah,” Luca said, his voice thick with emotion. “I think it’s time we make it official.”

Luca opened the box.

Resting on the velvet wasn’t a massive, flashy diamond like the one he had given Vanessa.

It was an antique gold band, set with a single, modest sapphire.

“This belonged to my grandmother,” Luca whispered, looking directly into my eyes. “She was the strongest woman I ever knew. She protected this family when my grandfather died. She held us together.”

He took the ring out of the box and held it between his fingers.

“I don’t want a treaty anymore, Rachel. I don’t want an alliance. I just want my home.”

Luca Moretti, the most feared man in Chicago, looked at me with complete vulnerability.

“Will you marry me?”

I looked at the ring. Then I looked at Noah, who was watching us with wide, hopeful eyes.

“Yes,” I cried, a massive smile breaking across my face. “Yes, absolutely.”

Luca slid the antique ring onto my finger. It fit perfectly.

Noah cheered, throwing his arms around both of us in a messy, tearful hug.

For the first time in my life, the mansion didn’t feel like a workplace.

It felt like home.

But as I leaned against Luca’s chest, feeling completely safe, Marco appeared in the doorway again.

His face was grim.

“Boss,” Marco said quietly. “I’m sorry. But you need to turn on the news.”