Undressed By The Mafia God

Massimo stepped into the suite he usually used whenever he was in town, with Veronica behind him.

It was just after dinner, and Massimo had requested that she walk with him. Veronica suspected Massimo wanted a conversation with her away from Luca.

That alone told her it would not be a light one. Massimo removed his jacket and placed it over the back of a chair. He walked towards the window and looked out.

"Do you remember the last time I was in New York?" he asked.

Vee remained near the sofa. "Yes. You threatened me and tortured your son."

"He walked Bianca right out that glass without even flinching," Massimo said. "Threatened to throw her over the balcony and shot his brother in the thigh."

She remembered though she had not been there. Back then, she had not fully understood the depth of the darkness. She understood now. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked.

Massimo turned away from the window fully. "That is the Luca I know. A man who barely hesitates. The one who wreaks havoc when someone steps out of bounds."

Vee held his gaze. She could feel where this was going, and she did not like it. "Don, if you are talking about the situation with Vito, I assure you, I am not holding Luca back."

"No," he said. "Not just that. I know where your loyalties lie. I am talking about the famiglia in general."

Vee took a slow breath. "I know. He does not want to continue from where you stopped."

"Do you wonder why that is?"

"My job is to follow my husband’s lead," Vee said. "I am to support him and be by his side in whatever decision he makes."

"That is a wife’s answer. It is not Donna’s answer." Massimo walked closer. "Do you think when you married Luca, you married just him? Luca is not a man alone. He is a name. A promise men fear and depend on. The moment he put his ring on your finger, you became part of that. The moment he made you Donna, you became more than his wife."

She had accepted a title Luca had romanticised. But hearing it from Massimo made it different.

"Regina," he said, "the moment Luca made you Donna, you married the entire famiglia."

It was one thing to love Luca. Quite another to accept that loving him had tied her to an empire.

"If Luca were to be out of commission tomorrow," Massimo continued, "you will lead the famiglia until your child is of age. You will make the tough decisions...Decisions he had to make, decisions I had to make."

"Luca is different from you," Vee pointed out.

Massimo smiled. "The only difference, Regina...is that I chose to sacrifice love on the altar of the famiglia. He refused to."

"Exactly," she said.

Luca’s refusal to become his father in that way was the very thing she loved most about him. He could be brutal. God knew he could be brutal. He could be cold enough to freeze a room and violent enough to make enemies pause. But Luca loved with his whole ruined soul, and he did not pretend otherwise.

Massimo’s eyes held hers. "Now do you want people to question that love? To say that love made him weak? Regina... You know that I adore you. I didn’t think for one second with the background you had, that you would be able to stomach half the things you have so far. Let me be the one person who will hand you the truth...no matter what. No matter how hard it is."

"What truth?"

"Elio will sink the famiglia. He does not have what it takes."

"You barely know that yet."

"I know enough."

"Marco is training him. Maybe he can learn."

"Some men can be taught how to hold a gun. That does not mean they can carry a kingdom. Give him one year," Massimo said, "and rival outfits would have taken the Genovese down. That is if the Bastiones do not beat them to it first."

Luca wanted to build a softer life around her and their baby. Did that mean he was going to leave his back exposed?

Did that mean people like Vito would crawl back into their lives. If Luca took the famiglia, he became everything his father is.

If Luca walked away, the family might fall. She forced a smile instead unsure of what to say. It felt strained even before it fully reached her lips.

"Have a good night, Don."

"Night, Regina."

Vee nodded and turned towards the door. Her hand closed around the handle, but she paused before opening it. She needed one second to gather herself before returning to her husband.

Then she opened the door and stepped out. Vee exhaled slowly. She took the stairs back down to the room she shared with Luca.

When she reached their room, the door was slightly open. Warm light spilled into the hallway. Vee pushed it gently and stepped inside.

"Hey..." she called.

Luca was there, standing near the bed, unbuttoning his shirt. "Hey you..."

"We need to talk," Vee said.

Luca paused with one button still caught between his fingers. Any husband with a working brain knew that sentence was dangerous. "Uh oh," he said, trying for lightness. "Are you divorcing me? Because I have to remind you, Bambola, you swore an oath. Only way out is death."

"You’re an idiot." She stepped farther into the room. "I want to talk about Vito."

"Speaking of..." He finished unbuttoning his shirt and pulled it loose from his trousers. "I received a call from him today."

"Vito called you? My father?"

He sighed. "I tried to have it tracked, but it was a payphone."

"What did he want?" she asked.

"Thirty million dollars," he said, "and he will say whatever we want him to say on the stand."

"Thirty million?"

"You know," Luca said, "I cannot believe you came from that man."

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