Page 16 of Veiled Amor

“Giancarlo? It’s me.”

Lucia.

Just like that, his heart went into freefall. A barrage of questions pushed into his mind.

Three goddamn weeks since he’d spoken to her.

Three weeks since she didn’t answer on their usual Friday calls.

Three weeks since he’d wondered had she finally tired of his aloof behavior and cut him from her life.

Wouldn’t blame her one bit.

It was something he should have done years ago, not hung on like a desperate prick.

Sweet girls didn’t need men like him. Ones with zero morals and the brass balls to do what he’d done.

He’d taken from his brother on the worst day possible.

But it had started long before that.

The first time he’d laid eyes on a younger Lucia while he’d been driving with Santiago. He’d spotted her through the car window and felt something crack inside his chest. Felt it burn and spread through his skin.

Lust.

It only got worse from there.

“Why are you calling on an unknown number? A new phone?” Was what he chose to ask her, not any of the other thousand more important questions.

“It’s a long story,” she said, sounding neutral. “I guess I’ll start at the beginning if you have time to talk?”

“Sí,” he croaked after a few seconds.

“And when I’ve finished telling you, I’m going to ask you for some help, Giancarlo.”

He didn’t know how long later it was, while he stood out in the cold, listening to Lucia’s melodic voice, that he hung up the phone, made his way inside to talk to Rider and Zara. Letting them know he was sorry, but he had to duck out.

They asked why, and Capone told them a girl he knew needed his help.

His sister-in-law.

They understood because to the prez and his queen, family was everything.

He didn’t tell them this was the woman he’d given his heart to, because that was a bag of worms he couldn’t delve into.

Not when he had a plane ticket to buy.

Capone strode out of the hotel. He didn’t even stop to tell his buddies where he was going.

He remembered standing up as best man for his younger brother on a day much like this and watching Lucia say vows to Santiago.

He remembered the feeling of his chest filling with heaviness.

He’d had questions.

Plenty of time for answers, he thought.

After all this time, she’d finally fled from her father.