18 Is It Worth it 18 Is It Worth It Luciana POV The emotions of the day must have had me feeling more exhausted than I realized. Enzo lifting me in his arms, wakes me from where I fell asleep against his chest. "We are home, amore," he says. "You can put me down Enzo. I can walk." "I'm rather enjoying having you in my arms. I thought that I lost you today. I'm not quite ready to put you down, Luciana," he says. I smile tightening my arms around his neck. He carries me into our home and something has definitely shifted between us. I watched his eyes with every word he spoke in that room at Club Six earlier, and he was being honest. The sound of sobs has me shimmying out of Enzo's hold. I turn in time to see Antonio wrap Marie in his arms. I say her name softly as I approach the two of them. Her eyes are wild when she turns toward me. She is on her feet rushing toward me almost knocking Antonio off the couch. She pulls me into her arms, holding me like I'm about to disappear. "I'm so sorry, Luciana. I'm so sorry he hurt you again," she says. "It's alright, Marie. I'm fine, we are fine." "Bullsh*t, it's not fine. He is so worried about pleasing daddy he doesn't care who gets hurt. I actually thought for a moment you were going to be your own man and be the husband she deserved, but I should have known better. You are too busy trying to be exactly like that stronzo," Antonio says, moving toward Enzo. Marie pulls away from me, stepping between her sons. I hate the pain I see in her eyes. Enzo has yet to tell me what happened after I left, but I imagine it was not good if Marie and Antonio are here. "Enough Antonio, Enzo is your brother," Marie says. "No mama, let him say what he wants to say. He thinks he knows everything. He thinks he knows me," Enzo says. "All you care about is what Papa says. He dangles the carrot in front of you, and you trot like the damn pony he wants you to be. He hit our mother today. Look at the bruise on her cheek. Is that the man you respect? He ordered you to let a wh*re suck your d**k while your wife and mother were in the next room. When will the order be too much? Is becoming a ba**ard like him really worth it just to be his golden child," Antonio says. "Is that what you really think, Antonio? You think I follow orders, so I can be the favorite. I was the unfortunate one who was born first and, after everything I've had to endure, you are damn right about one thing. I want what I've earned, but not to be like him. I'm the one that pulled a gun on the ba**ard today after he hit mama. I am nothing like him," he says. "I have made mistakes and I will spend the rest of my life proving to my wife that I can be the husband she deserves, but don't you ever say that I am anything like that pr*ck again, or I will forget we are brothers. I would never do to my son what he has done to me," Enzo says, his voice raising with every word. Spittle flies from his mouth as he steps toward his brother. This time it's me that steps between them. I wrap myself around Enzo's middle. The pain and anger rolling off him is palpable. "I think we all need to sit down and talk to each other instead of at each other." He wraps his arms around me and buries his nose in my hair. He takes a few deep breaths before he leads me over to take a seat next to him. He pulls me close to his side as Marie and Antonio take the love seat across from us. A throat clearing has us all looking toward Bruno, who just walked into the room. "Boss, I just got a call from Gino. It seems your father is meeting with his three most loyal capos at the house. Gino and the men loyal to 1/3 18 is it Worth It 415 Points) you are going to stay as long as they can to find out exactly what your father has planned. I guess he is quite pissed you took his wife from him." "He is no husband of mine. I didn't care about his puttanas because I was glad to be left alone since Marco started with the blue pills. He has never been a good man, but I took vows to be his wife as was expected by my parents." She looks at Enzo with regret in her eyes. "You boys are the best thing to come out of our marriage. I had no idea what he was doing to you, Enzo. I knew he spoke about making you a hard man because you would become the head of our family, but it was more than that, wasn't it," she asks. I can see that despite Enzo's words from earlier, he isn't ready to discuss whatever torture he suffered at Marco's hands. "Mama, I love you, but now is not the time to live in the past. You have no blame for anything that happened. The only thing that is important right now is to make sure that you, Antonio, and Luciana are safe. I'm going to go with Bruno and set up meetings with the capos that dad thinks are loyal to him, but haven't been for some time," he says. He kisses my temple. "I'm heading to my office down the hall. I'll be back soon, amore." I don't say anything, but I will be at every one of those meetings. Once Bruno and Enzo are out of sight, I turn back toward Marie and Antonio. I can see a torrent of emotions flashing in my mother-in-law's eyes. "Marie, why don't we go make something for all of us to eat? I'm starving." She smiles knowing exactly what I'm doing. We could all use a break from the drama, and she needs to focus on something other than her ba**ard of a husband. Enzo POV Bruno leaves me after I finish my phone calls. I know that Luciana will insist on attending the meetings with me and, honestly, I want her by my side. This is our family. Marco is wrong about women. They aren't weak. Hell, watching my mother with my father today showed me that. Watching Luciana not only in the warehouse but in the club, making sure I understood what could have happened, showed me that. The calls went well. I knew that many of my father's capos felt he was becoming sloppy. There were even a few occasions that I had to step in to ensure we didn't lose money and guns because he thinks that the men working under him are too afraid to f**k him over. Those that tried aren't alive to try to cross me when I take over the family. I was hoping the old man would step down, but the more that's happened, I realize he's going to need to be convinced one way or another. I still can't believe he hit my mother. I'm not under any disillusion that my father wouldn't hit a woman. Hell, I've been there when it happened, but I've never seen him raise his hand to my mother. A knock on my office door brings a smile to my face. When the door opens, my smile fades quickly when I see it's Antonio. "You wound me, brother. I assume you thought I was your bride," he says. "What do you want, Antonio?" "Mama and Luciana are making food. I figured it was a good time for us to talk," he says. "I'm not sure if it is. I'm not really feeling very chatty, Antonio It's been a sh**ty day." Despite my words, he moves across my office and takes a seat in front of my desk. "I owe you an apology. I'm sorry for saying that you are like Marco. I don't agree with a lot of the sh*t you've done, especially when it comes to Luciana, but you aren't him," he says. "No, I'm not, but I've made mistakes, especially when it comes to my wife. As much as I want to blame him, the choices were my own. Honestly, even if I wasn't sorry, which I truly am, I wouldn't cross my wife. Seeing her in the warehouse and hearing her threaten to murder me if she catches my d**k anywhere near another woman has me not wanting to find out what happens if I piss her off again. I really do care for her. It may not be a deep love yet, but honestly, I never thought I would feel a tenth of what I feel for her. I didn't think I was 2/3 民 capable of love after all the darkness that has been beat into me." "Marco always thought of Don Rizzo as weak because he never strayed and loved his wife above himself, but he's an **** Don Rizzo didn't get into his position by being weak. I've seen the man slit another man's throat but be gentle with his wife. I've seen women throw themselves at him for nothing more than to say they f**ked the boss, and he always throws them out without a second thought. I realize more than ever that it's not weakness, Antonio. Marco is weakc "He thinks fear is the way to lead, and sometimes it is, but respect is what's most important. He has lost that along the way if he ever truly had it" "You know he won't hand the family over to you willingly now. Are you prepared to take it by force, Antonio asks. I know he is really asking if I'm prepared to kill the man we share blood with. If you had asked me this six months ago, the answer would have been a resounding no, but now if the choice is between him or Luciana and my mama. They win hands down. I'll do what I have to do to keep them safe.