Betrothed To The Mafia Lord

Chapter 282

Luca’s POV

“Ohhh… I never thought of it that way.” He ended up admitting after some time and I gave a small nod

of my head at him, because I kind of already figured that out. After some time had passed, I decided to

continue to speak.

“I don’t want you to still hold any guilt from back then, ok? It’s of no use. You were gaslighted a whole

lot by father and I want you to let go of everywhere, ok?”

I reached out and took his hand in mine, feeling his warm palm fit into mine– although it didn’t fit like

the way it usually fit when we were both younger, but my hand was still able to envelop his hand and I

closed my fingers around his and stared into his eyes before continuing.

“And I know I’ve never told you this before, but I’m proud of you.”

I watched as he averted his gaze at first and when he lifted his face back up, his eyes were somehow a

little shade of red.

“Stop, don’t say that…”

“What shouldn’t I say? That I’m proud of you? I’m actually proud of you, like really proud of you, you

have no idea.” I paused and smiled a little when he started to blink rapidly to stop the tears which I

found already seen coming from falling.

“I’m proud of you, of how far you’ve been able to come on your own–” He cut into what I was saying

before I could complete my sentence.

“Stop, I didn’t really do a thing, I haven’t done a thing compared to you–”

I cut into what he was saying as well, rolling my eyes a little before starting to speak once again.

“That wasn’t what I meant, what I meant was that I’m so proud of you. So, so proud of you. Of how far

you’ve been able to come on your own. You went into a foreign country which you know nothing about,

by yourself – I didn’t go with you and wait around until you’re settled in… no, it was all you. You went,

and you did your thing, you figured yourself out for years and finally called me, when I was starting to

think you might have ended up dead at one point.”

I shushed him when he tried to get a sentence in, and then I continued. “I had started to think you were

dead at one point, because it was already over nine years and I haven’t heard a thing about you, you

know? But then it turned out to be that you’re doing just fine, on your own, by yourself. That’s a very

huge and impressive thing to do. I don’t think it’s easy for someone to be able to actually fit into a new

place all by themselves. I’m really proud of you and I don’t want you to ever doubt that.” Before I was

even completing my sentence, he was pushing forward, closing the small distance between us and

throwing himself into my arms. I knew the exact moment that he started to sob, I could feel his body

start to tremble against mine, and I held him throughout the whole thing, patting his back and

squeezing him against me, reassuring myself that I was indeed holding my baby brother in my arms

once again.

“Never doubt the fact that I’m proud of you, alright? Being proud of someone doesn’t have to be about

what the person has physically accomplished, it’s way, way deeper than that, it’s really deeper than

that.” I paused for a moment and pulled him out of my arms, taking in his tear stained face and his

slightly swollen eyes before starting to continue. “And you told you that I was never proud of you when

you were little? And that apparently it was until you became a fighter before I’d become proud of you?”

I watched as he sniffed a little before starting to speak. “Well, dad said –”

“Of course dad just had to be behind that, he just had to. That fucking bastard, fucking selfish

bastard…”

“You didn't swear this much when I was still little.” Armani cut into what I was saying with those words

and I huffed out a small laugh at his words.

“That was because you were still little and innocent.” I said to him with a little eye roll, just as I reached

out and started to pat his hair. His curls weren't as soft as mine, but it still felt really nice to finally be

running my fingers through his hair once again.

“You’re not all that innocent, are you? You even ended up dying your hair.” I continued, tugging a little

at his curls and I watched as he grinned a little, looking cute as fuck right before he bat my fingers out

of his hair.

“Thank you so much for all what you do, Luca.” Armani started to say after a few moments, sniffing a

little. There was still a little bit of tears clinging to his eyelashes and I dug into my jacket and brought

out my handkerchief this time. I dabbed at his eyes myself this time and he didn’t pull away, which sent

a pleased and fulfilled feeling inside of me.

“You’re my baby brother, of course I’d do all what I do and even more.” I said to him after a few

moments, watched as he swallowed emptily without saying a thing. We fell silent after that, and I went

back to leaning against the headrest of my seat the next moment.

“So uh, I went to college and even went back for my masters.” Armani started to say after some time

and turned my head around until I was staring at him almost immediately, feeling a smile start to break

out on my face as well.

“Really? That’s so wonderful to hear. See? You’ve accomplished so much all by yourself, making all

your important decisions by yourself, that’s a great fucking thing to be able to do, and once again, I’m

proud really of you.” I said to him and watched as he swallowed emptily without saying a thing, and I

decided to reach out and stroke my fingers through some of the curls framing the front of his face, and

that made him laugh a little the next moment.

“You say the best thing at the best moment.” Armani started to say after a little while and I raised a

brow at him at first before grinning teasingly. “I do?” I asked and watched him nod his head in

response, right before he started to speak.

“Like, you always know what to say at some moments? That’s something you’ve always been able to

do to me ever since I was very little, and I don’t think I ever got to ever tell you this back then – which is

why I’m saying it right now.” He explained and started to massage his throat as soon as he was done

speaking.

“Aw, Armani…” I trailed off before remembering something, and then I decided to come almost

instantly.

“Sofia says that as well.”

“Who’s Sofia?” He asked in the next moment and before I could even start to speak, he was answering

his own question himself.

“Oh, your wife, right?”

I nodded my head at his words almost immediately. “Yeap, my wife.”

“See? That means we’re right.” He concluded and I laughed a little without saying a thing.

“Do you think your wife is going to like me?” He asked after some time and I blinked at him almost

immediately, wondering what could have been the reason behind his sudden expected question.

“What do you mean? Of course she’s going to like you.” I said to him instantly. Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

“She’s going to like me because she has to or because she genuinely likes me?” He continued and I

felt my forehead crease up a little at first, and after some time, I started to speak once again.

“To be honest? I think she’s going to genuinely like you.”

“You think so?”’ He asked after a few seconds.

“Yeah, I do. Sofia is the sweetest soul ever, she can’t hurt a fly.”

“Oou, I really wanna meet her so bad. That means she’s part of my family as well, right?”

“Of course, Armani. She’s your fucking family now.” I responded to him as soon as he asked the

question, almost starting to question myself if he was indeed grown up now or not.

“How’s everyone?” He asked after about a minute, turning around to stare at me curiously.

“I didn’t tell Sarah you’d be coming back today, I want it to be like a surprise.”

“Oh my, that’s the most perfect thing ever. I’ve missed her so much, like so damn much. How is she?

How has she been?”

Knowing that ke informing him about Sarah’s sickness was only going to make him start feeling

distressed, I decided to settle for something simple. “She’s fine, you’d see for yourself once we get

home.”

“When would we get home? It’s so farrrrrr. Has it always been this far?”

I glanced outside the window for a few seconds before starting to respond without glancing away from

the window. “In a few minutes' time. Also, yes, it has always been this far. Although, the night’s traffic

made it farther.”

“Luca?” He called out and I turned around to stare at him.

“You know, I’m really glad I’m back with you.”

I cracked a little smile and reached out to fluff the top of his brown curls.

“Me too, Armani. Me too.”