Lunar Crest University (Forbidden Fruit)

Chapter Thirty-Four

LUCA

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH, 2023

T he last twenty-four hours have been an absolute shitshow.

While Finley converses and laughs with my family as if nothing ever happened, she doesn’t show the same courtesy to me. I’m surprised she even emerged from the room at all—I thought maybe she’d hide up there for the remainder of our trip. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she did, but she definitely didn’t hide that she was upset with me. She ignored me for the majority of the day, and if she did have to speak to me, it was in one-word responses or a glare.

So, naturally, my mother would glare at me afterward too.

Mi mamá didn’t even have to know what was going on to side with Finley over me. That’s just how much she has taken a liking to her. Or perhaps she just knows me too well, knows what a shithead I am and that I probably ruined any chances of her getting a daughter-in-law or grandchildren.

I don’t know what ever made her think she’d get grandchildren from me .

Or think I’d ever get married .

Those things aren’t in the cards for me.

When the day finally ends, and I follow Finley upstairs for the night, I’m surprised when she walks into the room and leaves the door ajar behind her. Either she’s calling a truce, or she’s riled up for another argument. I don’t care either way—I’d let her punch me in the face if it made her feel better. The space is killing me; the silent treatment is killing me.

I sit on the edge of the bed, facing the bathroom, as I watch her stand in front of the sink and brush her teeth. She dons a cute little pink pajama set, and her hair is thrown up into a bun on the top of her head. I’ve watched her nightly routine a handful of times, so I know she’s stalling as she moves slowly, taking off her makeup and washing her face at a snail’s pace.

She wants to talk about something.

I suck in a deep breath, readying myself for whatever she’s going to throw at me.

When she stands in the doorway of the bathroom, flicking off the light as she stares at me, I don’t allow my gaze to waver as I stare back.

“What happened to make you want to whisk me away for a few days?” Her voice sounds tired as she speaks. “I know you said to keep me safe, but from what? What exactly happened?”

I sigh. “Ever since we got back from England, there’s been a black SUV parked at the end of your street every night. The morning of the day we left, I found cameras in your apartment. In your kitchen. Your living room.”

“What?” she squeaks.

“I took care of them, but that’s why I brought you here,” I tell her truthfully. “I wanted to get you away in case Javier was planning anything.”

Her entire body wilts as her face falls into her palms, and she slides her hands down her face slowly as she heaves a deep sigh.

“How many more secrets are there?”

My jaw clenches as I tilt my head sympathetically. “ Finley .”

“I feel like I have no idea who you are,” she whines softly, her voice cracking. Tears well in her eyes as she looks up at me. “And maybe I never did, but I look at you…and I’m scared. I’m scared of all this, Luca.”

My chest tightens. “You don’t have to be scared when you’re with me.”

“I’m not scared with you. I’m scared of you.” Holy fuck. The ache in my chest is concerning, I think. “I’m scared of what’s going to happen. I’m scared to go back home. Is he going to kill me? Do I have to live life looking over my shoulder now? Think every shadow is someone watching me?”

I think it’s breaking my heart to see her like this. Is that what this is? Is that what it feels like? The squeezing inside my chest? The pressure that feels like it could kill me?

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” I say.

“You already happened to me.”

A bullet to the chest would feel better than this.

“I don’t want you to kill people,” she croaks. “I don’t want you to do that for me. I don’t want any of this.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

“I’m scared for you .”

“You don’t need to be.”

“But I am.” She swipes at her damp cheeks.

Standing from the bed, I take a step toward her. She doesn’t shrink away this time. “ Princesa , I’m only doing this again because I’m trying to protect you. I don’t want you to be scared, and I don’t want this for you either. I didn’t want this for me , but I feel like it’s my responsibility to keep you safe because I put you in this position.”

She’s quiet, but the tears streaming down her face are deafening.

“I want to fix this.” I take another step. “And this is the only way I know how. I’m sorry it’s not what you wanted, but there isn’t much of a choice anymore.”

“We can’t go to the police?”

I sigh. “Javier is more powerful than you know. He’s everywhere. He is the police. The only way to stop him is to kill him, and I’m the only one who knows how to do that without leaving a trace.”

“If he’s so powerful,” she pauses, shrugging tiredly, “then how can you be so confident you’ll take him out?”

“Because I’m powerful too.”

Her eyes squeeze shut, and I take the opportunity to take one last step toward her, my hands gently cradling her face as my thumbs brush away the fresh tears on her cheeks. Her green eyes flash open as she stares up at me, searching my expression like she’ll find all the answers there.

“I’ve never killed anyone who didn’t deserve it.”

She grimaces, pulling her face from my hands. “It’s still murder.”

“I know.”

“How many people have you killed?” she asks, crossing her arms over her chest as she narrows her eyes.

Fuck me .

My hesitancy makes her cock her head pleadingly, and her chin trembles once more. The wrinkle between her brows is likely permanent at this point, and I hate that I keep adding to it. She knows she’s not going to like my answer, but she’s begging me anyway. Finley is a perfectionist; she has to know all the details to feel like she has even just a little control over the situation. I understand, but I know it’s going to kill her.

“I know you keep count,” she murmurs. “Tell me.”

I could lose her for good because of this. It might break her past the point of fixing, and that thought scares the hell out of me.

“Two hundred and three.”

A choked sob bursts from her mouth as she bends over, resting her hands on her knees as she starts to cry again. I want to hold her, want so fucking badly to cradle her into my chest, but I refrain as I watch her turn away from me as if she can’t bear to look me in the eyes.

“I solely did this job because mi mamá has type two diabetes and couldn’t afford the medicine back home. We couldn’t afford anything . We were struggling to stay afloat, and I’m the man of the family.” I rub at my forehead as I groan, throwing my hands in the air aimlessly even though she isn’t looking at me. “I couldn’t run away from them and let them drown in debt. I had to get them out. I had to bring them here and give them a life. Javier said he could help, so I made them come with me as I followed him here twelve years ago.”

She’s quiet for a while.

“I worked for him, made more money than I could ever imagine, got to finish college…it wasn’t what I wanted, it’s never been what I wanted. But it gave my family the life that they deserved. It gave me opportunities I would’ve never had otherwise.”

Finley still faces the opposite direction, but I can see her hugging herself, rubbing her arms in search of comfort. When she does speak, it’s barely a whisper. “Was she upset with you when she found out?”

“Of course she was,” I mutter. “But she eventually accepted it because she knows the lengths I’ll go to protect my family.”

“Your family,” she repeats, finally turning around as she swallows. “Yet, I’m…nobody. Just someone you have sex with sometimes. Why would you go to these lengths for me?”

“You’re not nobody, Finley.” My face construes into a deep frown as I peer down at her. “Not to me. Is that what you think?”

“I don’t want to think anymore,” she breathes, shaking her head. “No more. Not tonight. I just want to go to bed.”

The last few days have taken so much out of her that she practically drags her feet as she passes me, crawling into the bed and pulling the comforter over her as she snuggles down until she’s hidden. I stand there for a while, staring at her curled-up body under the covers. She probably expects me to leave, and I know I should, but my feet don’t move. The thought of leaving her alone for another night makes my stomach churn.

She can be mad at me, hell, she can hate me if she wants to. But she can hate me from a foot away because I’m sleeping in this bed tonight.

I’m not leaving her alone, not again.

Never again.