Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
“I might not know about love but I’ve seen one,” Lukas said with emotion, “My mother wasted her life away for love. She didn’t fuck other men even when my father was being an asshole to her. So yeah, I know love when I see one,”
Rhea gulped, unable to argue this one with him. She doesn’t know much about Lukas’s mother but no other woman would stay in that toxic relationship if not for love – and fear. Even when Lukas’s father offered the woman to leave, she stayed back because of Lukas. But that wasn’t all, she probably stayed behind because she still loved her husband.
But then, Lukas was right in one thing, they shouldn’t have begun this in the first place. The both of them were not meant to be. She was a victim and he was a prey.
“You won,”
“Rhea -“
“I don’t love you either,”
Lukas gulped.
“You must probably think of me as some whore,” Rhea reasoned and that didn’t sit well with him.
“Rubbish! I’ve never thought of you as such,” He came closer, intending to explain it to her better but Rhea stepped back, misunderstanding his action.
Lukas stopped immediately, “I like you.”
Her eyes widened.
“I fucking like you.”
Rhea stared at him dumbfounded at what she was hearing. But then, she remembered, “You have a fiancée, Lukas -“
“Spare me the bullshit, Rhea! You and I know that I feel nothing for her. Else, why are we working hard to make this mission work?” He asked her.
Rhea rubbed her forehead overwhelmed. She knew that Lukas liked her in the first place but for him to confess that he liked her that deeply already was a shocker.
“No, I can’t,”
“What?”
“I can’t do this,” She ran her hand through her hair, “Love triangle is not my thing. You just told me that in feeling infatuation for Elijah, and then all of a sudden, you’re confessing you like me after a few hanky panky between us? God, I can’t do this. It’s hard and confusing as it is already. I can’t love two men! “
“Then don’t,” Lukas told her upon seeing how distressed she was already. His plan was not to confess to her now, but he had panicked when he sensed her withdrawing from him. His plan was never to pressure her, but that seems to be the case now.
“You made your choice, Elijah, right? I would respect your decision because that’s the right thing. I guess we’d just be friends then,” He told her.
Rhea nodded, “Yes, I think friends would be better,” she thought so.
“In that case, have a nice day,” Lukas saluted her and was out of her room as quick as his legs could take him.
Winter’s Arrival
Even after hours had gone, Lukas’s mood still had not improved and so to prevent transferring his aggression to the others, he buried himself in paperwork in the office. Choosing to use accounting to distract himself.
He was not a man who let his emotion run amok but he has become loose with most of his principles ever since Rhea arrived here. Maybe it was not entirely a bad thing to back down a little. He could use this break to rethink and remold himself as the person he once was – someone who wasn’t weakened by one woman.
No wonder his father never wanted him to feel this way. Lukas was not sympathetic to his father, Daniel’s actions, but he could see a little reason there. Love made them weak, and a quick example was him making dumb decisions like falling for the girlfriend of his nemesis, Elijah. Yep, his father would be super proud of that – note the sarcasm.
But then, whenever Lukas remembered his mother’s suffering, he kicked harder against his father’s idea. He liked Rhea, someone who didn’t like him back – so she claims. But then, Lukas knew he would do stupid things if she asked for it, as far as she stayed by his side. Just like him, that must have been how pathetic his mother felt.
So no, Lukas would rather be the one suffering from the unrequited love than the woman he was to spend the rest of his life with. He’s seen everything firsthand with his mother, so he could think of it as some sort of experience and it wouldn’t be that hard later in the future if that were to happen to him. That was just who he was.
With a sigh, Lukas went back to work. He had to forget the negative things that happened so far and move on. But then he didn’t move on fast enough because his cousin danced into his office.
“What a happy da……….. ehhhhh?” The once happy tune became discordant as Victor recognized the look on his cousin’s face and he groaned.
“Oh no, no, no, you don’t get to give me that face on a bright and perfect day like this one. Ugh, come on, Lukas!” He threw his hands in the air and walked over to his desk.
Leaning over the desk, Victor propped his chin on it and looked Lukas in the face asking, “Tell me you didn’t fight with your girlfriend again?”
…..
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Lukas grumbled without taking his eyes off the paper he was holding.
“And you two did fight,” Victor confirmed. No, it wasn’t even hard to find out. Ever since the day Rhea stepped foot here, Victor has lost count of the number of times Lukas’s mood plunged for the worse. Lukas would soon become the Hulk at this rate.
“The both of you should just fuck and let go of the tension….” Victor trailed off when he felt Lukas’s murderous gaze.
He cleared his throat awkwardly and moved back to a safe distance, before murmuring, “See? I’m always at the receiving end of it whenever you both have a fight. This is so unfair. “
But Lukas was not moved by his drama and said to him coldly, “If you’re here to spit out nonsense, you might as well leave this office and go make yourself useful somewhere else.”
He added almost immediately, “Also, I think I heard that our main base requires extra assistance -“
“Fine, I’ll shut up,” Victor gave up immediately while Lukas looked satisfied.
“So chilly,” Victor muttered under his breath, exaggeratedly rubbing his hands down his arm. The blood that ran through his vein can’t be the same as Lukas’s, right. How could he be so cold-blooded?
Their main base of operation was on a secluded island and was extremely hard to infiltrate even by the FBI. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as fun as here and Victor dreaded going back there. So Lukas threatening to send him back there was really low of him. So heartbreaking. Doesn’t he love him anymore?
Almost immediately, the door to his office was kicked open and a young lady with dark glasses came in before stopping to look around her surroundings.
Lukas looked up to see who had barged into his office rudely only for recognition to set in. He narrowed his gaze at her, “Winters?
“Since you’re having a hard time recognizing me, I can safely say that I got prettier,” She said proudly, taking off her glasses.
Lukas looked at Victor for an explanation, why didn’t he tell him that she arrived already? He would have given her a grander welcome.
“Well, that was what I was about to tell you until you threatened to ship me off to -” Victor was still saying when Lukas bypassed him and went to welcome his honorable guest.
“And of course, he treats me like air again,” Victor sighed dramatically, rubbing his chest. It hurts.
“You little trickster,” Lukas pulled the young girl into a hug, squeezing the life out of her.
“Alright, ouch, let me breathe, buddy,” She complained, trying to slip out of his grip all to no avail.