Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
“I know why you treat me this way. You are afraid of giving your heart to me so you do everything possible to push me away.” She claimed.
“Is that so?” The corners of Lukas’s mouth lifted in wry laughter.
“You know I’m the only woman you would have to spend the rest of your life with. Hence, you can hate me all you want, but in the end, it’s me and you struck in this marriage and the last one you would love.”
For a moment there, Clara thought she saw pity in Lukas’s gaze – at least his pity was better than his anger, right – but it was gone immediately.
Instead, he placed a hand on his chest dramatically, “Aww, that’s the sweetest thing anyone ever said to me.” there was nothing but mockery in his tone.
Suddenly, Lukas walked over to her and then leaned over while she shrank back. He placed his hand on her side and holding her gaze, he said to her, “Is that what you deceive yourself with? Hope?”
He sneered, “Dear Clara, you should know when to fight and when to retreat. If I were you, I would give up on me now you still have the chance. Don’t turn me into a bad person.”
Clara lifted her head, “It’s too late, I can’t let you go.”
“You sound like a psychopath and I’m scared for my life now, you should definitely go for a checkup,” He retorted, and Clara went red with embarrassment.
But that was the scene Daniel stumbled into when he finally graced them with his appearance. He said, “The both of you look so cozy I’m beginning to think that it’s loss not getting you both married immediately,”
Lukas pushed away from Clara, his eyes cold and flat with his expression hardening as he stood spine straight, facing his father.
“Father!” Clara shot to her feet, a blush creeping up her face when she realized the man misunderstood their position earlier. She went over to help him, assuming the role of a good daughter-in-law.
“You don’t have to help me, I’m not that old that I can’t sit on my own,” Daniel put up his hand, stopping her in her tracks. He sat down, coughing into the handkerchief he had with him and Lukas noticed that.
“Are you dying yet?” He asked, taking satisfaction from his misery.
“Not soon, at least not until I see you get married,” He countered, slapping the smile off his son’s face.
Upon seeing the tension rising between both men, Clara stepped in immediately, “You should have seen the shock on Lukas’s face when he heard you were sick, father. He raced to your place like a madman, that’s to show how much he cares about you.”
When Clara said that, Daniel’s brows arched in surprise while Lukas put on his stoic face but he looked a bit annoyed. Why did she have to bring that up?
Daniel looked at Lukas, an intelligent glint in his eyes as he asked his obedient daughter-in-law, “Is that so? Lukas was worried about me?”
The Issue Of Copulation
Clara is a hopeless cause, Lukas realized as she landed him in trouble. He knew that look in his father’s eyes, the man was alert and calculating things right now. But then, Lukas couldn’t let him have even the slightest suspicion.
Lukas snapped at Clara immediately, “Don’t talk rubbish!”
Clara was startled by his harsh response but was already used to it.. Hence she pouted her lips, trying to gain his sympathy.
“But I’m just saying…..” She trailed off upon seeing the murderous look in Lukas’s eyes and she bit down on her lips, aggrieved. What did she do wrong now? She was just trying to mend the relationship between father and son, why doesn’t Lukas appreciate it for once?
“You don’t have to scare the poor girl to get your point across, Lukas,” Daniel said to him.
“Don’t call me that!” Lukas growled at him. Only his mother got to add that affectionate term to his name, he doesn’t get to have that privilege.
“See?” Daniel turned to Clara, as if he just proved a point, “He probably hurried over to confirm if I had died,” The man burst into long, boisterous laughter, coughing hard in the end while Clara stared on, horrified. How could someone joke about that? This family was something else.
“Don’t worry, that would change with time,” Clara decided to be optimistic and Lukas snorted from where he sat. That was the worst lie he had ever heard since he became an adult.
Would he and his father ever reconcile? That was only possible when one of them died. Even though they weren’t killing each other, the animosity between the both of them ran deep and wasn’t something a simple apology would change. Perhaps, if he brought his mother back to life, then all sins would be forgiven. But then, that was impossible. So yeah, he can never forgive him.
…..
“If I were you, I wouldn’t bother yourself with that, dear child,” Daniel said to her.
See? Even the old man knew that was impossible, Lukas sneered in his heart.
“The only thing I ask of you is that you concentrate on Lukas and give him the love I never gave him -“
“Thank God, you know that, ” Lukas mocked him.
Daniel didn’t point out his rude interruption, rather he took a deep breath and went on, “Perhaps, when you give him a son, then, he’d understand the hardship of fatherhood, and who knows, he would come to me for guidance. “
Lukas was dumbfounded, no, he looked like someone just threw shit on his face. He was feeling so many emotions at the same time; disbelief, fear, anxiety, anger, horror, and then finally shame.
He was dumbfounded at the thought that his father thought he was giving Clara a child? That was never going to happen. Even if all of his plans failed and he ended up marrying Clara, she would only bear his title and never have his child.
But what if Clara mistakenly gives him a child? Does that mean he would hate his own seed? The thought made him panic. Would he turn out to be a lot worse than his father all because he doesn’t like the mother of his child?
No, that was why it would never happen. And the next, Lukas was disgusted at the thought of asking his father for pointers on parenting.
Lukas was determined to raise his child as far away from this man as possible and with enough love. It would just be him, his child, and his mother. And speaking about his mother, he already knew the perfect candidate for that. Red-haired children wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
Clara blushed, laughing modestly, “I think you’re too ahead of yourself, father.”
“What nonsense!” Daniel claimed, “I would even be much happier if I got the news of your pregnancy before the wedding commenced,”
And at that statement, the both of them stiffened instantly. While Lukas remained passive, Clara looked at him hesitantly and wondered what Daniel would think if she told him that his son hadn’t laid a hand on her. They hadn’t even kissed since that first time at the family meeting, not to talk of being in close quarters with each other where anything could happen.
If she and Lukas couldn’t even have a proper conversation without it turning into a fight, how could they move to the subject of copulation? But then, since they were here, maybe his father could give them a boost. All she had to do was to suggest it and she knew Daniel would give Lukas the push he needed.
Clara sat up straight in her seat, having made up her mind already. She began, “Urm… the thing is, father – “
Clara was cut off when a soldier ran across the living room and stopped short upon seeing them gathered there. It was obvious that he had not expected them to be there, especially Daniel – he thought the man was having his bed rest – else he wouldn’t have made that epic entrance.
“What is it?” Daniel asked, seeing the man was nervous.
“I-it’s nothing, sir.” He gulped.
Unfortunately, Lukas, who already sensed that this had to do with Rhea, butted in instantly.
“What do you mean by nothing when you’re sweating all over? Did you do something wrong and are afraid of being caught?” Lukas saw through him. He only hoped Rhea knew what she was doing.
Thanks to Lukas’s quick wits, his father suspected the same thing and Clara was all but forgotten.