Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
“Sure,” She nodded and turned to Aziz once and placed a peck on his cheeks, “I’ll be back before you know it.”
“I’ll be here when you’re back,” He promised her, planting a kiss on her knuckles.
Whatever fears Adele had earlier vanished completely. Perhaps, Aziz had feelings for her. She knew It was kind of stupid hoping for stuff like that to happen when their relationship was as clear as day, however, there’s no way Aziz doesn’t feel a thing for her. Even if it was little as candlelight, Adele didn’t mind because she was positive she would make him fall for him.
She then walked over to Lukas and together they left. But before leaving, Adele cast one final look at them and saw Aziz taking a seat across from Rhea. She had to force herself to stifle the feeling of Jealousy inside of her.
It was obvious that Rhea was madly in love with her cousin, Lukas. It was Aziz that she was worried about, but then, he wasn’t stupid enough to go after Lukas’s woman – not unless he was Elijah. Adele winced inwardly, shutting that stupid voice that slipped into her mind again.
“You have a lot on your mind,” Lukas said, startling her.
“No, it’s nothing.” She said, looking ahead.
“So it has to do with Aziz then,” Lukas figured it out, nor was he going to let it go. He suddenly stopped, and looked at her seriously, “If he’s using you, Adele, you have no reason to hide that from me. “
“No! Of course not!” Adele rejected the idea, “He’s not taking advantage of me or something, it’s just that…” She let out a deep breath and decided to come clean.
“Our relationship is a fling.”
It dawned on Lukas, “But you want more,” He saw the truth in her eyes. Adele had that same desperate look he had a month ago when he was dying to have Rhea accept his feelings for her. Why does the Luciano family have such tough luck when it comes to love? It was the only challenging factor in their family.
“Yes.” Adele admitted it, embarrassed. Her cheeks were rosy and she used her hair as a curtain to hide her face from Lukas’s scrutinizing gaze. This was the first time she was opening up to Lukas on a personal level.
Even though both of them were cousins, Adele came from the side of the family Lukas detested, hence their communication was straight to the point and profesional.
She laughed sheepishly, “I sound stupid, don’t I? I mean falling in love was never part of the plan. I wanted to get myself established first with this chance you gave me, you know. Make more opportunities for women to participate in this organization, the Mafia is unfair to women.” She shrugged, “Our role here is to only live for our husbands and children when we could be so much more.”
“But then, you think you can no longer do that now that you’ve fallen in love?” Lukas figured her out.
He shook his head, “You are indeed a fool, Adele.”
“Am I though?” Adele asked, looking him dead in the eyes, “Have you forgotten that for people like us, love is a bullet to the head.” She reminded him of the implications of holding someone dear to his heart in a world like their own.
Once their enemies struck, it was always at the people close to their hearts because that was where it hurt the most. And there was nothing as dangerous as a Mafia with nothing to live for – there was no more inhibitions nor conscience.
“I would rather die young yet experience the short-lived beatitude I had with Rhea than live for long yet dead inside. She made me feel alive and I would never regret it even if I died today.” Lukas told her with all conviction inside of him. Rhea was his everything now – even if he was still mad at her.
[Bonus Chapter] Expose His Identity
With Lukas and Adele gone, Rhea was hoping to get some alone time with Elijah so she could speak and convince him to leave her alone, but Lukas always seems to have other plans. Because as soon as he was gone, there was Luca to take his place and keep an eye on her.
Sadly for Rhea, Luca was as fiercely loyal to Lukas just as his cousin Victor was to him if not more loyal – Victor could look past some of her mistakes thanks to their friendship. But not Luca, he was literally dedicated to Lukas.
Rhea couldn’t help but wonder what made these soldiers so devoted to her boyfriend. They carried out his last orders and could even worship the very ground he stepped on. Was it fear or truly respect?
Do they admire Lukas that much? Why were criminals so devoted to their leaders? She wished she could study the workings of their brains.
Well, thanks to Luca’s presence, Rhea could not talk freely with Elijah. However, not talking to him either would make it more awkward, so she decided to go with the flow.
“So Adele, huh?” Rhea picked a topic that wouldn’t seem too suspicious to Lukas once Luca decides to tattle-tell on her.
“Yeah, what about her?” Aziz pretended to be ignorant of the hint she was throwing at him.
Of all people, why Adele? To use her to get close to her? What was his whole deal? Does he know he was signing his own death by deciding to mess with Lukas’s cousin? She wanted to ask a lot of questions! But she couldn’t.
“Nothing,” She shrugged, “I’m just curious how a guy like you gets a woman like that?”
…..
What do you really want with her? That was her real question.
“You think I have ulterior motives in approaching her?” He asked innocently, yet lifted a brow when Luca wasn’t looking.
He went on to say, “You believe that I’m not worthy to be her partner because she’s a Luciano princess because I’m a nobody.” Elijah had a hurt expression and sounded so sincere that if she didn’t know his true identity, she would be deceived by his acts as well. He was truly a master of deception.
Rhea glared at him, he wanted to play this game?
Fine.
It was on.
Rhea readjusted in her seat, crossing her leg over the other. Leaning back comfortably, she said,
“Who knows? I have no idea. But I would not be surprised if that’s the case. After all, It’s not the first time that a Nobody hopes to be Somebody and climbs up the hierarchy by abusing the word, love.” Rhea challenged him.
“I would never hurt Adele,”
Liar, you’re hurting her already.
Adele already liked him and Rhea had a feeling that he didn’t know that yet. Messing around with people’s feelings was not funny, she was pissed off. For once, Rhea was tempted to expose his identity and be done with him once and for all. She was a killer anyway – Cassie and Kenith were evidence. One more wouldn’t make that huge of a difference.
“So you love her then,” Rhea asked him and strangely enough, she didn’t feel any jealousy at all.
Perhaps, she had even gotten her closure after finding out Lukas did not plan on killing her for her sake. However, if Lukas finds out Elijah intentionally messed around with Adele, Rhea had a feeling that the peace offering would be off the table.
“I love Adele. She’s the only woman that accepted me the way I am.”
Liar liar, pants on fire.
How could he love a woman who wasn’t even sure they were in a relationship? Rhea bet he said it for show, just like her, Elijah must have known Luca’s role and was feeding him bullshit information.
Nonetheless, Rhea got the answer she wanted and finally knows what to do. Elijah has lost his damn mind, Lukas has to know about him.
Reaching for the wine on the table, Rhea intentionally knocked it over and it poured on her coat.
“Shite!” She cursed, took off the coat, and tried to wipe the wine off it but it was stained already.
“Luca!” Rhea called him, murmuring under her breath.