Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Not at all.
He could see it written all over her pretty face. It only hurt him more.
They’d been in Maine for five days. Each one was a little more difficult than the last, as far as Lucian was concerned. Jordyn was trying to break through her father’s walls and Roland was holding strong, for whatever reason. Roland’s wife and children still weren’t attempting to cross the bridge to meet Jordyn. On the four occasions Jordyn had gone to meet with her father after the first time, it was made clear her half-siblings and step-mother wouldn’t be included.
It broke her heart.
That, in turn, broke Lucian’s.
He was trying to keep it together, but it was really starting to piss him off. Didn’t they understand what Jordyn had suffered growing up? Didn’t they know what she had gone without?
She wasn’t trying to corrupt their folds or insert herself into their life unwanted, but she did want to know them. What was the goddamn problem? What was so wrong with her?
She was beautiful—a happy, loving soul.
When life had done her wrong, she still came out selfless and wonderful.
“Lucian?” Jordyn whispered.
He glanced down at his wife again. “Yeah, bella?”
“There’s nothing wrong with me, right?”
“Why would you even say that?”
Jordyn shook her head. “Never mind, it was stupid. I know that. I just mean ... I’m not like some terrible person, right?”
“No, you’re amazing.”
Lighting up his fucking life every time she smiled.
She wasn’t doing that nearly enough here in Maine.
“We have a family, right?” Jordyn asked.
Lucian’s brow furrowed. “I’m sorry?”
“Your brothers and mother and father,” Jordyn clarified. “We have a family.”
“We do.”
“And they love me.”
“All the way around the world and back,” Lucian agreed.
Because she loved him.
Because she made him happy.
Because she settled and grounded him like no one else ever could.
She wasn’t Italian.
She hadn’t been fully Catholic.
She didn’t have pedigree or money.
She wasn’t what the rest of the world would consider acceptable for a man of his status to marry, but she was perfect for the only people who mattered in his life.
The Marcellos.
“We’re going home,” Lucian said. “Tomorrow, we’ll start the drive back to New York.”
Jordyn blinked up at him. “But we still have a couple of—”
“I know, but you’re not happy here, Jordyn. It’s killing me. I want to take you home to people who love you.”
Jordyn smiled. “You love me.”
“More than you know, bella. Home?”
“Home.”
*
“Thanks for meeting up with me this morning,” Lucian said.
Roland nodded once. “No problem. The best thing about retirement is not needing to make plans every day for something.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“You’re still young. You’ve got years of work ahead of you.”
Lucian chuckled. “Something like that.”
“Where’s Jordyn?” Roland asked.
Lucian’s expression turned passive. “She’s packing up the rest of our things at the hotel. We’ll be heading back home before noon. I wanted to let you know, which was why I asked you to meet me for coffee.”
Surprise and sadness colored Roland’s features. “But I thought—”
Lucian held up a single hand, interrupting the man. “I get it isn’t you, Roland. As far as that goes, I understand you made an effort. You invited us here, you spent time with her. I know you care, but for some reason—namely your wife, but I’m not the kind of man who throws stones—you’re unwilling to go any further or try with Jordyn. And that’s just fucking sad. She wasn’t asking for much when she came here. She wasn’t even asking for a father figure. She simply wanted to know you and your family. Something that would make her a little happier.
“That woman is absolutely everything to me,” Lucian continued, his voice darkening with his anger. “Everything. She is the only thing on my mind in the morning and before I go to bed. So when something that should be good for her hurts her, you can bet I’ll take notice and stop it before it can take another chunk. You’ve taken enough. We’ll be on our way.”
Roland took a moment before he spoke again, like he was trying to gather his thoughts or something. “I do love her.”
“I would hope so. You made her, after all.”
“I’m glad she has someone like you.”
Lucian laughed darkly. “Well, be happy she has someone who loves her. Someone like me is an entirely different matter.”
Roland shrugged as he rested back into his chair, unbothered. “No, I said it as I meant it. I have access to the internet, Lucian Marcello. You’re not the only person capable of doing a search on someone, as far as that goes. I didn’t tell my wife the kinds of things you and your family are rumored to be involved in—it would only have set her on edge further. The motorcycle gang was enough where Jordyn was concerned.”
“She didn’t choose that,” Lucian growled.
“I know. The fact remains, you are who you are. I’m glad.”