Renzo + Lucia: The Complete Trilogy - Bethany-Kris Page 0,1

for the job. Lucia had policies to memorize, schedules, and a bunch more.

It was worth it. She wanted to help.

“Where is your mother?”

“Reading in her room.”

Lucian pulled out a chair at the table and sat down beside Lucia. “I was thinking …”

Sighing, Lucia closed her binder and gave her father the attention he wanted. Lucia, being the youngest child of four siblings, had always been the baby. Her parents seemed to think she needed more attention and care than her older siblings simply because there was such a difference in age. Maybe they figured she felt left out. Lucia never had.

Being the family baby at only seventeen, almost eighteen, meant being babied like one. She needed some breathing room, some time away from her family and room to grow. She knew they didn’t understand, and that they would be hurt by her wanting to leave, so she chose her actions in quieter ways. Like volunteering at a woman’s shelter for the summer.

With her father’s past, she knew Lucian wouldn’t put the brakes on Lucia spending eight hours a day, five days a week at a shelter to help. He was more likely to donate a bunch of money, which he already did, and buy her a car to get to and from the location every day. She wanted to volunteer, too, but it was a small step away from her family and their smothering.

“Thinking what?” she asked her father.

“About college in the fall,” Lucian answered. “Couldn’t you pick Columbia instead of a college out of state? It’s a great school, Lucia, and it has all the programs you want for social development.”

Lucia dropped her father’s gaze. If he could see her eyes, he could see her lies. “But I fell in love with that campus when we visited.”

Lucian made a sad noise under his breath. “I know, bella ragazza.”

“I’ll come back, Dad. Holidays, vacation, and some weekends.”

“You’re not making it better, Lucia.”

She smiled. “I’m sorry.”

“I worry about you being alone.”

“Don’t. I’m an adult. I can handle college.”

“Graduating high school and being almost eighteen does not make you an adult, Lucia.”

“But—”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I can’t help but worry. I know you want to grow up, but I’m not sure we’re ready for you to.”

Lucia dropped her hands to the table with a smack and stood from her seat quickly. “That’s the whole problem.”

Lucian glanced up at her with surprise deepening the lines in his face. “I don’t understand.”

“You’re not ready to let me go. You’re not ready for me to grow up. You, Dad, not me.”

“Oh.”

Lucia picked up the binder off the table and said, “I’m choosing the college out of state, not Columbia. It’s already been settled, tuition and first year is paid, plus I was accepted months ago. I have the grades for it, and I want to do this. Let me do it.”

Lucian dropped his head. “Okay.”

Lucia was surprised her father had dropped it that easily. It wasn’t like Lucian at all. Lucia knew exactly where she had gotten her stubbornness and fight from—her father. The man had given her far more than just his namesake when she was brought into the world as her mother and father’s unexpected surprise later in life.

Guilt chewed Lucia up inside.

“I’ll be back, Daddy,” she said softly.

“We have the summer, right?” her father asked.

Well, she did. Her father was a different story. As a Marcello principessa, Lucia knew what her father and the rest of the men in her family were involved with. She wasn’t blind or dumb. She had witnessed more than enough things over the years to know her family might as well be royalty in the world of organized crime. Her father and two uncles held three of the highest seats in the family. Even her brother was mixed up in it all. Thankfully, it kept her father busy. She had the summer off, but Lucian probably didn’t. His job was non-stop.

“Sort of, yes. I have this volunteering thing, too.”

“I’m proud that you took this on,” Lucian said, reaching out to tap the binder. “I’ve always tried to donate to the shelters and organizations for women and children, but it makes me extremely proud that you’ve taken the extra step to do this.”

The guilt flooded Lucia again. She’d done it because she needed the break from her family, and the fact it would look good on a résumé. She also did it for the experience. Lucia came from a ridiculously wealthy family. Her father might have lived some of