My heart squeezes. Luca is the love of my life. I know it in the depths of my soul, and nothing can take any certainty away from me. I know that I belong with him, and that means taking the good with the bad.
That means we have to be completely honest with each other about everything.
Curling my fingers around his neck, I try to read his face. “Luca, we’re in this together. It’s not just about you anymore, and you can’t just isolate yourself. There’s me and the baby to think about. I need to know what’s going on. We’re a team.”
Luca closes his eyes, leaning his forehead against mine. “It’s hard to change the way I think. I’ve been on my own for so long.”
“You’ve pushed people away your whole life, but I’m not going to let you do that to me.”
Luca smiles and nods as he relents. “Fine. But promise you won’t get mad.”
“I’m not promising anything.”
He groans, finally pulling away to lean against the kitchen counter. Roughing a hand through his hair, Luca chews his lip as he tries to find the right words.
“We’re keeping security to a minimum on me to bait Beckett. I want this place and the bakery to be Fort Knox, but I’ll be exposed.”
“Luca…” Fear ices my spine. “Have you forgotten that you’re going to be a father?”
“That’s exactly why I’m doing this, Ivy. I need to protect you from Beckett, and the easiest way to do that is to draw him out of whatever hole he’s hiding in.”
“I don’t like it.”
“That’s why I didn’t want to tell you.”
“Do you know if Beckett is in Farcliff?”
Luca shakes his head. “No idea. But I’ll probably be making some more trips to the castle and making public appearances to tempt him to come out. Dante said he’d do it, too.”
“Dante, the brother who has lived a hermit life? He wants to be out in public? I thought you said he hasn’t had his picture taken in over a decade.”
“He hasn’t,” Luca responds. “And I also said he’s one of the best people I’ve ever met. He said pretty much the same thing you just did—that he won’t let me push him away. He’s going to be with me, doing public appearances and trying to get Beckett to make a mistake.”
I sigh, staring over Luca’s shoulder into nothing. The love of my life and father of my child is deliberately putting himself on display to try to end this threat looming over us. It makes my chest swell with pride and my stomach twist in knots all at once.
“What about Hunter?” I ask, turning to look at Luca. “Are we going to do anything about him? Do you think he’s dangerous?”
“I’ll talk to Margot.”
Luca wraps his arms around me and I melt into his embrace. I rest my head on his broad shoulder, listening to the beating of his heart. It thumps against me, calming me down with every beat.
The Prince strokes my head, laying a gentle kiss in my hair.
“I’m doing this for you and the baby, Ivy,” he whispers. “When that baby comes, I don’t want there to be any danger. We have to end this before he’s born.”
“He?”
Luca looks down at me as I arch an eyebrow. He grins, shrugging. “I think it’s a boy.”
“Men always say that,” I laugh, shaking my head. “But as soon as a little girl comes out, your heart melts and you turn into a gooey mess.”
“Who are you calling a gooey mess?”
The Prince squeezes me tight, picking me up to place me on the kitchen counter. He crushes his lips against mine as my heart flips inside my chest.
Every kiss feels like the first time. Every touch sends sparks flying over my skin. Every gaze makes my stomach clench and my thighs squeeze together.
I love this man with all my heart.
I just hope he’s right about Beckett, and that this will be over before the baby comes.
10
Margot
Now that Hunter is gone from my life, I’m realizing what a toxic influence he was. He’d constantly be in my ear, criticizing Ivy. He’d tell me that my sister was a leech, that she didn’t care about me, that she was only using me for my money and to have a place to live.
He used to say that Melissa was another social climber, and she couldn’t be trusted. The only person I could trust was him.