of his parents, just like Jonah. He was absolutely gorgeous but at least one notch down from Jonah in my opinion. I notched him lower on the hotness scale for his personality sucking rocks due to betraying his brother’s trust.
“Jonah, I can’t believe it…” He swiftly crossed the entryway and headed for my guy. Jonah stood up and held his hand out in a stop gesture. Luca stopped in his tracks, tears filling his eyes. “Brother, we need to be together through this.”
“No, we don’t.”
“It was over a year ago, man. Hell, it was over before it began. A drunken, foolish mistake. How long are you going to punish me…punish Mom and Dad, forcing them to see their sons separately? We’re family. Brothers,” he rasped.
“Brothers don’t fuck each other’s wives,” Jonah barked with such malice his body quaked. I stood up and gripped his biceps from behind and pressed my body close to his.
“Breathe, baby,” I reminded him, concerned at his level of anger. His body and mind were taking on far too much and soon he was going to crash, hard.
He inhaled, his nostrils flaring, and clenched his jaw.
Luca looked at me then at Sonia and Quinn. “Uh, why is the Senator in your house?”
I nodded my head toward Sonia. “My sister.”
“And you are?” Luca asked.
“None of your fucking business. You’ve come, you saw I was alive, now go.”
“Jonah, I came for you. To be here for you. Family is everything to me.”
He huffed. “You should have thought of that over a year ago when you fucked my wife and ended my marriage.”
“Your marriage was toast long before I ever made the worst mistake of my life lying with her. She seduced me. I went there to see you. To confide in my brother over my breakup with Tiffany. You were gone. Again. Like always. We drank too much. Way too much. That’s my cross to bear. My disease. I’m an alcoholic. That was my rock fucking bottom. I’d never have done that if I was in my right mind, Jonah, you have to know that. I’m in a program now. I haven’t even had a sip of liquor since. Over a year now. I take full responsibility for my part in losing my mind in feeding my disease.” He pointed to his chest as his face turned red. “I want my brother back. I want my family back.”
Tears hit my eyes at the level of sincerity poured in every single word and the disgust he so obviously had in himself over what he did.
Jonah didn’t speak but Luca kept on sharing. He looked at me, then at Sonia and Quinn. “I’m an alcoholic. I screwed up my life. Almost lost my business with my father, I did lose the woman I loved for three years and planned to marry over it, and I fucked my brother’s wife, losing him too.” He laid it all out in the open for all of us to hear.
I tried to move around Jonah and go to Luca. It was in my nature to help someone in need and he clearly was destroyed over what he did, even a year later.
Jonah locked me to his side.
“What is it going to take, Jonah? I’ve apologized over and over. I’ve sought help. I lost the only woman I ever loved. I haven’t had my birthday or holidays with my family in a year. And now Helen’s dead. I need to make amends, brother. I need you in my life. I love you. I want to be here for you, during this. What more do you need?” His shoulders sagged and I was surprised he didn’t fall to his knees and beg for his brother’s forgiveness.
“Time. I need more time,” Jonah answered flatly. “Especially now.”
Luca licked his lips, sniffed, and nodded. “You shouldn’t be dealing with this alone.”
“I’m not. I’ve got Simone. And Ryan.”
“Ryan. Your brother by choice.” He let out a harsh breath. “Got it. He’s perfect, and I’m the piece of shit alcoholic. I get it. I bought that. Deserve it even.”
“Yeah, you do,” Jonah added.
Luca continued. “It doesn’t change how much it hurts, brother.” He put his hand in his back pocket, opened his wallet, and pulled out a business card. He looked at me and held it up between two fingers. “Please call me if either of you needs anything. And I mean anything.” He set the card down on the table in front of us. “Simone, I wish we were meeting