Free Not Juliet by Ella Medler Page A

get
hurt, trying to defend her.
    “Luca.” He
didn’t turn to look at her. “Luca, you don’t owe me anything. I’ve
had the most wonderful time here, with you…”
    “What are you
talking about?” His expression was darker than a raincloud, his
eyes shooting angry bolts in her direction.
    “Let me finish,
please.” He pressed his lips together, but his frown remained.
Riella soldiered on. “I love you, Luca. Please never forget that.
But… sometimes… life is not as easy as a fairytale. And that’s what
our love, love at first sight, is – a story. Less than that: a myth
within a story. If you can still love me after learning who I am,
that would make me so happy… but still, it changes nothing. I am
part of a family that is branded for destruction.”
    Luca opened his
mouth to argue but she intervened before he could utter his first
word.
    “Listen to me!
My father is king. An ailing king who is barely hanging onto life,
but a king nonetheless. As such, he has challengers. Even a child
knows a time comes in a ruler’s life when others would try to
overthrow him. My father knows it too, and he isn’t fighting it. He
is in no position to defend himself physically, or hire a gang of
bodyguards to stand around for the rest of his life, watching over
him. Besides, he believes in keeping the order of the universe –
when his time comes, he won’t fight it. He will be ready to
relinquish his hold on life.”
    Luca’s jaw
muscles worked, but he didn’t say anything.
    “I’m doing all
I can to stop this, to give him time and peace in his last few
hours. I just hope I won’t be too late. He’s a marked man, and so
is his immediate family. Besides his wife, my mother, he has no
one. I am his only child. To be honest, I am surprised no one has
tried to do away with me yet. Maybe living away from camp convinced
any challenger that I’m no trouble, and I’m not, really.”
    Riella stopped
half-way through her logical progression of thought, suddenly
putting the events of the last couple of days together. The
bulldozers tearing through that tent in the gypsy camp had been no
accident, Luca said, and the shooting the day before, down that
back alley in Florence… Out of her mind with worry, she searched
Luca’s expression. He was looking at her through hooded eyes.
    “You think that
shooting in Florence was…” Her lips seemed to have lost the ability
to form words. Moments passed in frozen silence. “Me?” she squeaked
eventually, her voice strangled with fear.
    “May I speak
now?” Luca asked, looking like he had no intention to shut up, no
matter what her answer was. His grip on her clenched hands was
iron-hard. She nodded once, feeling like a puppet on a string, not
entirely in control of her actions. “Just so we’re clear, let me
tell you now that you can’t get rid of me that easily. When I saw
you yesterday, in the Signoria, I fell in love with you. So, one,
love at first sight does exist. Not a myth, and not just a story.
Two, who you are and where you come from means nothing to me. I
love you, and I would still love you if your last name was
Berlusconi, or if you had green skin, three heads and walked
sideways, like a crab. Love’s like that.”
    Riella couldn’t
stop a smile stretch on her face. She even giggled a little.
    “Three,”
continued Luca, “I meant it when I asked you to marry me – that was
not just a silly whim – but I recognize your need to find closure
before you can give me a straight answer, one that won’t be
influenced by the bad things in your life. I will wait for you
however long it takes, but because I do have a vested interest in
seeing all these problems resolved as soon as possible, four, I’m
asking you to let me help.”
    He took a
breath and Riella seized her chance.
    “Luca, be
sensible. What exactly could you do to help? I’d rather you stayed
safely out of the way, so I can be sure I have a lover to come back
to, when all this is