Chapter 282
Luca’s POV
“Ohhh… I never thought of it that way.” He ended up admitting after some time and I gave a small nod
of my head at him, because I kind of already figured that out. After some time had passed, I decided to
continue to speak.
“I don’t want you to still hold any guilt from back then, ok? It’s of no use. You were gaslighted a whole
lot by father and I want you to let go of everywhere, ok?”
I reached out and took his hand in mine, feeling his warm palm fit into mine– although it didn’t fit like
the way it usually fit when we were both younger, but my hand was still able to envelop his hand and I
closed my fingers around his and stared into his eyes before continuing.
“And I know I’ve never told you this before, but I’m proud of you.”
I watched as he averted his gaze at first and when he lifted his face back up, his eyes were somehow a
little shade of red.
“Stop, don’t say that…”
“What shouldn’t I say? That I’m proud of you? I’m actually proud of you, like really proud of you, you
have no idea.” I paused and smiled a little when he started to blink rapidly to stop the tears which I
found already seening from falling.
“I’m proud of you, of how far you’ve been able toe on your own–” He cut into what I was saying
before I couldplete my sentence.
“Stop, I didn’t really do a thing, I haven’t done a thingpared to you–”
I cut into what he was saying as well, rolling my eyes a little before starting to speak once again.
“That wasn’t what I meant, what I meant was that I’m so proud of you. So, so proud of you. Of how far
you’ve been able toe on your own. You went into a foreign country which you know nothing about,
by yourself – I didn’t go with you and wait around until you’re settled in… no, it was all you. You went,
and you did your thing, you figured yourself out for years and finally called me, when I was starting to
think you might have ended up dead at one point.”
I shushed him when he tried to get a sentence in, and then I continued. “I had started to think you were
dead at one point, because it was already over nine years and I haven’t heard a thing about you, you
know? But then it turned out to be that you’re doing just fine, on your own, by yourself. That’s a very
huge and impressive thing to do. I don’t think it’s easy for someone to be able to actually fit into a new
ce all by themselves. I’m really proud of you and I don’t want you to ever doubt that.” Before I was
evenpleting my sentence, he was pushing forward, closing the small distance between us and
throwing himself into my arms. I knew the exact moment that he started to sob, I could feel his body
start to tremble against mine, and I held him throughout the whole thing, patting his back and
squeezing him against me, reassuring myself that I was indeed holding my baby brother in my arms
once again.
“Never doubt the fact that I’m proud of you, alright? Being proud of someone doesn’t have to be about
what the person has physically aplished, it’s way, way deeper than that, it’s really deeper than
that.” I paused for a moment and pulled him out of my arms, taking in his tear stained face and his
slightly swollen eyes before starting to continue. “And you told you that I was never proud of you when
you were little? And that apparently it was until you became a fighter before I’d be proud of you?”
I watched as he sniffed a little before starting to speak. “Well, dad said –”
“Of course dad just had to be behind that, he just had to. That fucking bastard, fucking selfish
bastard…”
“You didn''t swear this much when I was still little.” Armani cut into what I was saying with those words
and I huffed out a smallugh at his words.
“That was because you were still little and innocent.” I said to him with a little eye roll, just as I reached
out and started to pat his hair. His curls weren''t as soft as mine, but it still felt really nice to finally be
running my fingers through his hair once again.
“You’re not all that innocent, are you? You even ended up dying your hair.” I continued, tugging a little
at his curls and I watched as he grinned a little, looking cute as fuck right before he bat my fingers out
of his hair.
“Thank you so much for all what you do, Luca.” Armani started to say after a few moments, sniffing a
little. There was still a little bit of tears clinging to his eyshes and I dug into my jacket and brought
out my handkerchief this time. I dabbed at his eyes myself this time and he didn’t pull away, which sent
a pleased and fulfilled feeling inside of me.
“You’re my baby brother, of course I’d do all what I do and even more.” I said to him after a few
moments, watched as he swallowed emptily without saying a thing. We fell silent after that, and I went
back to leaning against the headrest of my seat the next moment.
“So uh, I went to college and even went back for my masters.” Armani started to say after some time
and turned my head around until I was staring at him almost immediately, feeling a smile start to break
out on my face as well.
“Really? That’s so wonderful to hear. See? You’ve aplished so much all by yourself, making all
your important decisions by yourself, that’s a great fucking thing to be able to do, and once again, I’m
proud really of you.” I said to him and watched as he swallowed emptily without saying a thing, and I
decided to reach out and stroke my fingers through some of the curls framing the front of his face, and
that made himugh a little the next moment.
“You say the best thing at the best moment.” Armani started to say after a little while and I raised a
brow at him at first before grinning teasingly. “I do?” I asked and watched him nod his head in
response, right before he started to speak.
“Like, you always know what to say at some moments? That’s something you’ve always been able to
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do to me ever since I was very little, and I don’t think I ever got to ever tell you this back then – which is
why I’m saying it right now.” He exined and started to massage his throat as soon as he was done
speaking.
“Aw, Armani…” I trailed off before remembering something, and then I decided toe almost
instantly.
“Sofia says that as well.”
“Who’s Sofia?” He asked in the next moment and before I could even start to speak, he was answering
his own question himself.
“Oh, your wife, right?”
I nodded my head at his words almost immediately. “Yeap, my wife.”
“See? That means we’re right.” He concluded and Iughed a little without saying a thing.
“Do you think your wife is going to like me?” He asked after some time and I blinked at him almost
immediately, wondering what could have been the reason behind his sudden expected question.
“What do you mean? Of course she’s going to like you.” I said to him instantly.
“She’s going to like me because she has to or because she genuinely likes me?” He continued and I
felt my forehead crease up a little at first, and after some time, I started to speak once again.
“To be honest? I think she’s going to genuinely like you.”
“You think so?”’ He asked after a few seconds.
“Yeah, I do. Sofia is the sweetest soul ever, she can’t hurt a fly.”
“Oou, I really wanna meet her so bad. That means she’s part of my family as well, right?”
“Of course, Armani. She’s your fucking family now.” I responded to him as soon as he asked the
question, almost starting to question myself if he was indeed grown up now or not.
“How’s everyone?” He asked after about a minute, turning around to stare at me curiously.
“I didn’t tell Sarah you’d being back today, I want it to be like a surprise.”
“Oh my, that’s the most perfect thing ever. I’ve missed her so much, like so damn much. How is she?
How has she been?”
Knowing that ke informing him about Sarah’s sickness was only going to make him start feeling
distressed, I decided to settle for something simple. “She’s fine, you’d see for yourself once we get
home.”
“When would we get home? It’s so farrrrrr. Has it always been this far?”
I nced outside the window for a few seconds before starting to respond without ncing away from
the window. “In a few minutes'' time. Also, yes, it has always been this far. Although, the night’s traffic
made it farther.”
“Luca?” He called out and I turned around to stare at him.
“You know, I’m really d I’m back with you.”
I cracked a little smile and reached out to fluff the top of his brown curls.
“Me too, Armani. Me too.”