Chapter 614: She Has Efficient Ways

He walked around the bed, found the shoes and brought them over. Carol stood there waiting while he placed them at her feet, then helped her into them one at a time.

She looked down at him with exaggerated affection. "You are such a good son."

"Yeah, yeah. Let’s go."

Carol sighed again in exasperation. "How does Veronica deal with you?"

"She has efficient ways."

Carol considered that. "I should have her teach me."

His face changed instantly. "God, please no. God, no!"

The meaning of the conversation caught up with her.

Her own eyes widened. "My goodness, you are such a dog." She shook her head and headed towards the door with Luca following behind her, bag in hand.

"I’ll drive you to Commissioned," he said. "Then I’ll have someone drive you home from there. I have a pest problem I need to take care of."

Carol glanced sideways at him. She knew better than to ask what kind of pest Luca meant.

With her son, the answer could easily require bleach, plastic sheets and several men who knew how to keep their mouths shut.

"I suggest you come home early, then," she said. "Or I might be tempted to kill your father."

Luca gave her a look.

They continued down the corridor.

"So let me get this straight. You can entertain thoughts of killing Don, but you cannot stomach betraying him."

"Yup. Why stab him in the back when I can look him in the eye and stab him?"

By the time they made it outside, Luca was still amused.

Carol, meanwhile, was clearly reconsidering whether returning home was worth the trouble if Massimo was going to be there.

They walked towards the parked car.

Luca opened the passenger door for her. "Aren’t you both just the perfect couple?" he asked. "I should officiate your wedding. I have a few choice words."

"I’m not marrying your father, Luca."

He looked completely unconvinced. "We’ll see about that."

"I mean it."

"I know you think you do."

She muttered under her breath and got into the car.

He leaned down to make sure she was settled properly before stepping back.

"You don’t believe me," Carol said.

"Not one bit." He shut the door and headed to the driver’s side.

*****

Luca arrived at Commissioned to find Renato already waiting in Marco’s office.

Marco was there too, sitting behind the desk looking like a man who hadn’t slept at all.

Renato, on the other hand, looked irritatingly comfortable. "One would think, for a man who needs me so much, you would try to be on time for our meetings."

Luca closed the door behind him and smiled.

Mostly because Renato’s complaint about punctuality seemed considerably less important when Luca already knew the man’s days were numbered.

Let him enjoy being offended while he still had the luxury.

"The package is ready," Luca said, walking farther into the room. "But she’ll have to be brought out to you."

"She is not worth much anymore anyway." Renato’s gaze moved towards Marco briefly. "No way you’ll get ten million for her. No one is willing to pay that much."

Ten million.

The amount he had once spent to save his wife who was determined to sacrifice herself for her sister.

Back then, the money had meant nothing. Now said sister had managed to make herself nearly worthless to everyone.

Luca anyway refused to explain that this had nothing to do with recovering money. He did not need Renato understanding the purpose behind it.

This was not business. It was punishment. And, if Veronica got what she wanted, one last opportunity for Valentina to finally understand just how badly she had destroyed everything around her.

Luca still hated the entire idea because Marco was sitting three metres away listening to two men discuss his wife like damaged merchandise.

That part sat wrong with him.

Vee had been right, though.

Val needed to feel something before the end.

Regret, preferably.

Anything other than that stubborn conviction that she had somehow been the hero in all of this.

"Whatever you get for her then, Renato."

Renato’s mouth curved slightly before he got to his feet. "I’ll be waiting." He stepped out of the office and closed the door behind him.

Luca remained standing for a moment before turning towards Marco. "I’ll take her out myself."

Marco said nothing.

Luca understood the silence.

Marco was not exactly in a position to argue.

By the old rules, he should already be dead beside her. The only reason Luca was even having this conversation with him was because he was still trying to drag his brother through an impossible loophole while Massimo stood on the other end threatening to close it.

But Marco’s lack of words did not mean he had accepted any of this easily. It did not mean he had stopped loving her.

Love had absolutely no respect for common sense.

Valentina could betray the famiglia, lie to him, risk his life and nearly leave their son without either parent, and Marco’s heart could still refuse to cooperate with reality.

Luca knew enough about loving someone beyond reason to understand that. "You disagree with this?"

"Does it matter?" Marco looked down at his hands. "I don’t know what I’m supposed to agree with anymore. She did what she did. I know that. I know what the rules say. I know what should happen to me too. I know she put all of us here. But knowing all that doesn’t suddenly make her someone I never loved."

Luca could almost see him trying to detach himself from what came next.

It was not working.

"Everything has an end anyway. Just promise me you will find Matteo a good home."

"You are not dying, Marco. I promise you."

"I do not see another way out."

"There is one. You’re not dying."

Marco leaned back in the chair, exhaustion settling into his features. The uncertainty was beginning to wear him down. He could probably put a gun to his own head and make it easier for everyone.