Coming Home For Christmas

Chapter 109 - Making A Choice

Lacey's POV

“How long, Lu=>"

~ ~

Luca closed his eyes and sighed angrily

“Three years"

He growled and I gasped

“You heard me, Lace...I said I was being sexually abused by Nico for three long, torturous years”

Holy s**t

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

“Because of you, Lacey...because he always threatened me with you"

Luca said through gritted teeth

"What do you mean?"

lask him and he sighs whilst looking down before looking back up at me

“He told me...Nico said that if I ever told anyone about what he was doing to me then he'd take you away from us, that he'd do to you what

he was doing to me only worse and then when he was bored with you, he'd either use his connections to sell you off to a child sx

trafficking ring or worse he'd kill you"

He said and I gasped

“That's why I never told you or anyone else because I was trying to

freee

protect you and keep you safe..what he did to me g traumatised me,

Chapter 109 - Making A Choice

Lace and I didn't want the same thing to happen to you"

“But you must've told someone eventually”

Isay and he nods his head

"Yeah, I did..I told our parents about it"

Luca said with a tight smile

“I'd had enough, I was fed up with being scared, I was tired of looking over my shoulder and Iwas angry that I couldn't even feel safe in my

own bed, so I found the courage and I told them everything, I told them every single last dirty, degrading and traumatising detail"

He said while chuckling a humourless chuckle

“You know a part of me always thought they wouldn't believe me, I thought they'd think that I was making it up but they didn't..they

believed me straight off the bat"

“And how did they react?"

Task Luca who made a weird noise as he leaned against the counter behind him and crossed his arms over his chest

“Dad lost his s**t, he trashed the house and got drunk quite a few times to drown out the pain and the guilt he was feeling”

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Hmm, I wonder if being a depressed drunk is hereditary?

“Dad also wanted to go and kill the dirty old bastard but uncle Mario wouldn't let him anywhere near him"

"What? why?"

1 ask feeling angry and annoyed

Uncle Mario has got zero tolerance for abuse of any kind being inflicted upon innocents, in fact, one of the first rules of the mafia is to never

harm an innocent, so, why would he stop my dad from getting revenge for his son? why would he stop my dad from killing this

Chapter 109 - Making A Choice

bastard?

“I don't know, kid, all T know is that apparently, uncle Mario told our parents to let the mafia deal with it and you know once the mafia or

more importantly the Don says this then that's it, we can't go against it"

“But is he dead? is this Nico bastard dead?"

Task Luca who shrugs his shoulders

“I don't know"

What the fk?

“You don't know? what do you mean you don't know, Luca?"

How can he not know?

Imean, I'm not an expert in this kind of situation but surely getting revenge or justice on your abuser and making sure they've suffered like

you have and will do for the rest of your life is something most victims would want to know, right? at least for their own peace of mind

“Because we didn't stick around long enough to find out if our uncle had killed him or not"

“What are you talking about?"

I ask him confused

“Have you ever wondered why we stopped visiting Italy? or why our parents didn't want us to be around the mafia anymore?..have you ever

wondered why our mom's maiden name was Wright when it should be Antonelli2..it's not exactly an Italian surname so it should've raised

some eyebrows, right?"

Luca asks me and I narrow my eyes at him

“The reason why mom's maiden name isn't Antonelli anymore is because she'd changed it to her mother's maiden name after I'd told her

what Nico had done to me"

on

Chapter 109 - Making A Choice

"Why would she do that? mom was already married to our dad and was going by Carpenter when we were born"

This was so confusing

“True but she didn't care, mom didn't want the Antonelli name attached to her or her kids and she didn't want us to be affiliated with the

mafia either, she didn't want any of us to be anywhere near them, so she did everything she could to wipe them from our lives"

He says confusing me

“But we still grew up around our maternal family and we've always known we were part of the mafia”

“Yeah but we were never involved with them like we should have been

and the only people who are in the mafia who we had any contact with over the years were our gramps, uncle Mario, auntie Maria and our

cousins Joey, Klayton and Marcus...mom always made sure that nobody else from the mafia was around us during visits because she didn't

trust them... mean, she barely trusted uncle Mario after what happened and he's her brother”

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Luca said while scratching the back of his head

“Wait, why didn't mom trust uncle Mario? and what's all of this got to do with Nico being dead or not?"

“Because Nico was uncle Mario's second in command, he was his best friend and he was the most trusted member of his hierarchy...he

didn't want to believe that his closest friend was a predator and a paedophile, so because of this, mom lost all trust in him..the way she saw

itis, if you can hesitate to end the life of a paedophile and a child abuser, someone who has destroyed a child's innocence and broken them

in ways that they can never be repaired then that says a lot about you and that's why mom doesn't trust him anymore”

Chapter 109 - Making A Choice

Wow

Ithink I've just lost all of my respect for my uncle

“So, he's still alive then?”

Task and Luca shrugs his shoulders

“I hope for uncle Mario's sake that he's not"

Me too

Klayton may not be Luca's number one fan at the moment but if he was to ever find out that his father's second-in-command molested a

child and there's a chance his dad may or may not have done something to get justice for Luca then he won't be happy about it

“So..what happened afterwards? I mean, after you told mom and dad?"

lask him and he lets out a breath

“Well, they naturally became over-protective of us or more over-protective of us than they normally were, dad hired top-of-the-range

security that would put Quantico to shame and he made sure that we all had our own bodyguards who from what I know, they were all

former CIA or FBI agents, one of the two and he also made sure that they were all cleared and checked out before they reported for duty

because at the end of the day, you can't trust everybody even those who you think you should be able to trust"

“And you?..when did you turn into the Luca that I barely recognise?”

Task with anger in my tone as Luca narrows his eyes at me

“I've always been this way, Lace...you've just never seen it because I've always hidden it from you guys, I've hidden my pain, I've hidden my

drinking..I've hidden everything”

Chapter 109 - Making A Choice. =

Why?"

“Because I didn't want anyone to know I was suffering or that I had been medicating the pain and the shame I was feeling with alcohol”

He says and I narrow my eyes at him

“Wait, so you're drinking..."

I drifted off as I watched Luca drop his head

“I've been drinking ever since I was thirteen years old, Lace"

oh my god

“Luca”

I gasped

Why?"

“Because drinking is the only thing that can block it out, it's the only thing that can get me through the day without thinking about what he

did and what I had to suffer through, it's the only way I can sleep without being

traumatised by my nightmares”

“But you're killing yourself, Luc..you're ruining your family and destroying your life by burying your head in the sand instead of facing your

problems head on"

Isay and he shakes his head

“You don't understand, Lace"

“No, you're right I don't"

Isay sternly as I close the space between us

“I don't understand and I never will understand what you had to go through and I'll never ever be able to come close to imagining what you

had to suffer through Luca..but that's not gonna stop me from fighting for you and it's not gonna stop me from getting you the help you

need so that you can be the best father to your kids, the best husband to Dylan or some

Chapter 109 - Making A Choice. ad other guy, the best son to our parents but most importantly, so you can be the best brother and uncle in

the world to me, Justin, Liam and our

kids"

I'tell Luca who looked at me shocked as a sob left his mouth

“Why?...why would you wanna help me, Lace?...after all of the pain I've caused you, I took Dylan from you, I destroyed your relationship and

forced you to leave the only home you've ever known because I was a coward who couldn't stand up for myself or for you, I couldn't be

proud of who I am and I wasn't man enough to be out and proud to my own parents..so, why do you wanna help me?"

He asks me and I smile at him as I cup his cheeks and gently caress his

tears away

“Because you're my brother, you're my best friend and I want you back, Luca, want us all to be happy again but we can only be happy

again once you have fixed yourself and you've moved on from the past...besides, you did me a favour, have you seen my husband?"

1 ask and we both chuckle

“Please accept Klayton's help, Luca”

"I can't, Lace”

Luca whimpered

“Yes, you can”

I growl as I look him deep in his eyes

“Look, I'm not gonna lie to you, Luca, it's gonna be hard and there are gonna be days when you'll wanna give up but you have to keep

going for yourself..you deserve to be happy and you deserve to live your best life but you can only do that if you get help for your drinking

and receive therapy to deal with everything that's happened and to help you with your mental

health...please just take the help, Luca, please, please” I begged and pleaded with him as tears streamed down my face

“Please don't cry, Lacey, you know I always hated it when you cried"

Luca said as he wrapped his arms around me embracing me in a hug

He then inhaled deeply and slowly released it

“Ok fine, I'l do it, kid...I'l go to rehab and get help”

Luca said and I smiled

“You made the right choice, cugino”

A familiar voice said out of nowhere

Luca and I turned to look at the person and I gasped when I saw who was standing there

Oh god

How long have they been standing there for?