Chapter 7 - A Family Without Orders
Dating Alessandro Duca required rules.
Lucia wrote them down.
He mocked the document until she threatened to end the relationship.
Then he read every line.
Rule one:
No security decisions about Lucia or Emma without discussing them unless there was an immediate verified threat.
Rule two:
No money used to solve disagreements.
Rule three:
Lucia kept her apartment.
Rule four:
Emma’s parenting relationship with Matteo remained separate from Lucia’s relationship with Alessandro.
Rule five:
No public relationship announcement without agreement.
Alessandro signed the page.
Lucia stared.
“You didn’t have to literally sign it.”
“You wrote rules.”
“I was making a point.”
“I respect documentation.”
She laughed.
It worked.
Mostly.
He broke rule two once by quietly paying off Lucia’s student loan.
She found out.
Furious.
He reversed the payment.
Bank paperwork took weeks.
He apologized.
No excuses.
Important.
Matteo adjusted awkwardly.
Seeing his brother date the woman he once loved hurt.
He admitted that.
Lucia appreciated honesty.
But Matteo did not sabotage them.
His relationship with Emma became strong.
He attended daycare events.
Learned braids badly.
Handled fevers.
Took her to parks without six guards.
Alessandro sometimes envied him.
Not Lucia.
Fatherhood.
He never expected to want children.
Watching Matteo with Emma changed something.
He discussed it with Lucia only after two years together.
Not assumption.
Question.
“Do you want more children?”
Lucia froze.
Maybe.
She had feared pregnancy after everything.
Alessandro said:
“Then maybe is enough.”
No pressure.
Their relationship deepened.
Meanwhile Duca Holdings changed.
Independent board.
Outside compliance.
Whistleblower protections.
Sale of nightlife businesses tied to old criminal networks.
Alessandro stepped away from direct control of security operations.
Marco remained, but under outside oversight.
Marco initially hated it.
Then admitted sleeping better.
Isabella joined therapy.
Nobody had expected that.
She said her husband’s betrayal damaged her ability to distinguish secrecy from loyalty.
She apologized to Alessandro.
Not for failing to know Elias lived.
For teaching her sons that family problems stayed inside family.
“That rule almost killed Matteo,” she said.
Alessandro nodded.
“And Emma.”
“Yes.”
They did not hug immediately.
Months later.
Progress.
Elias appealed.
Lost.
Victor cooperated on additional cases.
Sentence reduced slightly.
Alessandro did not care.
Justice no longer needed to feel emotionally satisfying.
One night, someone broke into Lucia’s apartment.
Old Alessandro returned instantly.
He wanted names.
Men.
Doors kicked in.
Lucia stopped him.
Police first.
Evidence.
The intruder turned out not to be Duca-connected.
A neighborhood burglary.
The man never knew whose apartment he entered.
Alessandro felt almost insulted.
Lucia laughed.
“You wanted a conspiracy.”
“I wanted competence.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Documented.”
They moved to a townhouse together six months later.
Neutral ground.
Not Alessandro’s penthouse.
Not Lucia’s apartment.
Matteo lived nearby.
Emma had her own room.
Then Lucia became pregnant.
She stared at the test for ten minutes.
Alessandro stood outside the bathroom because she told him to.
Finally:
“Come in.”
He entered.
She showed him.
He sat on the edge of the tub.
Silent.
Lucia’s heart dropped.
“You okay?”
He looked up.
Tears.
“Apparently not.”
She laughed and cried simultaneously.
He kissed her stomach far too early for biology to care.
Then he stopped.
“Are you happy?”
Important question.
Lucia nodded.
“Terrified.”
“Me too.”
Good.
They had a son.
Gabriel.
No Duca inheritance conditions.
No automatic company voting control.
Trust independently managed.
Alessandro insisted.
Elias’s legacy ended legally before Gabriel could pronounce his surname.
Emma adored her cousin-half-brother-family-tree-complication.
Everyone stopped trying to explain the titles.
She called Gabriel “my baby.”
Lucia corrected:
“Our baby.”
Emma frowned.
“Mine too.”
Fair.
When Alessandro proposed, Emma helped.
Poorly.
She revealed the ring at breakfast.
“ALESSANDRO HAS A SECRET!”
Lucia looked at him.
He closed his eyes.
Emma produced the box.
“THIS!”
Proposal ruined.
Perfect.
May you like
Alessandro still knelt.
Lucia said yes before he finished.
