Page 88 of Harbor

Instead, Lucian was standing on the front porch of their large home with her mother when John pulled into the driveway. At first, her brother didn’t put the car into park when he first pulled in. He kept a tight foot on the brakes to keep the car from going further, but without putting the vehicle into park, the doors also refused to unlock.

It basically forced her to stay in the car with him.

Lucia didn’t want to get out.

Not yet.

She also didn’t want to be near John.

What a mess.

“Just tell me why,” her brother murmured.

Lucia’s gaze drifted from the people waiting for her on the porch to her brother sitting in the driver’s seat. “Why, what?”

“Why you ran off with him. Why you … didn’t even think about calling me, Lucia. Or anyone, really. The first chance you got, you took off with him and didn’t look back. Like we meant fucking nothing to you. And now, look at you … pissed off, you won’t even talk to me despite the fact I’ve been running after you for weeks now. And why? To save your ass from getting put in jail, or worse. So yeah, the least you could do is tell me why.”

“I don’t owe you anything. I didn’t ask for anything, John.”

Her brother sighed. “Lucia—”

“But if you have to know, I went with him because there was no other place I wanted to be than right there with Renzo. I ran because I love him, and I don’t think you’ll ever be able to understand why. You think I didn’t care about you or the rest of them … you’re wrong. See, you just don’t see it the same way, John. You came after me; chased me down and dragged me back here because why? Love, that’s why. I went with him for the same reason. It might not be the same to you, but there’s no difference for me.”

“Then I was right. We don’t matter to you. Your family … we never mattered.”

Lucia shook her head. “You do … they’d make the same choice, too. Daddy, well, he’d run for Ma. She’d run for him. You don’t see it the same way—maybe you can’t, I don’t know. I can’t make you understand, John. Love does that, not me. So, when you do finally get it … when you can look me in the face and know what you did, maybe I’ll care to listen. Or maybe it’ll be too fucking late.”

John put the car in park.

The doors unlocked.

Lucia couldn’t get out fast enough.

Unfortunately, stepping out of that car into cold, autumn wind only meant one thing. The next people she had to face were her parents. Standing side by side on the porch, her mother and father stared at her with stoic, stony expressions. No smiles—no joy. She imagined that she looked similar staring back at them.

Lead weighed down her feet, but somehow, she made them move. One single step at a time until she was climbing the stairs to her childhood home, and staring her parents right in the face. She wasn’t going to apologize. She wasn’t going to tell them she was sorry when she wasn’t.

Marcellos didn’t bow or bend.

Not even to one another.

“Lucia.”

Her mother spoke first. Soft, and whispered. Jordyn’s words almost got carried away in the light wind, but Lucia heard them nonetheless. She hadn’t realized how much she missed her mother until she was looking at Jordyn, and heard her voice. The worry shining back in her mother’s gaze, despite the fact she wasn’t smiling at Lucia, was as clear as day.

That was the one thing Lucia felt bad for.

The guilt was a killer.

“I’m okay, Ma,” Lucia murmured.

Jordyn nodded, and inched a little closer. Closing the distance between them with an outstretched hand, Jordyn brushed back the stray waves of hair that had fallen over Lucia’s shoulder. The soft touch reminded her first and foremost that her mother, no matter what … no matter how much pain and worry she caused … was always going to be her mother.

“Scared me to death,” Jordyn said thickly. “God, Lucia, you scared me to death.”

She still couldn’t apologize.

She’d choke on those goddamn words.