7 yrs, Gone and Forgotten

Chapter 18: I am Luca

Lee’s POV

      We took our seats in the small restaurant in front of a large window overlooking a beautiful creek below. Arthur was meeting with an old friend he said he hadn’t seen in over twenty years and was adamant about Eva and me accompanying him inside to have dinner as well. Eva seemed to be thrilled with the idea, me not so much. All day I had battled with Jake’s words and trying to figure out exactly what he meant, or better yet how he thought he knew me. I planned on asking Eva eventually, but when I was ready and on my own terms.

     I found myself with my chin rested on my hand, pecking the table with my other hand, and staring out into the starry night, when I heard Eva squeal behind me. “Daddy!” I turned around quickly and held the tears back that were building quickly.

    Arthur was standing next to a man, who had his back to me. Arthur was smiling at the man, and Eva was wrapped around his neck with her head nestled in his shoulder and tears streaming down her face. The man was tall and broad, dressed in an expensive looking suit from the back with salt and pepper hair. I caught Arthur looking at me and motioning for me to join him, so I quietly got up from the table and walked over to stand beside him. From the side I could see the man was older, his face graced with line of time. He slowly placed Eva back on the ground and held her arms smiling down at her while she looked into his eyes with so much admiration.

     “Daddy, what are you doing here?” Eva whispered yelled as she tried to clean the tears off her face.

     “Arthur is my old friend; it’s been twenty years and when I heard he was coming to the states I had to meet him.” I felt a slight tremor move through my body as I heard his voice, it oozed with authority and at the same time was so heart felt and fatherly. “Can you imagine how surprised I was when I found out you came across him in Paris?” They both laughed and embraced each other once more before stepping away.

      Eva turned to me and smiled before looking back at her dad. “Dad, I would like you to meet my friend.” She pointed to me.

     Time slowed just a bit as I stood tall and proud and watched the man turn to me slowly. When his golden eyes met mine, a black wolf as black as night flashed in front of me for just the briefest of moments and caused me to stagger back just a bit. I came to my senses quickly and stood straight again as I held my hand out, “Nice to meet you, I’m Leona, but everyone calls me Lee.”

     He took my hand and squeezed firmly. I just smiled and matched his grip with my own. I knew him to, his name was Luca, but how did I know? He finally smiled and dropped my hand softly. “I have so much about you from this one. I am Luca and it is a pleasure to meet you.”

      I swallowed the lump in my throat that was forming rather quickly, I didn’t think that day could have gotten any stranger, but I was wrong about that. I gained control of my thoughts quickly and pointed to the table. “Shall we?”

     Everyone agreed and we took our seats. I watched silently as the three of them interacted like they had known each other their whole lives. They spoke with so much heart and kindness that I found my self feeling a sense of longing, longing for that connection with someone, a connection that was forged from years of memories, good or bad, a connection formed on trust, honesty, and respect. Dinner came and I ate silently while they continued their conversations, I caught Eva looking at me several times and just smiling, Luca’s glances though had me confused. He was searching for something every time he looked at me, he had questions, and I felt like he might have answers as well.

     “So, tell me Arthur, I know you don’t go anywhere these days without at least two guards, so where are they?” Luca laughed.

     Arthur wrapped his arm around my shoulder and smiled that proud poppa smile, “Well this one here and your girl are my accompanying guards this trip.”

      I opened my mouth, but Eva spoke up first, “Honestly I am not doing much, Lee there is the muscle.”

    Luca looked at me and once again I could see he was searching for something, what I didn’t know but it was written all over his face. He finally looked back to Arthur, “Interesting. So, tell me how you found such a gem?”

     I felt Arthur take a breath to answer and I beat him to it. “On death’s door in an alley.” My eyes went wide as saucers when I realized what I had said, and I quickly looked over to Arthur who was giving me a questioning look. I finally uncovered my mouth and looked back to Luca, “Sorry about that, I usually have better manners. But I guess since we are amongst friends, no sense in sugar coating anything.”

    Arthur shook his head and patted my shoulder, “She isn’t lying. When my sons found Lee, she was nearly dead. We tried to find out who did it, but no one seemed to no anything, including her. So, we just adopted her.” He squeezed me and placed a kiss on my temple, like a dad would with his daughter.

     “So the boys trained you to become a security detail?” Luca’s question made it seem like he was confused, but something between the lines of his words made me curious, and as much as I wanted to dwell on it, I managed to shove it to the back burner.

     “Actually no, I don’t know where I learned what I know from if we are being honest. I just recently became a guard a couple of weeks ago. Up until then I was the business manager for my friend Mandy’s design company and Marlette’s company.” I waved my hands in the air, “The whole training and detail thing was a fluke accident, I think it surprised us all.”

     Luca whole belly laughed before he patted the table and cleared his throat, “If we could all be so lucky to find a fluke accident like that. Maybe we could hire you to do some work for us with security and training back home. I mean if Arthur wouldn’t mind that is.”

     I looked over to Arthur and he had a questioning look on his face as he stared at Luca, “I thought you guys were top of the line?”

    Luca shook his head, and his face became serious, “Once upon a time my friend.”  He waved his hand in the air motioning for the waiter, “Arthur why don’t we let the girls get back tonight and you and I catch up?”

     “I am sorry, but I can’t let him out of my sight.” I piped up, my job was Arthur’s detail and Scott would kill me if something happened to him.

      Arthur patted my shoulder and I looked over at him, “Lee it’s quite alright. I promise you I am as safe with Luca as I am with you. No harm will come to me. You and Eva retire for the night, and I will see you guys’ tomorrow. I promise if there are any problems you will be the first, I call. Okay?”

       I looked among the three and decided I was fighting a losing battle, “Very well then. But you let us know as soon as you get in, or else I will come looking for you.”

      “You got yourself a deal little miss. Now you and Eva go on back, I will be in later.” Him and Luca stood as they motioned for us to follow.

      We walked silently outside, and I stood to the side as I watched Eva and Luca hug and say their goodbyes. A black suburban pulled up and out stepped four large beastly looking man, Luca and Arthur approached the vehicle but what caught me by surprise was the way they all seemed to be staring at me. I probably should have felt suspicious, but I didn’t I felt numb and confused. I finally managed to smile and offer a small nod as they one by one climbed in the vehicle behind Luca and Arthur.

     “You alright?” Eva whispered, breaking my attention from the disappearing vehicle.

     “Yea, I am fine. Just been a long day and I have a headache. Let’s go.” That was all I could give her; I wasn’t even sure how I was feeling so how was I supposed to explain it to someone else.

       I spent the rest of the evening silent and lost in my own head and was grateful when time for bed came. I had so many questions, but I couldn’t figure out where to start or with whom to start with. I had hoped for some more flashes, but they didn’t come, and thinking about it, it had been days since I had the last one. Maybe I was really going crazy after all this time, and everything going on was my brain’s way of coping.

     I finally found myself trying to fall into a restless sleep after Arthur had texted that he was back. I only hope that the next day would not hold any complications, but no matter how much I closed my eyes and tried to drown out the emotions, I could feel it, something powerful, something evil, something dark; there was definitely something fixing to happen.