An Echo in the Mafia (Echo Reid, Reid Family Book #1)

Part 66

"Echo, calm down." Luke said, pulling her away from the clothes.

"No. Let me go." She said, her voice loud and clear. "Stop... let me go."

Luke found the bench behind him and sat down, bringing Echo onto his lap. He held her firmly, careful not to hurt her but still trying to get her to stop.

"Echo you need to stop before you hurt yourself." He said and she suddenly froze. Echo was very still and all he could feel was the way her chest rose and fell rhythmically with her breaths.

"Hurt myself?" She suddenly said, her voice so soft he could barely hear it. "Are you saying you're scared I'll get hurt?"

"Of course." He said, relaxing his arms. Echo stood, taking a few steps away from him. She looked around, a hand on her forehead as she realized what a big mess she had made.

"It's okay, I'll take care of it." He said, watching her bend over and pick up a shoe. Echo turned, looking at him wide eyed.

"You'll take care of it?" She asked, her voice coming through loud and shrill. Luke's eyes widened and she lifted her arm and flung the shoe at him, hitting smack on the forehead.

Now they both stared at each other, silence. Slowly, Echo turned back to the mess and began to pick up the clothes, one by one. Luke stood, taking the drawer from the ground and sliding it back into the dresser.

"Echo. I need you to let me explain." He said, turning to watch her as she began to scoop up piles of clothing. She dumped a stack on the bench now, before grabbing a stack of hangers.

"Explain." She said softly as she began to adjust the clothes.

"What happened with Grace... it's true." He said, noticing how she stiffened at the sound of her name. Echo sighed, continuing what she was doing but she didn't say anything.

"That night, the night that I ran into Nadia outside the house, I was devastated." He said, "I was absolutely devastated. I couldn't face it. I couldn't face the idea of another woman betraying me, I couldn't stand the idea of you betraying me."

Echo turned to him, lifting a brow.

"Who hurt you?" Echo said, making him look down. "I need to know, Luke. I need to know what happened to make you so suspicious, so ready to believe the worst of me when I gave you no reason to distrust me."

"It was just over five years ago." He said, walking over to the empty side of the bench and sitting down. He rested his arms on his knees as he remembered. "I told you once that you were the only woman I ever asked to marry me, that was true, but I lied when I said you were the only one I ever wanted like this."

Echo watched him as he ran a hand through his hair, obviously finding it hard to put the words together.

"We'd been together since we were kids, she was like my best friend and everything was always perfect." He said.

"So what happened?" Echo asked.

"We went to dinner with my parents in the city. I asked them to come with us because I thought it was finally time to ask her to marry me." Luke said. "We didn't make it to dinner."

"An accident?" Echo asked and he nodded.

"Off the bridge. My parents didn't make it and I was in ICU for almost a week, hospitalized for two." He said. "It was heartbreaking but I thanked god that She had walked away with just a broken arm. I told myself it would be okay, I still had Adelia to take care of an with her by my side, I'd be fine."

Echo's fists clenched on the blouse. It was as if her heart was already telling her where this was going.

"At first it was fine, although I did notice she was having trouble adjusting to it..." He said, bringing his fingers to the scar on this face. "Of course, back then, it was a lot more prominent and even my lips were deformed. The doctor insisted most of the swelling would go down and over time, I'd hardly notice it. She used to come to visit every day."

"When I came back home, she stopped coming by. I was still in bed with a broken leg and so I only saw her once, maybe twice a week for a few minutes when she would drop by. I tried to reach out to her... she would flinch, wince, turn away. She never looked directly at me anymore, she was always avoiding touching me." Luke said, his eyes growing cold. "I thought it was just a matter of time. When I was well enough to leave the house, it had been over a week since I saw her so I went to her apartment."

Echo clasped her hand over her mouth. He found her with someone else?

"They were talking about me, I could hear them. She'd met someone new but the worst part was how she talked about me. She made it clear she found me disgusting. When I made my presence known, when I confronted her- she told me she hated the idea of me touching her. She asked me to let her leave the family with the man." Luke said, looking to the ground. "I said yes."

"She left you?" Echo asked but she didn't need an answer.

"I promised myself that was never going to happen again." Luke said. "That was why I was so... so fucking torn when I thought... I went to go get drunk. I went to get away and get as drunk as I needed to in order to forget. I don't remember much, I barely even remember running into her. I just remembering waking up and realizing what a mess I had made."

Echo took a step towards Luke, her heart breaking for him. That explained so much, his obsession with his scars, the way he acted so cold, how easy it was for him to believe she'd cheated. If his long time girlfriend, the girl he'd known since they were children had cheated on him, what made him think a woman he just met six months before wouldn't?

"I'm sorry, Luke. I'm sorry you had to go through all that." She said, making him look up at her. "You should have told me."

"Don't. Don't be kinder to me than I deserve. Echo, I'm so sorry. I swear, I want nothing to do with her, I want nothing to do with anyone that isn't you. You're the only woman I want." He said, reaching out towards hand and grabbing it gently. "I wanted to tell you, I was just trying to figure out how. Please, please forgive me."

Echo stared down at her hand in his, her heart aching. It was such a shame. He'd allowed the skeletons in his closet to drag him into the darkness. His past had completely shattered their present. How could she hold that against him?

"Luke..." She said, suddenly pulling her hand back. Her eyes were flooding with tears now, wanting to forgive him, knowing that forgiving him wasn't the actual hard part. It was everything else... it was forgetting that was hard.

Luke watched as the first tear slowly spilled down her cheek.

"Get out." She said, turning on her heel, walking into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her.