"Earlier this evening, District Attorney Scott Whitaker was arrested on several felony counts of witness tampering. The charges came as footage of Whitaker coercing witnesses and bribing them to lie was released late last night. Charges in three of his pending cases have all been dropped in connection with the coercion, including the trial of Luca Catalano—a local business mogul who was accused of being tied to organized crime, and in the murder of Maggie Fields out of New Orleans. The interim DA is declining to recharge Catalano or his co-defendant, Angelo Deltorio, and they're both being released today."
I was clutching the steering wheel so hard that my knuckles were turning white as I listened to the radio. The news of Whitaker's arrest was all anyone could talk about, but it still didn't feel completely real to me. Marco and I had sent the videos to every news station we could find late last night, and by the 6AM news cycle, it was on every TV in the state. We knew it was only a matter of time until Whitaker had to step down, but we hadn't expected him to get arrested so soon.
In light of his arrest, I'd been notified that they were releasing both Angelo and Luca, and so right now, I was sitting out in front of the hospital, praying that it was true. Praying that any second, I'd see Luca walk out of there, free of handcuffs and his prison uniform. Free from bars and out into the sunshine. That I'd get to feel him in my arms as he pressed his lips to mine, and then get him home to our family as fast as possible. It wouldn't be real to me until then. Everything had happened so quickly that Luca hadn't even been transferred back to the prison again yet.
My heart was beating a mile a minute as the clock ticked, and I was getting restless. Julia was going to text me when she picked Angelo up, and so far, I hadn't heard from her either. There were still so many things that could go wrong, and the longer I waited, the more I started to panic. I'd waited weeks for him, but these last few minutes were going to be the death of me.
About the time I had decided I was going to go inside and find out what was taking so damn long, the glass door slid open and I saw Luca walking with one of the guards. I waved my arms in the air dramatically, tears streaming down my cheeks as I was unable to contain my excitement. Luca grinned, winking at me and then turning to the guard and shaking his hand. As he headed toward the car, I unbuckled my seat belt and got out, meeting him just a few yards in front of the car.
Luca dropped the small bag he was carrying and swooped me into his arms, pressing his lips into mine aggressively. His embrace was so strong it was nearly crushing me, but I wasn't going to stop him. I'd been waiting so long for this moment. Soon, my soft tears had turned to sobs, and I was sucking in air, trying to catch my breath. The emotions of the last few weeks were hitting me like a brick wall now that Luca was safe in my arms, and I was safe in his.
"Babe..." Luca chuckled, kissing my cheek as he sat me back down on the ground. "I hope these are happy tears."
I nodded. "They are I just... I can't believe you're actually here. I'm just so happy to see you."
"I know." He agreed. "Every night I was away, I dreamt about this moment, and all I want to do is enjoy it." He kissed me again, his fingers intertwining in my hair.
"You mean you don't want to hear about how Marco and I made this happen?" I teased, wiping the tears off of my cheeks.
"Now that's a story I am going to need a drink for." He grinned, throwing his arm around me as we walked to the side of the car. He put his bag in and then opened my door for me. "Where are the kids? I kind of thought they'd be with you."
"They are dying to see you, but I wanted just a few minutes of having you to myself." I admitted. "Can we take the long way home?"
"I'll do you one better. How about we stop at the park?" He shot me a wink.
"Not a chance." I shook my head, laughing. "You just got out of jail. There is no way we're going to get busted for public indecency."
Luca climbed into the front seat next to me, setting his hand on my knee as I started the car. "You know I married you because you're so brilliant, right?"
"Well, don't worry, you're going to get the chance to do it all over again." My face fell as I tried to make light of the situation. I had been dreading this conversation all day.
"What do you mean? I thought the divorce was fake." Confusion washed over Luca's face.
"So did I." I sighed.
"What are you saying?"
I bit my lip, staring straight ahead. I couldn't bring myself to even look him in the eye after what I'd done. "The papers got filed. I thought I had the only copy, so I wasn't worried about it when I threw them away. But it turns out that Whitaker had a copy, and he filed them, and he got one of his buddies to sign off on it, so it happened immediately. He wanted me to be able to testify against you."
Luca clenched his jaw as he stared back at me, completely speechless.
"I'm so sorry." I covered my face in my hands. "I never should have even done that when I didn't mean it. I just thought it would push things along, maybe get you to talk to me. And then Marco and I decided it would help things with Whitaker even more and..."
Luca pressed his lips to mine to silence me. "Char, slow down, okay? It's okay."
"You're not mad?"
"Of course, I'm fucking furious, but not at you," he said. "You were doing the best you could in an impossible situation, and honestly, I think you guys made the right choice. Whitaker fell for it, and when losing you was on the table, it made me finally realize that protecting Carlo wasn't worth it to me."
I let out a heavy breath, more relieved than I could even put into words. All of this time, I had been blaming myself, and I had myself convinced that Luca would too.
"Whitaker had a vendetta, and it doesn't surprise me he would stoop so low. It doesn't matter. It's just a bunch of bullshit paperwork. You're my wife, I'm your husband. Nothing and no one is ever going to change that." He squeezed my hand. "I'll fix it first thing tomorrow."
"Thank you." I whispered.
"Now, let's home. I want to see the kids, and then I want to send them to bed so I can fuck you where somewhere where "public indecency" isn't an issue."
I let out a sharp laugh. "You really know how to ruin a sentimental moment."
"You know, the romance really isn't my thing. But I did get you something while I was in prison!" He said, pulling up the sleeve of his shirt and revealing a new tattoo. "I know how you feel about me having your name on me, but this is the coordinates of the art gallery, the first place we ever met."
"I don't know whether to be honored or horrified." I laughed. "You got a prison tattoo? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? You could get all kinds of diseases."
"Damn, I've missed you being on my case about everything." He joked. "But in all seriousness, there are a lot of other things I was likely to get a disease from in prison before this tattoo. It was actually surprisingly sanitary."
"Well, that's very sweet of you." I said. "But let's just hope your arm doesn't fall off."
It took us about 45 minutes to get home, and I could see Luca's face light up the second we pulled in. It was like his release was finally real for him, too. Now we were home, and everything was as it should be. Well, almost everything. There still was the little issue of Carlo being locked in the tombs over at the estate. Marco and Leo had taken him there for safekeeping until Angelo and Luca got out, and with all the excitement today, I hadn't even gotten to tell Luca how everything happened. There would be time for that, though.
"We're home!" I called as Luca and I came in from the garage.
"Dad!" All four of the kids rushed toward Luca the second we walked into the house.
"Hi guys!" Luca's grin spread ear to ear. He was so happy to be home with them, and it made me tear up just watching my family together. We were so close to never experiencing this moment again, and I wasn't going to take a single second of it for granted.
"How are you feeling?"
"Are you okay?"
They started firing off questions at him.
"Let dad breathe, guys." I smiled, reaching for his hand.
"I'm fine. Just so happy to be home with all of you." He wrapped his arm around me. "It's so good to see you guys."
Luca spent the next few minutes catching up with the kids before he finally suggested that we all go sit down at least.
"I hope you don't mind. We're not the only ones who wanted to see you." Layla grimaced.
We came around the corner to a packed living room. Angelo and Julia and their kids, and Marco and Hailey and the girls.
I wanted to spend a little time alone as a family, but I wasn't the least bit surprised. And besides, they were family too, and it was so nice to all be together again.
"There he is!" Angelo grinned. "Let me admire my handiwork!"
"Come here, you son of a bitch." Luca chuckled, wrapping Angelo into a big hug. "It's good to see you on the outside."
"Well, you're welcome." Marco rolled his eyes. "If it was up to the two of you, you'd still be in jail. Charlotte and I really deserve all the recognition here."
"And Hunter." I reminded him. Marco was at least moving around better than the last time I had seen him. Carlo had sliced his leg up pretty good, but he was still refusing to see a doctor. It looked like he had at least let Angelo stitch it up, though.
"Hunter?" Luca arched an eyebrow at me before turning to Marco. "And why are you on crutches?"
"I think we all need a beer for this one." Angelo shook his head, handing drinks out to everyone. The kids had migrated outside by now.
Luca and I settled in to the couch. Even though everything was over now, I was still anxious to relive it.
"About the time Char was with you, I came by to drop Leo off. He'd been helping me at the warehouse, but I had to get going and get things in place to distract Whitaker so Char could get what we needed." Marco started. "Things looked a little off when we got here, so I came inside with him, and Carlo was in the living room."
Luca's eyes widened. "What?"
"He was in bad shape. High as a kite and completely out of his mind. He let me send the kids away, but he and I struggled over a gun and he eventually overpowered me. He tied me to a chair and ranted on and on abut everything that happened for hours."
"Where is he now?" Angelo asked.
"Shut up, we're just getting to the good part." Marco chuckled. "Char?"
I smiled. "While all of this was happening, I was downtown with Whitaker. Turns out there was a really security breach at the office, and I was able to go through Whitaker's computer and find the videos. I still thought it was Marco, so I was calling him like crazy, but there was blood all over the kitchen when I got home. I came in here and saw Carlo and Marco. Marco's right, he really was out of his mind. He wasn't himself."
"That bastard. After everything we did for him, and it still isn't good enough." Angelo shook his head.
Luca stared at me intensely, waiting for the end of the story. I could already see his mind turning with what he wanted to do to Carlo.
"We got lucky." I said. "Hunter had been helping us behind the scenes, but Layla called him when she saw Carlo holding Marco at gunpoint. He came over, and came through the back, and he was able to get a shot off."
"Please tell me he didn't kill him." Luca said.
Marco shook his head. "He's alive. Detoxing at the estate."
Luca sucked in a sharp breath, nodding. I could see the hurt in his eyes. This ordeal had taken a lot out of him and it broke my heart. The betrayal was always so much worse when it was someone close to you. Someone you loved and trusted. Someone who had been like a brother to you, who'd helped you out of countless messes, who'd celebrated the births of your children with you, who'd stood next to you at your wedding. We had so many good memories with Carlo over the years, and that just made the sting that much worse.
He tried to put on a brave face, but I could see right through it as he gave us a half-hearted smile. "Let's not focus on this anymore tonight. I just want to enjoy being home with all of you."