Chapter 229
-LUCA-
I walked them into the corridor. Far from her.
:
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I would not ask Charlotte to leave her own space in that suite. Not after my mother had looked at her like she was the reason for the crash.
The door shut behind us.
The hotel hallway was too bright. Too quiet. The win from an hour ago was already ruined.
“You cannot come here and insult my best friend,” I said. “You have no right. She has done nothing to you.”
My mother’s mouth tightened. “She is the reason you left home. The reason you followed through with this career.”
“No.” I laughed, and it came out bitter. “She’s the reason I’m successful. She supported me when you wouldn’t. She packed bags when you refused to even help. She stayed when you told me to come home and become something you could be proud of.”
“That,” my mother snapped, voice rising, “is why you almost died yesterday.”
I threw my hands up. “I’m alive. Nothing broken. You’re overreacting. I love my job. If you can’t see that and be happy for me, then there is nothing I can do.”
“Luca-”
“Yes, I crashed. Then I walked away without any injuries. Then I won a Grand Prix. There is really no reason for you to come here and behave this way.”
My father stood with his arms folded, the pose he used when he was about to raise his voice.
“Do not raise your voice to your mother. She only wants what is best for you. You only have one mother. Learn to respect her.”
“Then don’t let her raise her voice at Charlotte. That is the deal. That has always been the deal you refuse to honor. She isn’t just a random girl in my life. Stop hating her for simply supporting me.”
The door down the hall opened.
Marco appeared.
He paused when he saw the three of us and gave me a knowing look. The kind that said he had heard the shouting through the wall and had hoped it was room service.
“What the hell is all the shouting about?”
My mother narrowed her eyes when she spotted him.
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“Good. You’re here. I brought the girl you will be marrying soon with me on this trip. Especially since you keep ignoring me.”
Silence.
Marco looked at her.
I looked at her.
We both looked at her like she had lost her mind.
Did she really bring a bride for my brother here?
What was wrong with her?
“I’m sorry,” Marco said slowly. “You brought who?”
“The arrangement,” she said, as if we were children who had forgotten homework. “It is done. She is downstairs waiting to meet you. You will be polite. You will be grateful. She is very beautiful. Please be nothing like Luca meeting the girl I chose for him and ruining a good chance at real happiness.”
Marco laughed once.
It did not sound like him.
“I’m not marrying anyone you packed in a suitcase.”
“You will,” my father said. “This family needs stability. One son almost lost his life and doesn’t seem to care. The other will do his duty. Maybe you can set an example for your other siblings. They all look up to you.”
I stared. “You can’t be serious about this.”
“We are very serious about our son’s future. Unlike you, Marco at least tries to listen to us.”
“Well, I’m not Marco,” I said. “And I do not have to listen to everything that you say, especially when you’re trying to ruin my life just to please you.”
Marco stepped between us, palm out. “Stop. Both of you. This is a hotel, not a courtroom. And mother, I love you but I do not want to meet anyone right now. There is too much happening at once. Luca crashed yesterday. He raced and won today. You cannot drop a fiancée on me in a lobby like it’s extra luggage.”
“She is not just luggage,” my mother said. “She is your future.”
“She is a stranger,” Marco snapped, and I heard the crack in it. Frustration. Rare for him.
I wanted to be in any hotel but this one. One where my parents were not standing in a corridor assigning wives. One where I could go back through that door and finish talking to Charlotte about what happened between us. About the other night. About the rule that was already a joke.
“You should have heard how your brother spoke to us because of that girl he calls his best friend-”
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“If you insult her again,” I said, softly, “you’re not coming back in that room. I mean it. I will have security walk you out of my suite. I do not care how it looks.”
My father exhaled through his nose. “So she comes first.”
“Yes. There was never a question about that.”
Marco glanced at me.
I saw it happening. The shift. He was going to use Charlotte to change the subject, or to ask the thing he had been noticing since the hospital.
I shut it down before he could get there.
“Where is this girl,” I asked, too loud on purpose. “The one you expect him to marry without even meeting
once.”
Marco’s mouth flattened. He knew what I was doing.
“Lobby,” my mother said. “Her name is Beatrice. Good family. Like I said, very beautiful. Wonderful values. And she respects us, unlike certain other people.”
Marco muttered something filthy in Italian.
I almost smiled. Almost.
“Go downstairs,” I told them. “Cool off. You know what, I think I’ll join you. I’m interested to see for myself who this girl is that you think would suit my brother so well. Maybe I can have some input as well.”
My father studied me like I was still sixteen and refusing the sensible degree.
“This career will take you,” he said. “And when it does, do not expect us to be there after we tried to save you multiple times.”
“Well, I’m looking forward to it, father.” I smiled despite how annoyed I felt. “But come on, this isn’t about me anymore. It’s about Marco and his future bride.”
They left toward the lifts.
Marco walked with me.
The corridor felt longer than it was.
“The woman I would be marrying soon, she actually said that,” he repeated, under his breath. “She’s unwell. Our mother. Someone needs to check on her. This is not normal.”
“She thinks she’s doing us a favor,” I said. “That is worse.”
He dragged a hand through his hair. “Beatrice. Do I even know a Beatrice.”
“You do now.”
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He looked behind us, toward my door. “Is Charlotte okay? I know how they can be toward her.”
“No.”
Then he gave me that look.
“Luca-”
“Don’t.”
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He kept going anyway, because he was my brother and he never left a wound alone. “You two have been off all weekend. The bar. The hospital. I see how you look at her when you think nobody-”
“Drop it.”
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11:46 Tue, Sep 29
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.