Page 118 of Diary from an Inked Throne

He agreed quickly. “That’s all I want too.”

“Then we want the same things. But talk is cheap, Luca. I think you know that.”

Part of me wanted to defend him.

Part of me knew the man he’d once been didn’t deserve defending.

But Kara and I, we both saw the same thing when we looked at Luca.

A man who’d changed for the better. Who’d picked his family over everything else.

Who just wanted a second chance to be the person he was always supposed to be. One who loved and was loved in return. A father with a child of his own now and partners to keep safe.

He took a deep breath to steady himself but then gazed around at those of us in the room. “This feels like the right time to bring up where we go from here. Or more specifically, Issy, what we do with the Guerra money.”

She didn’t even take a second to think it over. “I don’t want any of it.”

Luca nodded. “That was my initial reaction too, but Is, it’s not that simple.”

“Burn the money, I don’t care.” There was a fire in Isabella’s eyes that stemmed from her deep-rooted hate of her father and the world he’d dragged them all into.

But it was Kara who put a hand on Isabella’s arm and rubbed it. “Who does that help?”

Isabella blew out a long, sharp breath of air. “I don’t know.”

Kara nodded, squeezed her arm, and turned to Luca. “What’s the plan?”

He glanced at me, then Lynx, and Dax. “I’m sorry, I haven’t even spoken to any of you about this yet. But I want the money to go directly back to the people we most affected.” I was sure he was remembering that so much of Kara’s heartache had been caused by the trafficking his father had been involved in. “I want to open a women and children’s center. In Saint View. I’ll fund the entire thing, but…”

I swallowed hard, already knowing exactly what he was going to say. “But you can’t be involved in running it.”

He nodded. “That doesn’t feel right. It feels like it should be run by women.” He looked at me and Kara and Isabella. “And I can’t think of three women more capable than all of you. If you want to, that is.”

I didn’t even need a second to think about it. “I want to.”

“I do too,” Isabella said, almost as fast.

Kara’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. “I see so many women and children in need of help at the hospital. And there’s so few resources here.”

I reached for her hand and squeezed it. “You already have so many responsibilities. You don’t need to take on another.”

She squeezed my fingers back. “But I want to. A center like that should have a nurse available.”

“We’ll hire whoever you need, so you can all be as involved as you want without running yourselves into the ground.” Luca stared at each of us in turn. “I just want this to be what is actually needed, not what some man in a suit thinks is needed. I want to listen and to learn. I want to help.”

I wanted to hug him, but I couldn’t reach him from my spot in my bed. Though he seemed like he desperately needed it, he didn’t move. I knew he wouldn’t, because he didn’t feel like he deserved affection or forgiveness when it came to this topic.

Maybe he’d spend the rest of his life trying to make up for it.

And maybe that was okay. Maybe that was exactly what this community needed, someone to take responsibility and do the things that made it better.

A kernel of excitement lit up inside me. I’d never had a direction in life. Never had a passion. I’d always known that eventually I’d be sold off to marry one of my father’s friends to become his trophy wife, so what was the point in having ambition?

But everything had changed.

And I wanted so badly to do a good job at this.

Dax stood and kissed the top of my head, murmuring that I would be amazing.