Her fucking words feel like knives falling from the sky on all of us, stabbing our brains and flooding them with boiling blood that makes my temples throb.

My fingers clench around the fork I've been eating with, feeling it bending in my hand.

"Excuse me, what?!" I rasp, forgetting where I'm, with whom I'm, her angelic face being the only point of interest for me.

She ignores me and keeps shoving the fucking pasta in her mouth as if nothing has happened.

Lucas, next to me, stops breathing for a moment. He lets the fork slide slowly from his hand, grabbing the napkin and padding his mouth with it.

She gracefully continues ignoring the fucking blast that has come out of her mouth as if they are music notes and not a shitty notification of something she has already decided.

"Pumpkin, care to develop that?" Lucas says in a metallic voice, one I haven't heard for years.

"Well, I want to do something for myself. What do you think about partnering with me in a business, Dad?" she asks her father in a birdie tone, all smiles and glitters while looking at him.

"Eve, what are you talking about?" Becks barely speaks with a faded voice and tears threatening to spring out of her beautiful green eyes.

I know my Becks. She never breaks down for anybody but her daughter and Lucas, but when she does, her whole being is crushed, close to death.

My eyes are glued to Eve's face, battling between holding myself still or jumping over the table, fetching her away like a hungry beast.

"I'm planning to open a restaurant in Italy, Mamma. You know how much I've always wished for that, and I think now... is the perfect time for it," she replies, stretching one hand over the table and cupping her mother's hand, clenched in a fist.

My nostrils are arched, and I hardly hold my wrath in the back of my tongue.

I desperately try to catch a look in her eyes and stop my anger from escaping my mouth as all I feel right now is to grab her nicely, throw her on my lap face down and spank her ass red for the brat that she is.

But then again, Eve that is unfolding right now in front of my eyes is so much different. She looks strong, confident, and composed to the core of her bones.

When the fuck has my girl grown to be this shining fucking gorgeous woman?

Her green eyes are glazed with joy, her beautiful, sensual mouth smiles perfectly, her curly black hair circling her white face makes her look like an angel and I'm just realizing now, for the nth time, how much I love her. And like an idiot, I've never even properly told her.

"See, Eveline, I do have plenty of businesses around the world," Lucas finally speaks in a voice that really means business. "Why would I need one more, on the other side of the earth, taking my daughter in fucking place I can't control?" he continues, and boy, I feel a thunder closing in.

"Well, Dad, because this is what I want to do. And if I do it here, you can never stop interfering, and controlling," she says, motioning her hand to him, highlighting his own words. "And I want to do it on my own, Dad," she speaks back at him.

Shit, the kid makes perfect sense!

"Where will you be?" I speak for the first time, roughly, heavily. My head is spinning, there is a sharp sound in my ears, and my fists clench, being smart enough to hide them under the table.

I can't believe it myself! I'm fucking hiding my anger, but I know it's not for Lucas that I struggle not to unleash myself on. It's this mighty woman in front of me, this charming human being reigning in my heart, my brain... my everything.

She has me fucking whipped, wrapped around her fingers!

"I haven't decided yet, uncle Enzo. But it has to be at the seaside. I love the seaside," she smiles a beaming smile back at me, and the room becomes a huge void.

She pierces her eyes into mine, smiling leisurely but her look speaks volumes. She blushes, her red-tinted cheeks make my palms sweat and I skip a heartbeat.

I know she's running away. I can read between the lines of her words and that restaurant thing is just a bullshit excuse.

And she knows I know. She's making sure I get it. The way she looks at me screams her reasons right into my fucking face.

But then, the most unexpected thing happened.

"Alright, Eveline," Lucas says, sounding relaxed, but I know better. "Jason will go with you. And I want the full business plan you are having in your mind. On my desk. In one week," he ends and stands up throwing the napkin on the table, leaving the dining room.

"Sweetie..." Becks tries to talk.

"Mamma, the dinner was great. Jason is waiting for me outside so I better go," Eve stands up the moment her mother tries to speak, planting a kiss on Becks' cheek in such a hurry that one could see the sparkles at her heels.

"Eve, sit the fuck down," I order coldly, as I know I can't run after her with this fucking leg that wouldn't heal.

"Sorry, uncle Enzo. I need to go. I'll see you around, okay?" she replies and gives me the same treatment, a quick kiss on my cheek, that fast that I haven't even had the time to grab her hand.

"Eveline!" I shout after her as she runs out, and I feel Becks squeezing my hand, signaling me that I should stop.

"Becks..." I shift my eyes to her and breathe deeply.

"Give her space, Enzo. She needs that."

"Are you going to let her go, Becks? What the fuck is wrong with you?" I spit at her, enraged at their weakness in front of their daughter.

"No, I'm not letting her go. Lucas does. And as much as I care about you, she's my daughter, Enzo. And if my daughter needs time and space, if she needs to be with herself, well, that's what my daughter gets. And you better respect that too," she speaks back at me, almost threatening.

I glare at her for a few more moments, contemplating her words.

I'm proud of my Becks, shattered to her cores and yet sitting quietly in her seat, hands shaking, tears rolling down her cheeks but containing her suffering and doing the best thing for the ones she loves, even if that crushes her.

I pull my chair closer and wrap her with my arms, pressing her head on my chest and rubbing one hand on her back.

"I'm so sorry, Becks. I never meant to hurt Eve. She is... she means so much to me..."

Fucking asshole! Why can't I just say it? Why can't I admit out loud that I fucking love her?

"I know you love her, Enzo," Becks strikes me back, reading my mind like nobody else ever.

My body stiffens at the truth she speaks.

"Even a blind man can see that from a mile away. But I don't think she'll easily pass over the fact that we've had... that something, once," she says softly, sniffing in my shirt.

"I can't let go, Becks. I gave up on you because I knew you belonged to someone else. Forever. I had always known that. But Eve... I just can't let go of her," I say.

"Then don't, but give her time. I'll speak with her at the proper time. I have to tell her everything or else what you two want to build won't be on strong grounds. And if you two don't decide to go on, it might be an unfair loss. She has the right to take her decisions knowing the truth, Enzo," she says sobbing some more and I know she's right.

"I know, Becks. I know, but I can see her running away, and... it doesn't sit well with me," I reply, keeping my hand soothing the stiff muscles of her back.

I breathe deeply, still cuddling her in my arms.

I held her tight until she had enough of her tears springing out then decided it was time to get back to my place.

Lucas didn't come out of his office the entire evening and I thought it would be good to pass by him before I leave.

"Hey," I tell him, announcing my coming in.

He sits at the desk sunk in his chair without a suit jacket, the top buttons of the shirt open and sleeves rolled up.

A bottle of whiskey reigns on his desk and a glass next to it while the smoke of his cigar circle around him.

"Listen, don't worry. I'll take care she's safe in Italy," I tell him, walking closer to him in the sound of my walking fucking cane that I hate so much.

"I know you will, Enzo. I'm not worried about that," he replies, filling a glass for me.

"My daughter is running from something or someone. And I don't know what or who that is. And not knowing makes me useless because I don't know how to help her. I have always protected my girls, all my life, Enzo," he continues.

"Eveline is a grown-up woman now, brother. She needs to build her own road in life," I tell him, lightening a cigarette for myself and grabbing the glass he has filled for me, taking a seat in front of him.

I think back at the things that have brought us together like brothers, the whole history of our lives and I wish to God I can tell him that nobody and nothing will harm Eveline as long as I breathe on this earth.

"She'll be my little princess till the day I die. And if I find out that there is someone behind my princess' runaway... oh boy. I'm going to skin off the motherfucker and pepper salt till he dies in pain," Lucas replies and I smirk back at him, imagining just that.

Lucas is not just a friend to me. He's the brother I've always wished to have, looking up to him and admiring him for not being afraid to bend when his love for Becks has demanded it and for the full-hearted love he has for Eveline, stretching all the way to death if needed.

And that strength I've seen in him has taught me that you're not too weak to give yourself fully to your love. For men like us, embracing that weakness, is the strongest and hardest fucking thing to do, because it can crush us and kill us faster than a bullet in the brain.

I should have told Lucas about us right there and then, but Eve that I saw today was more distant than I ever felt her, and things between us had to be cleared before I make any other move.

"Well, let me know if there is anything I can do," I choose to say, decided to close the night, and standing up I grab my cane and walk towards the door.

"Enzo..." Lucas rasps.

I turn around to face his deadly look, staring back at me, eyes darkening and holding back a deep breath.

"Yeah..."

"I need my daughter safe," he orders, and I'm wondering if he thinks about the danger of her being in Italy or her being mine.

One thing I know for sure. Lucas is not stupid, and I love that in him. Often we didn't have to speak to read each other's minds.

"Luc, I'll put my life on the line anytime for Eveline," I reply, not giving a shit what he makes of it.

I'm going to tell him soon anyway and nobody will have to fucking skin off anybody. Eveline is my girl, and she's mine to keep.

Lucas presses his lips in a thin line while I nod, walking out.

I've searched for Becks in the living room and around the kitchen, but she is nowhere around so I make my way out of the mansion, getting in my car and debating if I should go home or speed insanely to fetch my girl.

*****
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