"I just think there should be some kind of leg extension plastic surgery by now so those of us in the height challenged community..." I was saying while undoing my twists

"You're perfect." Luca rudely interrupts me, so rudely in fact I stop what I'm doing to glare at him

It wasn't what he'd said as much as it was how he'd said it. His tone was off as if he was bored and slightly irritated and he'd just thrown the words out to shut me up.

"Ok, just because you've helped me reach things in the top shelf a few times doesn't make you the ally you think you are..." I warn him, watching him turn his gaze to me

He had been an absolute scoundrel since Woo got here last night and nothing I was doing was cheering him up.

"I'll tell you about my mother now." Luca announces, kicking his feet up in the tub

I'd slipped the white vest and denim shorts on and was oiling my legs, the announcement and his attitude finding me unprepared.

"She was born in Ulfhednar, Esbjerg, had been a part-time model since she was a baby and scandirock lead singer of a band called vilde engel (wild angel) since she was sixteen. She was proper punk rock, she smoked, wore dark mascara, dark leather, cussed in place of every third word, kicked people, punched skinheads, broke bottles, rode a motorcycle, had short hair. The wild princess of Esbjerg met Rhys Rowland during her band's not-so-successful tour of England. He was the proper debonair Earl with a construction firm and important business connections to be made all over Europe, and she wasn't the kind of girl an earl brought home." Luca narrates, his face unreadable as he goes

Well if his mother was a rock star and she could marry his dad, small small being black can't stop me. Right? Right? What happened to Sadie wouldn't happen to me... right?

"To cut a whirlwind romance and a thirteen year old marriage short, Rikke had to change to fit in as the marchioness of Whitlam, to better suit father's image and business prospects, to better suite motherhood. Ulfhednar's wild angel was tamed, she lost herself and then her husband's admiration and love, resented him and had an affair with a business associate of his to feel alive again, she confessed." He continues, nonchalantly, coolly, as if he was discussing the weather

My heart on the other hand was racing, as if understanding something I was too fearful to put in words. There was something in his tone, in his glazed over gaze holding my horrified one prisoner...

"After the affair, she seemed to scar in her sleep. She walked into numerous walls, banged her face against more doors than the estate in Whitlam had, broke bones in inexplicable ways, wore more make-up than clowns."

My heart cracks at the thought of little Lucas, slowly realizing or maybe witnessing domestic violence. I'd cuddle into him to ease the pain in his face but his face was blank. I was frozen on the bed, pinned to it with the eerie feeling he couldn't see me, needed his distance from me. My heart warred between asking him to stop and soothing him, my eyes searched his, glazed over as if there was no one there.

"Eleven year old me realized father was hurting mum. I wanted to be closer to her at all times, to try and protect her, even though more often than not I failed to. What could an eleven year old boy do to a forty year old man? Especially when that man was his own father." He reveals, his voice too even for his words

"One morning, she just didn't wake up. She was dead." he shrugs, running his hand through his wet hair

I was absolutely shattered, I could barely breathe and a tear had escaped my stinging eyes, rolling down my cheek. I was aching to soothe him in some way but my feet wouldn't move towards him. There was no one there.

"Investigation had been short, secret and succinct, father's many business interests would've been damaged by such things. Rhys pulled me aside and explained in many unkind ways that if I said anything other than that mother had fallen down the stairs, banging her head along the way because she was abusing drugs and had been out of it, then I'd be out on the streets along with my ten year old sister."

I didn't quite know what to say but there was no Luca to say anything to so I kept mum.

"Father died, an aunt from Esbjerg came in as governess and Carlen and I grew up fine. The end." Luca sighs tightly

What a harsh world a twelve year old orphan had been forced to face... I couldn't help but notice he'd gone into some depth about his mother's death but brushed over his father's. I try to think of a meaningful way to condole with him. So this was why he hated Whitlam.

Well...He didn't have any parents who'd try to prenuptial kill me...

I watch him pull himself out of the tub and reach for a towel, making his way towards me, the same burdened angry look on his face. He'd barely survived recalling his past and though I didn't recognize the man standing in front of me at all, I part my legs without much thought. His empty gaze follows the movement, a smirk unlike any I've ever seen gracing his lips.

"You and I are from different worlds Funke, just like my mother and father were. Our first mistake would be in thinking we'd end up differently." He grinds out

My mouth drops at the statement, at the cavalier even hurtful tone of it, at the man who was saying it, so far from Luca I didn't know what to say in return. Is this why he'd wanted four days? Had this all been an elaborate goodbye?

"Funke..." the way he says my name like a prayer, my eyes shut in reply

If I couldn't see him I might be better at airing him, maybe I was dreaming, maybe my mind was conjuring a worst-case scenario, my imagination running amok. Luca loved me, he couldn't even sigh without letting me know how much!

"Our time together is up." He whispers gruffly, firmly, resolutely even

My heart wretches in my chest, actually squeezes as if expelling something and I almost scream from the pain. I was dreaming! I had to be dreaming

"I love you." I croak breathlessly

It wasn't my best argument but it was the only thing I could think to say. Had I not said it enough? Had he forgotten that I love him?

"I could love you to the ends of the earth and back and our fate would still be the same. It's best we stop here."

I was trembling from the pain, please let this be a bad dream

"You don't love me anymore?" I wonder brokenly, watching something flash across his face

I just wasn't getting it. I was struggling to understand what exactly he'd resolved was going to happen here.

"You've complicated the feck out of it, haven't you? I can't even leave in peace, that's how pressed I am about who's kissing you or making you breakfast or buying you lunch at your favourite restaurants or giving you orgasms or making you baths when you're tired. I thought I was done worrying when Carlen married but I can't even have a shower without worrying that you'd slip in yours and crack your head and no one will be there to help you, the worse for it if someone is there because who the feck are they and why are they in your house?! You've made a real mess of everything Mo ghràdh." he hisses at me

To think I was readying for a marriage proposal while he was rearing to leave me!

"Then don't dump me?!" I reason angrily

"Funke, regret having ever met me, let the hurt fester for a while until it becomes hate, hate me so much you avoid anything to do with me and run the other way if you see me again. This is the right thing to do... We loved each other when we could."

"We can go for couple's therapy!" I interrupt shakily

We weren't all that different, Lucas and I. We were both architects. The tears were now freely falling down my cheeks and I couldn't begin to understand what he was saying. Hate him? Avoid him?

"Funke..."

"Whatever it is, we can probably fix it." I desperately bargain, looking into his eyes and finding no one there

Where had Luca disappeared to? Who was this? He leans over, the first time I'd been genuinely terrified, threatened by being close to Luca.

"I don't want to...fix this." He dryly states, mocking me, mocking me for trying to cling on to him!

Who the fuck was this? Where was my Luca?!

"Don't do this to me!" I sob, seeing his determination

This is just about the most terrorist thing this man has ever done to me! This is exactly what the knot in my stomach had been about! I'd fight him if I wasn't busy wiping my tears away. How is this even possible? My breath catches as he grips me by my arm and yanks me off the bed. I was starting to realize that each time I made a move in my career I got dumped? First Luna, now Lucas? What kind of Illuminati-sized bargain was this? I'd choose Luca over the money

"I know how much your architecture firm means to you. I won't ask you to give it up and come with me. I won't make my father's mistake. That's enough of it. Lets go our separate ways now, when we still can."

I was crying and clawing at him, swinging violently between take me with you and how very dare you you rinsed tonk! It was too perfect, wasn't it. I'd been right to feel uneasy. Would I have to give up my work to marry him? Was that what he was saying? The way my life had went there was no way I was just going to leave California with a billion dollar deal and the guy, something had to give.

Maybe I was in the illuminati....

"You can't come with me and I have to go..."

"To fucking England Luca, not the moon! I live there!" I hiss at him, seeing in his eyes that I was wrong

Did this have something to do with Arun? He'd brought up Luca's mum! Maybe he knew something and can help? Arun can stop whatever this is?

"Mo ghràdh... you'll never see me again where I'm going...and if you do you should run." He warns, I can barely hear him from the exciting prospect of Arun stopping this sinking ship

I was going to run to Arun from wherever the heck we were and beg him to help. Was that what Shropshire had been about? Arun didn't look old enough to have known both Rikke and Lucas but I didn't have time to math the math because I wasn't about to sit about and let Lucas dump me over some dark family history. Luca grabs me, his grip tight on both my arms as he makes sure my eyes meet his angry desperate glare

"You stay here and be the brilliant world renown starchitect we both know you can be...and promise me if you ever see me again, you'll run away..." Luca dictates as if any of this made sense

I wasn't going to nod and go along with it.

"If you love me Funke...promise me you'll avoid me if you ever see me again, no matter how much I beg or claw at you." He growls, my conviction that he'd lost his mind growing stronger

I was about to say just that when Luca turned his cold deadly gaze to a figure by the door. Woo! Woo was back!

"Woo!" I cry, hoping he'd reason with Luca

"Woo, please talk to him! He's lost his mind!"

There was no other way of explaining it, some plant in the forest had contaminated Luca's thinking and he was talking absolute nonsense! Woo's gaze turn to Luca, who practically throws me at Woo

"Scary, isn't he." Woo coos softly, catching me and pulling me into his arms

Finally! Someone was seeing what I was seeing! This wasn't Luca! This was some lunatic!

"Its Ok... it's Ok." Woo coos, patting my hair soothingly

His voice washes over me like the healing forest waterfall as he opens his palm, a pendant hanging from a thin silver chain glowing back at me

"Do you like it?" He wonders tenderly

I wasn't a jewelry expert but I'd never seen a stone or metal like this

"Woo will take care of you." Luca announces, I think. His voice sounded like it was in a distant cave

I open my mouth to say something but suddenly feel as if I was falling off a cliff, maybe into an abyss.

"Never take this off." Woo whispers.

Everything was dark and peaceful. My body simply had no weight but wasn't floating either. I think of yesterday, when Woo had appeared out of nowhere and I'd had the eerie feeling of a child whose dad had come to pick her up from school early because someone's dead or was dying.