Melanie gripped Luciano’s wrist and refused to let it go. It was seldom that she took the lead. As his personal assistant, her job was to follow but she couldn’t let him go on like this. Luciano was hurting, and he made it clear both through words and actions. If he did nothing to correct the damage done, he’d never feel any better. For the rest of his life, he’d struggle with the memory of a love now long gone.

Cassandra had passed away before Melanie was in the picture. While Melanie had never lost anyone close to her and she would never tell him that his grieving was excessive, when was he going to start living again? Luciano needed to have a frank conversation with himself. He needed to let his guilt go and move forward.

“I’m serious about what I said before,” Melanie said. Most times, when dealing with a confrontation, she crumbled. This time she was resolved to hold fast. “What you’ve been doing up until now isn’t healthy for you. I know you’re going to argue with me and say there’s nothing wrong with traveling, and I would agree with you, if you were traveling for healthy reasons. You’re not. You’re using your time on the road as an escape.”

She breathed out slowly through her nose and pushed onward. “It’s time you confronted Cassandra’s death and started moving past it. I know it’s hard, and I know you don’t ever want to forget her, but you’re limiting yourself by clinging to the past.”

Luciano’s eyes narrowed. He was angry, but Melanie didn’t care. She needed to say what was on her mind, and she needed to get Luciano out of his toxic stagnation.

She was his personal assistant for matters of business, but she’d come to know him as a friend as well. He deserved to be happy, and he was holding himself back from finding the happiness he deserved.

“You need to be here for this. You need to confront your past and rise above it.”

“I’m not interested in rising up. I think I’ve done enough of that already.” Luciano’s words were hardened, and he pulled his wrist away from her and jammed his hands into his pockets. “I’m not interested in the notoriety. People don’t look at me now as a person; they look at me as a brand.”

Melanie understood the pain in his words, but she wouldn’t tolerate the stubbornness. All her life she’d been rootless as her parents drifted up and down the west coast wherever their whims took them, and she regretted every second of it. She’d never had a base, never had lasting friendships, never formed the connections or associations she should have with any town in particular….

If Luciano was going to cling to his memories of the past and never settle down again, he was in for the same drifting existence. Like a paper bag in the wind, he’d lack substance.

She didn’t want that for him.

“I understand that it feels dishonest, and that it’s a big step to release the reins, but this is why I’m telling you it’s important to face your past so you can become a more rounded person in the future. I struggled, too. I struggled a lot to get to where I am. If I followed my life the way it was supposed to go? I’d be like my sister—barefoot and pregnant at twenty-six with five children already. I took control of my past, got over it, and rose above it despite my circumstances. You can, too.”

Talking about her past was a sensitive topic, and Melanie didn’t like to demonize her sister, but she needed to get the message across. Violet was happy with her life, and Melanie was happy for her, but there was no way she would ever have married at seventeen and started a family like that.

“Your way isn’t my way,” Luciano said. “We come from different backgrounds and have been through different life events. You’ve never suffered a loss like that.”

“I may not have experienced a death, but I left behind the only life I knew and built a new life for myself from nothing.” Melanie pursed her lips. “I let my old self die and became the woman I am today. I understand the struggle of losing a part of myself but at the same time, I was able to discover who I really am.”

There was a moment where both of them only looked at each other. Luciano’s eyes were the most startling shade of blue, and two years later, she still wasn’t over them. It wasn’t fair how attractive he was, or the way he made her feel if she didn’t keep her walls up. Emotionally riled as she was, keeping those boundaries between them was increasingly difficult.

“It’s not the same,” Luciano argued.

“And I would never claim it is, but I understand the basics of where you’re coming from, at least.” Melanie picked his bag from Hudson Burger up from the desk and handed it to him. Luciano took it from her. The anger was still thick between them, but Melanie wasn’t going to stoke its flames anymore. She’d said her bit. The seed was planted. Whether he wanted to or not, Luciano had to process what she’d said to him. From there, he’d make a decision to come around or keep himself alienated. Ultimately, the choice was his.

“I’m leaving the shop for a while,” Luciano said. It didn’t surprise her. Melanie watched as he made his way toward the swinging doors, and then hesitated. “While I’m gone, I want you to look up weekend accommodations in LA for the twenty-eighth through the thirtieth. When I’m back after lunch, we can talk about whatever you find.”

Despite her pleading, he was still trying to run. Melanie knew that he’d extend his weekend getaway to include the twenty-seventh in a heartbeat if she didn’t do something to stop him.

At this point, she wondered if the struggle was worth it. Luciano was so steadfast in his ways that it felt like a lost cause.

When he exited the tattoo bay, she sighed and sank into her office chair. Tearing the paper bag down the side, she munched on fries one by one, as she investigated weekend retreats in Los Angeles for the end of April.

At the end of the day, she was still his personal assistant, and he was the one paying her bills.

She needed to be respectful of that no matter how much she wanted to knock some sense into him.