The Mafia Boss’s Dog Chose the Plus-Size Woman Everyone Ignored—Then Refused to Leave Her Side

Chapter 6

Beneath the ridiculous gifts and the jealousy, Ruby began to see something Luca never admitted. He was lonely. He received dozens of business calls a day and none from friends. He understood how to command loyalty, yet ordinary affection made him uncomfortable. Even his kindness arrived disguised as business — invoices paid, contracts signed, floors treated. She watched him one afternoon as he sat in the chair by the window, Caesar’s head across his knee, and she realized she had never once seen him receive a message that made him smile.

When he discovered Ruby had delayed paying herself to cover surgery for an abandoned shepherd, he did not offer charity. Instead, Marchetti Maritime signed a contract funding rehabilitation for rescue dogs belonging to harbor security officers. The payment covered the surgery and several months of expenses. It was generous, careful, and entirely impersonal — the kind of gift designed to help without ever letting her say thank you to the right person. And that, Ruby realized, was the whole point: Luca Marchetti had built his entire life so that no one could ever reach him with anything as small and dangerous as gratitude.

Ruby marched toward him with the contract in her hand. “You can’t solve every problem by throwing money at it.”

Luca looked up from his phone. “I didn’t throw it. The finance department transferred it.”

Ruby tried to remain angry. A laugh escaped her — and once it did, it pulled the whole room with it. Caesar trotted over and sat on her foot, looking up at her with the smug satisfaction of a dog who had witnessed his master get scolded and was very much on her side.

That afternoon she found Luca sitting on the floor with Caesar, one man holding each side of the pink pig. The sight stopped her in the doorway — the king of the harbor, in a thousand-dollar coat, down on the linoleum on one knee, engaged in a silent negotiation with a dog over a four-dollar toy. Neither of them had noticed her. Luca pulled. Caesar pulled harder, low growl rumbling through his chest, tail wagging so hard it beat against the baseboard.

“He thinks you’re playing,” Ruby said.

Luca looked up, caught, and for a moment he actually looked embarrassed. “He stole the toy.”

“You bought him three new ones.”

“That is irrelevant.”

Caesar suddenly released the pig. Luca fell backward onto the mat, and Ruby laughed until her soft stomach ached. Caesar immediately carried the toy behind her as if seeking protection. Luca sat up and looked at them both, hair slightly disheveled, dignity in tatters, and entirely, improbably happy.

“He has learned disrespect from you.”

Ruby wiped her eyes. “Soon he’ll start criticizing your tea choices.”

Luca stood and moved closer. “He only disobeys me when you’re here.” His voice had gone quieter, and Ruby’s laughter faded. For a brief second, it felt as though he was no longer talking about Caesar. The air between them seemed to thicken, and Caesar, sensing the shift, pushed his nose between them and waited.

His phone rang before either of them could respond. Luca answered, and the warmth in his expression vanished. Ruby heard fragments — a missing shipment, men waiting at a warehouse — a conversation that lasted less than a minute but reminded her that the man standing inside her cheerful little center belonged to a dangerous world. She watched his shoulders stiffen and his eyes go flat, and she understood, with a small cold feeling, that the soft man who had fallen backward over a toy pig was a version of him that did not exist anywhere else in the city.

When he ended the call, he noticed the uncertainty on her face.

“You’re safe,” he said.

Ruby folded her arms over her stomach. “People like you always say that right before windows start exploding.”

Luca almost smiled. “Your windows will remain intact.” He reached inside his coat and removed a black envelope. Inside was an invitation to a charity gala at the Marchetti Grand Hotel. The paper was heavy, the gold lettering embossed, the whole thing worth more than the monthly rent on her clinic.

“Why are you giving me this?”

“The foundation is supporting animal rescue programs.” He paused. “Caesar can’t attend.”

Ruby raised one eyebrow. “That’s your excuse?”

Luca met her gaze. “No.” Another pause, and something in his careful face opened slightly, almost against his will. “This time I’m asking you to come with me.”

Caesar squeezed the pink pig, producing a loud snort that sounded suspiciously like approval. Ruby looked at the invitation, then at the man holding it out to her, then at the enormous dog acting as the world’s most opinionated matchmaker — and felt the careful walls she had built around herself begin to show hairline cracks.