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Bio: (TW: death, violence)

Luca grew up in Boston with his younger brother, and for a while, he thought his family was just like everybody else’s. Everything revolved around his father and his father's job, so it was strange that no one talked about it much. Everybody said he worked in finance and that was that. He was 12 years old when his parents sat him down at the dining room table and vaguely explained that his father didn’t really work in finance with allusions to their family’s ties to organized crime without actually saying it. It made him feel like an adult to be “in” on what his family did, and for years after that, he thought he knew down to his bones that he would proudly follow in his father’s footsteps. 

But as he started to grow up and really see everything the world could offer, things that could make him happy without having to sacrifice his humanity for it. The thing that really captured his attention was theater. There was something that felt magical about becoming somebody else up on that stage, somebody who wasn’t weighed down by secrets and a legacy of violence. It became his home away from home, and somewhere along the way he made a decision that he wanted to do that for the rest of his life. However, as far as his family was concerned, Luca was ready to join the family “business” and everything that would entail. 

Being pulled in two opposite directions was exhausting, and Luca felt like he was living two lives. When his father got sick, it felt like the right thing to do to put his own interests aside to do what was best for his family. If they needed him, there was nowhere else he was going to be, even when he’d rather be anywhere else. Even though they knew it was coming, it took a toll on his family when his father passed away. His uncle stepped into the role of a father figure, but at home, he was the man of the house now. For a while after that, he was all in and did everything that was asked of him, no matter how messy the cleanup. But when it was time for him to make his bones, or so the saying goes, Luca couldn’t do it. His uncle gave him a good tossing around but ultimately assured him it needed to be done. It wasn’t just that he couldn’t do it now, he couldn’t do it ever. Once he crossed that line, there was no coming back from that, and for the first and last time, he refused to participate in any shape or form in the family “business”. 

It took a long time to stop looking over his shoulder before he could walk down the street without feeling like he might still be a target of retaliation for turning his back on his family, and he’s not sure it’ll ever be completely gone, not after what happened to his brother. His exit was quiet and kept among the closest family members to keep the news from spreading for as long as possible, his little brother taking up the mantle he’d failed to. His brother was killed by a rival family who still believed it was Luca who had taken his father’s place.