Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56365 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 282(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 188(@300wpm)
“Maybe you still don’t,” I say when the frail woman watches me silently. “I wouldn’t blame you. Elena has told me about the fire. I hope that’s okay.”
“It was always hers to tell,” she says, “and you can call me Rosa.”
I count that as a victory. “Rosa,” I say, “I need you to know I would never hurt your niece. Just the idea of causing her pain makes me sick. I can’t imagine it. All I want is for her to be happy. When this started, I was a cold, miserable bastard, but Elena woke something up in me. She changed me.”
“She’s a special young woman,” Rosa agrees. “However, something tells me you didn’t come all this way just to compliment my niece.”
I swallow, nerves hitting me. I can wade into a gunfight or a business deal and feel ice cold, but this is something else entirely. “I know you and Elena are still repairing your relationship, but she loves and forgives you. If anybody is her guardian, it’s you, Miss … Rosa. I’m asking for your niece’s hand in marriage.”
Rosa narrows her eyes at me. There’s a long pause, and then she lets out a wild, healthy laugh. It’s a full-throated and robust laugh, not the kind I’d expect from an unwell woman. She throws her head back and guffaws.
I lean back; a solid weight feels like it drops in my gut. Is this a no?
Once she’s finished, I wait for her to speak. Then I can’t take it anymore.
“I think I’ve missed the joke.”
“I’m sorry,” she says, wiping a tear from her eye, “but this whole thing started with a marriage.”
I chuckle. So that’s where she’s going with this. “Ah, yeah. I see the irony, but it was never supposed to be real. Your niece changed that. She changed me.”
“The choice isn’t mine.”
“I know,” I say, nodding. “You trust your niece to make her own decisions, but it would mean a great deal to me to have your blessing. You may disapprove of my lifestyle, but can you honestly look at me and say I don’t love Elena?” My voice grows husky.
“Even in my less lucid moments,” Rosa says, “I could’ve seen that. You’re genuinely in love with her, aren’t you? After just a few weeks?”
“It didn’t take weeks,” I say. “It took minutes. It just took me a while to admit the impossible. Or what I thought was impossible.”
Another pause, keeping me in suspense, and then a smile spreads across her lips. “You have my blessing, Mr. Moretti.”
“Please, call me Dario.”
Her smile widens. “I’ll only ask you one favor.”
“Anything.”
“Never stop trying to make her happy.”
“I promise.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
ELENA
“Where are you taking me?” I say, sitting in the passenger seat of his sleek sedan as he glides through the city.
It’s been roughly two weeks since the standoff with Salvatore in the dining room. Since then, Dario and I have spent so much time together: lying in bed, talking about the future, making love, watching movies—trashy and classy. We all even had a meal together. Dario, Salvatore, Maria, Rosa, Giulia, and I sat at the same dining room table as we shared stories and jokes and bonded, something I could never have believed was possible.
“It’s a surprise,” he says.
“Don’t you think we’ve had enough of those?”
He glances at me with a smirk. Since all the roadblocks to our love have come crashing down, Dario has seemed so happy-go-lucky, as if he’s been waiting his whole life to let go of the mafioso darkness. I know it’s still in him. I know that if anybody ever threatens the Family or me, he’ll go full savage again. Yet, it’s so sweet to see how happy he is now.
“This is a good surprise.”
“Not a farmhouse deal, then?”
“The fact you can sass about that …”
“Hey, it’s my specialty. I can sass about anything.”
He chuckles, reaching over and placing his hand on my leg. It doesn’t matter how many times he touches me like this. The sensation never gets any less tempting. The effect feels somehow natural and new at the same time.
“Careful. We won’t make it to our destination.”
He laughs again, removing his hand. “You’re right. Usually, I’d find the nearest, most luxurious hotel and make a pit stop, but this is important.”
“Is that why you asked me to wear this dress?”
I’m in a stunning, fancy-pants piece that would’ve made me feel like I didn’t belong just a couple of weeks ago. Since learning that Dario and I can be together, I’m growing into the Mafia princess role. I’m letting go of self-consciousness and nerves and learning to be me and a character on a stage.
Speaking of stages, we pull up outside The Imperial Lyric Theatre. Its ornate exterior with gilded arches and carved stone makes me feel momentarily poor again. “Are we watching a show? It looks closed.”