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Emma bit her lip and nodded slowly. “Will you put in a good word for him?”
“I will.”
“Will he be good to her?”
I looked out of the windshield. “Renato is my friend. He’s not violent toward women. But he won’t be faithful.” I spared her the details of his whore testing ways.
Emma looked down at her lap. “I’ll have to warn Giorgia.”
I nodded. “You should, but it seems they both need that marriage.” I motioned toward the restaurant. “We should go in.”
I just opened the door for Emma when a car pulled up with spinning tires. I pulled my gun but relaxed when I recognized Renato’s car. He got out of the car.
Emma was already inside, glancing over her shoulder at me in confusion as Renato’s grandfather greeted her warmly.
I sent Renato a questioning look.
“Why don’t you answer your fucking phone?” he shouted as he rushed toward me.
I cocked an eyebrow.
“I wanted to warn you—”
“Let me go. I won’t be in the same place with him!”
I stiffened.
“Fuck,” Renato murmured, his eyes locking on mine. My stomach constricted, guilt burning brightly, as I schooled my face into a hard mask.
“And I really hope you find happiness somewhere else because that man won’t ever be happy if there’s a God,” Domenico’s mother told Emma. “You should be ashamed that you parade around like this when my son is dead.”
I moved inside. I stepped between Mrs. Accetta and Emma. I could bear her anger but I didn’t want Emma to be on the receiving end of it. She had done nothing to deserve this.
Domenico’s younger brother who was also a Made Man grabbed his mother’s arm. “Mom, it’s enough. This isn’t the place.”
“It’s been years,” Renato muttered.
“I lost my son! He was tortured to death because of him, because of his whore of a sister, and here he stands with his wife. My Domenico won’t ever marry. He won’t have children.”
Her haunted eyes met mine, and I knew what would come before she even said anything. “That’s why you married her, becauseHewon’t allow you to have kids either.”
“Leave,” I ordered, my voice cold as ice.
Renato and Domenico’s brother led Mrs. Accetta out of the restaurant. Domenico’s brother stopped in front of me. He had Domenico’s light brown eyes. Eyes I saw twisted in agony in many of my nightmares. “I apologize for my mother, Samuel.”
I gave a terse nod, and he left. Emma’s face was ashen as she looked up at me. I could feel the eyes of every guest in the restaurant on us. Most of them were from our world and knew or thought they knew what had happened. For them, it was old news. Made Men died all the time, but they were eager to see how I’d react, how Emma would react.
I sent them the coldest look I was capable of and many averted their eyes. Then my gaze settled on Emma. She swallowed hard. I touched her shoulder. “Come. Our table is over there.”
Surprise filled her eyes, but she nodded and moved toward the table with a view of another one of the city’s lakes. It was the best table in the restaurant and had been decorated with a vase with roses and candles.
I pushed Emma’s wheelchair close to the table, then took my seat across from her. A hush had fallen over the restaurant, but I knew people were whispering about what happened and throwing us discreet looks.
“I’m very sorry,” Renato’s grandfather said as he handed us the menus. “I tried to warn you through Renato.”
“Don’t worry. I can handle it,” I said firmly. I wouldn’t show how much the encounter had shaken me. Fuck. I doubted itwouldn’t ever not kill me inside to see Domenico’s mother and her heartbreak. But today, she attacked Emma as well, and I couldn’t allow that. He nodded, gave Emma another warm smile, then left.
I looked down at the menu even though I knew it by heart. I lifted my gaze when I felt Emma’s eyes on me.