Page 86

Her eyes glazed over in thought. “Sometimes,” she admitted. “I wish he had died and not my boy.”
I nodded. I understood that too.
She looked up at Leo, who was typing on his phone. “Is that betrayal? You can tell him exactly what I said. I would tell him and his father to their faces. They can kill me if they want, then I’d finally be united with my boy again!”
Leo frowned at her as he lowered his phone, but he didn’t say anything.
I realized she would never give Samuel her forgiveness. That would require her to move on, and she would never allow herself to do so. For her, it would feel like betraying the child she’d lost.
I squeezed her hand. “I don’t understand your pain. Nobody who hasn’t experienced it can, but I am sorry for your loss. I know the things we lose always echo the loudest.”
She swallowed hard and nodded.
Samuel came home early that day, and one look at his tense face as he stepped outside on the porch where I was doing origami told me that Leo had told him everything. Not that I had expected anything less. Samuel probably always got a detailed rundown of my day. I wasn’t sure if it was concern or his need to control everything.
“That was very foolish,” he said quietly.
His quiet rage was always the most potent. I sat up straighter and put the origami flower down. Giorgia had asked me to do them for her wedding as table decorations for their wedding gift. “If wanting to help my husband makes me a fool, then I don’t mind being one.”
Samuel shook his head and squatted before me with a look of intense frustration. “Do you realize how much danger you were in?”
“I visited a mother who’s caught up in grief and depression, not the enemy.”
“Grief can turn men into monsters.”
“Men, certainly. She’s a woman.”
Samuel glared. “This isn’t the time to be witty. What if she’d decided to pay me back and hurt me by hurting or killing you, Emma? Did you consider that?”
“Leo was with me. And killing me wouldn’t have hurt you in a way she might desire. For her to have any chance of getting even, she would have to kill someone you love, like your mother or Sofia. Not me, because you don’t love me.” The words ached, but I didn’t shy back from a hurtful truth. I never had.
Samuel regarded me without saying anything.
“Right?” I whispered, and I wasn’t sure why I did it.
Samuel straightened and looked out over the lake. “I told you she won’t forgive me.”
“She can’t because she would feel guilty. It isn’t even about you anymore. It’s about her feeling obligated to stay in the past and not move on like everyone else.”
“I want to move on, now more than ever, because of you.” He looked me in the eyes, and the look in his made my heart speed up. Samuel wasn’t a man for emotional declarations, but this felt like one.
Giorgia was a stunning bride. Her sweetheart neckline accentuated her showstopper cleavage, and her copper hair contrasted beautifully with the white of her dress.
Renato’s expression was more than appreciative as he took her in, and definitely not fit for church.
I rolled my eyes, annoyed. Samuel squeezed my hand, and I slanted him a look. “Maybe she can get him in line,” he said under his breath as the priest continued the ceremony.
“Made Men can be extremely set in their ways.”
Samuel let out a low chuckle and raised my hand to his lips to kiss my knuckles. The gesture, in public no less, surprised me. “You would know all about it.”
“Indeed,” I whispered, then turned back to the front of the church to watch Renato and Giorgia exchange their vows. During the congratulations in front of the church, my eyesbriefly drifted to Fiorentino and his father. While the boy gave me a brief smile, still thankful for my help, his father pointedly ignored me. He was furious because my “meddling” had led to his son being a part of the Outfit.
Afterward, we gathered in a massive ballroom in one of the best hotels in Minneapolis. Giorgia’s mother had picked it because of its sheer size, as she’d invited pretty much everyone she knew.
“Giorgia was worried you’d be mad because their wedding has more guests than ours,” I whispered. Because I was Giorgia’s maid of honor and Samuel was Renato's best manSamuel was Renato's best manSamuel was Renato's best man, we shared a table with their families.
“A man who worries about losing face because his friend has a bigger wedding has already lost.”