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“You’re not getting younger. You need a wife,” she insists.

“She’s not Italian.” I try to come up with excuses to keep from saying fuck it all and embracing the madness once again.

“I don’t care about that. Neither do you. So why are you coming up with excuses?”

“Do you think Father was a good man?”

He wasn’t and neither am I.

She places a soft hand on my chest. “You’re the man this family needs. I took your father for who he was.”

I don’t want to tarnish his image in front of her, so I remain quiet, resuming watching Luciana and my sister through the window.

I spot Mika’s car approaching and I kiss the top of my mother’s head. “See you later, Mother.”

“Take care, Enzo.”

Outside, I see him perched against the side of his car. With arms crossed just like his ankles, he pins Luciana with a hard look. She says something to my sister, who laughs. The image is so wholesome it warms my chest.In another life.

“I don’t like her near Dahlia,” he grumbles.

“Take a fucking step back. They’re getting along.”

“She’s training her.” If it were up to him, he’d wrap my sister in cotton.

“So what? Look at her, Mika. She’s more open.”

He groans a noncommittal sound, and I say, “Cato called.”

“It’s a wonder it took him so long.”

“I’ll deal with them.”

A muscle in his jaw ticks. “So, you won’t kill her?”

“No.”

“Never?” he tries, although, with his slight nod, he already knows the answer.

“I can’t.”

He shakes his head at me, and I add, “Regardless of the outcome, I am taking the Council back under my thumb.”

“You’ll claim your seat?”

No. The one who deserves it will get it. And then she’ll be out of my influence, gone for good.

“No.”

His brows bunch together. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“You’ll find out. I want Luciana for myself a bit longer.” Just as I say that she turns her head, our eyes locking. Her silver gaze swallows me whole in her unyielding orbit.

“And then what? You’re going to let her go?”

The question pours a truckload of misery, making my shoulders droop. “I have to, and she’ll return to her family.”

“You found them?”