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Several reporters began shouting questions. Elysa held up her hand like she’d been giving press conferences for a lifetime. The crowd quieted almost immediately. She answered each of them calmly, alternating between Italian and English, depending on which language the question was asked in. She dismissed questions that were too invasive, calling them inappropriate without so much as blinking, but she answered others with a grace that made me feel like the luckiest man in the world.
And then she said something thatfloored me.
“My husband and I love each other very much. These past months have been taxing since we lost his grandfather—and yet, we’ve been working through our grief, and it’s vulgar of Lucia Falcone to weaponize her ambition in this manner. But the fact that she’s accusing Dante withnoproof says more about her character than my husband’s. It shows that in addition to being a pathetic human being, she’s also a lousy lawyer. And, now we’re done with this. We will not be engaging with her further in the media, but rest assured we will be slapping her with a libel suit big enough to make her head spin.”
The room buzzed with murmurs, and I knew the reporters were eating it up. She’d just thrown Lucia under the bus in the most professional, tactful way possible.
I made my way through the crowd, ignoring the flashes of cameras and the murmurs that followed me until I was standing right beside her at the podium.
She turned to look at me, her expression unreadable, and for a moment, it felt like the whole world had stopped.
“Elysa.” I held out my hand, and she put hers in mine and smiled.
“You’re late,” she joked.
Chuckles ran through the room.
“I was so mesmerized by you on stage that I couldn’t move.” I slid an arm around her and kissed her temple.
Journalists now started asking me questions. I raised my hand, and it took a few moments, but finally, silence fell in the room.
“I don’t engage with the media, usually, when such baseless claims are made.”
I looked at Elysa and felt my heart expand a few sizes in my chest. How had I ever thought she didn’t belong in my world? I thought Lucia did, and she was a viper. Elysa and I fit together, which was all that mattered.
“Now I’m learning that if I don’t speak up when you disparage me without cause, my wife will do it for me. And since she does it so eloquently, I may let her handle it in the future as well.”
Laughter sounded in the room.
“Thank you for your time,” I said to the reporters.
She leaned so her voice carried through the microphone. “Let’s not do this again over thoughtless remarks and photos. It’s hurtful to us and insults your intelligence.”
She winked at me, and I set my mouth on hers.
The room erupted in chaos—cameras flashed, reporters shouted—but none of it mattered. All I could focus on was the feel of her lips against mine and the warmth of her hand as it came up to rest lightly on my chest.
I didn’t care that most of the European gossip media was in the room. They could see and write about it all they wanted, as long as they saw andwrote that Dante and Elysa Giordano were a couple in love.
“Ti amo,” I whispered after we broke apart.
“I love you, too,” she replied, her eyes bright and clear, her smile that of a siren’s.
When we stepped off the stage, Pippa looked at us with what I could only describe asrelief.
“Cheperfetto.” She clapped her hands together. “Absolutely perfect. The story is going to flip by tomorrow morning. Mark my words—Lucia’s finished.”
I didn’t care about Lucia. All I cared about was the woman standing beside me, the woman who had just gone to war for me in front of the entire world.
As we left the ballroom, Elysa slipped her hand into mine, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I felt like I could breathe again. Because she wasn’t just standing beside me in that press conference. She was standing beside me in life. And I wasn’t going to take that for granted ever again.
THIRTY-FOUR
Elysa
“We need to sue her for libel and… all those other things you sue people for when they lie their asses off in public,” I announced the moment we stepped into Dante’s office.
Tomasso was already there, waiting, and he smiled at me in amusement. “You were great at the press conference. You handled those reporters like a pro. Confident, sharp, unshakable—damn near terrifying.”