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“And yet,” Maxine echoes before exhaling a soft breath, “You already know what I think, Cass. I think you should get the hell away from him if you can.”

Chloe’s silent, so I turn to her arching an eyebrow.

“We can’t tell you what to do, Cass. And I don’t think you have a choice in the matter either. I have a feeling you’ve already given your heart to him.”

I let out a soft groan,“Do you guys remember the man I met at Leo’s party a few years back?”

Maxine snorts. “How could we forget? You talked about how good that guy fucked you for ayearstraight.”

Chloe laughs. “And don’t even get me started on how youpretendednot to be looking for him every time we went back to that club.”

They both crack up until they see my face.

I’m not laughing.

Their smiles fade. “Wait,” Maxine says slowly. “No.”

“It was him,” I say quietly. “He’s the one.”

They both go silent.

“Hold up,” Chloe says, eyes wide. “Your new mafia husband is Mr. Italian?”

“The one who called you his and disappeared?” Maxine adds, stunned.

I nod. “Yes.”

“When did you find out?” Maxine asks.

“At the wedding,” I confess. “I didn’t tell you because I was still trying to wrap my head around it. And now… everything’s insane.”

They both just stare at me.

Finally, Chloe exhales. “Girl. What thefuck.”

“I know. We had sex a few days ago. And it was… amazing. And now I’m so fucking confused because I don’t know what to feel.”

“Seems like things have progressed a lot,” Maxine drawls.

“So where do I go from here?” I ask.

Neither of them seem to have an answer to that. They stay with me though, throughout the rest of the day. Damien calls me later that evening, but I ignore all of his calls. I’m sure he’s agitated, but I respect him for not coming here and barging in. I just need some time away from him, to come to terms with everything that’s going on.

And now I really need to choose. Do I stay with a man with so much darkness? Or do I choose myself and protect my heart? Or is my heart too far gone already?

CHAPTER NINETEEN

DAMIEN

I pace the floors of my room endlessly, clenching and unclenching my fists. I’m currently resisting every neuron inside of me urging me to head over to Cassie. It’s been hours since I got the call from Rafael. Apparently she doesn’t want to see me or talk to me at the moment. Which is unfathomable.

We were fine. She woke up in my arms this morning. She gave me a hug before she stepped out of the car. I dropped her off at her father’s house, with the hopes that we’ll have another nice night, another nice day together. And now, there’s a part of me that feels like everything’s unravelling at the seams.

There’s a knock on my door and Luca walks in the room, gaze assessing my expression.

“Sir, would you like me to head over there and bring Mrs. Luciano home?” he questions.

I think about it for a moment. No one could stop me from bringing my wife back to where she belongs. No one except her that is. I just wish she would talk to me. I’ve called her several times and she hasn’t picked up. It’s infuriating.