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“So?” Roman asks me softly as we walk along the river with a million stars twinkling above, a good meal resting in our bellies, and our respective security guards having enough sense to fall back a reasonable distance.

“So?”

“I know it wasn’t turning up on your doorstep naked, but did you have a good time?”

“Hmm.” I let the silence drag out as we walk lazily, my heels clicking against the ground. “I suppose.”

“You suppose?” Roman chuckles. “Tell me how it could have been better.”

“Let’s see, I took you on an action-filled date and then I turned up at your door in just a coat.”

“And I took you to the most exclusive restaurant in town, let you eat double your body weight in butter pasta, and we drank gold leaf champagne.”

“Hold on, youletme eat that pasta?” I tease, coming to a stop. “Did I need your permission?”

“No, you needed my credit card.”

“Fair.” Chuckling softly, I loop my arm through Roman’s extended elbow and we resume walking. “No, in all seriousness, it was really lovely. I’ve never been on a date like that before.”

“I figured it was a good way to keep up appearances since your mother has finally ruled out an engagement party. We need the world to see this is really happening.”

“I agree, but outside of that, it was fun. I can’t remember the last time someone took me to dinner with the intent of romancing me.”

“I find that hard to believe.” Roman glances down at me and then he doesn’t look away, watching me as we walk. “A beautiful woman like you?”

“You’ve met my parents,” I point out. “They were not kind on the dating front. Most of the guys I ended up with were one-night stands while out with Catherine, and even then the sex was barely anything good.”

“I’m sorry,” Roman replies. “I’d imagined you beating off suitors with a stick.”

“I wish. But what about you?” I lean into him slightly as we walk. “How are you still single?”

“Romance has been so far from my mind for so long. When I was younger, sure. But as the years ticked by, my focus became on my family for…well, you know why. Santino’s really been making me work for it. Sometimes I wondered if he worked out what my true intentions were and purposefully kept me at arm’s length.”

“And now?”

“Now I’m close.” A strange darkness takes over Roman’s face for a moment, like grief he can’t face. “Closer than I’ve ever been. Thanks to you.”

“Hardly. If anything, you should be thanking the Mancinis. So should I, to be fair.”

“You think?”

“If we hadn’t overheard what we did, I’d be marrying some random man I know nothing about because my parents deem him suitable, and then we’d be dead because of this war between us.”

“It’s strange, isn’t it?” Roman sighs deeply. “How things turn out.”

“How do you mean?”

“Well, Santino’s greed drove him to kidnap you, handed you off to the Yakuza, and then had you rescued so he’d look like the hero. All so he could make your father give him territorial control over shipment lanes across the state to further his business. And your father agreed as an act of good faith and with the hope of a partnership. When really, he was getting screwed over. While your father focused on punishing the Yakuza for kidnapping you, my father was setting up networks and alliances that have made it impossible for your father to use force to take back what was once his.

“And now it’s being handed back because the war has caused so much trouble that we’ll be dead if it doesn’t end. And we’re forcing it to an end by getting married,” I add.

“Exactly. And now we’re here, walking along the river, full of good food and wine, all because of a choice Santino made eleven years ago. It’s just weird how things turn out.”

“Even longer than that,” I point out, tightening my hold on him briefly. “If he hadn’t attacked your mother, none of this would have played out this way.”

Roman’s jaw ticks. “True.”

“Is that your only goal? Revenge?”