Page 131 of Enzo

I arched a single brow. “Then maybe you should tell your face that,caro marito.”

“What am I going to do with you?” he muttered.

“Spank me. Kiss me. Fuck me… Oh, the endless possibilities,” I teased.

“You’re impossible,” he muttered.

“And yet, here you are, so completely obsessed with me.” I winked.

A half laugh escaped him. “That I am, wife.”

He leaned down and kissed me, wrapping me in his arms like a protective blanket, and I knew that things would only get better from here. Not easier, but definitely better.

He scooped me up and slid us into bed, his body folded around mine.

Then he pulled me tighter, kissing the back of my neck and murmuring, “Ti amo, mia anima.”

We lay in silence, two souls entangled for so long that we recognized each other in the dark. It was ironic, really, because when I learned of this marriage arrangement, I could have never imagined life with him.

And yet tonight… Tonight, I couldn’t imagine my life without him. Penelope and Enzo. A wife and husband. Two hearts beating as one.

“I’m so happy. You make me so happy,” I whispered. “And I’m so grateful that our parents signed that marriage contract.”

He kissed the top of my head. “Me too.”

“You know,” I said, my voice growing sleepier. “Family sticks together.” I felt myself fading into a dreamworld, his presence a soothing comfort. “I’ll always stick by you. Even if the world turns against you. You’re my home, Enzo.”

The last thing I heard before my dreams took me was his murmured, “And you’ll always be mine. My obsession. My heart. My soul.”

CHAPTER EPILOGUE-ENZO

Five Years Later

The bouquets of flowers crowded the grave, and alongside it stood a sculpture formed in memory of my wife’s cello, where it would play for all eternity.

The tombstone read:

Amara DiMauro.

Beloved Daughter, Sister, and Sister-in-Law.

A light too bright to stay.

Penelope and I walked back in silence, the blossoms falling behind us like soft rain, gathering in drifts at our feet. There was peace in the air, the kind that only came after a long, brutal storm.

I spotted the hospital in the far distance, its new wing catching the last of the evening light. You could just make out the bronze letters from here: The Amara DiMauro PediatricOncology Wing. Even now, five years later, her family missed her.

Cazzo,Imissed her.

Pen was a resident doctor there and I was so proud of her. At first, she worried the memories and pain of her sister’s loss would be too much. But we all convinced her to give it a try, and Pen’s desire to be a successful doctor and help other children like Amara prevailed. The rest was history.

I stopped by the car, resting a hand on the roof, my other wrapped around my wife. My reflection stared back at me in the window—older, happier, and lesspazzo. She waited beside me, patient like she always was when I started digging around in the past.

“You know,” I said, eyes still on the wing in the distance. “I thought if I did enough good, it’d cancel out the bad. That maybe I could tip the scales back in my favor.”

She didn’t say anything right away, just turned to me with that soft look of hers.

Our beginning was rocky, but our present was more than I deserved. Penelope ended up not only being my lover, but also my confidante, my partner, the essence of my soul and heart.