Page 19

M y wife doesn’t speak to me for over twenty-four hours.

I’m tempted to go to her and start a conversation, engage her in some talk, even beg her to speak to me. What good will it do, though? Kaya is fully in her right to give me the cold shoulder treatment. She called me ‘husband,’ and what did I do? I froze, shut her out, made her feel insignificant and unworthy.

That she’s recoiled into herself now is no surprise. She nodded when we got back to the Andretti household and I told her the visa had come through. E-tickets for the next flight out of Newark made it to my phone soon after. We’d have one stop in France, but all in all, at just around thirteen hours for the trip, we should count ourselves lucky. Flying first class will also help.

We said goodbye to Valentino, this time our farewells being final. Kaya and I can never set foot back on US soil—she’s still the last person who saw her father alive, and we’re also the last two people to be seen with Mandy and Rocco in that bar before they disappeared. Mandy’s body will be sent as a message once we’re safely back in Torino.

It’s bittersweet, leaving my cousin behind. For much of the past two years, I’ve been carting Valentino around with me like a sidekick, a green rookie to be educated into the ways of the real Italian mafia. At the same time, he became an essential member of our family, endearing himself to my parents, and gaining the trust and respect of Don Rossi. But most important of all, he's become the brother I've always wanted. The brother of my heart, if you will. I will always love the bastard, and that doesn't even count the fact that he saved me and Kaya from a situation that could easily have gone to shit.

To see him embodying the boss he is now was an eye-opener, and I’ll never be able to see him again as the quiet yet carefree young man he was with me in my hometown. He’s on to bigger and darker things here, and I can only pray the fortitude and strength he’s displayed so far will keep moving him forward.

I’d said goodbye to my other cousins before we left for Portland, as they each would be going their separate ways that same day. The killing of Marcello Andretti destabilized his family, and at the time, they didn’t know who had it in for them. For the entire family to be in the same town, much less under the same roof, painted a large enough target on them that a drone armed by a savvy operator could lock in their coordinates and take them all out with a single push of a button.

My chest constricts as I watch Kaya being engulfed against Valentino’s big frame as they hug goodbye. He murmurs soft words in her ear, and she nods with a small tearful smile. Had I not seen him do this with Francesca, I would’ve been livid, thinking he was putting the moves on my woman.

To think of any man putting his hands on her now… This thought brings me to the predicament weighing heavy on me since the day I was activated. Kaya was the Don’s woman before she came to me. She’s mine now, but will she ever return my love after the fucking mistake I made in that SUV several nights ago?

So I don’t talk to her, engage her in conversation, beg her to give me just one ounce of her attention. Nothing I can do regarding her, regarding us, until I’ve cleared the air and know where we both stand. Kaya, she is worth everything, and I will fight for her. Even if I have to lay down my life in the process. I won’t go down without trying with all I’ve got.

Gianluca picks us up at the airport. After more than half a day in a plane, we’re overdue for a shower, a nap, some decent food, or at the very least breathing some fresh outdoor air. All this will have to wait, though, until I take care of one more thing.

“The Don at Demos tonight?” I ask. When he nods in the rearview mirror, I tell him to head over to the club.

There’s a sharp intake of air from Kaya, and I’m pretty sure she’ll open her mouth to say something. But she doesn’t. She’s seething, I can feel it, wanting to get as far away from me as quickly as possible. And here I am dragging her in my wake again. Then it’s the same blank, eerie static settling between us. Dio santo , how I hate this!

Sandro welcomes us with hugs, Dino the same.

“We need to see the Don,” I tell the bodyguard.

He escorts us up to the office a few moments later. One knock, and we’re inside, the door closing behind us. Don Giacomo is standing at the floor-to-ceiling windows, peering down at the lounge. His face breaks into a wide smile when we enter, and he opens his arms to Kaya, who runs into them and hugs him tight.

Fuck this! If she wants to be with him… No. She was fully with me when we consummated our marriage.

He releases her and runs a hand over her hair, raking his gaze over her.

“Stefano, figliolo ,” he says, beckoning me with an open arm. “I hear congratulations are of the order.”

Here it is. My cue.

“Don Rossi,” I ask. “A word, please.”

Kaya shoots me a puzzled look punctuated by a frown.

The Don clasps her hand. “Would you mind waiting downstairs, cara ?”

She stares at us in turn, but ultimately, there’s nothing she can do but acquiesce and leave.

The Don waits me out once the door closes behind her.

I take a deep breath and swallow hard. “We’ve consummated our marriage, so I can’t get an annulment. And I’m not divorcing her, either.”

His gaze narrows. “Which you can’t. You were raised Catholic, weren’t you?”

My jaw clamps. “I’m not letting Kaya go.”

“No?”

“No.”

“And why would you be doing that in the first place?”

So he’s going to draw it all out from me. Va bene.

“Because I know you like her. And you also want her.”

He laughs. “Of course I like her. I’ve also wanted her for a long time.”

“You still do.”

He takes a long time to answer me. He turns to the windows, stares out, mulls something over.

“Yes.”

More than the admission, it’s the pain in his eyes that sucker-punches me when he turns to me again.

“You love her,” I mutter softly.

“Kaya…” He sighs. “She reminds me of Allegra, you know.”

Allegra. His dead wife. The agony is like gravel in his tone now.

“You could’ve had her,” I tell him.

“Then you wouldn’t.”

Roaring starts in my ears. This isn’t making sense. “ Che cosa ?”

He smiles softly. “I saw the way you started looking at her, after I brought her here.”

“So? If you love her, then why offer her to me?”

Why give her up? As a man who loves her, I wouldn’t be able to.

“Because I’ve had my one great love, Stefano. You haven’t, figliolo .”

I was fifteen when Allegra Rossi died. Six years prior, Giacomo Rossi had fought tooth and nail to be allowed to marry her. She was a nobody, not even from Torino, a woman who didn’t even know her own name when he found her half-dead in the wreck of a car accident. He fought for her, and then she fought for him in the only way she knew how—a Don needs an heir. She had a weak heart, a congenital condition exacerbated by her near-fatal accident. She got pregnant against all medical advice, gave him a son, and died mere hours later in his arms when her heart couldn’t keep going. It seemed she’d held on for as long as she needed to birth their child, then she expired.

I’d never witnessed love before them, and I’m pretty sure I never will see another love like theirs again. That Kaya reminded him of the wonderful woman he’d loved and lost…

“ Padrino ,” I mutter, my throat closing.

He comes to me and clasps me in his arms. “Make her happy, Stefano. She deserves it.”

I could only nod against his shoulder, tears pricking my eyes.

He’s just given up on his own love, his potential happiness, so I could get a chance at mine.

Padre , I want to say. Because that’s something only a father would do.

“ Figlio ,” he says softly, then drops a kiss on my head.

He heard it, and he showed me he understood.

I can never repay him for what he’s giving up. But one thing I can do is honor his sacrifice. I will make Kaya happy, and it starts with begging her to talk to me. I will beg even if it’s the only thing I do for the rest of my existence.

I clasp his shoulder hard. “ Grazie, Padrino .”

“ Vai, vai ,” he chides as he lets me go. “Go to your wife.”

I’m about to pull the door open when loud pounding slams into the panel. It’s Dino on the threshold, eyes wide and face somber.

“They just rolled in,” he says to me and the Don over my shoulder. “You better come, quick.”

I’m already barreling down the stairs when a high-pitched voice breaks through in a shrill tirade as the music cuts off abruptly. What the hell is going on?

“You think wearing his mark makes any difference? He can fuck you all he wants, he’ll never be yours. You’re just sloppy seconds, anyway. A slut who opens her legs for money, a puttana —” it sounds like she’s spitting, “—fucking whore!”

When I see what’s going on, my blood freezes before an inferno rages through me.

“You fucking little bitch!” I yell. “No one speaks to my wife like that, and much less a cunt like you.”

Lorena Bruno’s waif-like form takes the blow of my words like a fist to the gut. “Your wife?”

“You married that slut?” a man’s voice bellows.

“Watch your words,” I say to Cesare Bruno.

My steps have now taken me to Kaya who’s standing frozen in the middle of the lounge as this attack rains down on her. I wrap her in my arms and kiss her hair.

“I’m sorry, ama . You never should’ve had to hear this.”

“I’m sorry, too,” the Don intones behind us. “You—” it sounds like he barks at the gathering to the side, Cesare Bruno and his entire family, it seems like, “—get out of here and make sure I never see your faces again.”

“Don Rossi—”

“Out!”

Dino and Sandro appear and cart that bunch of assholes away. Cesare Bruno just signed his death warrant. He won’t be unalived per se, but he’s now in the bad books of his former Don. No one will touch him with a ten-foot pole once the news is circulated.

Something makes me look up at the entrance tunnel of the club. I’m not surprised when my gaze snags that of my father. There’s only condemnation in his hazel eyes so like mine. But that’s where the resemblance ends. The man I am is nothing like him.

Before I can see him leave, I turn my back to him. I get to close that chapter of my book, not him. And the pages ahead of me all have this woman on them.

I breathe out her name next to her ear, the one word a plea, a sigh, a confirmation.

She jerks a little in my arms.

“No, don’t cry. Please don’t cry,” I mumble as I pull away to stare into her face. But she isn’t crying—she’s smiling, and a laugh spills out of her. I can truthfully say that lovely sound jumpstarted my heart again. “Kaya?”

“Did you just ‘my wife’ me in front of everyone?”

I have no idea what that means, and my frown only makes her guffaw even more. Yet, if it makes her happy like this, I’ll gladly be the fool every second of every day I get to live with her.

“Well, you are my wife.”

“I am,” she says, her voice bubbly and shaky with joy.

“Actually, I’m not sure about that,” the Don says.

We both turn to him, worry dropping to the pit of my stomach. I know he won’t take her from me now, but what the fuck is he on about?

He winces. “From what I’ve heard, you two got married before an Elvis impersonator. That’s not…right. We’ll do things the proper way here, in church, with a decent reception. This weekend?”

I don’t think anyone else will ever know what transpired between us in his office just moments ago. Only I will ever be privy to what his desire to see us together really means. And like I thought before, I will honor this.

I turn to Kaya, then clasp her hands in mine. Next, I get down on my knees in front of her. We never got the chance to do this properly, and now, we can. We should.

“Kaya Norton, you are the only woman I will ever love. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

When I look up, she’s beaming at me, like I’m her entire world.

“Yes, Stefano Beccario. I love you so much. I gladly will.”