AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I could see the words hit like a physical blow, but I didn’t know how else to explain. I’d left an innocent princess and come back to a queen. Reconciling the two was proving impossible, especially when that queen was my boss.
But I didn’t need to explain. Mari got it, probably more than I ever would. Her laugh was so bitter, it should’ve burned on the way out. “Of course. I’m in power, and you can’t handle it.”
“That’s not true. I just?—”
“Was expecting the little wallflower I was when you left? The daddy’s girl who would do whatever he wanted without a word? That Mari was a child, Dominic. She was never going to last.”
“Maybe she would have.”
“No one should be that innocent.” Mari’s stare wasn’t probing; it was incredulous. Both brows were raised so high they practically disappeared into her hairline. “How did we grow up in similar families and turn out so different? I was never going to be a fucking Mary Sue, Dominic. It was either this or the dutiful mafia wife. There was no other fate for me.”
“Bullshit!” I snapped. “There could’ve been. If I’d brought you with me, maybe?—”
She softened, like she could see how racked with guilt I was, but it didn’t deter her. “My father never would have allowed it.”
The words were right there on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t say them. Not when we were fracturing before we’d even started. It wasn’t the time. Eventually, I’d have to come clean but not yet. “I could’ve asked. Mario liked me more than you think. Maybe if I’d talked to him, he would’ve allowed it.”
“Dominic, I’m telling you, it wouldn’t have worked. Save your maybes for things that matter.”
The woman was fucking infuriating. I grabbed her arms and pulled her close, not letting her wiggle away. “You matter. You will always matter.”
“Yet nothing you say is going to change my situation. I’m in this for life—and probably death, too. So are you, for that matter. Neither of us is getting out of it. Not today, tomorrow, or next year. If that’s not something you can handle, tell me now, and I’ll find someone to replace you so you can go back to your perfect little civilian life. I’m sure the ladies of Chicago will be grateful to have you again.”
She lifted her chin, defiant to the end, and I was as in awe of her as I was frustrated. How did she not see that I didn’t give a shit about them?
“I’m not leaving, and I don’t want anyone else, especially not people who were nothing more than placeholders for the real thing,” I growled. “No matter what, you’re still my mariposa. My girl. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone else. I’m just coming to terms with…”
“With the person I had to become.” She pulled again, and this time, I let her go. The second she was free, she had her arms crossed in front of her again, and I could see the sadness seeping into her expression. “You think that taking my position turned me into a monster.”
How did I fuck this up so badly? “No. I think it made you do things you shouldn’t have had to do.”
“Kill people, you mean.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe if I’d been a good little wife, I wouldn’t have blood on my hands, but I want you to think about something. Think about it hard before you answer.”
I agreed, though I could tell she was setting me up for a trap I wasn’t going to get out of.
“Would you be saying this to Cameron?” I winced because, no, I wouldn’t have. Mari scoffed. “Of course not. Because he’s a man and I’m not. I thought you were better than that, Dominic, but your savior complex is out of this world.”
“To be fair, Cameron spent his whole life training to be in the family.”
“That’s the point. So did I! You can ask him yourself. In fact, I’ll call him for you.” She reached for her phone, and I pulled her back again. The last thing I needed was her getting her cousin to gang up on me when the evening had already gone to hell.
“I don’t give a shit about your cousin. I care about you. Besides, I’m not trying to save you. I’m just?—”
“You are,” she insisted. “You’re trying to save me from the big, bad mafia like I didn’t sign the deal with the devil myself. I grew up in this life, for fuck’s sake, Dominic.”
I tried to pull back. We were getting so far off topic, and all it was doing was adding blows to a foundation that didn’t need the stress. “So did I, but I think I’m allowed to express concern about the fact that your job is dangerous, Mari.”
There, calm and reasonable.
“You know who else has dangerous jobs? Line workers, firefighters. Hell, window-washers have the same level of risk at work that I do, and they’re suspended from buildings!”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. “Window washers aren’t in the middle of a goddamn war or in the crosshairs of a fucking lunatic who is blowing up civilian’s cars!”
“That’s the job, Dominic. It’s the risk I take for the power I hold. There’s no escaping that.”
