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“We’re going to manage.”
“And Fabiano?”
“If Fabiano wants to go head to head with me, then I will have no problem ending his miserable life. It should have been done a long time ago.” I said too much. My anger and hate were going beyond what he did to my Grazi and this wasn’t the time to burden her with all that misery from the past. “Call the lieutenants, I want to meet all of them tonight at restaurant Primavera. I need to talk to my people.”
“Sure thing. What else do you need from me?”
I glanced at Grazia. “Find me a priest, one that can be here tomorrow. And find yourself a tuxedo.”
Chapter 18
Every girl grows up imagining how her wedding would be, or so some people think. When I thought about my wedding, I had a million scenarios in mind. Sometimes I would imagine a carpet of red roses, sometimes all white, sometimes fireworks and a golden chariot. Just one thing always stayed the same – the man at the end of the aisle. In every version, in every scenario, I knew that Salvatore would be there waiting for me.
My wedding day was nothing like what I’d imagined growing up. I had on an off-white dress that Chiara pinned in the back to fit me, not a Chantilly lace princess gown; there was no string quartet, no doves, no grandeur. There was no one on my side of the room. Seven brothers and none of them was there to give me away to the man I was going to spend my life with.Thatwas breaking my heart more than anything else, but I shoved it down. Tomorrow I will think about how I had to get married alone, but today I had to allow myself to be happy.
After all these years, after we’d been broken apart, after I’d pushed him away and ran back to him a million times, he was still waiting for me at the end of the aisle. Well, he was waiting for me in his living room with a priest, Pietro, Chiara, and her adorable son, Francesco.
I kept waiting for the doubts to kick in, or the guilt of putting my happiness above my family to show up, but it never happened. I was ready to run to him one last time.
A knock on the door made me look that way and Pietro walked in. There was no tuxedo, but he still looked dashing in jeans and a crisp, white shirt. Most days Pietro looked like a GQ cover model with his green, sparkly eyes and chiseled jaw and today was no different. There was a shadow over his face though.
“Grazia?”
“Yes.”
“Umm, the priest is ready to start. We’re waiting for you.”
“Ok.” I nodded, gripping the white daffodils Totto got me for a bouquet. “Let’s go.”
He didn’t move.
“It’s ok if you need another second.”
“No, I’m ok. We can go.” But when I wanted to walk past him, Pietro caught me by the elbow and kept me in the room.
“Grazia, how sure are you about this?”
“What?”
“How sure are you, because once you step in there and say those vows, there’s no way back.”
“Are you really asking me this now?”
“Look, your family is pissed, but if you go back right now, the dust will settle eventually. Giovani will ask Salvatore for some money to let the family know a debt was paid and that’s it.”
“I-I don’t even know what to say to this.”
“I’m just thinking about my cousin. He’s one and you have seven brothers.”
I tensed. What he was saying was that Caputo and Fiori were strongfamiglias– equals – but if seven powerful, rich men put a target on Salvatore’s head, a lot might volunteer to do the dirty job and put a bullet in the man that was about to become my husband.
“Look, Pietro, I get it. You don’t like me and I understand why. I would hate anyone who puts Salvatore in danger too, but you need to stand down.”
“Stand down?” He was really offended.
“Yes. I lived over twenty years worshiping a man who threw me out of my own home to fuck his whore. I love my brothers, I do, but after all the things I’ve learned about my father, I just don’t… the only one who ever lovedjustme is Salvatore. And I love him and for once I’ll just think about our love and not anyone else.”
“Grazia, I know you do. You love him and Salvatore adores you, but this goes beyond the two of you.”
