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Like she owes her father her entire life just because he raised her.
“Maybe not, but it does mean I’m giving something up. I can be upset about that, okay?”
“You’re right. You can be upset. I just hate that you’re upset for the wrong reasons.”
That pisses her off. I like a little spark from her. “What the hell do you know about me? We haven’t spoken in years, and if I remember right, you ghosted me. You flew across the freaking country to get away from me. Then you come storming back into my life and you’ve done nothing but make it even worse. Honestly, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing with you right now.”
“I’m not making it worse,” I say, keeping my voice as steady as I can. “I’m giving you a chance.”
“A chance at what? You’re only doing this for your own selfish reasons, which I haven’t even begun to figure out yet. But don’t sit there and pretend like this is somehow a sacrifice for me, because we both know it’s not.”
If only she understood. If only she knew. She would never call me selfish.
“Whatever your cousin said, I promise I’m going to make sure you’re okay. You’re my wife now, and I would never let your family hurt you.”
She laughs. It’s an ugly and bitter sound. “You don’t get it. I’m not afraid of them hurting me. I’m afraid of them hating me.”
“If they hate you for doing what makes you feel right, then they aren’t worth caring about.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“You think I’m going to get off easy? Renzo will be livid and Saul’s going to feel like I betrayed him. You do realize that I stole my brother’s wife, right?”
That makes her pause. “I was never really with him. I mean, he didn’t care about me.”
“No, he didn’t, but that doesn’t matter. It’s how this looks. We’re mafia, remember? And in our world, a brother marrying his brother’s fiancée is an enormous slight. He’s going to lose face, and that won’t help my relationship with him.”
It was never a great relationship to begin with. Saul and I got along, but not well. The hero was always closest to Renzo, while Carlo and I have our own little things going. Still, Saul’s my brother, and a part of me hates that I’m doing this to him.
She looks thoughtful as she chews on her fingernail. I stare at her lips and the glimpse of tongue I catch behind her teeth. She considers for a few seconds, then seems to notice me watching and drops her hand.
“Fine, I get it, this won’t be easy for you, either. I understand that, but I still don’t know why you’re doing, it, and that doesn’t really help my situation.”
“I wouldn’t have put myself in this position if I didn’t think there was a way for us to move forward without losing everything. You just have to trust me when I say that I can make it work.”
“Think you can fix my relationship with my father? Think you can make my cousin not look at me like I’m some kind of traitor?”
“Eventually, yes.”
“You’re so full of shit.” She smiles slightly. “Seriously, do you even believe yourself?”
“I’m capable of a lot of things,tesorina. You should know that by now.”
Her eyebrows raise. “Was that a reference to the old days?”
“It might’ve been.”
“No, absolutely not. I don’t want you to ever talk about college. I can bring it up but you absolutely can’t. Those aren’t good memories.”
“They’re not all bad.” I give her my best charming smile. “Remember how we met?”
“You cheated off me. Not exactly gallant.”
“I sat down next to you and said, ‘You’re the smartest person in this room. I’ll do anything if you look the other way.’ And do you remember what you said?”
A ghost of a smile on her lips. “I said something like, if you think I’d actually let you cheat off me, then you must be the dumbest.”
“But you did it.”
