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“Romina, your mother can’t make me run away. You have to trust me, alright.”
“Ok, but what about Mama? Maybe you should go and give her a hug.”
“I can try.” I called out for Giovanni, and he appeared out of thin air.
“What can I get you, Mr. Stefani?”
“Can you keep an eye out on this little lady for a minute?”
“Of course. If you’re looking for your wife, she was on the bow, sir.”
I slipped him a few bills and assured Romina that I’d be back soon with her mother, hopefully in a better mood than when she left.
I found Salvatrice sitting on her ass, her arms wrapped around her body. She was looking away but I didn’t need to see her face to know she was crying; I knew her too well. I only saw her break down a couple of times – once when she told me about her parents and the time she had in foster care, and once when I gloriously fucked-up our anniversary. We were supposed to have a candlelit dinner, but I had a shit-ton of exams back then and I mixed my dates up. Salva waited for me at the restaurant for three hours before giving up. It didn’t help that she found me with my very hot, very voluptuous TA in the library. Not that anything was about to happen; the day I met Salvatrice was the day any woman lost the ability to peak my interest, but she was furious. When we got home, she went to sit on our bedroom floor, just like she was now, and cried her eyes out. I’d never felt such pain as seeing her so hurt and knowing I was responsible. I wasn’t much better now either.
“Salva, come on, get up.”
“Just give me a second.”
“No more seconds, beautiful.” What I wanted was to scoop her up in my arms, but instead I just helped her to get on her feet. “I promised Romina I’d bring you back smiling.”
“God, I can’t believe I lashed out at her. I need to apologize to my baby girl.” She turned to leave, but I grabbed her arm to keep her in place.
“Not yet. We need to clear the air. Salvatrice, I told Romina I’m not going anywhere. We can’t pussyfoot around things because, whether you like it or not, she is the daughter of a mafia consigliere. My daughter.” Every time I said those words my chest grew bigger and bigger. “I don’t just have ties to organized crime, Salva; I’m in it up to my neck. All those despicable things you think – I probably did them at some point and I’m sorry if you’re scared, but you and Romina will be safe under my wing. I’m a very dangerous man, Salvatrice – very dangerous – and I will make one with the ground whoever tries to touch what’s mine.” She sucked in a sharp breath. “I might start with that fucker Marco.”
She froze and looked at me like a dick just grew on my cheek. Yeah, amore, I know about that.
“What…how did you…?”
“Romina and I had a little chat. She’s quite an informant.”
“I’m surprised she remembers him; it was two years ago.”
My arm flexed in a reflex and crushed her on my chest before I could control it.
“There is no statute of limitation on my jealousy.”
“Roman…”
Her breath dripped on my lips like summer rain. We were too close, our faces only inches away. My name on her tongue sounded like a sensual poison, enticing me to taste it. The moment I looked into her infinite green pools, I lost the battle. I grabbed her face and crushed my mouth on hers, taking her in like there was no tomorrow.
I wanted more, I wanted to go deeper, but she pulled back.
“No.” I growled above her lips. “Give me this. Give me one fucking kiss and I will give you anything you want in return. I deserve one more kiss.”
She stopped struggling and instead, her hands grabbed my shirt to pull me closer. She opened up to me and I assaulted her lips, greedy to taste as much as possible. It was like coming home. All these years that I hung on to her weren’t in vain. She was finally back.
