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“Do you want to see the greenhouse?” I asked, looking for the perfect moment. The greenhouse still had some of my mother’s roses protected inside. Thanks to the sunny days we had lately, they were in bloom. I had checked earlier today. Women like flowers, I told myself.
“All right. I could use the exercise.”
I nodded, taking her arm. But I was thinking about what she’d said. She needed to be able to go for a walk or exercise. I wanted her in good health. I’d talk to my brother about it.
“Oh, it’s beautiful! I didn’t realize the flowers were in bloom.”
“The greenhouse tricks them into thinking it’s always spring. Or something like that,” I amended. “Auntie does her best to keep everything alive, but it was really my mother’s thing.”
“She must have been very special,” Evie said, staring at me with a somber look. Somber but not dreary. She was just being respectful. Fuck if I didn’t love that about her.
“She was. Are you ready for your present?”
She nodded uncertainly just as a mewing sound caught her attention. She knelt and saw the basket of kittens under the shelves filled with empty pots below the roses.
“Oh, how sweet! Can I pet them?”
I reached in and picked out a gray kitten with blue eyes. I handed it to her. Evie held the kitten gently, rubbing the softness of its ears.
“She’s so precious!”
“She’s yours.”
“You got me a . . . kitten?”
“The cats live here. They always have. You can certainly take one if you want.” I gave her a melting smile. “You can have two.”
“Oh.”
“I did get you something, though. Would you like to see it?”
She nodded, standing up with the kitten cradled against her chest. I took the kitten and put it back in the basket.
“Just for now.”
She stared at me as I pulled out the box.
“I know we talked about this being a means to an end, but I was hoping it could be more.”
Her eyes got wide as I opened the box.
“Oh! Is that . . . ?”
“It’s an engagement ring.”
“It’s beautiful. But it’s so . . .”
“What?”
“Big,” she said, her eyes as round as saucers.
“You deserve the best, Evie. I promise to take care of you.”
“I don’t need anyone to take care of me,” she whispered. “Or at least, I didn’t.”
“I’m not sorry you got mixed up in all of this,” I said, my voice rougher than I’d expected it to be. “I know I should be, but I’m not. I’m not sorry for any of it.”
She had to know that. She had to know that I was a bad man. A selfish man. A man who would do anything to get what he wanted.
And I wanted her. Badly.
“What do you say, Evangeline?”
“It’s . . .”
She closed her eyes, clearly at a loss for words.
“You don’t really have a choice,” I said flatly.
Her eyes opened. I could see that some of the innocence had gone out of them. I’d done that.
“No, I don’t.”
Then I did something I never expected. I fucking lowered myself to one knee. Her eyes got wide again as I held out the ring.
“Evangeline Hanson, will you marry me?”
“Yes, Antonio. I will.”
Triumph exploded in my chest. I’d won. She was mine. I exhaled a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
I slid the ring onto her finger and stood, pulling her closer. She looked startled as I pressed her against me and lowered my lips to hers. I grunted at the feel of her soft mouth and womanly curves pressed against me. I didn’t go too fast. I just kissed her softly for as long as I could stretch it out. She kissed me back, tentatively at first.
“I don’t even know your last name.”
“You mean, your future last name?” I joked, squeezing her. “It’s Margarelli.”
She stared at me with something like horror on her beautiful face. Clearly, she’d heard of us.
“Oh, my God.”
Chapter 20
Evangeline
I’m holding hands with a killer, I thought as Antonio led me back to his suite. The ground under my feet—this marble floor—has seen more bloodshed than I could imagine.
I hadn’t realized until he said his name. I had known he was mafia, but I hadn’t realized . . . I was marrying into one of the oldest and most notorious crime families in American culture.
His last name was the punchline to a thousand jokes. They mentioned them on news shows and late-night television. Margarelli was a name I’d heard hundreds of times before. And now it was going to be my name, too.
My mother was going to lose her ever-lovin’ mind.
I might lose my mind.
And no matter which way I twisted and turned the problem, there was no way out. I could run, but I couldn’t go back to my old life. And that’s if I made it to the front door, which I highly doubted.
