“It’s okay, Cas. I know. You were only trying to protect the baby.”
I swallow hard. “He lied to me. He said he’d help me, that he’d keep me safe.”
“I know.”
“I should have listened to you.”
He pulls away slowly, a solemn expression on his face when I look up at him. “I understand why you didn’t. What I did to you, Cas, it’s unforgivable.”
“Rocco…”
“Please, let me finish,” he steps away. “I meant what I said before. I’ll give it all up for you. Teo can take my place. I just want to be a part of our child’s life. In whatever little way will you allow me to be.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “I won’t let you do that.”
“I will never be able to atone for what I did, but please let me try in this small way.”
“Rocco!” I cry. “You didn’t kill my father.”
Rocco looks away, his jaw clenching. “I may as well have.”
“My father was manipulated and used by that monster to the point where he felt his only way out was suicide.”
“You weren’t there that night, Cas.” He swallows back his own tears. “I cornered him, challenged him, pushed him to his limit.”
“Would you have killed him?”
His eyes shoot back to mine in confusion. “What?”
“If he had gone with you, would you have killed him, eventually?”
He lets out a bitter laugh. “You know, I was making plans? I knew there would be several who would find the power transition a struggle. I needed a way to move out long-standing members of the Guild if their loyalties refused to shift.”
“Setting a new precedent,” I nod with a little smile.
He returns it weakly. “I was thinking about exiling them.”
“Where?”
“Ohio.”
It’s my turn to laugh. “So, if my father had cooperated…”
“he’d have finally been able to see you and your mom again.” Rocco’s smile falters. “But I took that reunion away from you.”
“Rocco,” I step forward, reaching to hold his face in my hands, “I don’t blame you for Carmine’s death. I grieve the life we could have had, but that is not your fault.”
His eyes flutter closed at my touch. “I won’t stop blaming myself.”
“Try,” I whisper back before summoning all my courage and standing on my toes to kiss him.
At first, he seems entirely frozen in shock. But then his mouth parts, responding eagerly to my desperation. Our tongues clash, passionately expressing every ounce of joy and relief we both feel to be reunited once more.
When I pull away, I feel dizzy. “I don’t want to think about the past anymore. I want to focus on the future. Our future, our child.”
Rocco rests his forehead against mine as we both look down at my stomach.
“I will do everything in my power to keep him safe,” he vows.
