“Maybe I know more than you think.” He tapped a hand lightly against the leatherbound history of Sicily Emily had given him, and the motion made something tighten in my chest. The gift was perfect. Thoughtful without trying too hard. Exactly right. “She’s kind. She’s intelligent. She very obviously loves you. Her present alone told me enough to know she pays attention.”
The corner of his mouth moved, just barely.
“But when you announced you intended to marry her and, more importantly, follow her to Seattle without knowing what might be waiting for you there?—”
“An angry ex,” I cut in. “She told me that, and?—”
“Did she also tell you,” my father interrupted evenly, “that the man’s father is on the Albanians’ books?”
That stopped me for a second.
Then certainty returned.
“She doesn’t know.”
“No,” he said. “She probably doesn’t. But now you do, and you may do with that information whatever you like.”
I stood before he had even finished speaking.
That, more than the interruption itself, seemed to surprise him. I had never risen against him like that before. Never cut across him in his own office. Today was different. He was no longer correcting me. He was trespassing on a choice I had already made.
“I’m sorry,” I said, and my voice was respectful but hard, “but there seems to be a misunderstanding. You appear to think I came here seeking your approval.”
He looked up at me. “Didn’t you?”
I shook my head. “No. I brought her here out of respect. To show you who I chose. And to show her what life with me could actually look like if she chooses me back. Your approval would be welcome. It is not required.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes, Father. It is.”
He held my gaze as he took a slow sip of his drink, and I would swear on my life I saw the corner of his mouth lift.
“Good.”
I stared at him. “Good?”
“Yes.” He set the glass down. “Because trust me, you are nowhere near the hard part yet.”
The office seemed to still around his voice.
“Wait until she sees your hands covered in blood for the first time,” he said. “Literally or otherwise. Wait until you watch the light in her eyes dim, if only for a while. Wait until you understand that no matter how much she loves you, and no matter how much you love her, there will always be a part of her that can never again look at you with the same innocence she had before.”
My jaw tightened. “This?—”
“It will happen, Pietro.” The certainty in his tone was worse than anger. “No matter how much you want to believe it won’t. Wait until the day you lie to her in good conscience and break one of those beautiful promises I’m sure you’ve already made.”
I stared at him. “How do you know what promises I made her?”
He let out a low laugh, but there was no mockery in it. Only fatigue.
“Because we all make them,” he said. “At least the men who still think of themselves as decent. And we mean them when we say them. You do too. Right now, you probably think you are better than me. Better than Hoka. That you’ve seen the mistakes, learned the lessons, and you and Emily will be different.”
He finished his drink and gestured vaguely toward the door.
“You think this family you brought her here to admire, this peace, this order, this love, was easy to build?”
I said nothing.
