Page 22 of The Bond

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Not your fault,” she said. “There was clearly a breakdown in security.”

“Like an inside job,” I suggested.

“Yes.” She sighed heavily. “Somebody must have helped him. Or hired him. Or both.”

“You deserved better,” I said gently.

Valentina placed a hand on my forearm. “So did you.”

The touch of her hand alone was enough to get me to refuse to give up on us. I wasn’t going to lie down and accept losing Valentina. I’d screwed this up and I was going to make it right.

“We’re going to catch this guy,” I swore to her.

“I know.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You know?”

“I believe in you, Enzo. I trust you,” she said, the expression on her face completely serene. “If you tell me you’re going to do something, you’re going to do it. I will never doubt your word to me.”

My heart was hammering, the force of it practically cracking my ribcage. If I had managed to regain her trust, then what were the odds that I could accomplish the impossible and gain even more than that? Maybe I was a fool to press my luck. But Valentina had made a fucking fool out of me. I was a fool in love. With her.

“You trust me...” The words I wanted to say were escaping me. I desperately wracked my brain for these grand words. Words that I could use to sweep her off her feet. But I was coming up empty. I was too awestruck by her bravery today, too shocked by the realization that I loved her to find the right words. Fuck.

Valentina placed a hand on my chest, right over my heart. I placed my hand over hers, with the full knowledge that she could feel every forceful, uncontrollable beat of my heart.

“More than I have ever trusted anyone,” she said softly.

More than I deserved.

“I’ve done nothing to earn it,” I gritted out, enraged that I had failed her for so long.

“Enzo, you saved my life today,” she said. “And that day with the poison—”

“And you’ve saved mine,” I interrupted, staring deep into her eyes. I was a drowning man, fighting against the current as I lost myself in those azure blue eyes. In her eyes, I was at sea, underneath an endless horizon. Loving her was to love someone containing such multitudes that the vastness of her had no end. As I gazed at her, I saw that Valentina was my world. She was the world and I was a satellite completely in her orbit forevermore. I would not have it any other way.

“I’d say that, like my father alluded to earlier today, we’ve saved each other.” She smiled.

“I should never have gone along with my old man’s plans,” I heaved out in frustration.

“We were on opposite sides at the time,” she reminded me.

“I should have told you the truth sooner,” I said.

“You should have,” she agreed, nodding. “But you called it off. You told your dad that you wanted to end the scheme to use me. That shows you were trying to do the right thing. Even if it was going to cost you. I know what it means to go against a mafia don. You put yourself at risk to do the right thing.”

I squeezed her small hand gently, the pair of us gazing at each other, the tense air around us dissipating, replaced by an urge to tell her everything that was going on in my head. The urge and a desperation to know what was going on in hers. It was like I couldn’t live without a constant connection between us. Like a copper wire needing another copper wire if it was ever going to have the hope of a spark.

“I would do it again,” I said. “Risk everything for you.”

“Enzo, do you help me out of obligation? Did you marry me out of obligation?” she asked, a sad expectation behind her eyes.

She’d asked that question before. And I’d been able to avoid giving an answer. That look in her blue eyes told me that I wouldn’t be able to avoid it this time around. Thankfully, this time, I wanted to give her an answer. I no longer wanted to hold anything back for fear that she might see me. I wanted her to see who I was because she deserved to know who she was married to. Every bride deserved that much, Valentina especially. She’d held nothing back with me, boldly showing me exactly who she was, regardless of the judgement or the outcome. That was true courage.

I remembered the three rules I’d had through this whole scheme. To tell as much of the truth as possible, to never fall in love with her, and to bury my feelings so that not even I could tell that I had them. With Valentina, I had broken rules two and three, falling so in love with her that I couldn’t deny those feelings no matter how deep I tried to bury them. Some things could not be hidden. A love this powerful was one of those things.

“Obligation, duty, love,” I said. “I will risk everything for you for all those reasons.”