Page 67

There is movement around us. The mundane acts of clearing away chairs, mobilizing, returning to Hell’s Kitchen. “You coming, boss?” Matteo calls.

“Not right now,” I tell him firmly. Rosa walks away from me, and I chase after her. Grab her arm and whirl her around to face me. There are tears in her eyes, and her nostrils are flaring the way they do when she’s upset and trying not to show it.

“Rosa! I couldn’t involve you. If Sophia had chosen a different path, decided instead to avenge Vincenzo, then I wanted you nowhere near her. Same for the shifters. You know how fickle they can be. I was planning a move that could have gone badly wrong, and I knew that you would be in the thick of it if I told you. Plus, honestly, if you’d known I was planning to kill the other Dons, what would you have done? Tried to stop me? Done it yourself? Talked me out of it? None of those are acceptable options.”

She nods, wipes a tear from her eye. “Well, I guess we’ll never know, will we? And this isn’t really the time or the place for me to turn into the needy girlfriend. I am not that, Luca, and I never will be.”

“You think I don’t see you as an equal?” I ask, frowning.

She laughs bitterly. “Right now, I’m not sure how you see me, or if you see me at all. You were happy enough to stand there and claim the Vecchissime as allies in your grand speech, but you didn’t bother to involve me in your plans? Now you say you excluded me for my own safety, like I’m your kid, not a woman who has been killing monsters since her childhood.”

Matteo grimaces as he passes me; Donna gives us a fleeting look of concern. Rosa waves her off.

“That’s not it,” I reply. “It’s just … oh fuck. Maybe you’re right; I don’t fucking know. Part of me didn’t even think I’d pull it off. Part of me at least considered accepting their offers, working with them.”

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, okay. That part of you was never going to win out. I suppose no matter what you said, I always knew that. Why did you need all this anyway? The show, the wolves, the drama? You’re powerful enough without all of that, Luca.”

I nod. I know that now. I felt it tonight, surging through me. The world was mine.

“So, it seems. But I didn’t know that’s how it would work out, and there’s no way I was going to take on three Old World Dons without backup.”

“You mean Sophia?”

“Among others. But it’s about more than that. It’s about building something different. Cooperation and alliances rather than fear and control. Bringing the others in was part of that.”

I see the effort she’s making to listen, to understand. To be reasonable when all she really wants to do is kick me in the balls. I shift my weight slightly, just in case. I should have told her everything. I should have involved her, no matter what the risk. I see that now. How the hell do I think I’m capable of running a Cosca when I’m not even capable of running my own life without screwing it up?

“I’m sorry,” I say simply, letting all the anger drain out of me. She doesn’t deserve any of it. “You’re right.”

“Naturally.”

She softens a little, maybe hears the regret in my voice. She sighs, places her hand on my arm. Looks up at me and finally fully meets my eyes. “I’m sorry too. I’m overreacting, I know. It’s just that we’ve shared everything for so long now, and being shut out felt … well, it felt like crap. And I don’t think that it’s only because you wanted to protect me. I think it’s because you needed to do this alone. As the new you.”

“What do you mean the new me?” I ask, frowning.

“You’ve changed, Luca. You’ve gone through something extraordinary, and it’s altered you. You’re not what you were. And that’s okay. Or at least it will be okay. We’ll figure it out, won’t we? The way we always do?”

I take her into my arms, shower her with kisses, inhale her scent. Growl with my need to possess her. “Yes, cara mia, I have changed, but this has not. I am yours, and you are mine. That will never change. You understand?”

She nods against me, her lips on the side of my neck, her hands clinging to my shoulders. Her heart is racing, her pulse thudding. If I wanted, I could take her right now in this secluded place. Surrounded by trees and nature, bathed in moonlight …

“I think you’re needed,” she murmurs into my ear, her voice ragged with desire. “Aidan. Sophia.”

“Fuck them,” I growl, clasping her so hard against me she yelps. For a second, she stays there, her body crushed into mine, her need making her tremble. It’s not just sexual, it’s the need we both have to heal this small wound that has opened up between us. That I have put there.

“No,” she responds sadly, pushing away from me with an effort. “Not fuck them. You caused this whole thing, Luca. It’s not just you that’s changed now; it’s everything. So now you have to go deal with the mess. You’ve started a revolution, and you don’t get to walk away from it.”

I groan at her absence, at her warmth abandoning me. I want to argue, throw her to the ground, and rip her clothes from her body. To tell the rest of the world to go to hell. But … she is right. Naturally.

I have caused chaos, and the ripples of it will already be spreading. The news will be out there, and our whole society will be shaken. I must be on hand to steady it. This needed to happen—I have never been surer of anything—but change is hard for some to swallow, and if I back away now, the chaos will become permanent. I must impose my authority, take control. I did this to make things better, and I cannot run from the work now.

I hold her face between my palms, forcing her to look into my eyes. “I love you, Rosa. That will never change. I will prove it to you. Can you give me a little time? Can you trust me long enough to do what I need to do?”

She nods, turns her cheek to kiss my fingers.

“Yeah,” she says simply. “I can do that. But right now, you better go see what wolf lady wants.”

I hear the emotion in her voice and realize that she is actually jealous. I glance over my shoulder at Sophia, who is waiting impatiently for me to finish up. We do have a lot to discuss. For now, she is an ally, but I know her well enough to understand that Sophia is a creature who can change her mind.