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I scrubbed my hands over my face, not wanting to relive this but knowing I didn’t have a choice. “Yeah, he did.” I paused. “Veev. Veev was his daughter.”
“Was?” Dante asked, his lips pulling up into a smirk. “You killed her too?”
“Damn fuckin’ straight I did.” I pulled in a breath, wincing as Aida’s cries thrashed through the mansion. I stood. I wasn’t going to do this, not right now. There was nothing left to do but fill them in on what had happened, and it could wait. The threat was over. I’d made sure of that. “Meeting tomorrow morning,” I stated, clearing my throat as I took a step away from the desk. “I’ll fill you all in then, but right now…right now I need to be with my wife.”
They all nodded in understanding, not that they had a choice anyway. I was the boss. I was the one in charge.
“I won’t be here,” Dante murmured. I halted halfway to the door, my gaze meeting his. “I’m leaving for the other side of the state. Remember?”
I frowned. I did remember. The only contact we’d had since he’d stormed out of my office was for him to have permission to move away for a while, to create his own soldiers. To find his own path.
“I’ll call you.” I placed my hand on his shoulder. “Be careful out there, brother.”
“I will.”
I took one final look at the men who were closest to me, the men who thought I was dead, and knew that if I lost it all, it wouldn’t matter, not as long as Aida was at my side.
EPILOGUE
AIDA
I waited at the bottom of the aisle, nerves rolling around in my stomach as if this was the first time I was doing this. Twelve months ago, I’d been standing at the end of an aisle, not realizing how much my life would change. I thought I’d had an idea, but I hadn’t, not really. Back then, I’d had no expectations, but now I did. Now I knew what waited for me, and I wanted nothing more than to run to him, kiss him, hold him, but more importantly, start the rest of our lives.
There was a thin line between love and hate. A line I’d traveled over the last year. A line that had been scrubbed out, leaving Lorenzo and me standing next to each other instead of on opposite sides. It had been a long, winding road to this point, but as soft music played, signaling it was time, I knew it had all been worth it.
The grass in our backyard whispered across my feet as I started walking, following the flower petals Vida had laid out, marking the path I needed to take. My gaze flicked around the small gathering, only people who mattered the most in attendance. Christian and Mateo were in the front row next to Lorenzo’s ma and Sofia. Mateo smiled at me, and I lifted my lips in return. A small bump in his nose was the only indication that it had been broken that night, but I knew he was forever changed just the way Lorenzo and I were. Mateo had been left behind, an insignificant person to anyone else, but they’d never know how important he was to us. He was part of this family, a family that I’d go to battle for.
I frowned as I spotted the empty seat in the row. Dante had been invited, but we hadn’t heard back from him, not since he’d moved to the other side of the state. Lorenzo had said he was giving him space, letting him find himself, but I didn’t think that was what he needed. He needed to be with his family, not on the outskirts of it.
I shook my head, trying to get rid of my thoughts as I glanced at Vida, who stood on a chair in the front row on the left side along with my ma, dad, and Noemi. I stepped forward. Every moment that I’d spent with Lorenzo had been one I wouldn’t change, not now, not ever. He was my destiny. A destiny I had no control over.
I tried to soak in every moment as I started walking past the chairs, but I couldn’t stop the memories bubbling up. Memories that I’d spent what felt like a lifetime trying to get rid of, but the scars remained, both physical and mental. I halted in the middle of the aisle, needing something to ground me, and as soon as I met Lorenzo’s stare, I knew that was all I needed. We silently relived everything that had happened in the warehouse all of those months ago, but we also acknowledged how far we’d come since then too.
My back was healed, leaving behind puckered skin, but deep down, I knew I wouldn’t heal fully. I wasn’t sure anyone could after an ordeal like that.
Lorenzo took a step toward me, moving away from the altar, and everything faded away. I got lost in his dark eyes, got lost in the smile on his face. He consumed every part of me, and there wasn’t a single thing I’d do to change that. He was it for me. He’d always be it.
He didn’t stop until he was only a few feet away, his hand extended for me. I took it without a single hesitation, knowing I couldn’t live without him. “Hey, baby,” he whispered. His white linen slacks and shirt danced on his body as the wind flowed around us, and he didn’t waste a single second planting his lips onto mine. His arm wrapped around my back, and I winced. It didn’t hurt, not anymore, but it was a knee-jerk reaction.
His palm flattened over the thin material of my flowy white dress. We’d both purposefully worn white to signal a fresh start. We’d said our vows a year ago to the date, but today would mark the beginning of the rest of our lives.
“That’s meant to wait until after the ceremony!” Noemi shouted, and I couldn’t help but grin at her words. She was right, but Lorenzo and I didn’t follow the rules—we broke them.
I pulled away, just enough to look into his eyes, and breathed out, “Hey.”
He grinned, his eyes showing me every emotion they could. He didn’t keep anything shuttered away
from me. He was open and honest, to a point where sometimes I wished he’d keep some things secret, but I knew he was doing it so that I was never caught off guard again. He’d promised he’d spend the rest of his life making it better, but what he didn’t know was him simply standing beside me was all I needed.
“Ready to do this?” he asked.
“With you?” I paused. “Always.”
