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Oh! This is the last thing I expected him to say.
My entire body stiffens, and my earlier tension is back with a vengeance.
So he did see the ring when he first spotted us, because I’m still hiding the diamond on the inside of my palm.
I square my shoulders, bracing myself for what might come next. “Yes,” I admit, the sound muffled against his chest.
“I asked you first.” Strangely, he still doesn’t sound angry, only hurt.
I disentangle myself from his arms to look up at him. I wish I hadn’t. The sadness in his eyes is like a dagger to my heart, the pain real and stabbing.
“You didn’t ask, Tiero. You gave me a credit card with Mrs. Ella De Marco on it. That’s not a proposal,” I reply quietly.
Gripping my arms, he stares down at me. “I told you I would propose properly.”
I don’t answer. There’s no point. Even if he had asked me the traditional way, I wouldn’t have said yes. My conscience wouldn’t have let me, despite my love for him.
“I don’t want to live as a Mafia wife in a golden cage for the rest of my life, Tiero,” I tell him, wishing for the millionth time that our circumstances were different.
“But we were happy, angel.”
His forlorn expression breaks me. It physically hurts to say the next words. I don’t want to cause him pain; he means too much to me, but I also can’t lie.
“We were happy for only a few days, when we were hidden away on your island… when it was just you and me and I had no idea who you were. It’s not a basis to build a life on.” Sadness fills my voice, as more fricking tears leave my eyes.
He cups my face, wiping them away.
“Even then, your lifestyle never let you completely relax. Remember when you got that phone call and you had to leave for the day? You sheltered me as much as you could from the reality of your life, but you couldn’t do it for long before it all caught up with us.
“I don’t want to live under lock and key, always guarded, never being able to do anything normal. It would kill me, bit by little bit, every single day.”
“And he makes you happy?” Tiero asks, sounding tortured. He can’t even look at me.
And in this moment, I hate myself… hate that I’m inflicting this pain on him.
I don’t respond right away, fully aware my answer is only going to make things worse. So I just nod when his gaze rises to meet mine.
“And you love him?”
Fuck.
I close my eyes, not wanting to see his face when I answer him. I can’t lie to him… he deserves the truth, but this might be the hardest truth I’ve ever had to face.
Chapter Forty-One
Ella
Whyisheaskingme these questions? Why is he torturing us like this?
Sweat is beading on my forehead. God, it’s hot in here.
Tiero is waiting patiently for my answer, and eventually, I nod again. If I didn’t love Aiden, I would have never accepted his proposal.
“What would you have done if you had been pregnant?” he asks. “Would you still have agreed to marry another man?”
God, how do I answer that? I can’t tell him that I would have done everything in my power to protect our child from his world. Would Aiden still have wanted to marry me, even if I was carrying another man’s child? Who knows? I’d like to think so, but it’s a moot point now.
“Why torment ourselves with what-ifs? No good can come from that.” But I want to give him some truth. “When I found out I wasn’t pregnant, I was devastated. At the time, I thought I might never see you again, and having a piece of you growing inside me was incredibly comforting. It gave me strength and determination to keep going.”
