AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Good,” Nico said. “How’sJenna?”
Farrell looked sharply at him. “She’s fine.Why?”
Nico held up his hands in mock surrender. “Ours isn’t an easy life. Look atIsabel.”
“What about her?” Farrell asked. How did they get from Jenna toIsabel?
Nico laughed a little. “Luca’s asked her to marry him three times in the past twoyears.”
Farrell sat up straighter. “You’re shittingme.”
“I thought you knew,” Nicosaid.
Farrell was friendly enough with Luca, but Luca had been Nico’s underboss in New York, had been there when everything went to shit with Angel. Farrell would never know as much about Luca as Nicodid.
“I didn’t,” Farrell said, his gut suddenly tight. “Isabel saidno?”
“Every time,” Nicosaid.
“But they’re still together,” Farrellsaid.
Nico looked at him. “Why wouldn’t theybe?”
“If she won’t marry him, what’s the fuckingpoint?”
Nico looked surprised by Farrell’s vehemence. “Marriage doesn’t always follow love. Look at you andJenna.”
The words coiled in Farrell’s stomach. “What aboutus?”
“You might as well be married,” Nico said. “What’s the difference? Our life isn’t an easy one to reconcile, youknow.”
“What do youmean?”
“It’s violent and dangerous,” Nico said. “We try to protect the women from it, but they know the risks. They know their homes could be invaded by Feds any minute, that they could be woken up in the night and forced to run with a fake passport. Of course, arrangements have been made, and there will always be plenty of money, but it’s not a life foreverybody.”
Farrell stared into his glass, watching the dwindling afternoon light fracture through thecrystal.
Nico was right. It was a lot to ask for a lifetime commitment under those circumstances. It had taken guts for Jenna to reconcile herself with their lifestyle to the extent that she alreadyhad.
What if she’d gone as far as she could? What if she needed the knowledge that she wasn’t legally bound to him, to the lifestyle and its risk? The knowledge that she could get out if she changed hermind?
She would always do what was best for Lily — she’d proven that when she fled to New York, pregnant and alone. What if something happened that made her decide it was best for Lily to be raised in more normalcircumstances?
“Anyway,” Nico said, leaning back in the lounge chair, “maybe Isabel wants to finish art school. Maybe she wants to let Sofia get a little older. It doesn’t matter. Luca isn’t going anywhere. They have all the time in theworld.”
Nico was right, but the explanation caused the knot of tension in his stomach to tighten. A month ago — hell, even a week ago — he would have thought the same thing: that he and Jenna had all the time in theworld.
But it didn’t feel trueanymore.
He wanted to make her his wife,dammit.
He wanted to make her his wife even as he didn’t know why it was suddenly important. Why it mattered somuch.
But it wasn’t up to him, and when it came right down to it, that was the thing that turned his bloodcold.
For once, he couldn’t push his way through the obstacles to get what hewanted.
He could only ask. The rest was up toJenna.
