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“You’re not ruined, not in my eyes.” A sob shakes my body as he takes my hands. “I don’t expect you to ever forgive me, or ever want to be with me, but I want you to know that I’d do anything to protect you. Even if you never want anything to do with me, I will dedicate my life to protecting you, so you can live the way you’ve always wanted.”
I can’t believe the words coming from his mouth. Everything in me is flooding like the tears steadily streaming from my eyes. It’s like every thought I ever had that longed for him is being confirmed by my heart’s answer. The one I’ve been ignoring, the one that echoed in the laughs we shared, lingered in the heat of our touches, and directed the fights that masked something between us, we couldn’t explain to ourselves. It’s like ripples of memories are interlinking over one another to crescendo up to now— To this moment.
“Espie, I want to be with you; Forever. If you’ll have me, if you can somehow see past everything I am. I want this to be real, for us to be…” He shakes his head, and I feel my brows rise with expectation and shock as he whispers, “Espie, I think I love you.” He says it like he needs me to help him figure it out. Like it's something he’s as scared of as I am because we’re highly flammable, and because somehow we fit perfectly.
“Yeah?” I ask, new tears replacing the old and rolling down my cheeks.
“Yeah.” He laughs nervously, and I bite my lip as I watch all his perfect features because this boy I’ve loved since I don’t know when, and then I know right here and now that I love him too.
It’s like discovering you have a new freckle on the face that you look at every morning in the mirror. It could have been there for days, months, years… but you never noticed it until now. There it is, though, resting right where it should, right where it’s supposed to be. And I know, undoubtedly, Adrik is meant to be stuck to me, and I to him.
“I love you too.” I whisper and his forehead presses to mine. The click of Vince’s gun makes me turn my head in a panic, but it’s not cocked to Adrik anymore. He walks over to his desk and sits down, looking between us both.
“I want to marry her, Vince. Please, we can figure this out, make this right…”
“No.” He shakes his head. “You may go. Fix this the way you said you will. The way you said you will protect my sister. Do that.”
“No. I’m not leaving, Vince. My family will not stop at this destruction, and your family cannot hide in a bunker forever. You need me, maybe just as much as I need Espie. And I’m not leaving here without your blessing.” Adrik pulls out a folded up packet out of his pocket, smacking it flat on the desk. “I fixed it, I didn't understand why at the time… but—“
“Stop.” Vince raises his hand and Adrik swallows, pulling me closer to him. I’m holding his large tattooed hand with both of mine, tear-stained face, eyes pleading with Vince as he studies us like he can’t figure out what to do with us. His eyes trail to the war ensuing outside, and worry covers his expression that was once stark. Then his eyes are back on us, and he opens the top drawer of his desk as Vince pulls out a marriage contract, already signed by everyone necessary to validate it. Everyone, except for us.
“I don't know why, but I haven’t ripped it up yet. So, Adrik,” He looks to Adrik who straightens up. “Do you take Esperanza San Giovanni to be your wife?”
“I do.” He immediately says before tilting his head down to me, lifting my chin, so our eyes are locked and whispering again, “I do.”
I don’t fight the tears that flood; They are joyful, surreal. Vince hands him a pen, and he signs the dotted line before handing it to me.
“Esperanza, do you take Adrik Mikhailov to be your husband?”
“I do.” I nod, not breaking my eyes from his as his lips part into a bright smile that reaches his eyes and sends little creases just under their clear blue light. He leans in to kiss me, but Vince snaps to stop us.
“Sign.” He’s grinning a little now, holding back laughs, and I think he’s happy for me. I softly smile a thank-you as I lean down to sign, and he nods back.
“I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.“ Vince declares and Adrik’s hand is already at the small of my back as he dips me down, lips early meeting with mine in the most earth-shattering way. We melt together, tightly holding on to one another and forgetting everything around us.
Before I can catch my breath, the office doors burst open, every lock spewing in random directions. Adrik grabs me, ducking us under the desk and shielding me with his body.
Chapter Thirty Three:Adrik
I twistaround after metal and wood pieces stop flying. There in the doorway is my father, a few of our guys, heavy and ready to kill.
“Stop!” I yell, and his eyes flit over to mine with fury before he realizes who I am, and then shock riddles his expression before he cocks his gun at me.
“I told you not to interfere.” He’s about to shoot me when a clack of another gun goes off and a bullet soars right through his left shoulder.
“Fuck.” Vince, slides me the gun from his side of the desk and I lift it to my father, who is about to give the boys orders to kill us all. I can tell by the signal he gives— twisting his fingers as he raises his fist.
“Wait!” I stop him before his fist is up, and he inhales sharply, exhaling with a teeth-barring grimace.
“The contract, I taped it back up.”
“You what?” He snaps.
“I fixed it, and we just signed marriage papers, so you cannot hurt us without the Bratva elders knowing you went against a contract with the Sicilians.”
“Why the fuck would you do that?”
“Because I love Esperanza, and I would never let you lay a hand on her family. You could kill me now, and I’d still find a way to protect her.” He shifts his jaw like he's considering the loss if he just kills us all now. Espie shakes under me and I hold her steady.
