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Luc
Ileft Summer on the couch in Nicole’s living room, surrounded by the wives, enough snacks to feed an army, and another movie playing on TV. It was time to go to the swearing-in ceremony held in a warehouse downtown Chicago. We’d taken a couple of cars and made the drive and were standing inside a large open space with no windows at ground level.
Enzo, Marco, and Stefano stood in a semicircle with Max directly across from me. He held a saint’s card in one hand and a knife in the other.
“This is the point where you can change your mind.” Enzo leveled me with a solemn stare. “Once you take the oath, there’s no going back. The Mafia, the Family… it’ll be what you live, bleed, and die for.”
“This life takes as much as it gives,” Marco added. “But what you get in return is family, honor, loyalty.”
“In the Family, we respect our wives, the women in the family. If asked for information, you will give it.” Stefano spoke with gravity and power, his words clear and not to be misunderstood. “To lie to me, to the other bosses in the family, is betrayal. Do you accept?”
“I do.”
The door to the warehouse opened, and in walked several older men in suits. A few wore fedoras. There was something familiar about one of them. Tall, with a head full of snowy hair, I could vaguely see the resemblance to Lil in the shape of his eyes and his high cheekbones.
Max shifted to make room for the older man. “Luc, this is your mother’s father, your grandfather, Vincenzo Brambilla.”
I held out my hand to shake his. A smile stretched his mouth wide, and he shook his head. “You have your mother’s eyes.” Then he pulled me in for a hug, squeezing tighter than I thought he could.
When he released me, he withdrew a saint’s card from an inner pocket of his suit jacket. Max passed him a knife, and Vincenzo said, “Give me your hand.”
I extended it, and he made a small incision in the tip of my index finger then squeezed until a drop of blood hit the edge of the card. I repeated an oath, and my grandfather lit the corner of the saint’s card on fire before quickly blowing it out.
Tears misted the older man’s eyes. “Welcome to the family.”
It was done. My chest swelled with pride and a deep sense of belonging.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
SUMMER
Two weeks later…
Istood before wall-to-wall windows that would fold back for indoor-outdoor living as Luc wrapped his arms around me from behind. He pulled me against his chest, and I leaned back, letting him hold my weight.
“I can’t believe we’re in Italy.” I’d never been anywhere my entire childhood except for Georgia. It wasn’t until recently that I’d traveled out of state. “It’s gorgeous here… and thankfully, warmer than Chicago.” It was in the upper fifties, which I would take over the arctic teen temperatures we’d experienced before we left.
“We have five days to enjoy it. Let’s go for a swim, and then we can have dinner in front of the fireplace.”
The pool was incredible. It had one of those infinity edges, and the way it was positioned made it look like it bled into the sea. The seaside town was picturesque, somewhere I wanted to return to often. My gaze returned to the water. “It’s not very warm outside, though.”
“The pool’s heated. I turned it up when we got here, so it’ll be comfortable but still a good temperature for you.”
I couldn’t go into the hot tub because of the baby, so the pool’s temperature wouldn’t be too high, even though he’d turned it up. I thought of the sexy pink bikini that Sofia had helped me pick out for the trip. I was only about five weeks pregnant and not yet showing. I knew I should take advantage of it before my stomach was swollen and I wouldn’t want to wear one anymore. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
Luc’s hands skimmed over my stomach to rest on my hips. He separated us by a few inches then turned me in the direction of our bedroom. I grinned at him over my shoulder as I moved to change. “Aren’t you coming?”
He groaned. “If I go in there with you, that’s where we’ll be for the rest of the night, and I want you to have more memories of our honeymoon besides the bedroom.”
I stuck out my lower lip in a pout then leaned against him suggestively. “I don’t have a problem with that.”
“Go.” He laughed. “There’s a warm bathrobe you can use on the back of the en suite door.”
I turned but stumbled over my feet, which wasn’t unusual for me. My hands stretched to break my fall as I careened off his body.
Strong arms wrapped around me, steadying me and pulling me close. “Falling for me, Summer?”
I grinned, remembering when we’d first met and how I’d tripped into him even then. My heart fluttered, and my body softened in both love and desire for him. “Every day for the rest of my life.”
