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She snorted and looked at me like I was crazy, even though my question was completely reasonable. “Gabriele is not the only one that cares about Prisy, and he is definitely not the only one who can see that you don’t deserve her.”
That made me tense. My expression to Kira was hard enough to warn her but still not too obvious for other people to tell if something was wrong. “You should be careful talking about my wife, Kira.”
That again made her smile, but it was all mockery. “Don’t go all macho, Antonio. You know it too. You are taking a daisy fresh flower bride to your underworld. I don’t know how you made it happen, but she wanted you. She wanted you so much that she didn’t listen to anyone. She made it happen. She believed your lies and married you just because she believed that you could give her more happiness than her family here.”
She was wrong. It was not a tragedy like she described. It was a good agreement between Priscilla and me. We both knew that. “I never told any lies to Priscilla.”
Kira’s eyes filled with a hint of sadness, and even her smile disappeared. “Yet she still fell for them.”
“You don’t make sense. You are turning this into something dreadful.”
“It is something dreadful,” she said with a stern look. “Priscilla means more than she says, and she hears more than your voice. She seems all smiles and giggles. Maybe you see her as a stupid young girl. She is not stupid, but she has a delicate soul. She is so sad about leaving here, leaving us. Do you think she would do that just for anyone?”
I didn’t see her as stupid, and I was aware of her delicacy. It really irritated me that Kira was lecturing me about my own wife. She had no right to comment. “I have no intention of hurting her if that is what you are worried about,” I said, trying to ease the tension a bit. I didn’t want to upset her solely because I knew Priscilla valued her. “Priscilla is aware of what I can and cannot give her. It is between us, and I rather you won’t talk about it.”
Kira looked into my eyes weirdly for a few seconds making me very uncomfortable. She shook her head softly. “You don’t deserve her now, but maybe you can. She deserves to be loved and cherished, Antonio.”
“I will cherish her.”
Again, Kira shook her head. “You can do much more, Antonio. I can see that. Believe me, I understand. There is a pain in you but believe me, love can bloom even in the darkest of souls.”
I got tense. I wanted to just stop and leave now. If Priscilla irritated me in the best way, Kira did it in the worst way. “Not with me,” I answered between clenched teeth. Emotions were never an option for me.
Kira watched me for a few seconds, and only when the song ended she answered. “You might be right. It won’t happen as long as you are this stubborn. I hope she won't regret leaving the light of her family for your darkness, but if she does, we will always be here to take her back.”
Take her back.
Over my dead body.
Priscilla
Gabriele kept throwing deadly glances at my husband through our whole dance. I managed to poke him and put a smile on his face occasionally, but he was not happy. He was not happy to let me go.
I did my best to not talk about that. We never mentioned the fact that I was going to be out of reach after the wedding. I didn’t want to think about that. I only wanted happiness. So, when Gabriele seemed like he was about to talk about that, I just made a joke. I didn’t want to hear it.
When our dances ended and Kira came to us, he seemed somewhat relaxed. He immediately put his hands on Kira like touching her was calming his soul. Now they needed to dance, but Kira had a worried look on her face. “I want to take Adrian from Michele.”
“Yeah, it is not a good idea to leave him with a kid for too long. When I was a baby, he put me in a washing machine.”
Kira looked at me, her blue eyes huge, and Gabriele caressed her back, giving me a terrifying look. “Priscilla!”
I only giggled. “It is true, though.”
Kira rushed my brother to get her son back in her arms. I watched them smiling for a second, and when I turned back, I came face to face with the young Vasile brother. “Can I have a dance?” he asked.
Valerio looked pretty built, but his face gave away his age. His voice was too thick for a kid his age, though. He looked like a mobster, but he also still looked like a kid. His hair was dirty blonde, but it was the exact same length as Antonio’s. He once mentioned that Valerio liked spending time with him, and now I could see that he was totally his biggest fan.
That was cute.
I gave him a sweet smile and nodded, “of course.” Antonio was dancing with his stepmother anyway.
As Valerio and I started dancing, my eyes went from Antonio to two other girls. The one in the green dress was Verona Vasile, and she had a smile I had never seen on her before. To be fair, I didn’t know her very well, but she seemed very shy and cold. Right now, though, she was smiling warmly towards the other girl. Her cheeks seemed a little pink, though. The other girl was pulling her to the dance floor. She was wearing a black tuxedo, and her dark hair was styled in beautiful waves.
Valerio looked back to see what I was looking at and when he turned back, there was a hardness in his eyes. “Do you have a problem with that?”
For a second, I couldn’t understand what he was talking about, but then I realized some of the elders were giving the girls disapproving looks. I was not even sure why they were so unnecessarily touchy about many things.
“I have just never seen a girl wear a tux in Cosa Nostra. It is bold.” When Valerio’s fury grew, I smiled and rolled my eyes. “Ilikeit.”
