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“Now, we go back to our lives. Your brother bought our freedom, and I plan on using mine to help get him out from under your father’s thumb,” Victor said. She wanted to ask him what going back to their lives would mean for the two of them, but she was also afraid of what his answer would be.
“So, we just leave here and go back to our lives then?” she asked, hoping for some clarification.
“Well, yeah. You’ll have to pack up all your shit and all that, but we’ll just go back to normal.”
“Pack up my shit?” she asked. He wasn’t making any sense. “I think that they must have hit you pretty hard, Victor. You’re not making very much sense.”
He chuckled and pulled her down onto his lap, wincing when she brushed her hand over the bruise on his cheek. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he assured. “I’m fine,” he said. “I guess I’m just not very good at asking a woman to move into my place with me. I mean, this is the first time I’ve ever done something like this.”
“You’re asking me to move in with you?” she squeaked. She had hoped that he’d want to continue seeing her once this mess with her father was over, but she never allowed herself to dream that he’d want her to move in with him.
“Yep,” he said. “I’d also like for you to marry me, but I’m kind of old school when it comes to marriage proposals. I think that I should be down on one knee with a ring to offer you, but we’ll get to that.”
“We will?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said, “I was actually on my way to the jeweler when your father and his goons stopped me.”
“I see,” she breathed. “You want to marry me?” she asked.
“I do,” he admitted. “I love you, honey. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, but before you answer, I think that we need to go ring shopping. You up for that?”
“Can it wait until tomorrow?” she asked. “I’m exhausted and you look like you just went a few rounds with a heavy-weight boxer. I’m just happy that you’re safe, Victor. The rest can wait.”
“I see,” he said.
“But for the record, I’d love to spend the rest of my life with you too. I love you—I have for a long time now,” she said. He wrapped his arms around her, and she sighed against his chest. Trish finally had everything that she ever wanted—her freedom, and a future with the man who had held her heart for a long time now. What more could a mafia princess ask for?
Victor
Two months later
“I’d really love to know why this is necessary,” Victor whispered to Bruno. His soon-to-be brother-in-law shot him a look that told him that he wasn’t in any mood to discuss why a trip downtown was necessary.
“We’re going downtown to have your bachelor party and my father can’t find out about it. If he knows that I’m hanging out with you and the rest of the heads of household, he’ll have my head.”
“And we wouldn’t want that to happen,” Bruno’s partner, Gino grumbled.
“You know, you didn’t have to come along, Gino,” Bruno said. “I told you that if you didn’t want to have to lie to my father, you should just keep your nose out of my business.”
“Are you sure he can be trusted?” Victor asked.
“Shut the fuck up,” Gino griped. “I can be trusted.”
“He’s good,” Bruno said, “I think.” Yeah, that wasn’t instilling a lot of confidence in Victor. He knew that the guys were planning on taking him out for his bachelor party, he just had no idea where they were going or how much he’d need for bail money.
Trisha had gone out the weekend before, wanting to keep the weekend of their wedding open so that she wouldn’t be tired or hungover for their ceremony. Victor had a bad feeling that he was going to be both by the time tomorrow rolled around, and that had everything to do with allowing his new brother-in-law to plan his bachelor party. He knew better, but for some reason, he let Trish talk him into it since Bruno wouldn’t be able to attend their actual wedding. He couldn’t give up the appearance of total loyalty to his father and the Gluttony Syndicate and showing up to a church full of syndicate family members would only give him away. So, he let Bruno plan the party and that seemed to make both him and Trish very happy. That’s all he wanted to do too—make Trish happy.
As soon as they got back to town, he put a ring on her finger and moved her into his place. Victor wasn’t taking any chances that she might change her mind or come to her senses. Marrying him was a crazy move that might end up getting them both killed still, but he couldn’t spend another day without her being his wife.
Her father had made no move to contact her and that was just fine with them both. Trish didn’t want anything to have to do with the Gluttony Syndicate or her father. She snuck visits with Bruno, but Victor knew that sooner or later, even those would have to stop. Her father wasn’t a fool and he’d figure out Bruno’s game at some point and then, they’d all be in hot water again. Victor just hoped that they’d be able to get a plan in place to take old man Gluttony down before that happened.
They walked into the back of the bar and Victor noticed that things were quieter than he thought they would be. “What’s going on?” he asked Bruno.
“I’m not sure,” Bruno admitted. “The guys said that they would meet us here, but I don’t see any sign of them.” He peeked out through the curtain and turned back to Gino. “Can you make sure that everything is secure?” he asked. Gino nodded and took off into the nightclub.
“I told Damion that we should have bought out the whole place. We’re taking a chance leaving things open to the public,” Victor grumbled.
