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“Mia,” I start.
“Shh,” she quiets me with a kiss, deep and searching. We kiss for a long time in the water, so long that my hands and feet begin to prune.
We pad back to the bedroom, still wet from the pool, and I begin to run the shower while she pouts into the mirror.
“I ruined my hairstyle,” she complains, and I can’t help but laugh.
“You can get it fixed tomorrow,” I assure her, and Mia climbs into the shower first, beckoning me with one hand.
I get in under the warm spray and I think about what a wonderful day this has been, taking time off work, spending it with Mia. Is this what choosing life over death is? Love over hate?
It feels better than the never-ending rage of vengeance. It feels better than the ache of grief, the sting of hatred. It feels like I’m home for the first time since my father died, here with her, and I wish I had the words to tell her that.
I can’t tell her any of it. I can’t tell her anything, so instead I kiss her, again and again until she’s moaning into my mouth.
Then I kneel and put one of her legs over my shoulder, pressing my face into her sex, kissing her clit over and over until it’s swollen and she’s got her fingers in my hair, pressing me into her. I slide two fingers inside her as I lap at her and she comes almost immediately, grinding her hips against my face.
“Thank you for today,” she says after we climb into bed together, after all our limbs are entangled.
I can’t find my voice so I just kiss along her throat, make a mark on her neck, kissing and sucking there before I pull away to look at it. I’m satisfied with the purple mark and I kiss her mouth.
She hums in contentment and turns toward me, putting both her arms around my waist.
“I love you, Dante,” she says, and my throat aches with how badly I want to say it back.
My chest aches with how much I want to tell her that she’s home to me.
“Goodnight, pretty girl,” is all I manage to say, and she’s asleep for a long time before I finally drift off.
I wake up to an ear-splitting scream, and my heart leaps up into my throat. Mia bolts upright next to me, her chest heaving, and I put my arms around her. She fights me at first but then relaxes against me, sobbing into my chest. Rage boils in me toward a dead man, toward Vincenzo Gallo, because I know she’s had another nightmare. It’s been weeks since she’s had one, and I wish I could bring him back to life just to kill him all over again.
“I dreamed about the warehouse again,” Mia whimpers, shuddering in my arms. “I dreamed that you didn’t make it, that you were lying on the floor, blood pooling all around you.” She chokes out a sob, clutching at me.
“That didn’t happen,” I assure her. “I’m okay. We’re both okay.”
“But what if one day you’re not?” she asks, gasping in air. “What if you get killed and I’m left all alone with this baby?’
“I’ll never leave you alone,” I say fiercely, and as I say it, I realize that I mean it. I won’t leave her, even if I do end up killing her father. I’ll have to keep that secret for the rest of my life, and it may send me to an early grave, but I can’t let her go.
It takes Mia half an hour to fall asleep again, cuddled in my arms, and I think that before I do anything to Luca, I may need his help to take out every branch on the Gallo family tree.
Tomorrow, I may just do it myself.
26
MIA
Iwake up to an empty bed and frown when I reach out for Dante and he’s not there. I pad to the bathroom and look at myself in the mirror.
My hair isn’t exactly ruined from the pool since it’s salt water, but it’s certainly not as luxurious as it was yesterday, and my eyes are puffy from crying.
I hate that I ruined my lovely night with Dante with another nightmare, and I want to apologize to him. I get dressed and walk out into the hallway and hear low voices coming from down the stairs.
I hear Nico’s voice first, and I freeze.
“Capowants us to finish it off, cut the tree down,” he says, and instantly I know what he’s talking about. It’s about taking out the rest of the Gallos to keep them from retaliating. My breath comes shorter and I think for an awful moment that I’m going to have a panic attack, but I breathe in through my nose, out through my mouth, until I calm myself.
Dante comes out of the nursery, smiling, and I have to pretend I don’t know anything is wrong. I plaster on a smile.
