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“In all my life, I’ve never broken my word,il mio cuore,”he said. “Except for one time.”
No, no, no, no, no.
“After court that day, I went home and stayed up for almost two days trying to figure out how to get out of that marriage contract with your sister,” he finally confessed. “It was the first and only time that I had ever broken my word.”
I didn’t want to hear any more. “Nero-”
“One week after seeing you in that courtroom, I approached Mano Barone and offered him five-million dollars to seduce your sister and get her pregnant.” I closed my eyes, my stomach dropping to my feet. “He took the money, did as I’d asked, then when he had reported back that Fia was officially pregnant with his child, that’s when I went to work on making you mine.” I opened my eyes, and his whiskey-colored gaze was still regarding me closely. “Baby, I’ve been in love with you for over two years, and I would do it all over again in every lifetime that I might ever live.”
“You…you made my father believe that Fia betrayed you-”
“Shedidbetray me,” he said, cutting me off. “Yes, I was the one that set the wheels in motion, but none of it would have been possible if Mano hadn’t taken the money, and Fia hadn’t broken her promise.”
Choices.
“Mano could have said no, Kasen,” he pointed out. “He could have reported me to your father, and he could have also said something to Fia. However, he didn’t. He had chosen to take the money.” I hated how he was right. “As for Fia, she could have turned him down. She could have said something to me, you, your father, my father, your mother…anyone, really. Still, she didn’t. She chose to carry on an affair with Mano, and that’s why we’re here today.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Baby, I’m not the only villain in your story.”
I stood up, shaking my head. “Then why would you tell Emil Schulz to kill me if you’re so damn in love with me?” I challenged, feeling myself getting angry for the millionth time.
“Whether you believe me or not, I know my enemies well, Kasen,” he replied. “Just like I know exactly whatmakes Declan O’Brien and Avgust Kotov tick, I knew exactly what made Emil Schulz tick. I knew that threatening his bloodline would make him second guess what he was doing. Emil was a narcissist. His ego was bigger than his common sense, and I knew that he’d never risk his mortality and legacy on a failed plan.”
“He might have,” I argued.
“No, he wouldn’t have,” he countered. “While I’ll grant you that there are no guarantees in life, Emil was too self-absorbed to risk his life for you.” Before I could argue that some more, he added, “As for your accusation of me not willing to die for you, that’s where you’re wrong. I would take a bullet for you with no questions asked if I couldn’t save us both,il mio cuore.However, I wasn’t ready to let either of us die for the other so soon. After two years of waiting for you, there was no way in hell that I was going to allow someone to take you from me after only two weeks with you. So, no, I didn’t show up there ready to die for you. Instead, I made it so that I could live for you, and so that you could live for me. I want a million years with you, Kasen. I want a million lifetimes with you, and since that still wouldn’t be enough for me, two fucking weeks sure as hell wasn’t.”
I bit my lip as tears started forming behind my eyes. I didn’t know what to say to that. I didn’t know what to do with his confession. I felt like he just put his life in my hands and that it was up to me on what to do with it now. I felt like his confessions were too heavy for me to carry. If what he’d said was true, then this marriage was substantially a lot more than I had bargained for.
When the first tear fell, Nero stood right in front of me, his hands cupping my face. “You can do anything you want, except cry,” he said. “Baby, I can handle anything else in the world, but not you crying.” His thumbs started wiping away the wetness. “Don’t do this to me, Kasen.”
“I…I don’t…I don’tknow what to say,” I admitted. “I don’t know…what to do with all that.”
“You don’t have to do anything with it,” he replied softly. “I just want you to believe me when I tell you that I love you,il mio cuore.”My chest thumped painfully.“I fucking love you.”
I had to ask. After everything that he’d just said, I just had to ask. “Would you have married my sister if Mano had said no?”
“Never,” he answered. “I’d always been ready togo back on my word for you, Kasen.”
Chapter 37
Nero~
Kasen pulled back, and I should have known that it wasn’t going to be that easy. I had fallen in love with her for a reason, and it felt like a double-edged sword whenever I was on the receiving end of her fire. No matter how she felt about my confession, there was no way that she wasn’t still angry over what her life was now. We’d only been together for a little over two weeks and being married to me was putting an obvious strain on her; I could see it in her eyes.
“I honestly don’t know what I’m supposedto say to all that, Nero,” she said truthfully. “Even if I did believe that you did all of this out of love, love doesn’t excuse how you manipulated this entire situation, no matter Fia’s and Mano’s choices.” Her hazel eyes searched mine. “Everything feels like some huge…I don’t know. I want to say that all this is based on a lie, but I honestly don’t think that you’ve ever lied to me.” She shook her head. “And if you have, would I even know it?”
“I’ve never lied to you,il mio cuore,”I told her. “I might have held some things back because I knew how you felt about marrying me, but I’ve never lied to you.”
She closed her eyes as she let out a troubled sigh. “You called me that like it was no big deal,” she said. “Even before I married you.”
“That’s becauseit’s true,” I said. “You’re my heart. You have been since that day in court.”
Kasen opened her eyes to look up at me again. “Love doesn’t happen like that, Nero.”
“The fuck it doesn’t,” I huffed. “I’m proof that it does.”
“I don’t know what I’m feeling,”she admitted. “I’m so damn angry. I’m angry at everything, and you most of all. You made up this elaborate plan to marry me, and you didn’t even care what that would do to my life. It’s practically unrecognizable, and if that weren’t enough, Fia’s pregnant with a child that’s never going to know its father, and all because you saw something you wanted, and because you’re Nero Sartori, you went after it.”
“If you’reexpecting an apology, you’re not getting one,” I replied honestly. “Like I said earlier, I’d do it all over again if it got me the same results.”
