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He nods and steps forward slowly, eyeing my father the whole way as he reaches in his jacket pocket to pull out the folded license and hands it over to me. I take it gently, offering him a smile before I turn to my father and walk towards him. I unravel the paper and hand it to him. His eyes scan the sheet as a violent sigh leaves his lips. I raise my hand to his gun and lower it, his eyes snapping to my ring. He curses quietly and I move my hand from his lowered gun to his face, cupping his old cheek softly as I gaze at him.
“It’s over, papa. Tell the boys to drop their guns so we can go inside and talk. There’s something larger at bay here, much bigger than you or I or even my husband.” I can physically feel his scowl, his soft grunt brushing over me as he turns as waves for my brothers to drop their guns.
“Let’s go,” Resting my hand on his shoulder, he sighs and turns around, walking in the direction of the house. I nod at Marco behind me, and he turns to mutter something to his men.
I walk with my father and past my brothers, ignoring their scoffs and staring at Claudio’s small smile.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Carmelo growls, eyeing Marco up and down as I grab my new husband's hand and pull him inside.
“Play nice,” I warn in Carmelo’s direction.
We all walk into the house, both my family and Marco’s men waiting outside as the door shuts and my father ushers us into his office.
He takes a seat in his leather chair and immediately lights up a cigar, leaning back as Carmelo goes straight for the liquor cart and pours everyone a drink, Marco included.
See, improvements already.
I take a seat at the conference table next to Marco, my brothers sitting across from us. I can feel Armone and Amelio’s glare, but what I focus on is Claudio. He’s sitting directly across from me, his eyes on my ring as my uninjured hand rests on the table, my wounded wrist settling on Marco’s lap.
“Are you happy?” He asks, staring at me directly now.
“If I didn’t have all of this impending doom to worry about, I’d be thrilled, but yes. Right now, Claudio, I am happy,” Looking at Marco as I speak, one of his hands moves to trace my bottom lip with one of his rough fingers.
“Christ, I’m going to be fucking sick,” Amelio groans, a smile playing at my mouth.
“Would you like to tell me how you went from kidnapping my daughter to marrying her in a matter of weeks?” My father says from his chair, aggressively puffing at his cigar as Carmelo hands out drinks, nearly slamming Marco’s glass down as he reaches him.
“Watch it,” I hiss, his humorless chuckle pissing me off even more.
“So quick to defend the monster, little sister. Mama would be extremely disappointed,” he seethes and before I can stand up and slap him, my father barks out, “Enough!” Silencing the entire room.
“You may answer my question now,” he says to Marco, leaning back again to continue inhaling his large cigar.
Marco clears his throat, rubbing my arm with soft circles as he speaks.
“I want you to know that when I took Lori, I had no original intent of actually harming her. I was angry, seeking vengeance and that was my way of hurting you, for doing the unthinkable—”
“I didn’t kill your father, De Vico—”
“I’m not finished,” Marco says, his tone quiet but stern, my heart doing funny things with the way he just stood up to my father.
“I didn’t want to hurt Lori, but I did. And I can’t take that back, no matter how hard I try,” he says, glancing at me before he bends to kiss my injured hand.
“I broke your daughter and I made her pay for a mistake that was made by you, that I thought was made by you,” he says, looking back at my father now.
“But you see, sir, the problem wasn’t Lori or you, or the fact that my father was dead. It wasn’t my vengeance, it was me. It was me blindly ignoring the fact that I fell madly in love with your daughter the moment that I laid eyes on her. The problem was me turning away from the inevitable, the inevitable being that no matter what happens to me in this life, I will be fine as long as she’s with me. As long as she’s near,” he says, my heart soaring in my chest at his words.
“I want you to know that regardless of this situation, of this proposition I’m about to present to you, I still would have married this woman. Because I love her,” he says, staring directly at me.
The room is quiet for a while, my family watching us as Marco and I gaze at each other, more love filling my heart than ever before.
“So, what’s the proposition?” Carmelo asks, breaking the moment as per usual.
Marco pulls away from my stare reluctantly, holding his glass of bourbon in one hand before bringing it to his lips and taking a small sip.
“The proposition is now that we’ve forged an alliance through marriage, we take down the Merlini’s together. We kill those bastards off one by one until there’s nothing left. Until the city is ours and we can split it straight down the middle,” he says, my brothers scoffing in response.
“And what makes you think that I want to take down the Merlini’s? They bring in great business for me,” my father says.
