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“Yeah.” Antony nods. “Dump him in the river. Make sure there’s no trace here.”
Sal moves away and punches some buttons on his phone, then lifts it to his ear. Antony turns to me and reaches for my hand, gently taking the gun I forgot I was holding out of my grip.
“I hope to God that gun wasn’t meant for me,” he murmurs.
“You know it wasn’t.” My eyes drift away from his, toward the floor.
Antony sighs, then takes my arm and leads me away from Giovanni’s body. “What are you doing here, Serafina?” he murmurs.
“I had to come. When I found out where you were going…” My voice threatens to break, but I clear my throat and presson. “I couldn’t let things stand the way they were left between us, Antony. I couldn’t bear to think that something might have happened to you, and you would have thought I hated you until the end.”
“So… you came here to apologize?” he asks, a small smirk playing on his lips.
“I came here to apologize, and to tell you I know how wrong I was. I never should have jumped to the conclusion that you were behind the attempt on my father’s life.”
“You honestly believed I was, though. You don’t trust me, Sera.” He shakes his head.
“I didn’t. I was faithless. But I do now. I do.” Suddenly, I’m cold. Freezing, actually. I wrap my arms around myself, trying not to shiver. “Antony. I never should have jumped to conclusions like I did. All I can say in my defense is, I’ve been all alone at the head of the Mucci family, trying so hard to make sure I was strong enough to keep everything together. I saw enemies everywhere. Or rather, in all the wrong places. I know I should have trusted you more.”
“Actually, no, you shouldn’t have. You were right. It wasn’t impossible that I was pursuing you for the wrong reasons. But I wasn’t. My feelings were real, Sera.” He lifts a hand to my face, and raises it to his. “They still are.”
“Mine are, too,” I whisper.
“You came through that door ready to kill for me,” he marvels. “I really think you could have shot Giovanni if you had to.”
“I know I could have.” My throat tightens. “I could never have forgiven myself if I’d never gotten the chance to tell you how wrong I was about you. I love you, Antony.”
“I love you too, sweetheart.” He glances behind him. “Hey. Let’s take this outside, okay?”
Gently, he wraps an arm around me and leads me toward the door. “You’re shivering. You okay?”
“I think it’s just an adrenaline rush,” I admit, teeth chattering. “I can’t control it.”
He pushes the door open and ushers me through it. “Let’s get you out of here, okay? Even though you’re as tough as they come, Serafina Mucci, this is no place for you.”
Antony doesn’t have to ask me twice. We walk away from the warehouse, with him hugging me against him to warm me up. Matteo is over standing next to Marco, who’s bent over with his hands on his knees, recovering. He looks up at me and winces. “You got one hell of a left, you know that?” he wheezes.
“Sorry about that.”
“Ah, I’ll survive.” He smirks at Antony. “But brother, lemme tell you, you don’t want to anger this woman.”
Antony bursts out laughing. “Believe me, I know.”
In Antony’s car, he belts me in and turns on my seat heater full-blast. Eventually, I stop shaking and my heart slows down to a normal pace. We drive mostly in silence on the way back toward Cleveland, until my phone rings in my purse. Fumbling it open, I check the screen and see that it’s my sister calling. “It’s Tina,” I say to Antony.
“Sera? Daddy’s awake” she says excitedly as soon as I answer the phone. “He’s too weak to talk much yet, but I wanted to tell you everything’s going to be okay. The doctors say that with physical therapy he should make a full recovery.”
Next to me, Antony shoots me an inquiring look. I give him a thumbs up and he grins.
When we get back into Cleveland, Antony ignores the exit for my parents’ house and continues toward downtown. My heart starts to speed up again, but this time from happiness. Soon, he’s pulling into the parking garage of his building. On the elevator ride up, he takes my hand and doesn’t let go of it until we’reinside his penthouse, when he pulls me into his arms. He kisses me long and hard, until I’m dizzy with happiness and a little lust-drunk.
“I was afraid I might never see this place again,” I murmur against his shoulder as he holds me in his arms.
“As far as I’m concerned, if I could lock you in here to keep you safe and sound for the rest of your life, I would,” Antony teases. “You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days, Serafina Mucci.”
“Look who’s talking,” I point out. “I’m not the one who could have died today.”
He scoffs. “That was never gonna happen. I had to take care of business so I could work on winning you back. As luck would have it, that part was easier than I thought it would be. There’s just one problem.”
