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She ducks her head, and I place my finger under her chin, bringing her beautiful face back up to mine. “You don’t need to hide from me,” I tell her.
“Well, if you find me kind and I find you kind, then maybe this is a good match.”
“A match made in heaven,” I tease.
She chuckles, not pulling away from me. The natural chemistry between us is intense. It’s easy. It’s effortless. Who knew an arranged marriage could be like this? “I’d like to get to know you better.”
“Then let’s take a walk.” I hold out my arm to her, and she takes it without hesitation, her touch warm on my skin. Together, we walk through Central Park, her guard keeping a few paces behind us.
“So, you said you want to protect your family from your uncle,” she says in her delicate voice. “How so?”
“When my father died, my uncle took over, and he hasn’t let go of that power since. But it’s rightfully mine. And I need to protect my family from him because he’s hurt us too many times to count.”
“I’m so sorry.” The way she says it tells me she means it. Most people sound insincere when they offer sympathy, but Nina has a genuine presence to her that makes me instantly like her. “I know what it’s like to want to protect your family. I have a younger sister, Anna. Our father can be … strict at times. I’m hoping our marriage can offer me more influence, too, so I can always help take care of Anna.”
“I get that. Petrov can be a bit of a hardass, huh?”
A strained smile passes her lips. “You can say that.” We walk through a grassy area of the park where families are having picnics and kids are running around with Frisbees in their hands. “But I don’t really want to talk about my father. I just wanted to meet you without him there so I could get a better read on you.”
“Same.”
“And what do you think?”
I answer honestly. “I think marrying you might be one of the best things to ever happen to me. And you?”
“I think marrying you will give me freedom. And for that, I’d do anything.”
Nina and I are a lot more alike than I thought. We both want something from this marriage, which makes us equally matched. That’s not a bad thing. We understand each other.
Marrying Nina will help me retake my rightful role, but it’s already brought someone into my life who gets me.
And for that, I feel slightly less alone than I did the day before.
* * *
The wedding happensin less than a month. Petrov is antsy to get Nina and I married, and I don’t stop it. I want this marriage as much as he does. I don’t partake in any of the wedding planning as Nina’s mother, Elizabeth, handles all that.
Killian, Petrov, and I also plan on which of Franco’s gun shipments to hit after the wedding. All is going according to plan.
Except for the fact that my family won’t attend my wedding. My older sisters, Emilia, Gemma, and Francesca, can’t come because that would mean choosing sides. And since their husbands have all made deals with Franco, they can’t choose mine. My younger siblings and mom can’t come, seeing as they still live with Franco, and he’d never allow it. Besides, he’s not even supposed to know this marriage alliance is happening. Everything has to be kept under lock and key. Which is why the wedding planning doesn’t take long; the only people in attendance will be Nina, her family, and me. The wedding will take place in a church, and then we’ll have dinner together as a new family, and that’s that. Not exactly the most romantic, but it will do in a pinch.
I’m getting dressed in my tux when the memory of my father’s funeral hits me. Since it’s my wedding day, a funeral seems appropriate, given everything.
I remember staring at my dead father as he laid in his casket on the church dais, his men surrounding my family and I as we mourned. Cecilia was bawling next to me, holding onto her cross and trying her best to murmur a prayer. I grabbed her hand and kept my head up, keeping my tears at bay.
I was twelve, and already, I was trying to show how much of a man I was. On the other side of me was Francesca, who was silently crying. Even when mourning, she was quiet. Gemma couldn’t hold back her tears, and Emilia was trying to hold it together for everyone. Mia, my youngest sister at the time before the twins were born, was only eight. She looked so fragile as she stood beside Cecilia and cried. That’s the one thing I always envied about the twins, Lucia and Luca. They were born nine months after our father died. They never knew what it was like to miss the man who raised them. My father was my role model, and he was gone.
Even in death, he still looked like my dad. His dark hair and wrinkled skin, despite being middle-aged. Riccardo Moretti. He looked so much smaller in death.
After the ceremony was done and we’d arrived at the rec center where the reception was hosted, I wandered off alone. I’d just seen a spider I’d wanted to kill, but Gemma tried and stopped me. She ended up falling backward after we fought. and our mom scolded her. I used that to my advantage and walked outside, where I sat on the stoop. I looked at my father’s pendant, which hung around my neck. My mom had slipped it to me an hour earlier. I was still getting used to it.
A presence at my back made me turn around. Franco, looking so much like my dad it hurt. For a moment, I thought he was my dad until he stepped into the sunlight, and I saw the differences between him and my dad. Where my dad was tall and broad-shouldered, Franco was slightly skinner and shorter. Though they both shared the same dark hair and intense eyes.
“Antonio,” he said, nodding down at me. My father wouldn’t have hesitated to sit beside me on the ground, but Franco kept his distance. “You have your father’s pendant, I see.”
I clutched it in my hand. “Yeah.”
“You know, because I’ll be taking over in his stead, it’s only fitting you give it to me.”
