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“One of many things.”
“And the rest?”
“Do you always accost customers with such personal questions?”
“Only the hot ones.”
“In that case, hi. My name is Bastiano Romano, but you can call me Bastian.”
“Hi.” I wanted to grab his face and kiss him, but I refrained. Barely. “My name is Ariana De Luca. Are you mad at me?”
“I just met you. How can I be mad at you?” He continued as I rolled my eyes, but inside, everything tensed as I waited for his answer. “You gave me my son back. I could never be mad at you.”
Vince had found the noose to hang around Elsa. She hadn’t used a sperm donor. She’d slept with a man and had been paying him off to stay away from Everett since he’d been born.
“It wasn’t me. Vince arranged for me to get that folder after he died.”
“He was always three steps ahead, wasn’t he?”
“Try twenty-nine years.”
“One day, you’ll tell me what that means.”
I couldn’t stop staring at him.
The man who loved harder than anyone I’d ever met.
The man who opened his heart to me even though it had been trampled before.
The man who’d fallen in love with a kid who wasn’t his by blood and still sent a check every month to a woman he hated.
I took a step closer. “I’d like that.”
His predatory eyes watched me approach him, hooded, calling to me. “I cut Elsa off.”
“And Everett?”
“He’s with me. Has been for about two months now.”
“Are you happy?”
“Yes. Not as happy as I can be.” He hooked his foot around my ankle and drew me closer.
I caught myself with two palms on his chest. “I missed you, Jupiter.”
“What did you call me?”
“Jupiter.”
“I’m not Jupiter.” He shook his head. “Uncle Vince used to tell me the story of Jupiter and Ganymede. Ganymede revolves around Jupiter, hooked into its gravity, always near, always circling.”
I fought the pain building in my chest. “You’re not Jupiter?”
“No,” he said, gutting me, but then he pieced me back together, “You are.”
Epilogue
To be loved is a Success.
