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I pull Rafe tighter to me and show him my gratitude with a kiss. It was so easy to fall in love with him, so much easier than it is to hate him. The man may be far from perfect, but he’s proven to me that when he loves, he loves with all his soul.
“You need to get some sleep. Go and join Sylvia and Gabriel. I’ll try to get a few hours in the chair,” he orders me, pulling himself out from between my legs and making me feel empty of him already.
“Goodnight, husband.” I slide myself off the counter and kiss his cheek before pulling up my jeans and making my way to bed without an argument.
* * *
One week later
It’s just me and Gabriel in the bed when the sun peeps through the pretty lace curtains, heating up my face enough to wake me. I kiss him gently and carefully slip out of bed, and when I make my way to the door, I hear voices coming from the living area.
Sylvia sounds angry, and I decide to listen for a while before I interrupt.
“So nothing is resolved. In fact, you’ve pissed them off more. We should have left days ago,” she scolds, and when I peep through the crack in the door, I see her standing with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her face.
“There was a problem. The tech girl didn’t finish working on the documentation, so Marco is working on it. I want a fresh start when we leave. Riley needs to have a new identity— so I don’t have to keep her hidden.”
“Documentation isn’t going to change who she is, Raphael. She knows who you are and what you do. Changing her name isn’t going to take that back. They know you have her, and they will come after you. Gioele warned you these people were dangerous right before he got his throat slit by one of them.”
I slam my hand over my mouth and try to contain my shock. Gioele can’t be dead too.
“We’ll be out of here in less than twenty-four hours. They won’t find us in Italy. They will move on and find another person to bother.”
“Do you really believe that, Raphael? Because if you do, you’re letting your heart lead your head.”
“I won’t risk losing her by sticking around. I have people who can bring the Souls down in my absence. I pay well.”
“You can’t buy loyalty, Raphael,” Sylvia takes another swipe at him.
“I pay you to stick around, don’t I?” When he bites back, the old woman’s hand moves so fast that Rafe doesn’t have time to block the sharp crack her palm makes against his cheek. I watch in shock as he rubs his jaw where it landed. It looks like it felt as hard as it sounded.
“My loyalty to you comes from love, Raphael Verretti. There was a time in your life when you had none at all. Your mother was a drunk, and your father was a pimp. Any goodness that’s inside of you came from me, and you’d do well to remember that.” She heads for the front door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he calls after her.
“Into town. I promised Gabriel chocolate milk with his breakfast, and I need to visit a pharmacy to get him some anti-sickness pills for the journey. Unless you’d like to spend an entire flight to Europe with a child vomiting in your lap.” She grabs the keys to Nico’s truck from the table.
“Take Nico with you,” Rafe calls after her, despite still being angry at her.
“I’m not the one who needs protecting, Rafe.” She looks over her shoulders before she leaves, slamming the door behind her.
I wait until she’s been gone a few minutes before I step out of the bedroom, and Rafe puts on a brave face as he pours a coffee.
“Here, drink this,” he orders, handing me the mug in his hand.
“We will be okay, won’t we, Rafe?” I ask, still troubled by Sylvia’s concern and wondering if the Souls are the people my brother was in the photograph with. I’ve taken in so much information lately it’s hard to remember.
“It’s not your place to worry. That’s my job.” He places a kiss on the top of my head, and before I have a chance to say anything else, our little boy toddles into the room. The biggest beam lifts onto his face when he sees his daddy, and Rafe rushes to scoop him up, lifting him high into the air and blowing a raspberry onto his tummy to make him laugh. Watching the pair of them together makes my heart overflow with love, and tears fill my eyes.
How can something so beautiful be so destroying? Why did I have to get out of the car that night? I could be sitting here in ignorant bliss, looking forward to a future with the man I love.
I’ve been through so much, but this is the closest to crazy I have ever come because I can’t stop myself from loving him.
Despite who he is and what he’s done. I’m starting to wonder if, deep down, I want everything Raphael Verretti has promised me. My morals will be the sacrifice I make to keep this family together because, as Rafe said, this is our beginning.
I sit in the back of the car with Riley and Gabriel while Nico drives us toward the hangar where my plane is sitting, ready to take us to the country my family originally came from. Sylvia sits up front beside him. She’s calmed down since her outburst yesterday morning. Despite how angry she made me, I know all she says comes from her heart, which helps me to forgive her.
She worries about me; she worries about us all, and this is a stressful time for everyone.
