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Willow turns to look at me with a rueful smile on her face. “It all turned out well enough though. My husband is dead and I’m a free woman. I don’t have to worry about Ricardo laying his hands on my child. Instead, I just have to worry about you.”
A lump forms in my throat when she says that. I never thought she was afraid of me, not really. Willow has always seemed like a force of nature, the kind of woman that laughs in the face of fear. “What do you mean, worry about me?” I ask, feeling my stomach tighten in knots.
Willow doesn’t take her eyes off mine. “I mean maybe this isn’t for you. Maybe you don’t want to be a father. Maybe—”
It’s my turn to cut her off. I fall to the ground before her, my chair slamming back into the siding as I slip out of it. “Willow, I have known since the day I met you that you were the one I was going to spend the rest of my life with. I waited until you turned eighteen and watched from afar as you married my enemy. I waited in the wings for you to realize that you’d made a mistake. And when Ricardo didn’t let up, when he didn’t stop hurting you the way I knew he’d been hurting you, I waged a war for you.”
I hold her hand in mine knowing that I will never let it go again. “Since the day Ricardo died, I’ve been waiting for my moment. First, I was waiting for a chance to see you. Then, I was waiting for a chance to prove that I could be a better man. Now, I’m waiting for a chance to prove to you that I will move mountains, burn down cities, and kill a thousand people to make your dreams come true. Willow, I want to be the father of your child more than you will ever know.”
A tear wells up in the corner of her eye. “What about the Parodis?” She asks. “I can’t leave them to their own devices. I can’t watch them fall apart because Ricardo’s business was built solely on drugs and his connections. I’ve lost most of the connections he had because the politicians and business leaders don’t want to work with a woman.”
It burns me to the core to hear her say that. I thought that we were moving forward in this country. It might be that way back in Italy, where women are regarded as the lesser gender, but this is America. I thought that we’d made great strides in the fight for equality. “Join my family, Willow. Bring your men to my family. I want you to stand beside me and make decisions that will benefit both of us. I want to start a dynasty with you, Willow.”
The tear slides down her cheek and I reach up to rub it away with my thumb. She laughs when I bring the salty wetness to my lips and lick it away. “You’re such a strange man, Alessandro.”
“And you’re the strongest woman that I know. I would never hurt you and I damn sure would never hurt a child.” Not intentionally, of course. My actions have hurt Willow and her children before; I know that now. “Be my queen, Willow Carbone. Rule alongside me.”
I know Willow better than anyone. I have been studying her for years. She has a dark side, but she is also ambitious. She is sweet, but she can be mean. She is sensual, but she hides it out of fear. “Marry me, Willow. Let us become the family we were supposed to be six years ago.”
It is my third proposal of marriage to her. The first was a contract between her father and me. The second was just a few weeks ago. But this is the one that she says yes to. This is the one that causes her to lean forward and press her lips to mine.
The third time’s the charm.
* * *
