Page 146 of Fix You

“But you’re supposed to be getting married today,” I protested.

“That’s not happening.”

“What? You know what is at stake. How can you be so selfish?”

“Leo stepped in for me.”

Just when I thought I couldn’t take any more surprises, Rafe hit me with another one. “Leomarried Drea?”

“Yeah, he did.”

Oh my God. Was this really happening? Rafe wasn’t married. He was free. I hadn’t even allowed myself to dream of such a scenario. “Why would he do that?”

Rafe winced slightly. “Partly because he’s a stand-up guy of honor and the other part was because Edoardo was going to kill me.”

I shrieked in horror. “What?”

With an apathetic shrug, Rafe replied, “He grazed me with one bullet, but he was going to end me if I tried to walk away.”

“He shot you? At your wedding?”

“Yeah, but like I said, it just grazed me.”

I brought my hand to my forehead to stop the spinning of the room at the thought of Rafe being shot or being killed. “How could you risk that?”

“I told you. I couldn’t live without you.”

Staring at him in disbelief, I pulled myself to my feet. As Rafe started to draw me to him, I smacked his chest hard.

His eyes darkened. “What the fuck was that for?”

“For basically saying you’d kill yourself without me.”

“It’s the truth.”

I shook my head. “Your brothers and Caterina need you too much to do that.” As a sob choked off in my throat, I replied, “I don’t want to imagine a world without you in it, even if you couldn’t have been mine.”

When Rafe tried drawing me to him again, I let him this time. “Hey now, don’t cry. I’m okay, and it all worked out.”

“I can’t believe Edoardo let Leo take your place. Not to knock Leo, but you’re the capo.”

“He wasn’t happy about it, but the five million I’m paying him smoothed things over.”

My eyes bulged at the outrageous figure. “But why would you do that?”

“Because it ensured I could be with you.”

Oh God. This was all too much. The world around me once again spun in a dizzying flurry.

Rafe was in Sicily.

Nothing bad was going to happen to our families if we were together.

Wewere free.

Frowning, I replied, “I’m not going to wake up and find out this has all been a dream, am I?”

“No. It’s very real.”

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