Page 176 of Made for Sinners

I swallowed hard. “You really think I can do this?”

He smiled, slow and devastating. “You’re Emilia Conti. You can do anything.”

I laughed, but it came out shaky. “You’re ridiculous.”

“And you’re mine,” he said, his voice low. “And I will give you the world if it means you’ll stay.”

I looked at him, really looked at him. The man who had killed for me. Bled for me. Loved me.

And I realized something.

He wasn’t just giving me a vineyard.

He was giving me a choice.

“I’m serious about this,” he said, voice low, his thumb brushing along my jaw. “About all of it.”

“I know,” I whispered.

He leaned in, his lips brushing mine—not quite a kiss, but close enough to make my pulse thrum. “You don’t have to decide tonight.”

“I already did,” I said, surprising myself.

His brow lifted.

“I want it,” I said. “The vineyard. The land. The freedom. I want something that’s mine.”

His smile was slow, proud. “Then it’s yours.”

I pulled back just enough to look at him. “But I’m not leaving you.”

“I didn’t think you were,” he said. “But I needed you to know you could.”

"Do you think Brunello di montalcino has a starbucks mug?"

He laughed.

And that—God, that did something to me.

Because it wasn’t just about the land. It wasn’t just about the wine or the house or the rows of vines stretching into the horizon. It was about choice. About agency. About him giving me something I hadn’t had in a long time.

A way out.

And trusting me not to take it.

"Princess, I will fly you all over the world for that stupid mug collection if it means you're my wife."

I kissed him then, slow and deep, my fingers curling into his shirt. He tasted like wine and warmth and everything I hadn’t known I needed.

I thought about the vineyard. About the soil beneath my feet. About the wine I’d make. About the people I’d hire. About the life I could build.

And I thought about Dante.

About the way he’d looked at me when he handed me that folder. About the way he’d said, “This is yours.”

He hadn’t just given me land.

He’d given me a future.

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