Page 61 of I Would Die For You

“And why would you be doing that in the first place?”

So he’s going to draw it all out from me.Va bene.

“Because I know you like her. And you also want her.”

He laughs. “Of course I like her. I’ve also wanted her for a long time.”

“You still do.”

He takes a long time to answer me. He turns to the windows, stares out, mulls something over.

“Yes.”

More than the admission, it’s the pain in his eyes that sucker-punches me when he turns to me again.

“You love her,” I mutter softly.

“Kaya…” He sighs. “She reminds me of Allegra, you know.”

Allegra. His dead wife. The agony is like gravel in his tone now.

“You could’ve had her,” I tell him.

“Then you wouldn’t.”

Roaring starts in my ears. This isn’t making sense. “Che cosa?”

He smiles softly. “I saw the way you started looking at her, after I brought her here.”

“So? If you love her, then why offer her to me?”

Why give her up? As a man who loves her, I wouldn’t be able to.

“Because I’ve had my one great love, Stefano. You haven’t,figliolo.”

I was fifteen when Allegra Rossi died. Six years prior, Giacomo Rossi had fought tooth and nail to be allowed to marry her. She was a nobody, not even from Torino, a woman who didn’t even know her own name when he found her half-dead in the wreck of a car accident. He fought for her, and then she fought for him in the only way she knew how—a Don needs an heir. She had a weak heart, a congenital condition exacerbated by her near-fatal accident. She got pregnant against all medical advice, gave him a son, and died mere hours later in his arms when her heart couldn’t keep going. It seemed she’d held on for as long as she needed to birth their child, then she expired.

I’d never witnessed love before them, and I’m pretty sure I never will see another love like theirs again. That Kaya reminded him of the wonderful woman he’d loved and lost…

“Padrino,” I mutter, my throat closing.

He comes to me and clasps me in his arms. “Make her happy, Stefano. She deserves it.”

I could only nod against his shoulder, tears pricking my eyes.

He’s just given up on his own love, his potential happiness, so I could get a chance at mine.

Padre, I want to say. Because that’s something only a father would do.

“Figlio,” he says softly, then drops a kiss on my head.

He heard it, and he showed me he understood.

I can never repay him for what he’s giving up. But one thing I can do is honor his sacrifice. I will make Kaya happy, and it starts with begging her to talk to me. I will beg even if it’s the only thing I do for the rest of my existence.

I clasp his shoulder hard. “Grazie, Padrino.”

“Vai, vai,” he chides as he lets me go. “Go to your wife.”

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