Page 140 of Vita Mia

He looked away.

“I know him too. I accept him too. I just never told you or showed you the way she did.”

“This isn’t about Adara, let’s not speak on her.”

“For us it might be about her. Listen to me, Carlo. Adara loved you in a way I couldn’t. Because she saw all of it, and accepted all of it, because she was from your world. She was like you. I’m different. I know that. And my love for you is different I accept that. You accept that. We pretend that our differences don’t matter. When they should matter. Because our differences make us strong.”

“This isn’t about us Shae. My friend is dead.”

“I know. I know. I’m not saying it right. Renaldo died, Lorenzo died, and someone namedSanko? He died too.”

“Sanko?” Carlo frowned. “You mean Santo?”

She nodded.

Carlo took down another drink. “The boy has been running his mouth.”

“He helped me understand. I don’t care what I said in those vows. I married Carlo. I married you. And I love you. All of you.”

“What does that mean? What does any of it mean? My friend is dead,” he said.

“The Battaglias called here because they need your help. They freed you Carlo. They gave you back to me. They gave us a new life.”

“They took my life and they took his. Because of the Battaglias everyone I loved is dead.”

“Not everyone. Not me, not our children, not our family.”

Carlo nodded in agreement.

“You can be Lucio to the life we make here, but you’re Carlo to us. And Carlo is not going to slip into vodka and self-hatred when his best friend was murdered. Carlo is going to get some justice. Right?”

“I would have to go back to Italy,” Carlo mumbled.

“I know.”

He lifted his gaze to her under his arched brow.

“It’s a risk. A big one. I might not return home.”

“You will come back to me. Because you never break a promise. And because I know you know what you’re doing.”

Carlo looked at the bottle of vodka. He put the cap on it. “I wanted to fight with you.”

“So we could have good make up sex?” Shae smiled.

Carlo chuckled.

“We can still have good make-up sex,” she teased him. “The vodka has me open to it.”

“You’re not pissed? About the room? About the booze?”

“Oh, I’m pissed. Four days? Don’t ever do that to me and our kids again. Ever.”

“I won’t,cara,” he promised.

“Good. You get a temporary pass.” Shae checked her watch. “I want this liquor out my house before the kids get home from school, and you need to get your laborers here to fix my room before you leave for Italy.”

“Done,” he agreed.

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