Page 51 of His Fantasy Bride (Things To Do Before You Die)

Vito’s eyes narrowed. The man sounded almost protective. Whatwashis relationship with Gabby? Perhaps he’d get Josh to look into it for him. But it was clear that Scarlesi wasn’t going to reveal anything today.

“Let’s go,” he said to Carlos.

“Good idea,” Scarlesi murmured. “Piss off and don’t come back.”

Vito headed for the door, but at the last moment he turned back and strode toward where the other man still perched on the desk. He came to a halt a foot away. “This is pathetic. You know that?”

Luca frowned.

“This whole feud thing. You getting worked up about something that happened nearly sixty years ago. Why do you even give a shit?” Luca opened his mouth, but Vito continued before he could get a word out. “The feud is over. As of tomorrow, there is no D’Ascensio Corporation. The company no longer exists.”

“What?”

Obviously, Gabbyreallyhadn’t told him anything, as she was one of the few people to whom he’d revealed his ultimate plans. Did that make a difference? How could it, really?

“As of tomorrow the company is dissolved. All proceeds have been placed in a charitable trust.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to. There will be a press release tomorrow. So get the fuck over it.”

Chapter Thirteen

Logan looked rough. Worse than rough, and Josh no better.

Vito should have been pleased that he wasn’t the only one having a hard time with his thing to do before he died. He clearly wasn’t the only one regretting the decision he’d made while floating in that lifeboat, drinking far too much scotch, and watching his multi-million-dollar ship sink beneath the Mediterranean.

Christ, he’d felt better back then than he did now. Why couldn’t he have left well enough alone? He would have gotten over Gabrielle eventually. She would have faded from his mind and become nothing more than a happy memory.

Instead, she was with him constantly.

He ran a hand down the scar on his cheek. Facing death had a way of changing how you thought. It made you consider how things could be different. But he’d been in pain, half-drunk, and his brain had clearly not been working the way it should.

Whoever’s stupid things-to-do-before-you-fucking-die idea this was, he should never have gone along with it.

He was seated in a booth opposite the two men, in Logan’s nightclub with a full glass of whiskey in front of him. Part of him craved the forgetfulness of alcohol, but he never allowed himself to get drunk, to lose that much control. That wasn’t who he was. Besides, he daren’t touch it. He was afraid the alcohol would loosen his inhibitions, and he’d go crawling to her and tell her he was sorry. Christ, she was the one in the wrong, not him. He glared at Logan. This was his fault. If he hadn’t been interested in buying the cruise line, Vito would never have been on that goddamned ship. He would never have nearly died. And he would never have made that stupid fucking vow.

“Things to do before you die…whose fucking idea was that, anyway?” Josh said, his mind obviously moving along the same lines. Throwing back the whiskey, he slammed his glass down on the table. Logan reached across and filled it from the bottle in front of him and topped off his own at the same time. He held the bottle up to Vito, but he shook his head.

“I think it was yours,” Logan said to Josh.

Vito couldn’t remember whose idea it had been. The night had been a fog by that point.

“Never,” Josh said. “Not in a million years would I have put myself in this situation. Besides I had a broken leg at the time. Why would the two of you listen to a man who was in pain and obviously not thinking straight?”

Logan frowned. “I take it things are still not going well with your…wife?”

“Things are going shit. And I don’t want to talk about it. I just want to drink.”

“How about you?” Logan asked Vito.

“I’m not drinking. I have a gut feeling that drunk, I will make a decision that I will later regret. So I’m staying sober.”

Josh eyed up Logan. “Give us some good news. How’s your fantasy girl? Is she everything you dreamed of?”

Logan was silent for a moment; he didn’t look like a man who had found the woman of his dreams. He drained his glass, and exhaled. “Nothing like I remembered.”

“Sorry, mate.”

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