Page 35 of When We Fall: Part Two
The day after, I’d save my Rosie.
I’d give up anything for her. I wanted her to know that. Maybe she’d never find out my sacrifice.
I got up and went to my closet, pulled down the box with her name on it, and took it out. Photos from growing up, letters I’d written her and never showed her from our time apart, the notebooks I kept with all my stories inside, the ring I’d bought her, and now a sealed envelope with her name scrawled across the front.
My dying wishes for her.
I closed the box and pulled out my phone. I sent a message to Anson to let him know I was coming over.
I had a job for him.
TEN
ANSON
I’d been spending a lot of time at my father’s place as of late, so much so that I’d even taken to just crashing in one of the many bedrooms he had some nights.
“What’s this?” I frowned at the medical report on Bianca and the babies.
“A problem.” Matteo sat back in his chair behind his desk, his eyes on me. “Want to take care of it for me?”
“How? Because I’m not going to kill Bianca or her babies.”
Matteo waved me off. “No worries, Alessandro. You likely won’t need to. Carmine is coming. He’ll tend to it, I’m sure. A Russian infant? Dominic in bed with the enemies?” He let out a soft laugh.
I frowned at that. “You can’t let him do that. You need to let her go?—”
“She’s as good as dead the moment Carmine steps foot inside this house. An unmarried woman pregnant with a De Santis heir and a Russian enemy? That’s instant death.” He snapped his fingers. “And if it’s not, it’ll catch up to her eventually. Just like your mother.”
I clenched my jaw at his words. “Do you think he had something to do with Mom and Tia?”
“I don’t have solid evidence, but I can only assume.” He looked away from me, a muscle thrumming along his jaw.
“Give her back to Dominic?—”
“I can’t,” he said stiffly. “He doesn’t deserve happiness.”
“Father—”
“He is one of the main reasons for my misery. He gets nothing from me but heartache and pain. If it’s his woman dying, so be it.”
“No,” I said, getting to my feet, my chest heaving. “I-I can’t stand by and let that happen. She’s a good person. Dominic is a good person?—”
“She will die when Carmine gets here. It is his way.”
I said the first thing that came to mind. Call me crazy, but I couldn’t let Bianca die.
“I’ll marry her. I want her.”
Matteo looked slowly over at me, an unreadable expression on his face.
“What?”
“I’ll marry her. Arrange it,” I whispered. “Rosalie doesn’t want me. I want t-to settle down. I will marry her. I’m your heir. It’ll save her and the babies. I’ll raise them as mine. I’ll protect them.”
“You’ve lost your mind. You will have Rosalie Bishop.”
“Rosalie and I are never happening,” I said fiercely, the words making my chest ache. “Never.Let me do this, Father. I am begging you to let me have something. I don’t want to hurt anymore. Please. I-I can be a good father. A good husband. I will care for Bianca. It’ll piss off Dominic, too, which is what you want. Please. I want her. Give her to me.”
