Page 29 of Bought By the Mafia

“I’m at a wedding. Dante’s getting married.” She sent three question marks. “Gio’s brother,” I responded. She took some time to send the next text which read, “does that mean you and Gio are getting along?”

Did it? My relationship with him was more fraught than ever and there hadn’t been any progress happening. I would say it was regressing, but there was no way I was going to tell her that. The rehab center reported that her recovery was going smoothly, and a whiff of trouble might make her anxious. She felt guilty about my having to marry him after what happened. She was a player in the scam, and I wasn’t about to add to that guilt. “Yes,” I replied. She sent a heart emoji, and I promptly felt a little better. Sometimes white lies were better than black truths.

The conversation moved to other mundane topics after that and just as I was about to reply to a question my mom asked, Nico leaned closer to me and asked. “What’s going on between you two?” I put my phone away and turned to him. He had an elbow on the table and his chin in his palm, giving me an inquisitive glare.

“Me and who?”

He ignored my poor attempt at feigning ignorance. “You two have hardly talked the entire time you were together.”

I motioned at the bridesmaid sitting beside him, who was currently typing on her phone. “Shouldn’t you be minding your own relationship?”

“Don’t try to deflect, I know you don’t want to talk about my brother.”

“You got me there. So let’s get back to it. What did you mean earlier in the church?” Nico gave me a blank stare that had to be a put on. He knew what I was referring to. “You said Gio told you something about me. What did he tell you?”

A dawning realization came over his face, and a mischievous smile slowly spread. “I’m not sure if I should tell you.” He glanced at Gio, who appeared too busy to care about our conversation. “He told me in confidence, after all.”

“Fine.” I opened the notes app and gave him my phone. “Type it. That way, he won’t know.”

His smile got even broader. He didn’t take too long. He typed what could be five characters and gave me my phone back. It was actually three characters; he typed. Two emojis. A wedding ring and an infinity symbol. Try as I might, I could not work it out. Infinity meant forever. But the ring? Proposal? Marriage? Proposal forever? Married forever? That didn’t seem like something he would type cryptically. He could have just told me. Or maybe… no. It could not be mean Rio wanted to propose to me all those years ago. No. Otherwise… no. It had meant something else.

“What do you—” When I looked up, Nico and his bridesmaid were gone.

14

“You don’t look so happy. Is the idea of my getting married so repulsive?” I pulled away from my momentary reverie to see Dante staring back at me in the mirror as he was adjusting his collar. We were in his New York apartment, which was as light and airy as he was. Warm morning sun streamed through the windows and shined against the mirror, making it a little harder for me to see from my vantage point. I don’t remember the room being this bright. Dante had a penchant for dark colors, so the new shades of yellow and blue were a surprise. A blue and white vase, yellow and white bedding. Even the drapes were a lighter color. Corina’s influence had not just changed my brother’s home, but his mood as well. He was something I never thought I would describe him as; giddy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this happy ever since we were kids. He could not stop smiling. It was infectious. I plastered a smile of my own. “Yes it is,” I said to him. “You getting married is like a gun shooting rainbow. It’s sickly sweet.”

He chuckled. “It’s Corina. Before her, the thought of marriage was suffocating. But now, I can’t wait. I don’t want to lose her again. Just thinking about…” his mood darkened and I knew where his thoughts had gone. To that night when he called me telling me Massimo had kidnapped Corina. Before that call, I thought Corina was like all the other women he had dated. I didn’t think much about their relationship. He was usually distant with his women, and even when I saw him being a lot more affectionate with her, I thought he only cared for her. But when he called me, he sounded bleak. As if Saccone had snatched away his world from him. That was when I knew how much he loved her.

“It’s over.” I rubbed his shoulder. “No one is going to harm her again. They would have to come through me first.”

He brightened and turned to me and said, “So what’s marriage like? You’re the only one of us who bit the bullet.” He asked. I went to the chair with his jacket draped over and picked it up. “I don’t think I’m the person to ask. My situation differs vastly from yours.” I helped him put it on and brushed the few specks of lint off it.

“I never understood why you agreed to marry her, especially after what she did.”

“Oh. You mean steal our money right when we needed it the most after tricking me into thinking she was the world’s best pussy I had ever had?”

“Why does it sound like it’s the last thing you hate her for more? And why do you make it sound so bad? I’m sure the twins would not have minded getting married to her. Although, she might have trouble with them than the other way.”

“There was no way I was going to let her dig her claws into any of you.”

“You sound like you’re saving us from her.”

“Funny. That’s what she said.”

“So, what do you guys do? I can’t imagine you two constantly fighting each every day.” His eyes glinted. “Have you done it yet?”

“What? Sex? Kinda had to, since her father was so adamant.”

“About you two fucking? Ew.”

“He’s a bit… traditional. He thinks if the marriage is consummated we can’t divorce.”

Dante laughed.

I shook my head. Her father was fighting a losing battle. After we solidified our power, Simona was going to go. As much as I enjoyed her in bed, she was too much of toxic and erratic element to keep around. She was nothing but trouble and had caused a lot already in the few months we’ve been married. There was no way I was going to keep this going on for longer than a year. And a year was enough time for the family to be secure in its power. It was also enough time for me to get over whatever obsession I had developed for her. She didn’t know this, of course. Watching her squirm at the thought of spending eternity with me was amusing.

“The father is weird I have to agree, but she seemed quite cool. Don’t you think it’s time you forgiven her?”

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