Page 65 of Sweet Revenge

Elisa giggled. “I guess when the flowers begin to bloom in the spring, that will make it easier to tell.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “I know two different kinds of flowers. One is a rose, and the other is not.”

Elisa placed a gloved hand on my arm as she broke into a full laugh. “That’s not true. You’ve given me other kinds of flowers that aren’t roses, so you must have some other ideas.”

“Nah, I just go by color. Blue flowers. Purple flowers. The rare orange flowers.” I continued to make absurd statements just to hear the sound of her laughter. It warmed my heart to the point I was almost ready to remove my coat.

Eventually, we made it to the fountain. Despite the snow and the chilly temperatures, the water was still flowing, forced through by the pumps. Elisa paused, her eyes roaming over the carvings of angels of various shapes and sizes that decorated the marble fountain. I knew what she was thinking, that I had been her dark angel, and she had been the beautiful, graceful creature of light who had saved me from my own shadowed fate. This statue had been here almost as long as the mansion and had never had any significance to me or my family, but now, it did, and every time I looked at it, I would think of her.

“This is nice.” She slipped her hand into mine. “This spring, we should have a party here and not invite anyone who has committed any crimes.”

“Guess I won’t be coming,” I muttered, smirking at her.

“You can come. And your brothers. Everyone else needs to have a clean rap sheet. We have to make friends outside of the mob so we can be like normal people,” she explained.

“I’m not sure I’ll ever be normal,” I admitted, though I did like the idea that she thought she could interact with people who knew nothing of my criminal dealings. “But we can try.”

Elisa lifted up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to mine, and the snow that landed on our skin began to melt.

After a moment, I had to break away. “We need to go check on the house,” I reminded her. “I’ve got that big furniture delivery today, and I don’t want Dez and Mikel to fuck it up.”

“How can they fuck that up?” she asked. “Beds go in bedrooms. Dining-room tables go in dining rooms. Seems pretty simple to me.”

“Have you met my brothers?”

Once again, she was laughing, which put a smile on my face. We said goodbye to the fountain, for now, and headed back to the mansion to use the secret tunnel to cross over to my own house. It might’ve been faster to walk through the yards, but I loved using the tunnel. Walking through it made me feel like I was leaving the criminal life behind for a bit and becoming someone else. If I were going to entertain in the spring and invite people who weren’t mobsters, the new house would be the location I would choose.

The basement had already taken on a homier feel. We had crews finishing it out, making it a livable space. The first time I’d walked through the tunnel while they were down there working, it had scared the shit out of them, but this time, they just looked up from their paintbrushes and drills and nodded in our direction.

In the living room, Mikel and Dezzy were fighting over which wall the large leather couch would look better along.

“It’ll look better over there, closer to the window,” Dezzy insisted.

“Nah, it’s gotta face the doorway,” Mikel said, shaking his head.

“Put it right here.” Elisa walked to the middle of the room and gestured to where she thought the couch would look good. “That way, you’re close to the fireplace and can look directly out the window but can still see if someone comes in through the door.”

My two knucklehead brothers looked at one another and nodded in agreement.

“See? There’s a reason dames are better at decorating,” Mikel murmured and they went to move the couch.

Elisa and I wandered out into the hallway. “Something tells me we’re going to have to hire an actual decorator when they’re done,” I told her.

“We?” Elisa spun to look at me, arching her eyebrows.

“Well, yeah. This is my retreat. My home away from all the chaos. How can I possibly enjoy it without you?” I turned to look at her, trying to sound smooth and look innocent.

Her red lips curled up in a smile. “Daemon Petrov, are you asking me to move in with you?”

Clearing my throat, I shrugged. “If I were asking you to move in with me, would you say yes?”

“Well, if you were asking me to move in with you, I’d say yes.” She moved a little closer to me.

“Well then, Elisa La Rosa, will you move in with me?”

Our lips were almost touching now.

Still smiling, Elisa said, “Yes,” and pressed her lips to mine.

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