Vow to Me: A Mafia Arranged Marriage (The Romano Empire Book 1)

Chapter Thirty-One

Ilead Izzy out of the warehouse and back to the car, I sent a message to Tomasso while Iz was busy cutting up Elliot to tell him to pack us some things. Now that she’s well enough to torture someone, I’m pretty sure she’s well enough to travel.

I’ve never felt more pride than I did watching Izzy cut up that asshole, and the fact that she left him for Enzo instead of finishing him herself shows me just how much she understands him. Not many people understand that crazy bastard.

They’ve grown close in the past week, spending time together every day. I’d be a raging lunatic consumed by jealousy if he wasn’t my little brother, but I know it’s a purely platonic friendship. I think it’s good for them. It’s good for Izzy to have a friend in a new city and its good for Enzo because that kid has always had problems getting close to people, I don’t know if it’s his quirky personality or if he just eventually scares them away, but he’s always had issues making friends.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” I ask once we get in the car. She’s probably sick of me asking, but I never want to see her laid up in a hospital bed again, there was a point when I really thought I was going to lose her. That pain has stayed with me ever since, it didn’t go away when she woke up. No, it’s just kept building and building, leaving me an overbearing, annoying as fuck husband who can’t let his wife out of his sight for longer than thirty minutes unless I want to start imagining ten different scenarios in which she’s hurt or sick or injured.

I fucking hate feeling this way, like if I don’t hold on tight enough, she’s just going to float away.

“I promise, I’m fine. I would tell you if I wasn’t,” she says softly, trying to reassure me. And it does, her voice alone does fucking weird things to me. It’s like she’s put some sort of spell on me—all I can ever see is her.

I put the car in drive and make the drive to the airport, after around fifteen minutes, Izzy realizes were going in the opposite direction to home,

“Uh, Luca? Where are we going?”

“I told you I wanted to take you on a honeymoon.”

“What? Luca! Where the hell are we going? I haven’t packed my things! We can’t just up and go away somewhere!” she bursts, clearly not on board with the last-minute plans.

“It’s a surprise, I had Tommaso pack us some things and he’s meeting us at the airport. I want to get you away for a couple of weeks, give you the honeymoon I should have given you after the wedding. You deserve the world Izzy, let me give it to you,” I say as I take my hand in hers and give it a squeeze.

We arrive at the private hangar at the airport and Izzy looks out at the jet while mumbling something that sounds a lot like “Of course the asshole has a jet” before she jumps out of the car and waits for me to do the same.

“Where are we going? I’ve never left the country before,” Izzy says casually, and it makes me pause. What the fuck does she mean she’s never left the country? She grew up the same way as I did, it’s not as though her father ever struggled for money. Fuck, I bet he has billions sat doing nothing but gaining interest.

“Why haven’t you left the country?” I ask, my voice gruff. I’m pissed she’s never had the experiences she should have. Hell, she should have at least visited Italy before, she’s fucking Italian and I’m sure she has cousins that live there.

“Sheltered princess, remember?” Sarcasm is evident in her tone. “My father left me at home with Alessi whenever he travelled, he always said that there was no need for me to leave Chicago.”

It takes everything in me to control my anger and not plan a stop by the Windy City so I can strangle Bianchi, the fucking asshole.

We board the jet and take our seats; Izzy rolls her eyes as the embroidered seats with our family emblem on. I’ve learned my wife isn’t one for over the top, pretentious things most women in her position would be.

By the time we take off, she’s asleep with her head resting on my shoulder. As soon as the flight attendant informs me that we can remove our belts, I unfasten her belt and lift her before walking to the back of the jet and placing her on the king size bed. I grab my laptop that Tomasso had left in the jet along with our things and sit next to where Izzy lays asleep to get some work done, I’ve never been able to sleep while flying.

Izzy sleeps for six hours before I finally give in and wake her up for dinner. I at least had the foresight to have a coffee ready for her because Izzy when she’s just woken up? Not an Izzy I like engaging with.

Okay, that’s a lie, I’ll take her any way I can get her.

We eat dinner and Izzy peppers me with questions about where we”re going, she really fucking hates surprises.

I sigh, she’s not going to stop unless I tell her. “We”re going to an island just off the coast of Italy. My father bought the island for my mother as a wedding gift, we visited every year until she died. None of us have been since but we have staff who live on the premises to maintain everything,” I say, and she gapes at me with wide eyes.

“We don’t have to go if you’re not comfortable Luca, it’s clear it was a very special place for you to visit with your mom. I don’t want to take away from that,” she says and bites her lip like she does if she’s nervous.

I lift her and sit her on my lap so she’s straddling me. “I want to go there with you, I think it’ll make me feel closer to her. And she would have wanted me to take you there. She would have loved you.” Just like I do.

It’s getting harder and harder to not blurt the words I mean with every piece of my soul every time I look at her.

Finally, after the longest fucking eight hours of my life, the pilot announces over the speaker that were getting ready to land. I lift Izzy off me and strap her into the seat next to me while she huffs and complains that she’s fully capable of doing it herself.

After we land at Naples International Airport, we jump in the helicopter and make the short flight to the island just off the coast of Capri.

Once we reach the island, I help Izzy jump down from the helicopter and walk her up to the mansion that sits in the middle of the island. It’s a huge villa that was built around the time I was born with another two houses sitting at the back of the property for staff.

Rosita, the housekeeper who lives on the island comes out to greet us and envelopes me in a hug. Even though it’s been nearly twenty-three years since I visited, I still remember the small woman who would dote on me and Marco when we visited.

“è così bello vederla, signore,” she whispers in my ear. I return the sentiment before ushering both women inside the house.

“Welcome to our home for the next two weeks, mia regina,” I say and wrap my arms around Izzy from behind and press a kiss to her temple.