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

Chapter Forty-Five

Once I finally managed to pick myself up off the floor, I showered and sat on the bed in the guest room Enzo assigned as mine before allowing myself to study the images Luca had been sent the day I was taken. I examined the images for hours, trying to understand what was going through Luca’s mind when he saw them.

I must admit, it does look bad. If I received something similar, would I really think any different?

I hardly slept last night, my thoughts running rampant, wondering whether me and Luca could ever really work. I’m sitting and working at the dining table when Enzo walks in the door. He didn’t come home last night, and I have no idea whether that’s normal for him or not.

“Hey, are you okay?” I ask, he appears hungover and like he could use a good shower before a six-hour nap.

“Been better,” he grunts as he opens the refrigerator and grabs a bottle of water before sitting down next to me and fiddling with the label on the bottle.

“You fucking stink Enzo, what the hell happened to you?”

“Marco’s whiskey happened sis. You should try it sometime,” he smirks but it falls flat. “How are you doing Iz? I know Luca was here yesterday, I found him in the hallway as I was coming home last night, and I ended up dragging him to Marco’s.”

“I can’t do it, Enzo. I can’t give myself to him, when I can’t trust him to give me himself in return,” I whisper, my voice cracking and I will myself not to cry again. I’m so fucking sick of crying.

“I know it’s fucked up how he didn’t have faith in you Izzy, but can you imagine how he felt when he saw those images? The videos? I know Alec gave you the copies. And then the thing with Tomasso too. It was all too much,” he says, giving me a sympathetic smile but my brows wrinkle in confusion. “What does Tomasso have to do with anything?”

Enzo pales. “Fuck, Izzy, didn’t they tell you? Tomasso was found dead in an alley, with one of your knives embedded in him. Luca was always close to him, he was one of our most trusted men, that’s why he had him guard you.”

Tomasso’s dead? Fuck, why the hell didn’t I know this?

“I… it wasn’t me Enzo, I’d never…” I stutter, and he grabs my hand, giving me a gentle squeeze. “They know that now Izzy, but at the time? At the time, it was a lot of information. A lot of incriminating information.” He gives my hand one last squeeze before getting up and heading to his bedroom. Leaving me to think about how Luca lost someone so close to him, and how he thought I had killed him. He must have fucking hated me for everything he thought I had done. Even though it wasn’t true, can someone really come back from that hate? I don’t think I could.

Istand and stare up at the building in front of me, not knowing if I really want to be here or not. So much has happened, so much has changed, everything is broken, and this is the only thing I can think of to fix it.

I take a deep breath and walk into the building. It’s busy, people scattered around the lobby as I walk up to the reception desk.

“I need to see Alaric Dean.” I tell the receptionist and she abandons whatever she’s doing on her computer to glare up at me. “Do you have an appointment?”

“Nope. If you could just point me in the direction of his office, that would be great.”

Her sharp gaze narrows on me, as if she can’t quite believe I have the gall to say something like that. Oh, honey, you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into if you keep looking at me like that. Luckily for her, her mask of professionalism slips back into place before I lose my temper.

“I’m sorry, ma’am, unless you have an appointment you can’t see him,” she says, and I roll my eyes at her and walk away. I’m not fucking around waiting for an appointment, I’ll find his office myself. I take the elevator up to the executive’s floor and glance around until I spot a door with his name engraved on the front.

I walk up to the door and knock before I walk in, he sits behind his desk and looks up at me with his brows furrowed when he sees me. His assistant, who was sitting outside at her desk scurries inside after me, clearly flustered with my unexpected arrival. “I’m so sorry sir, she just walked in, I couldn’t stop her,” she says, and he waves her away without even glancing her way, she side-eyes me before rushing back out of the door, closing it behind her.

“Who are you and what the hell are you doing just walking in here?”

“I’m here because I need to divorce my husband.”

“And you couldn’t have made an appointment?” he asks and arches one of his brows. I walk over to the floor length windows and gaze out at the city below. “No, I couldn’t. I need the papers drawn up today, I don’t want any assets, I just want the marriage ended.”

I’ve thought a lot about this over the last few days and I’ve realized that this is the only way to fix this shit.

“I see. Is there a reason you’re in such a rush Mrs…”

“Romano,” I finish for him and turn my head to see his eyes widening in recognition before he masks his reaction.

“Alright… assuming your husband doesn’t shoot me for representing you, is there a reason this needs to be done today?” he asks, and I bite back a laugh. If only he knew I was more likely to end up shooting him than my husband.

“I love him, that’s why it needs to be done today and he won’t shoot you if I ask him not to, don’t worry.”