Chapter 38 #3
“Mariella, you don’t have to do this,” I tell her as I shoot Ares a dirty look, which he conveniently ignores.
“Why the fuck would you sign that?” Cristian glances at Angelo.
“Really?” Angelo counters. “You’re going to question my choices right now, when your decision is what landed us here?”
“Enough.” Mariella sighs, turning her attention back to Ares. “If I do this, I want your word, in writing, that you will leave me alone once the contract is up.”
Ares’s jaw tightens subtly as he nods. “Agreed.”
“I mean it, Ares,” she says. “No more stalking. No more disappearing other men who show an interest in me. No more scheming, period. After the year is up, it will be a clean break, and you’ll let me live my life without you in it.”
“I’ll draft it up this afternoon.”
There’s a long beat of silence as we all stare at him. Despite Mariella’s demand, he seems unflappably confident this will work out in his favor.
“You can draft it up now, along with Cristian’s marriage contract,” she tells him. “But I can’t start for a few months. I need time to transition my current patients before I take on anything else.”
“Naturally,” Ares says, as if he expected as much.
“Mariella.” Cristian sighs, clearly not liking this one bit.
“Don’t worry about me,” she tells him. “If this is what I have to do to get my point across, then I’ll gladly do it. In the meantime, you can sign your contract and then go torture the fuck out of that piece of shit in the woodshed.”
Cristian and Angelo exchange a look, silently conceding.
“You can come inside the house.” Angelo narrows his gaze at Ares. “And I want a stipulation that Mariella is to be armed at all times inside your home.”
“I do like a woman who knows how to handle a weapon,” Ares answers smoothly.
Just as soon as that’s settled, Romeo makes an appearance, traipsing up to the group from somewhere beyond the walls of the estate.
“Did I miss all the fun?” he asks.
“Almost.” Cristian eyes him, and Romeo gives him a subtle nod.
“Alright, well I’m going to get everything prepped,” Romeo says. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
Cristian thanks him, and Romeo walks away as the rest of us pass through the gates and head to the vehicles. Before we climb in, I take one last look at my father’s corpse lying on the ground, wondering what they’ll do with him. But to be honest, I don’t really care.
The ride back to the house is silent and tense until I lean over and quietly ask Mariella if she’s sure about this. The determination on her face tells me she won’t be swayed, no matter what any of us might say.
“I just want to be free of him.”
She’s always had nerves of steel, but I don’t miss the slight hitch in her voice. While she’s played off Ares’s attention as an annoyance, I can see how much it’s weighed on her.
Beneath all that hostility, the pain still lingers, and I can only imagine how hard it’s been for her to move on when he refuses to let her go. This obsession of his has burned for years, and I can only hope that he’ll be true to his word once his time is up.
“I’m sorry that you have to do this,” I whisper.
“It’s not your fault,” she insists. “He would have found a way regardless. That’s why he’s been sitting on that agreement between him and Angelo for so long.”
I nod, but it doesn’t make me feel any better about the situation.
Cristian seems to sense my discomfort, and he takes my hand in his as we reach the house. I know this is when the men will disappear into an office to hammer out the final details, so I’m not surprised we have to part ways once we’re inside.
“Doing okay?” He pulls me aside, shielding me from prying eyes as he assesses the situation.
“I’m good,” I assure him. “Just a little tired.”
He palms my face, and I close my eyes, soaking up his touch. We don’t have much time, but there’s one thing I need to ask.
“What did Romeo go get for you?”
He hesitates for a beat, and when I meet his gaze, a heavy feeling settles in my gut.
“Was it Theodore?” I venture a guess.
Cristian nods, and I swallow.
“He’s here now?”
“Yes.”
I take a few seconds to process that and say the only thing I can. “You guys work fast.”
“He wasn’t going to breathe another day.” Cristian’s voice dips.
I release a shaky breath, and he brushes his lips against mine.
“It will all be over soon.”
There’s so much significance to those words. It isn’t just closure from my past, and the fear that’s followed me like a shadow. It’s the promise of a new beginning. It’s the indisputable truth that Cristian is willing to risk everything to keep me. And after today, he will.
“I love you,” I whisper. “So much.”
Warmth flickers across his face as he drags me closer and squeezes me tight. “Ti sceglierei in ogni vita.”
“One of these days, I’m going to figure out what you’re saying.”
“I don’t doubt that you will.” He presses a kiss to my temple. “Get some rest, baby. I’m going to take care of a few things.”
“Okay, but can you do something for me?”
“What?”
“Make them cry.”
Darkness settles in the depths of his eyes. “They’ll cry, principessa—a river of fucking tears.”