Chapter 24
Emma
M arlo Rossini?
Luke is Marlo Rossini’s son?
“Oh, fuck.” I swallowed hard as rain fell faster.
I’d come out here, hoping to follow Luke home to keep her mom company in case she was ever lonely. But I hadn’t planned on seeing James Rossini, Marlo’s brother, telling Luke that he was the heir to my father’s biggest rival.
“Oh, fuck ,” I repeated as Luke jogged toward me. He didn’t react to the rain. It streaked down faster, and I involuntarily blinked and squinted to see through it. I wasn’t capable of moving. I wasn’t capable of thinking past the chant of panic.
“Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck , Luke.”
He reached me, wrapping me in his arms. “Emma. It’ll be okay.”
I snapped out of this trance of shock and wrestled free. “No. It will not be okay!”
“I’m not going to listen to him.” He shook his head and raked his hand through his hair to whisk the rain out of it. Staring at me intently, he frowned deeper. “I’m not giving you up.”
I choked on an incredulous laugh. It was hysteria, tugging me into a response. “It’s not the fact that you refuse to give me up. It’s that we got together at all!”
He was supposed to be a stranger. An ordinary man. Someone not at all connected to the layered mess of my life.
“You’re the bastard son of Marlo Rossini?” I asked, stuck in disbelief that this could be happening. That fate could be so cruel and twisted like this.
That I’d find the man I’d love and know I couldn’t have him after the fact.
“It doesn’t change a thing about who I am.”
I groaned, stomping away only to whirl back at him.
“Yes! Yes, it does.” I shoved my hair back from my to face him fully. “The Rossinis. Of all the people in the world...” I licked my lips, regretting that I had to give him this lesson now. “The Rossinis are old enemies of the Giordinos.”
He furrowed his brow. “Which implicates me”—I stabbed my finger at my chest—“me, Emmalina Giordino!” I squeezed my eyes shut, at a loss that this could’ve happened.
“What?”
“Yes. I wanted to explain. Somehow. Sometime. This happened so quickly between us and I—” I slashed my hand through the air. “I don’t know. Fuck it. There is no excuse. I should’ve told you my last name and let you know that I’m under the protection of the Giordino family. That my father is the boss of the family.”
He dragged his hand over his face. “Yes. You should’ve fucking told me. Especially when I was fighting back Marchese men for you.”
I sobbed, hanging my head low. “Yes. I’m sorry. Especially when the Marchese men were bothering me.”
He sighed heavily and wrapped his arms around me.
I leaned into his familiar, comforting heat.
“The Rossinis, Giordinos, and Marcheses. They are the three families who rule here.”
Saying this out loud drove in the horror of what I’d unknowingly done. By sleeping with Luke, I broke many loyalties. All I wanted to do was live a little. To enjoy my life before I was stuck with Antonio. I dreamed of finding some iota of love and control before the opportunities to do so were taken from me in a marriage I didn’t want.
But I never intended to achieve any of that by sleeping with Antonio’s enemy—one he didn’t even know he had. The one that no one ever knew about.
“Luke.” I reached up to put my hand on his face.
He leaned down to kiss me, fiercely, unafraid to stay with me.
He should be. “If you knew what was good for you, you’d be running. Not kissing me.”
He rolled his eyes and lifted me to kiss me harder. “Don’t tell me you’re going to give me that same shit Jimmy tried to sell. I’m not leaving you.”
Taking my hand, he led me to walk with him.
I walked, hurrying to keep up with his long strides through the rain. “You have to.”
“Why? Give me one fucking reason why I should consider it.” He glowered at me. “I love you, Emma. Nothing’s going to change my mind.”
“Because you’re dead if you don’t.” I cringed. “Oh, shit. Your mom.”
“What about her?”
“She’ll be vulnerable too. She’d be collateral damage if someone tries to take you out.”
“I’d dare them to fucking try.”
I shook my head. “Luke, this is serious.”
“I’m serious, too.”
“I’m not talking about a fight,” I said, not trying to hide the panic clawing at me inside out. “I’m talking about a hit placed on you for sleeping with me when I belong to Antonio.”
He stopped short a few houses from his apartment building. Narrowing his eyes, he turned to slowly face me. “What did you say?”
“Antonio Marchese.”
“You’re engaged to him?” He lifted my hand, seeing that I wore no ring.
“No. Yes. Not yet.”
“Explain,” he ordered.
“My father and his—Vincent Marchese—have an agreement. They struck an agreement before I turned thirteen that I’d marry Antonio.”
“When you were thirteen ? That’s illegal.”
I huffed. “We have our own laws.”
“That can’t be legitimate.”
“It’s not, not really.”
“Did they sign paperwork?”
I shook my head. “But a spoken agreement is unbreakable. You can’t just go back on your word.”
“Did he ask you to marry him?”
I shook my head. “Antonio knows he doesn’t have to propose. It’s just expected.”
“He didn’t give you a ring.”
“That’s just a technicality.”
“The fuck it is.” He pulled my hand to bring me inside. Nina was napping in her recliner, and we didn’t pause to wake her. Luke led me, soaking wet and shivering from the shock of this news, to his room.
I stood there, frowning when he rifled through the contents of a dresser drawer. When he turned, he held up a ruby ring and dropped to one knee.
My eyes opened so wide I swore they’d fall out. My jaw followed suit, hanging open.
“Marry me ,” he said.
“Luke, I—” I blinked, so stunned I couldn’t breathe fast enough.
“Please. Will you marry me ?” He stood and held my head, boring me with an intense stare. Of hope. Of determination. Of love.
“It doesn’t work like that. This arrangement—”
“Is a bunch of bullshit, Emma. I don’t give a fuck about mafia rules and expectations. He doesn’t own you. I do.” He leaned in to grip my chin and kiss me hard. “ You own me. I love you, Emma. I don’t care how fast it happened. I don’t care if my entire identity has just been changed beyond my imagination. I don’t fucking care about any of that.”
I swallowed hard, stepping closer to press my brow to his as he ducked closer to me.
“All I know, without a doubt, is that I love you. I will never stop. And I will never give you up.”
“I want...” I choked on my words. “I want to believe that.”
“He’s got nothing. Two old men making plans without your consent won’t fly. Not according to me. I don’t care if they shook on it or signed a paper in blood, it’s not happening. You’re going to be engaged only when you make that fucking choice. No one else. So consider making it now. With me.”
I licked my lips, falling that much more for this strong fighter. This protective hero.
He didn’t know what he was talking about. He couldn’t just swoop in and change it all.
But...what if we could? If I stood with him, if I chose to call him my fiancé despite the fact that Antonio thought the privilege would be his...
“Emmalina.”
I sighed at his plea. Hearing my name roll from his lips was like the love poem I’d been waiting to hear my whole life.
He tipped my chin up, looking me dead in the eye. “Will you marry me?”
I didn’t hesitate. With him, I could be strong. “Yes.”
He sighed, leaning down to kiss me. His hands bracketed my sides as he picked me up and spun me slowly. I sealed my commitment, pressing my mouth to his and knowing nothing could ever stand in our way.
“Yes, I will marry you, Luke Sawyer, you crazy, invincible fool.”
He grinned, taking my hand and sliding the ring on my finger. “I can’t wait to make you my wife, you sexy pain in the ass.”
“You just had this waiting?” I asked, admiring the antique ruby set in gold.
“It was my grandmother’s,” he explained.
“Luke? Is that you?” Nina called out.
He drew in a deep breath. “I need to speak with her.”
I nodded, understanding that he was reeling from this surprise. I spun the ring so the ruby aimed into my palm. “One thing at a time. Maybe we can tell her we’re engaged after she tells you why she never told you Marlo is your father.”
He nodded, kissing my brow. “I think that makes the most sense.”
“I should check on Krista still.” She was so sick and groggy since that party. When she woke up, she explained that Marchese men saw her when she was at the store and convinced her to come have “just one drink.”
Famous last words.
“I’ll come over tonight,” Luke said. “After I’m done working. I’ll be late getting back to my shift after talking with my mom.”
If I needed any more proof that Luke would remain the strong, independent man he was when I met him, I had it right there. He just learned that he was the heir to one of the richest men in Miami, and he didn’t consider that easy wealth over keeping his job.
I nodded. “We’ll celebrate, fiancé.”
He kissed my knuckle when he put the ring. “We will, fiancée. I will never give up on you. On us.”