Chapter 23
Mario
If not for the sharp curl of Ellie’s hair falling to the left, I might not have been able to tell which twin was my wife. The fire had settled into cozy embers and their bodies were wrapped tightly together so only the bridge of their noses were visible.
Ringo elbowed me. “Left.” He mouthed. Meaning, I should take the woman on the left.
I pointed to Allie and smirked. “Are you sure?”
He lifted his middle finger at me, a gesture he’d never outgrown. Then he tugged the blanket free and pulled Ellie out of her sister’s sleeping embrace.
Instead of doing the same, I settled next to my wife and covered us both with the quilt they’d been huddled under.
She was awake, but still in that soft, non-verbal state where it would be easier to let her drift back into sleep. But I was not one to travel a cowardly path. I wrapped my hand around hers and felt the fingers until I confirmed she was wearing my ring.
“I am so very sorry about today,” I said.
Her head lolled to rest against my chest. I felt her eyes searching me for answers, so I elaborated.
“You were right. I shouldn’t have left you. I should have let the others make better plans.” I just couldn’t, though.
“Did they find Dianora?”
I nodded. Once we reached Don Manca’s, and I saw to Allie’s comfort, we’d locked ourselves into a war council that kept close tabs on Don Conti’s condition, and the tentative truce. Dianora was located about ten miles from the villa. “Her cousin is still missing, however.” That concerned everyone.
But there was little we could do except guard the family, and insulate Allie and Ellie from the danger as much as possible. Perhaps Leandro was resourceful enough to make his way here, but he was not intelligent enough to slip through everyone’s vigilance and strike us at our heart of power.
At least that was the consensus. But I still made plans in case he defied the odds.
“Ellie says she signed annulment papers.”
I smiled. “She used her name.” They would not be valid. Yet…
Would Allie leave me now? I bit down on my fear. “My father’s solicitor has copies. Unsigned.”
Allie stared at me. Her face was uncharacteristically somber. It went far beyond her usual seriousness. The softness that graced her eyes was missing. “I need to tell you something, and I need you to promise not to get angry.”
“Cara, I…” I would not get angry. I’d be heartbroken. “Today, I realized that I couldn’t live without you. I wouldn’t want to. I knew it was my death by going to Don Conti’s, but I thought it would keep you safe. And when I saw your sister, for a moment, I thought it was you and—”
Her fingers covered my mouth. “Mario? Shut up for a minute, okay?”
I nodded, helplessly.
“I love you.”
Why did that sound like she was going to say goodbye?
“I love you—”
Her fingers tightened until her short fingernails tapped my lips. “If you keep doing that, I’m going to get pissed off. Shh…”
I swallowed the fear that had crawled up my throat.
“You are not going to get angry, right?”
I nodded.
So help me God, I would never be angry with her.
Allie took a deep breath. She let it out with a sharp, “Okay. When Ringo left me in that cave—”
I growled, remembering how cold she was when we found her.
She leaned back and squared off against me. “You promised not to get angry.”
“I’m not angry with you.”
“Okay, new promise, you will not get angry at Ringo, got it?”
I refused to answer.
She stared me down until I begrudgingly agreed. “I won’t get angry-er.”
Allie pursed her lips and worked through my reply. “Fine. I’ll just rip this Band-Aid off. You can’t find Leandro because he is at the bottom of some pit in that cave that leads up the slope to Don Conti’s castle. Ringo snuck up there to save you, and Leandro found me. I kicked his ass.”
For a moment I couldn’t speak. Part of my gut fell into a dark place that was half horrified, and half stunned. The rest of it tried to rein in the emotion that goaded me to hunt Ringo down and gut him. “You kicked Leandro’s ass?” It came out as a whisper because my throat was not working right.
“Yes. Well, technically his head… and face… and I think I kicked him in the nuts. No wait, I hit him there. Got him good, too.”
If I hadn’t been sitting, I would have fallen.
Allie continued, oblivious to my turmoil.
“Remember when you caught Loppa and Firenze teaching me how to defend myself?”
I nodded, absently. They attacked her from behind.
And with a snap of realization, I knew. The scene played vividly in my mind. Leandro was more than twice her weight. He’d had to have been lower than her for her to be effective.
“You struck him?” I picked up her hands and searched for bruising. The dirt she wore earlier masked it, and the scrapes that marred her skin. I tugged the cuffs of her loose sleeves up and marked the long string of bruising that spanned from the heels of her hands to well beyond her elbows.
“You’re not getting angry, right?”
I breathed deeply. It leaked out slowly as I set aside murderous thoughts. “I’m not angry with you.”
“You can’t get angry at Ringo, remember?”
I did.
“Where is Leandro’s body?” I asked.
Allie frowned. “Ringo says it’s a secret entrance and that Don Conti would kill to keep it that way, so…should I tell you?”
I closed my eyes and opened them slowly so I could master the emotion that betrayed me. “I have no secrets from Ringo.” And that was damning. He held secrets from all of us. He could have told me about the secret entrance the night we planned.
But I wouldn’t listen to him. He hadn’t been against attacking the castle, only against me going in alone or through the front door. He knew how thick the office doors were. He’d been there before. And I hadn’t bothered to wonder how he knew.
“Should I tell you?” she asked.
I searched her face. The warmth in her eyes had crept back in, but it was wary. I didn’t blame her. “If you want to keep that secret, I can’t stop you.” Nor could I stop her from leaving me. My life was too violent for her gentle nature.
“I’m not going to keep secrets from you. Not now, not ever. I don’t want to live that way.” She stared at my face. “I love you.”
“Why?”
She searched her thoughts. “Well, you didn’t bat an eye when I dropped a big bombshell like murder on you.”
“Self-defense. You are incapable of murder.”
“Wanna make a bet?”
I laughed silently. She’d lose. Perhaps she was capable of murder, but only for the best of reasons. Like protecting her sister, or protecting someone else she loved.
And like a whip that thought circled my mind and snapped back at me. “You love me?”
“Yes.”
Another piece of the puzzle fell into place. She’d gone searching for me. Firenze explained the morning’s events to me.
The twins swapped clothes shortly after I left with Loppa.
Allie, dressed as Ellie, slipped into the garage and tried to take a car.
When confronted, she fled down the hill toward the town.
Meanwhile, Ellie, dressed as my bride, ran across the slope toward the walking path she’d come up with Ringo.
It was there she’d been taken by Dianora’s crew before Firenze could catch up.
He couldn’t fire on the group because they used Ellie as a shield.
Ringo, perhaps recognizing the difference between the twins, followed Allie and fled with her by boat when the villa was compromised.
“I love you. I couldn’t let you turn yourself over to that bitch. And it’s not just because she’s competition, it’s because you’d be miserable. And I’d be miserable, and she’d win.” Allie took my hand and squeezed my fingers.
“And that idea sucked. I want to be happy…with you. I want you to be happy. And if that’s with me, well…”
I pulled her close. “I love you, my beautiful bride.”
“Are you sure?”
“Certain. I love you more than flowers love the sun. More than the water loves the shore. More than any man has loved a woman before. You are strong, resourceful, kind, giving, beautiful, smart, and I’d be the worst fool in the world not to love you as faithfully and deeply as I could for as long as I possibly can.
You are more than I ever dreamed of. I’m incomplete without you. ”
I searched her face for truth that my words moved her.
The corner of her mouth lifted. “You had me at flowers.” She broke into a wide grin.
My heart soared. “You really love me?”
“I do. And if you’re done putting yourself in danger, I’m on board.”
A scoff broke free. “Please. Devlin’s the one who loves danger. I love plans, rules…”
“Your code?” Her tone was careful.
“You. I love you.” I leaned in to kiss her, but she avoided my lips.
“What about your family?”
“What about them?”
“I mean, your father isn’t exactly my biggest fan. And your grandfather might be a little angry about being kidnapped.”
Her worries were unfounded. Father risked his best lawyer. And Grandfather? He was luxuriating in the possibility of taking over all of Don Conti’s holdings.
“Let me tell you about the code.”
Allie settled closer and gave me her attention. In moments like this, I still marveled at how well she fit me. Her quiet intelligence and her peaceful strength were tuned to my temperament perfectly.
“When you fall in love, your bride becomes your number one priority. Over family, over everything else. We are a proud people. But we’d not have existed without love.
The woman is the core of the family. We honor her.
” I paused, remembering how Grandfather pointed to his wife.
She’d smiled to herself, a blush creeping up her cheeks.
“Family, women, honor, and wives appear often in the words I live by. But until I met you, I didn’t understand how someone so gentle would fit.”
“I’m not gentle.”
This woman… she made me smile. “You are. And that’s why I trust you with my life and my family, and most of all, with my heart.”
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “You mean that, don’t you?”
“I do.”
Sempre. Forever.