Epilogue
WOLFE
With the kids in the car, I drove to school and got into the drop-off line.
Paolo was in the seat beside me with his backpack already on.
Every day, he and his sister Frankie would race to the car and fight over who got to sit in the front.
Paolo usually got there first and would rub it in his sister’s face.
I didn’t intervene because I wanted to teach my daughter to be tough.
I wanted her to be like her mom, and letting her figure things out on her own was the best way to do that.
I got in line behind the cars and slowly approached the drop-off area.
“I hate school,” Paolo said with a sigh.
“You’re only seven, so you’ve got a long way to go.”
“Did you like school?” he asked.
“Nope. Not even a little bit.”
“Then why do I have to go?”
“Because I want you to be smarter than me.” We pulled up to the curb, and I put the car in park. “I’ll see you guys in a couple hours. Love you.” I rubbed Paolo’s head then reached into the back seat to pat Frankie’s knee.
“Bye, Dad. Love you.” Frankie hopped out, shut the door, and ran around the back.
Paolo took his time moving around the front of the car, his head down like he’d rather be anywhere but at school.
I waved to them both and headed home.
When I pulled up to the vineyard, Francesca was on the terrace with Elio, Salvatore, and Leo.
They were having coffee and biscotti and talking business.
Francesca was relaxed in the chair, one elbow propped on the table while she sipped her coffee.
Her silver pistol shone in the sunlight from her holster.
After having my babies, she was a little thicker than she used to be and wider in the hips.
Her tits had gotten bigger and never went back to their previous size, and that somehow made her sexier.
Watching her grow my children and birth them was the biggest turn-on in the world.
I wasn’t sure why more men didn’t talk about that.
“Hey, babe,” she said when I walked up. “How’d it go?”
I leaned down and gave her a kiss. “Paolo hates school, and Frankie is a sweetheart.”
“Why does he hate school?” she asked.
I sat in the unoccupied chair across from Leo. “I don’t know. I’ll talk to him about it when I pick them up.”
“It’s not a big deal,” Leo said. “Everyone hates school.”
“I never did,” Francesca said.
“Yeah, but you’re a little smarty-pants,” Leo teased before he took a drink of his coffee.
“It’s probably just a phase,” I said. “But I can tell he’s not destined for university.”
“He’s seven,” she said. “A lot can change between now and adulthood.”
I shrugged because I didn’t want to argue, but I could tell that Paolo was a hands-on kind of kid.
He’d be more interested in working at the vineyard or at least something that didn’t happen in an office.
I could already picture him as an adult running this place while his mother and I ran off on a second honeymoon.
Now, Frankie, I had higher hopes for her.
She was so smart and sweet. I wanted her to be an artist in Palermo and find a nice young man who would take care of her.
I hadn’t wanted to be a father before Francesca, and even when she was pregnant, I was unsure if I wanted to be a father, but once I held Paolo in my arms for the first time, my life changed.
It reminded me of the first time I looked at Francesca.
Just an instant, powerful connection. “So, what’s on the books for today? ”
“Word on the street is there’s going to be a move made on the next shipment to customs,” Elio said. “They’re going to wait until we get there and hit us, taking us out and stealing the guns.”
“And who the fuck is stupid enough to do that?” I asked incredulously.
“He goes by the name of Maverick,” Elio said. “That’s all I know.”
“Then we double-cross him,” Leo said. “When he thinks he’s setting us up, we set him up. Problem solved.”
Francesca listened to all of this in silence, her fingers curled around the handle of her mug.
Leo turned to her, wordlessly asking what she wanted to do.
She’d taken on the role of donna very well.
All those years of standing in her father’s shadow and doing all the work for him had prepared her for the position.
She had his edge too, an edge I didn’t really see when it was just the two of us because her guard was down when she was at home.
Then she gave a nod. “We double-cross them—and leave no one alive.”
I smirked as the pride flushed through me. “Yes, Donna Mancini-Barsetti.”
Ready for something a little lighter? Check out my new rom-com written as Penelope Dupont.
I’ve always dreamed of having a shag-cation, like in those rom-coms sans the happily ever after at the end — because I don’t believe in those.
Then Henri Laurent arrives in Bora Bora at The Lagoon, an ultra luxury resort where I work as a VIP Concierge. And the second we look at each other…it’s on.
Fooling around with a client is a fireable offense, but this man is so fine that he’s worth the risk. I stay in his bungalow over the turquoise water, and I hide from all my colleagues and pretend to be his wife, Mrs. Laurent. It’s a dream come true, a no-strings-attached epic fling.
Until that dream is destroyed.
Because Henri Laurent says he wants a lot more than a fling. Commitment, monogamy, maybe even a happily ever after…
And he won’t take no for an answer.