Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Cousin Duties
Chiara
“Chiara! Chiara, slow down,” calls Raf, quickly closing the distance between us.
I do no such thing. He’s going to learn quickly, I’m very good at ignoring the men in my life. Especially when they piss me off.
I didn’t mean to admit my most shameful secret to the last person I wanted to know it.
As I’m quickly learning, when it comes to me, Raf Princi is a fountain of knowledge.
A dark horse cloaked as a white knight, constantly digging around in dark places he shouldn’t be, exposing me in the best and worst ways possible.
By the time he catches up to me, I’m rounding the corridor in search of the ward Marco has been moved to. I check the message on my phone from Sophia to confirm the exact room number. The pause gives Raf the opportunity to block my path.
“This conversation isn’t over,” he says sternly, and I internally curse at my traitorous body for the way it responds to his commanding tone. The same one he used in an entirely different scenario.
“Oh, it’s more than over. I’ve had enough humiliation over the last twenty-four hours to last a lifetime.”
“There’s nothing to be humiliated about—you couldn’t have known he was an absolute scumbag.”
“Come talk to me about it when the person you think you’re going to have everything with betrays you and it feels like your heart has been ripped out and stomped on.”
He stares at me silently, unblinking, a torn look on his face like he wants to say something, but the guardrails I broke through last night are firmly back in place.
“Please, just drop it,” I hiss, spotting AJ walking towards us. Then I push past him and don’t stop until I reach Marco’s room.
I poke my head in and see Sophia perched by his side, one hand clutched in his and the other lightly stroking his hair.
His eyes are closed, and I can see the toll the night has taken on both of them.
At one point he winces in pain, and I consider just backtracking and letting him rest, except Sophia spots me.
“Hey, you,” she sings out. “Someone has been waiting to see you.”
Marco opens his eyes and slowly turns his head towards the door, smiling weakly at me.
“There she is,” he croaks. I walk deeper into the room, and the waterworks start all over again.
Honestly, I feel like I’ve cried so many tears over the last few months that I could end a drought.
I step up to the side of his bed and lean over to give him a kiss on the forehead.
“Hey, hero,” I choke out. “How are you feeling?”
“Alive, but like I’ve just been shot.” He chuckles, but it turns into a groan.
“Babe, you sure you don’t need more pain relief?” asks Sophia.
“No. It makes me feel too fucking out of it,” he says.
“I think that’s the point, baby.” She laughs.
“Not yet. I want to talk to my cousin,” he says with a smile, and fuck if that doesn’t blur my vision once more.
“Here, sit down,” says Sophia, getting up and pulling up a chair to the side of the bed for me. “Did you come with Raf?”
Yes, multiple times in his bed, then in the shower too. But I stick with the G-rated response. “Yes. His driver took me home to change and then we came right over. He’s out there, most likely being interrogated by AJ.”
“AJ’s here?” Marco asks.
“Yes. He jumped straight on the private jet as soon as he heard what happened.”
“Well I guess I’m a lucky motherfucker. You two are my very own guardian angels.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” I whisper.
“It was him who gave me the warning that we had an infidel in the room. He called me just before the Arty exposé.” He grunts, pain lancing through him again.
“Are you okay? Can I get you some water? Call the nurses?”
“No, no. It will pass.”
“You do know that taking pain relief won’t strip you of your hero status, right?”
“Ha, ha. Still giving me hell even when I’m lying in a hospital bed with holes in me.”
“I could torture you with spicy audio books instead?”
“I would definitely take the extra pain relief to listen to that why-choose shit you love.”
I giggle, because the way I’ve loved watching him squirm every time I played a new audiobook on full blast will never get old.
“I’ll spare you this time, but only because you’ve suffered enough trauma.” The words are out before I can catch myself. “Speaking of…have you spoken with your parents?”
“Yes. Briefly. They were absolutely shattered and guilt-ridden about not being honest with me. It broke me seeing them like that. I mean, what an impossible position to be in, right?”
“I’m sorry you had to find out about everything the way you did. I feel like, from the moment I arrived, I’ve been some bad omen.”
“Chiara, don’t say shit like that.”
“It’s just…Oh god. I’m so hot. I need to take this coat off.”
Marco’s eyes widen as he watches me strip my coat and adjust my sweater that falls loosely across my shoulder, but I don’t have time to question it because I’m huffing out breaths and fanning myself trying to cool my face as my heart rate ratchets up thinking about the lives lost because of greed, power, and money driven by Mafia honor codes.
“Our fathers both suffered the same fate,” I tell him. “For generations, the shadow of death has followed the family. I would have spared you. Taken the truth to my grave if I could have. You would have been free to live in ignorant bliss all your days.”
“No doubt our fathers did questionable things in their lives, but they also did the most honorable thing someone could do. They paid with their lives so we could have ours,” he says softly.
“If it came to it, I would take another bullet for the people I love. Especially Sophia. I am nothing if I don’t have her by my side. ”
“Sophia is one lucky lady. At least one of my cousins knows a thing or two about love.”
“About that—before you give me a family history lesson, I need you to help me with something. As soon as I’m fully recovered, the first thing I’m going to do is make Sophia my wife. Do you think you can help me get everything in place for the engagement party?”
“Me? I’m honored you would ask me, but wouldn’t Evie or Stella be a better choice? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m kinda chaotic.”
“Oh they’ll have jobs too. It will just take all three of you to keep her off the scent of my plans. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but nothing gets past my girl.”
“That’s very true.”
“Well, would you look at this…a family reunion and you fuckers didn’t even invite me,” AJ drawls as he joins me by Marco’s bedside. “Might just have to kill ya.”
“AJ!” I gasp. “You’re diabolical.”
“So I’ve been told. Too soon?” he deadpans, grabbing Marco’s hand and squeezing it. “How you holding up, brother?”
“It’s been a whirlwind, that’s for sure. But hey, I got two new cousins out of it and connections to the Mob, so it’s gotta count for something right?”
“Ah, yeah. We come with a shit-ton of baggage,” AJ says. “Not sure how excited I’d be about gaining a whole other family ya didn’t know about. But we’ll get to that. Gonna take a few study sessions to get you prepared for navigating Mob life.”
“Yeah…I think we’ll table that for when I have a bit more energy. Think my ma might have a few strong thoughts about that.”
“I bet she does,” hums AJ, before directing his attention to me. “Chiara. What did you do to make that grumpy fucker even grumpier?”
“You know me. I seem to have that effect,” I say, deflecting.
“Interesting that you both seem to have matching hickeys.”
My hand flies to my neck, and I feel my entire face light up like an emergency beacon.
In fact, thank God I’m in the hospital. I may need a defibrillator with the way these two are looking at me expectantly.
I have no qualms sharing about my sex life, but what I experienced with Raf wasn’t just sex; it was sacred. Well, to me at least.
“Most people are less uptight after a good orgasm,” presses AJ, like I don’t already want the ground to open and swallow me.
“Well, Raf is not most people,” I hiss lowly. “And he would hate that we were discussing him or his orgasms.”
“Am I interrupting an important conversation?” an all-too familiar, sexy voice rumbles from the door.
I swing my bright red face towards it, only to find Raf meandering towards the bed, his expression a mask of indifference. I don’t miss the way his lips tip up with the tiniest of smirk as his eyes fix on the purplish-red mark—his mark—on my skin.
“Not at all,” AJ says with a shit-eating grin. “Just talking about how you’re really marking your territory and leaning into this fake boyfriend gig.”
“AJ, please shut up.” I groan. Instead he takes it one step further.
“Be careful you don’t prove you’re good husband material too. A good lawyer is an asset to a Mob family.”
What. In. The. Actual. Fuck. Is. Happening. Right. Now?
I quickly say goodbye, leaving the family history lesson to AJ for today, and promise to go back and visit again without the annoying rent-a-crowd.
Then I go in search of some coffee and maybe a tranquilizer so I can forget this entire embarrassing moment—even if the man in the room with the elephant-trunk dick is adamant it can’t happen again, he sure as hell looked mighty pleased about seeing his mark on my neck.