Chapter 58 #2
“I found your letter,” he tells me. “And it tore me to pieces because for a moment, I thought I was going to lose you before I had a chance to tell you what I should have admitted months ago.” His eyes shine with tears, but he forges on.
“Chiara Marie Princi, I love you. I love your wild and your quiet, your chaos and your calm. You are my everything, and I want it all with you. The house, the babies, the family we’ll become and the future we’ll create together.
I think I loved you from the first moment you blew into my office and I promise to love you until my dying breath because you’re the missing piece that makes my whole existence meaningful. ”
He pulls something out from behind the pillow. It’s a black ring box.
My eyes widen, and I roll my lip to stop myself from interrupting him.
“I wanted to do something special and extravagant to make up for not having a ring at our wedding, but we’ve never been ones for convention or doing things the glitzy and glamorous way.”
He opens the box, and inside is the most dazzling oval-cut diamond ring, with a wedding band made of diamonds and emeralds.
“You own my heart and you’re forever on my mind, but I don’t want to keep the way I love you a secret.
” He takes the rings out of the box and slides on the wedding band then the engagement ring.
“Will you do me the honor of wearing my rings on your finger so the whole world knows you’re mine from now until death do us part? ”
“Yes,” I sob. “They’re absolutely magnificent,” I say, moving my hand so the stones can catch the light.
“Just like you, sweetheart.”
“I love you, Raf,” I whisper. “You’re my hope, my home, my heart. My safe place. My stillness. My serenity.”
I choke on my next words, but I have to say them. “My parents may have left me alone in this world, but I like to think their sacrifice was to pave my way to finding you.”
He holds me close, kissing me softly and whispering everything he sees for our future in my ear. As I flutter off to sleep, his words transform into the most vivid dreams of the life that now feels within my reach.
When I finally wake, it’s almost lunchtime.
My entire body aches, and even wriggling my toes feels torturous.
I try to sit up and groan in agony. After our unexpected news, pain relief was no longer an option for me.
Given my track record, I don’t want to tempt fate.
I know, I know. I shouldn’t think like this, but I’m a work-in-progress, trying to slay my demons one at a time.
Raf is not in bed with me anymore, and I scan my brain for what day it is, reaching for my phone to seek answers. A sharp pain makes me yelp.
“Hey, hey. Let me help you.”
I drift my eyes in the direction of the voice and see AJ walking over from a chair in the corner of the room.
“AJ, how long have you been here?” I ask breathlessly, feeling winded. He’s wearing clean clothes, but the aftermath of yesterday is etched all over him. The bruises on his face, the gash above his eyebrow, the bandaged hand and the wincing as he makes his way over to my bedside.
“It was a long night, but once I took care of things, I went and got cleaned up and came straight here. Made your husband get up and answer the door at 4:30 in the morning. He’s been working ever since, so if he’s grumpier than usual, you can blame me,” he says with an unapologetic smirk.
I pat the bed next to me, and he sits. There’s a softness behind the scars and his chiseled facial features that have earned him his reputation with the ladies.
Too much has happened, and we’ve gone through enough heartache to continue in this figure-eight pattern where we keep circling around the truth, hovering just above it.
I don’t care for any more lies. I want a clean slate; I need to get closure on the past if I ever have a chance of living in a present not ruled by fear and creating a future filled with joy.
I owe that to the life I have growing inside me.
I owe it to Raf. I owe it to the carefree girl who became a woman operating in fight-or-flight mode.
It’s time to land this plane and disembark into new beginnings.
He helps me to a sitting position and then hands me the water waiting for me.
I take a sip, wishing it was coffee instead.
Then I remember some vague fact about caffeine and pregnancy and internally spiral about how much I need to learn.
Somehow, I manage to wrangle the thought monster back and deal with what’s in front of me.
Getting answers and making peace with the truth—no holds barred.
“First, you’re going to tell me exactly what happened that day my parents were taken from me,” I tell him.
“Then you are going to tell me how you took care of things, as you say. No more lies. No more half-truths, AJ. I’ll always grieve my parents, but I’m done with letting that grief strangle the life out of me while I’m living. ”
He nods, and in his typical, straight-talking way, explains everything in detail.
How the detectives flipped one of Alessandro’s men, resulting in the raids that would make my father look guilty.
How it was a dirty cop on the take with Alesandro who saw my father talking to detectives and hatched a plan with Alessandro to frame him as the mole, so they could put pressure on my Uncle Gino to kill him off for the good of the mob.
How it was Mia who told him that Alessandro had framed my father to save face with the Rizzos, and that Uncle Gino tried to warn my parents to leave, but they wouldn’t leave without me—and Alessandro made sure they couldn’t get in touch by keeping me occupied and putting my phone in Do Not Disturb mode.
He explains that my dad went with the riskiest choice of all—involving the police—to protect his family from more bloodshed and make sure that I was never going to be used to repay a favor.
AJ explains how he had no choice but to let Alessandro get away the first time to safeguard my future and reputation, and how, thanks to Avery, he found out that Alessandro was an unhinged con-artist—different identities and appearances—which is why he hadn’t succeeded in finding him and how he got away with Marco’s shooting.
He also dropped a bombshell about my old best friend Mia; she made it to New York and was the source that came forward in Arty’s trial.
But the biggest revelation of all was how he had come to learn it was actually Julian Rizzo who killed my parents for his own power-hungry ways, and the only reason an arranged marriage had been agreed upon was so AJ could get close to him to gain more intel, then kill him.
It’s so much to take in, and yet it feels like the longest exhale—as painful as the truth is, it’s setting us both free from its chains.
I blow my nose which has been running as fast as the tears.
“But you don’t have to worry about any of that or Alessandro or Julian Rizzo ever again.
Eyes forward, no more living your life looking over your shoulder,” he says, squeezing my hand before he clears his throat and continues, almost like having a totally new conversation.
“Did you see the news? There was an explosion at a warehouse at the docks in Brooklyn. Apparently, explosives in a shipping container caused it. Everyone and everything in them were burned to a char. Unrecognizable. Going to take some time for them to match DNA.” His lip lifts in a devilish smirk, and I bite my own to stop the laugh from bubbling out.
It feels morbid to be this gleeful, but it’s exactly what I needed to hear.
“Thank you for always having my back, even when I threaten to kill you,” I choke on a half laugh-cry.
“That’s what family does,” he says simply.
“Are you making my wife cry?” demands Raf. He carries a plate over and sets it down. I take in the artful display: scrambled eggs, sliced avocado, roasted tomatoes, sautéed mushrooms, toasted sourdough, and crispy bacon. He hands me freshly squeezed orange juice and two large tablets.
“I can’t ta—”
“Vitamins,” he says, unable to contain his dazzling smile or the twinkle in his eye.
“Seeing him smile is weird as fuck,” says AJ, thumbing towards Raf. He gives my hand an affectionate squeeze, then stands. “I’m out. I probably won’t see you until the wedding. I’m gonna lay low. Take care of some personal business.”
I raise my eyebrows at him but don’t push him for more information. Some secrets are worth holding close to your chest.