Chapter 42
DOMINIC
‘This is your place?’ Aoife leans forward in the seat beside me, shoving her sunglasses on top of her head.
Her glossy blonde curls bounce around her shoulders, windswept from the drive.
In denim shorts and a baby blue tank top that emphasises her eyes, she looks fucking stunning.
We’ve had sex six times a day since we got married and it’s still nowhere near enough.
Milan was busy, sightseeing and shopping.
These next ten nights in Lake Como are for relaxing.
I want to give her a taste of something different.
Show her there’s an entire world out there, one that I’ll happily show her.
Show her that tying herself to me doesn’t mean being tied down—unless it’s to the bedposts.
While each day brings us closer, I’m acutely aware that we will have to go back to the real world and face what we’ve started.
Every day won’t be a honeymoon.
But I’m hoping every night will be.
‘Technically, it belongs to The Syndicate.’ I shrug, resting my hand on her thigh again. I can’t keep my hands off her, and I can’t see that changing no matter how long we’re married. ‘Property is a safe way to clean money.’
Her head whips around to face me. ‘I thought you said I was better off not knowing about your businesses.’
‘I said if you have any hope in hell of walking away, you’re better off not knowing.’ I flash her a grin. ‘We both know you’re not going anywhere.’
I slow the car as the drive curves sharply.
The lake opens up in front of us, sudden and vast, a sheet of darkened silver stretching between the mountains as the last of the light bleeds out of the sky.
It’s so still it looks unreal, like glass poured carefully into the earth.
Aoife’s breath catches beside me as she drinks it in.
The villa comes fully into view ahead of us, stone glowing in the fading light. I squeeze her thigh, then ease the car to a stop in front of the villa and cut the engine, taking her hand in mine. A single tear rolls down her cheek as the sound of water laps softly against stone somewhere below.
‘This is so beautiful, Dom,’ she whispers. ‘Thank you.’
I brush the tear from her face with my thumb. ‘Don’t thank me, baby,’ I say quietly. ‘You deserve the world, and so much more, and I’m going to give it to you.’
I open the car door and stride around to the passenger side to help Aoife out. She stands there, taking in the honey-coloured facade, the climbing ivy, the wide terrace spilling down towards the lake. The mountains on the horizon.
Her shoulders drop. That alone is worth the cost of the place.
I didn’t bring her here to impress her. I don’t need to prove anything.
I brought her here because this is what peace looks like when you can afford it.
No looking over her shoulder. No prying eyes.
Just privacy and distance and enough security measures so that I can sleep without one eye open.
She gravitates towards the edge of the terrace, drawn to the water. The breeze lifts her hair, catching the last of the light.
And something in my chest tightens. I’m in deep. I love her with every fucked up fibre of my being. I walk up behind her, wrap my arms around her waist, and rest my chin on her shoulder.
‘It’s so peaceful,’ she murmurs. ‘It’s stunning.’
I look at her, not the view. ‘It is.’
And I’m not talking about the lake, the mountains or the property—I’m talking about her. About us. What we have.
And I will do whatever it takes to preserve it—us—because she’s everything I never knew I needed in life.