27. Serendipity #3
“Aria told me it was your idea for her to move to Italy,” Santino began. “I should thank you for that, or I’d still be searching for her.”
“What?” Papi hissed. “Searching for her? So you’ve been looking for my daughter for years?”
My eyes widened, and my head snapped to Santino’s calm expression. He nodded, as if it were obvious, leaning back in his chair.
“Of course. I knew I’d recognise my wife the moment I saw her. I didn’t think it would be in a massage room at my very own hotel, where I’d be challenged to spell the alphabet.”
I spat my wine across the table.
“Serendipity, I guess.” He shrugged, fighting his amusement as I kicked his shin under the table. My father’s eyes narrowed.
“I don’t understand what you are speaking of, Buccini. You met in a massage room?”
“At Hotel XO. Aria came for a service.”
“A massage,” I interrupted quickly, my desire to kill my husband returning by the second. “Remember, I told you, Papi. Allegra was staying there, and I visited her. I left my necklace there.”
He nodded, still frowning as he looked between Santino and me. “And you met him there? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I—I didn’t know who he was. I thought he worked at the spa.”
“So you tricked my daughter?”
“Not in the way you think.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I didn’t know she was your daughter that day, but I knew she would become my wife.”
My stomach swooped as he gave me one of those dashing smiles again. Was that true?
“You expect me to believe you had no idea she was my daughter when she walked into your hotel, and you introduced yourself to her in the spa?” Papi snarled.
“Like I said. Serendipity. Don’t you believe in it, Mayor?”
“I don’t believe a man who always thinks three steps ahead met my daughter by chance. No.”
“I can’t prove it, so I won’t try to. But Aria knows I never lie. That’s all that matters.”
That seemed to trigger something in my father, and he leaned in, lowering his voice.
“Do not pretend to care for my daughter or try to trick her into believing you have a single respectful bone in your body while you use her to control me, Buccini. I won’t stand for it.
You win.” He huffed, the sound heavy with defeat.
My heart began hammering because I knew what was coming next, even though Santino didn’t. He tilted his head.
“I win?”
Papi reached into his briefcase under the table, pulled out a document, and slid it across to Santino. I quickly scanned the largest text at the top. Divorce papers.
“What’s this?” Santino asked, lifting his wine instead of paying the document any interest.
“What you wanted. I’ll call off the investigation into you and all your front businesses. I’ll reopen the port so your shipments can continue. If you sign these divorce papers right here, right now, and leave my daughter alone.”
I stared at Santino, motionless except for my pounding heart.
He glanced at me and narrowed his eyes, waiting for my reaction.
I didn’t give one. I didn’t know how to feel about any of this, so staying silent and seeing how it played out felt like my only option.
A part of me wanted him to accept the deal and grab a pen, confirming what everyone believed.
Nothing between us had ever been real. At least on his part.
I was being played. But another part of me, a stupid one, didn’t want it to be true.
Santino took a slow sip of his wine, stared at the document on the table between us, and then placed his glass down.
“No.”
“What do you mean by ‘no’?” Papi hissed.
“Is there another meaning to the word?”
“Don’t get smart with me, Buccini. This is an offer you should take.”
“Probably. But the answer is still no.”
“Why?” I asked, leaning over the table to stare at him. “Didn’t you hear him? He’ll call off the investigation.”
“I heard him perfectly.”
“Then what do you want, Buccini?” Papi’s voice was laced with desperation, and my chest tightened as I saw the raw panic in his eyes. “What will it take?”
“There’s nothing you can offer me that will make me walk away from my marriage, Piero. Believe it or not, I want to be her husband.” My heart flipped as he looked at me. “You’ll have to take everything from me before I give Aria up, and even then I’d hope she’d stay.”
“That is ludicrous!” Papi slammed his hand on the table, drawing a few couples’ attention our way. What was Santino doing? What was his long game? Or did he not have one? Was he truly willing to put everything on the line just to stay married to me? My father was right. It was ludicrous.
“I’m not known for my rationality. Ask my family, who will be as upset as you are that I turned this down.”
Papi’s face was turning a darker shade of red by the second, and I squeezed his hand to comfort him. “Papi, look at me. I’m fine. Santino isn’t going to hurt me. I believe that. You don’t need to worry about me so much, okay?”
“Aria, you don’t understand—” he choked, then ripped his hand from mine and rubbed his face. “Make him see sense. Please. For all our sakes.” He stood up, kissed me on the head, and tore out of the restaurant.
We both stared after him, Santino’s narrowed gaze showing he was deeply suspicious of something, but I couldn’t get my husband’s words out of my mind.
What he did tonight made zero sense unless…
he was really telling the truth about how he felt about me.
But that was scarier than anything else.
What the hell was I supposed to do with that?
I couldn’t let myself fall in love with a man like him, a man who made a living by breaking the law, killing people without remorse, and who had blackmailed me into this marriage. Could I? What would that make me? His accomplice? A guilty bystander? An immoral person, definitely.
He turned back to me and smiled, reaching for my hand. “Shall we order food?”
My eyes nearly fell out of my head. “Are you seriously asking me that right now?”
His brows furrowed. “We are in a great restaurant with the best scallops in Italy. And I’m on a date with the most beautiful woman in the world, who so happens to be my wife. So yes, I am most definitely asking that right now.”
The waiter appeared at the flick of Santino’s wrist, and I let him order for us, unable to focus on anything but what would happen next.
Would this war between my father and husband turn explosive, and would I be the one stuck in the middle?
Santino could lose everything. He could end up in jail.
God knows what could happen to my papi if things escalated.
He was at war with the damn mafia. Bile rose in my throat.
“You could have ended all of this tonight,” I whispered, lifting the divorce papers in my fingers.
I could feel his dark stare on my face, but I refused to look up.
“Is that what you wanted me to do?”
“It’s what you should have done.”
“I don’t agree,” he replied nonchalantly. “My first marriage will be my last, Aria. When I stood at that altar and took those vows, I meant every word.”
I met his unwavering gaze. “But you could lose everything you’ve built.”
“For richer or poorer, baby.”
I swallowed, shaking my head. “Are you seriously willing to let your Roman Empire burn just to keep me as your wife?”
He leaned back in his chair, cocky as ever, and smirked. “Just tell me which street to start with.”
Fuck, he was truly insane. But I think I believed him.