Chapter 6 #2
“Dad’s a real hard-ass,” I muttered.
“Not with me,” she said with the faintest of smiles. “He is a prince with me. A good husband does not require his wife to be made of stone in order to love him. I lean on your father as he leans on me. We take on each other’s troubles.”
I wanted to be that for Valentina. Her strength. Her avenging knight. Yes, even her prince. If only she would let me in.
“How do I get there?” I asked desperately.
“Only the truth will get you there,” my mother answered.
“Show her your heart. The very same heart you intend to give her. If she is worthy like you say, then she will consider her choices carefully and accept the heart you give to her. But you must give it freely and honestly, Enzo. There can be no facade.”
I nodded slowly, already convinced that it might already be too late to follow my mother’s advice. It wasn’t that I had simply told a few lies, which would have been bad enough. It was that our entire relationship was built on a lie.
“What if the truth isn’t enough?” I asked.
“There is nothing higher than truth and love,” my mother answered. “If it is not enough then nothing will be enough.”
She was right. People underestimated my mother at times.
Because she’d been a model, they thought that made her stupid or ignorant.
She was nothing of the sort. Between my own mother, Valentina’s mother, and Valentina herself, I was surrounded by women who knew what they were about.
They all had grit, backbone, wisdom. Making them the reason that both family’s criminal empires had lasted as long as they did.
I nodded again, accepting her words.
Once again, the priest appeared to say, “You’re up next.”
“Be right out,” I said.
I held the door open for my mother then followed her out to the main section of the church.
My mother had built a happy marriage after marrying a man she hadn’t loved at the time of her wedding.
That meant any advice she shared was valuable.
If my parents could figure it out, even my stubborn ox of a father, then damn it, so could I.
~~*~~
VALENTINA STOOD AT the church entrance, her face unreadable as I took my position at the altar.
There we were, on opposite sides of the church, staring at each other like we were preparing for a gunfight.
Somehow this rehearsal felt like it was as tense and charged as the real thing.
All eyes were on Valentina, including mine.
She wasn’t in her actual gown, but she didn’t need a wedding dress to look like an angel.
Valentina’s beauty outshined everything, making it impossible for me to look away.
Her parents joined her then, the trio huddled together as they spoke in whispers.
That put me on the alert. Even with added security in the church, I was paying extra attention to my surroundings.
There was no telling what might come next.
I’d face too many fires, bombs, and bullets to let my guard down now.
If Valentina’s father really had tried to kill me in that fucking fire like I suspected he did, there was no telling what he was currently saying to Valentina.
On one hand, he could have been lying to her, letting her think that he had nothing to do with it.
On the other, he could very well have been trying to get her on his side.
He could be persuading her to permanently get rid of me ASAP.
For whatever reason he had gone from asking me to protect his daughter to trying to kill me.
A change on a dime like that was a dangerous thing.
But I knew that no matter what Don Romano ordered against me, I would protect his daughter with my life.
I had promised him that I would protect her.
I planned on keeping my word. Not only because my word was law but because there was no life beyond Valentina. My heart beat for her and only her.
I gazed at her all the way across the church at the other end of the aisle.
The distance keeping us apart felt insurmountable and yet, I was determined now to move heaven and earth to win her trust. Ten thousand miles would not keep me from her.
Neither would an aisle, or our parents, or hitman, or the whole fucking world if it came to that.
This was my chance to win her, and win her I would.
“We’re still working on the sound but we wanted to get you all in your standing positions,” the priest was saying.
“That way you can get a feel for the layout. We’ll get to your cues soon so you’ll know what I’ll be saying tomorrow and when.
We’re hoping you can give us another ten more minutes for the sound. ”
“No problem,” I said. This was the whole point of rehearsals—to work out the kinks.
The priest disappeared again but before I could relax, my father straight-up marched into the church, swaggering past Valentina and her parents.
He sauntered up to me as if he hadn’t just arrived late and put a wrench in the ongoing rehearsal.
He had some fucking nerve, that much was true.
Dressed in his usual dark suit and the De Luca golden medallion, my old man looked like he had come to do business, not step into his role as the groom’s father.
“You are both here,” my father said, approaching me. “Bene.”
“Don’t worry about being late,” I said, an edge to my tone. “It’s only the rehearsal for the most important day of our lives.”
My father scowled at me. Then he glanced at the bridesmaids and groomsmen assembled around us and dismissed them with a wave of his hand. “Leave us.”
Nobody put up a fight, not even the priest who bowed awkwardly and quickly escaped to his chambers.
Only silent security guards and the Romanos remained in the main section of the church, the three of them regarding us with cold looks.
Half of the guards were on our payroll with the other half loyal to the Romanos.
The distrust was creating a chill in the church.
And the frosty look I was getting from Valentina quickly turned to one of blatant suspicion.
Guess neither family was willing to give the other the benefit of the doubt.
To be fair, none of us had earned that. We had built these reputations. No use in complaining about them now.
“My friends.” My father cleared his throat and held up his hands. “I would like a moment with my son. Please indulge me.”