30. Renzo
T wo months later…
I glanced at all the paperwork Dean had dropped off to my desk. I loathed dealing with any kind of busywork like this. Secretaries could handle most of this shit, but these documents were a personal matter.
Securing Giulia’s sisters’ safety was a large undertaking, and I didn’t want to slip up with a single mistake.
Marianna, Lucia, and Beatrice moved in with Giulia and me the week before our wedding. All the girls belonged here with us. Francis, too. I depended on the Acardis’ guard to help with smoothing out a lot of the details about these sisters, but still, it was a lot to wade through.
With Giulia’s marriage to me, her assets transferred to me. But her sisters’ funds were a trickier dilemma to work through. Since Isabella had passed away, and Dario had too, there were some contesting relatives—mostly all distant—who slowed the process.
I’d be damned if any of them were screwed out of their Family’s wealth. When leaders were killed, all kinds of people would swoop in to take what they could. But Giulia had me, and her sisters had us. Even though the Acardi name had raised them into a world of hatred, courtesy of their mother, they would have the full backing of the Bernardi name now.
Giulia Bernardi would see to their futures.
My wife. I grinned, excited every time I thought of her as mine now. She was, fully and completely, mine forever. And it was the reminder of her being my wife that helped me to deal with all this stuff.
When I wasn't here busy seeing to her sisters’ futures and wealth after the breakup of their Family, I was taxed with dealing with the Romanos. Nickolas hadn’t cared much that Giulia was taken. He’d been opposed to the marriage with her, partly because he thought marrying a Greek Mafia daughter would turn out better. Marcus was a hard sell on that business deal, but after word got out about Isabella’s plans, he seemed happier to have avoided her.
Still, I was stuck dealing with business more than I wanted to. I delegated constantly, refusing to micromanage like Luka had. With Giovanni’s new health issues, though, it seemed that I was damned to spend most of my time working instead of enjoying my new wife.
Now more than ever, I was feeling the full, oppressive weight of being the eldest son. Giovanni wasn’t dying anytime soon, but his slowing down like this was a reminder that one day, I’d be at the head of the Family.
With Giulia as my wife, though, I knew I was fortunate. She was my partner, quick-minded and sharp to give her input on businesses. She would never be some woman to dismiss as the mother of my kids.
“If we ever have time to start on that,” I grumbled to myself. With our adjustment to merging the Acardi and Bernardi names with marriage, I wondered if we were too busy to try to start a family. I didn’t want to delay. We had the rest of our lives, and we made love constantly, even if they were stolen moments of passion.
“What was that?” Giulia asked as she entered my office. She set more papers on the desk and perched on the edge of it.
“What happened to everything being electronic?” I complained of the documents she’d brought in. They looked like more addendums of her parents’ wills to review.
“Paranoid Mafia Families back everything up on paper.”
I sighed, angling her to fall into my lap instead of sitting on my desk.
“What were you grumbling about?” she asked again.
“Being too busy to do what I want with you.”
She kissed me, tender and sweet. “And what is that?” She was acclimating well to this life with me, and she was no slacker in keeping busy and helping with what she could. Yet, our passion had yet to fizzle out.
“Getting you pregnant.” I kissed her harder, loving the sexy mewl she gave me. “Starting a family.”
She pulled back and smiled wide. “I wanted to wait until next week on your birthday to tell you…”
My heart raced at her playful smile. “What?” I laid my hand on her stomach, and she covered it with hers. The diamonds on the ring I gave her glittered like sunrays.
“Surprise,” she said before kissing me again.
“ Surprise ?” I mocked. “With how often I need you?”
She giggled lightly, peppering me with kisses as we stared into each other’s eyes.
“And I will always need you,” I reminded her with a deeper kiss.
Her announcement filled me with joy, so much that it felt hard to draw a full breath. “I can’t wait for our new future to begin.”
No longer bound by an old rivalry, we were heading into a bright beginning.
One of our choosing.