Chapter 10 #2
“Impressive.”
“We’ve been around a long time,” I said. “That’s helped us to figure out ways to go legit over the years.”
“That probably helps to bring less attention from media and cops,” he said.
“Yes, it does,” I said with a nod. Suddenly, it felt like I was getting clarity.
The past couple of days were showing me what I truly wanted from this alliance with my fiancé and the rest of the De Lucas.
“Tell me, Enzo, how do you feel about going legitimate? What if we decided to make that our focus once we were married? It could be a gift to our children. A real chance at freedom.”
His eyebrows went up, a shocked expression on his face. “Whoa, seriously? You’d want to do that?”
“For our future children, yes,” I responded.
“I’m amazed that you, of all people, would want to quit this business,” he said.
“I’ve thought about this for years now, but it isn’t distant anymore. I don’t want my future kids living this lifestyle. I want them to have the best in life. No more danger. No more looking over shoulders,” I explained. “These past few days have really crystalized that for me.”
Nearly losing my father, the bombing at the bank, now someone threatening Enzo.
All of it drove home just how dangerous all this was.
My desire to rule hadn’t gone away, but I was starting to really understand that my life was going to involve children who hadn’t asked to be brought into this.
Every life decision now involved my future children.
Running a criminal enterprise was a unique thrill, no doubt about it.
But family came first. Power meant nothing if I wasn’t protecting the people I cared about.
After all, protecting my loved ones was part of the reason why I craved power in the first place.
Whether I stayed trapped in the criminal underworld or found a way to go legit, my children were going to be my number-one priority.
They were no longer some far-off future.
With the wedding on the horizon, my future kids were starting to feel real.
“Look, Valentina, the issue isn’t whether you or I want to go fully legit,” Enzo finally said, leaning closer. “It’s if this world will let us.”
My blood ran cold at that. Because he was right.
I had to fight to hold my position, fight to stay alive, fight to be the strongest. I’d also have to fight to get out.
Legitimacy would be the toughest thing in the world to accomplish, and marrying into the De Luca family made that harder.
Enzo’s family didn’t seem interested in legitimacy.
Which meant, they’d be the ones holding me back from trying to protect my own children.
Swallowing hard, trying to ignore the knot in my stomach.
But there was no use since I’d been playing an all too dangerous game from the beginning.
This entire time, I’d kept a plan B in the back of my mind.
If, for some reason I ever suspected that this wedding wouldn’t stop the war it was designed to end, I’d get out.
While I planned to go through with the wedding like I had promised Papa—if this alliance made the war worse, I was prepared to leave Enzo.
I refused to let the De Luca family become an even greater threat.
If the war escalated after the wedding, I’d sever all ties with Enzo.
Get an annulment, go into hiding, and threaten the life of every De Luca it came to that.
If this wedding didn’t stop the war, I would undo it and make the De Lucas pay.
Yet that war might never materialize. At least, not for years if it ever materialized at all. There was an equally likely chance that the wedding would bring on the peace that it was supposed to.
Plus, now that it seemed that Enzo was actually serious about this wedding, I’d have to consider that this marriage could last. Long enough for me to have children.
Children with a man I didn’t want to love.
And once there were kids, I wouldn’t be able to leave Enzo that easily.
I would make sure that my future kids would always have their father in their lives.
Even if that meant I’d make the ultimate sacrifice and stay married to Enzo until death.
No option brought me peace. An annulment during an escalating war wouldn’t fix things. And a husband plus kids only made me more vulnerable to potential enemies. Every option felt fraught with danger.
The biggest danger felt like marrying a man who was so committed to this powerful mafia alliance that he’d put that before me. It was selfish to wish he’d choose me and nothing else, but deep down, it was what I wanted.
It was clear he thought that the world should have a say in what we decided.
Except, I wasn’t ready to accept that our future was up to the world.
Up to circumstances or Don De Luca’s whims. This would be my family.
My husband. My kids. We should be the ones deciding how our children would be raised regardless of what the underworld had to say about it.
“I don’t care what the world thinks,” I said firmly. “I care what you think about it. What do you think about going legitimate?”
Enzo gave a shrug. “Sure, why the hell not?”
That wasn’t going to be good enough. Enzo needed to be all in. Because I couldn’t go legitimate by myself. I had to get my family on board. That meant getting both my father and my future husband to agree. There was no doing this alone.
Meaning that somehow, I’d have to win Enzo over. Get him to join me in this. Show him that going legit was worth fighting for. Freedom was the most important thing for our children, no matter the cost. We had to get on the same page about our kids. Neither of us could waver.
Because the last few days showed that there was a very real chance I’d believe in Enzo enough to quash my plan B.
A chance that I’d stay married long enough to have children.
What would happen if war flared up again after we had children?
What would happen if Enzo didn’t agree to go legit?
That second question was easy to answer, and it was the answer that scared me.
If Enzo didn’t see things my way, wasn’t all in to go legit for the sake of our children, then the war I’d been avoiding would finally come home. We would be enemies again. And worst of all, I would be at war with my own husband.