Chapter 39 #2
“We’ve been through a lot lately,” he started slowly. “I’ve made some mistakes and put you in harm’s way with Amara.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Dad,” Dimitros said, his emotions flickering in his eyes before he schooled them. My heart ached for him and the loss he’d experienced. Amara might have not been in his life, but she was still his mother. The only one he knew.
“Maybe it wasn’t, but I should have done a better job protecting you,” Lykos continued, his eyes full of love for his children.
It pained me that he had done so much for them and he thought it wasn’t enough.
“I promise to do better in the future, and talk to you about it too. So I have a question for you two.”
Dimitros nodded, understanding marring his features. “No question needed. Violet is good for you, Dad. Good for us.”
My lips trembled as I smiled at Dimitros with gratitude and Lykos pulled him into a hug.
“Thank you, son.” He turned to look at Aria. “What do you think about that, Aria?”
Aria’s eyes were bouncing between the three of us, and I feared she’d get dizzy if she continued that. A minute stretched it seemed forever while I waited with bated breath for my daughter to answer.
“I want Violet to stay,” she finally said.
“I want to stay too,” I said, my voice barely audible with emotions I was trying to keep in check. I was dying to tell her she was mine, and how much I loved her, but it was all happening too fast and too soon. I didn’t want to scare her away from me.
“Then that’s settled,” Dimitros said. “Right, Dad?”
Lykos nodded.
“Does that mean you’re dating, Papa?” Aria asked with theatrical flair. “Getting married? Having babies? I need to know everything. I need all the scoop.”
Lykos’s gaze was locked on mine, shimmering like two stars in the dark skies. “One question at a time, Aria.”
“Are you—”
I raised my hand, palm up, and cut her off. “How about we just go day by day for now, huh?”
Aria’s brows pinched. “I don’t get it.”
“That means no more questions,” Dimitros chimed in.
She sighed, then rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. But if you’re asking me, you should get married right away. Why waste time?” She waved her hand around. “When it’s my turn to get married, I’m doing it right away. And do you know who I’m going to marry?”
Dimitros and Lykos both let out an exasperated breath.
“That’s not a hard guess,” Dimitros grumbled.
My eyes darted between the three of them, waiting for someone to fill me in. When nobody did, I finally asked impatiently, “Who?”
“Aria decided before she was even potty-trained that she’d marry Amadeo Marchetti,” Dimitros explained.
I let out a strangled breath. “Who?”
“Amadeo Marchetti,” Dimitros repeated patiently. “He’s Enrico Marchetti’s youngest son.”
I blinked, my mind flipping through the names I’d heard over the years in my profession until the name clicked into place.
Enrico Marchetti was an Italian mobster.
I’d never treated Enrico, but I’d treated some other members of the Omertà.
And while they never divulged anyone’s name or activity, I was able to piece together some information over the years because I treated Enrico Marchetti’s wife while she was still alive.
“Jesus Christ,” I breathed. “The Marchettis. The Omertà crime family?”
“One and only,” Dimitros muttered while Lykos seemed completely unbothered with the fact that his only daughter was falling in love with a goddamned mobster-in-the-making. And not even a Greek mobster!
“He’s the one for me,” Aria repeated dreamily. “Papa will arrange a marriage for me.”
“But you’re just a kid,” I said incredulously. I’d just found her; I couldn’t possibly have her falling in love with a boy already. It was too soon. Wasn’t it?
I looked at Lykos, who was shrugging his shoulders. “Aria is very stubborn when she wants something. Unfortunately, in that regard, she’s very much like her papa.”
Aria threw her head back and laughed. “You’re right. You and I are the same.”
“But—” I couldn’t find the right words to express what I was feeling. “I don’t want—”
Lykos silenced me with a kiss.
“It’s a long way away,” he finally whispered against my mouth. “Don’t worry about it, golden one. She might even change her mind in a year or two.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m worried,” Dimitros grumbled. “Aria has had a crush on him for way too long and it doesn’t seem to be going away. Amadeo is older than her and he’s well en route to becoming a playboy.”
“How much older?” I asked.
“Six years older. Too old for her if you ask me.” I agreed with Dimitros, although if I voiced it out loud, I would seem slightly hypocritical, considering the age difference between Lykos and me. And then there was the fact that I didn’t want to alienate Aria.
“Papa, tell Dimitros that Amadeo isn’t too old,” Aria protested, causing Lykos to pinch the bridge of his nose and shoot a wordless look to his son.
“It’s just a crush,” I said, although I’d already decided Aria and Amadeo would never happen. I didn’t care if he was a saint himself, he wasn’t good enough for her.
“Fine,” Dimitros muttered. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Dimitros disappeared out of the kitchen with an annoyed expression, clearly on my side and unhappy with Aria’s fascination with this Amadeo. Much to his dismay, his sister followed him, still chatting about the boy and how wonderful he would be when they all grew up.
“Lykos,” I started quietly. “I don’t like Aria being this obsessed with anyone.”
“It’s a childish fascination,” he justified.
I shook my head. “And I like the idea of an arranged marriage to a son of an Italian mobster even less.”
Lykos chuckled. “Do you not like Italians?”
“It’s not that, but she’s too young to be crushing on anyone, never mind talking about arranged marriage. She’s nine, for Pete’s sake, and we’re no longer in the fifteenth century.”
“She was five when she was ready to fight boys to defend him,” he retorted dryly. “And arranged marriages are still quite the norm in our world.”
“Lykos, she’s nine!”
“Like I said, it’s a long way away.” He was pacifying me now and I didn’t like it. “Yes, she’s still our little girl, but the fact of the matter is, she’ll grow up one day and marry someone. I’d rather that someone be a boy I know and could kill if he hurt my little girl.”
Suddenly, killing another human didn’t sound as shocking. Not when it came to keeping that boy away from my daughter.
“I’m not ready to think of Aria marrying anyone…” Dammit, couldn’t he see that wasn’t normal? I wanted a normal life for her—and for us. My parents didn’t exactly offer normalcy, and it left an impact. “I don’t want her in Italy in ten, fifteen, or twenty years.”
“Maybe those two will settle in Greece.”
“Right, or maybe they’ll settle in Boston.” My tone dripped with sarcasm.
“In Boston? Why would they settle in Boston?”
“I want to show her my life in the States. I’d like to take her home and get her to—”
He stilled. “Excuse me?”
Why was he looking at me like I was betraying him?
“Lykos, I’m staying here, but I plan on going back to the States. I want Aria to see where I work, meet Sophie and her family. I want her to see where I grew up and visit my sister’s grave. I have friends there, and a career.”
“You want Aria to meet your friends in the States?”
“Yes, I—”
“You plan on taking her away?” he growled, cutting me off.
“What? No. It would be a visit.”
But I could tell Lykos stopped listening to reason and my words.
“Did you tell her anything? Did you tell anyone?”
“No.” My voice pitched in volume, anger bubbling inside me. “No on both counts. And I would never tell her such big news without you, Lykos.”
He studied me as if to assess whether I was telling the truth, letting the silence stretch.
I squared my shoulders. “I won’t ever take Aria away from you, but I’m hoping we can find some kind of arrangement where she can be part of both worlds: yours and mine.”
“No.”
“What do you mean no?” I asked, agitation creeping up my spine.
“She’s ours, and we will raise her together.
” His hands came to my hips and he lifted me up, setting me on his lap.
“Together. Here,” he added. “No shared custody, no blended family agreements.” His hand came to the back of my head and he tugged me closer.
“We go all in,” he murmured. “You want to travel, we all fucking travel. Don’t think for a minute that I’d give up my daughter, Violet. ”
Before I could protest or argue further, his lips covered mine.
A shiver trailed down my spine as he kissed me deeply. Our souls merged into one, and although I knew there were things to discuss, I gave in to the desire and let him carry me into the bedroom where we spent the next hour saying everything without ever uttering a word.