Chapter 28 #2
Mom spots us and waves before walking toward us. “Hi, you two.” She digs something out of her clutch. “I wanted to bring it over earlier, but your father was in a hurry. He had some bet with Damiano and the others. Whoever’s last has to pay up, and he wasn’t about to lose.”
Mom holds a rectangular box out to me, and I immediately know what it is.
“Thanks, Ma.” When I open it and remove the chain, I look at the bullet that’s been set in gold. My wife gasps when she realizes what I’m holding in my hand, and with a grin, I ask her, “Will you help me put it on?”
“You seriously kept the bullet?” She takes the chain from me, inspecting the pendant.
“Of course.” When she fastens the gold chain around my neck, I stare at her until she meets my eyes. “It’s a reminder of how much you love me, and I want it close to my heart.”
I tuck it beneath my shirt, and when the cold metal settles against my chest, I pat my hand over it.
Laurie looks emotional, and placing my arm around her, I pull her close to my side.
We walk deeper into the room and spend the next twenty minutes greeting everyone before I finally get to Georgi. I slap him on the back, catching him off guard while he’s pouring himself a drink.
“Fucker, you almost made me spill,” he mutters.
“Laurie showed me the video where Simi called you dad,” I say.
He sucks in a deep breath. “It was the first time she called me that. I almost cried like a fucking baby.”
“I noticed.” I point close to his eye. “I could swear there was a little ol’ tear hanging right there.”
“Fuck off,” he scoffs.
“Daddy,” Simi shouts fucking loud from somewhere on the other side of the room, then she shrieks, at the top of her lungs, “Daddy! Spider!”
Georgi runs as if hellhounds are chasing him, and I watch as everyone clears a path to where Simi is half hysterically pointing at a black dot on the floor.
He swoops her into the air before squashing the spider, then soothes his little girl until she’s calm.
Christ, he’s a natural.
My eyes find Laurie where she’s standing by Yuki, and I wonder what it will be like when we have children.
It will have to wait a couple of years. I’m too selfish right now to share her attention.
“How are you, son?” Uncle Damiano suddenly asks from behind me.
I turn around and get to work, pouring two tumblers of whiskey, while answering, “I’m good. You?”
“Good.”
Even though he stepped down as our capo and handed the reins to Christiano over a decade ago, he’s still one badass motherfucker who can make a grown man piss his pants with a single look.
We stand side by side, enjoying our drinks, and only after a minute or so has passed does he say, “You look at peace, Adriano.”
I point at Laurie. “It’s all my wife’s doing.” Getting her attention, I gesture for her to come to me.
She says something to Yuki before walking toward us. A server doesn’t watch where he’s going as he backs up, and I dart forward, throwing my body between the idiot and my wife before he can knock into her right arm.
Glasses tumble over on his tray, the sound grabbing everyone’s attention, while Laurie stares at me as if I’ve lost my mind.
“I’m so sorry, Sir!” the man immediately starts apologizing behind me, and when I turn around, he takes one look at my face and visibly pales while whispering, “So very sorry.”
With anger bubbling in my chest, I watch him scurry away, and only because it’s Georgi and Nina’s engagement party do I spare his life.
“It was an accident,” Laurie says, her tone soft as she tries to calm my temper.
“An accident that could’ve…” I shut up, because just thinking of losing Laurie fills me with rage. I wrap my arm around my wife while muttering, “Stay by my side for the rest of the night so I can protect your arm, or I might end up killing someone.”
Uncle Damiano lets out a chuckle, then holds out his arm to Laurie. “Don’t mind my godson. I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.” When she takes his hand, he adds, “Damiano Falco.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Falco,” Laurie almost whispers, fear shimmering through in her voice.
I glance at her face, and noticing how big her eyes are, I say, “His bark is worse than his bite.”
“Wanna bet?” Uncle Dario, Rosie’s father, says as he joins us. “I’ve seen him bite off a man’s ear.”
“Dario!” Mom snaps. “My daughter doesn’t need to hear such gruesome things.”
“Sorry, Tori,” Uncle Dario quickly apologizes. He looks at Laurie and gives her a sheepish grin. “Hi, Laurie, I’m Daria La Rosa, the dumbass.”
She lets out a chuckle and shakes her head. “It’s okay. Please don’t worry.”
Someone taps on a microphone, then I hear Georgi say, “Can you all hear me?”
“Yes. All the way in fucking Canada,” Christiano shouts.
“Good. Now shut up and listen.” He shoots us all a grin.
“Thank you for joining Nina and me to celebrate our engagement. Every person who means the world to me is gathered in this room.” He glances over us.
“Christ, there’s a lot of you.” He holds his hand out to Nina.
“But this woman is the one who holds my heart in the palm of her hand, and I’m so thankful she agreed to become my wife. I love you, Nina.”
Applause breaks out around the room as he puts the microphone down and walks to Nina to kiss the shit out of her.
I rub my hand up and down Laurie’s back, and as our eyes meet, I can see how much she’s enjoying tonight.
I lean down and whisper, “I love seeing you happy.”
“Good.” She leans into me. “Because you make me incredibly happy, so you’ll be seeing it a lot.”