“Why you?” I heard the creak of a chair, and I imagined him sitting up.
“Yeah, why me?” I opened my eyes and stared at the ring. “Why do you want to marry me?”
He cleared his throat, and I wondered if he was processing what to say. He didn’t come across as someone who thought before he spoke, but then I didn’t know him. Which was the whole point. Why would he choose to ask me to marry him when I was sure he had a line full of women ready to take this ring.
“Because my gut told me to.” I opened my mouth, not sure what to say, but he continued, “I don’t overthink things, Aida. When my gut tells me to do something, I do it.”
He made sense, but that didn’t mean I fully understood him.
“What is your gut telling you, Aida?”
I wasn’t sure I could take much more of him saying my name. The way the letters rolled off his tongue had warmth spreading through me and a deep need in my stomach to hear it over and over again.
“I…I’m not sure what it’s saying.” I huffed out a breath and leaned my head in my hand. “I just…there’s too much to think about.”
“Aida.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to ask you a question. Don’t think about it. Don’t pause. Just answer it with your gut.”
I pulled in a deep breath. “Okay.”
“Okay.” There was a pause and then, “Will you marry me?”
I didn’t think. I didn’t process the question and think about all of the what-ifs. I let my gut answer for me. “Yes.” I slammed my hand over my mouth, shocked at the single word that had come out. I’d been fretting over this entire situation from the moment Ma and Dad had told me, and all it had taken was one conversation with Lorenzo for me to finally come to a decision.
“I’ll see you at the altar, Aida.”
Holy shit.
I was getting married.
To Lorenzo Beretta.
I was going to be the wife of a Mafia boss.
LORENZO
The church was packed with people who had come from all over the world to see the next boss of the Beretta family get married. A mixture of old and new generations filled each of the pews, but still, there wasn’t enough room for everyone. People lined the edges of the church, several of the families not mixing with one another, but they were here as witnesses.
Witnesses to a new age.
An age of the modern reign.
A reign I intended to take full control of.
My gaze roved around the giant building, first landing on my ma’s smiling face and then on my uncle, who sat next to her. He was becoming a permanent fixture in the house—a fixture I didn’t like. He was trying to insert himself, offer advice that wasn’t wanted. And all I could do was sit back and take it. Until I was married, I wasn’t the boss. Only then could I tell him what I really thought.
Uncle Paolo’s lips curved up into a smile. I tilted my head in greeting, not willing to give him more than that. He thought I didn’t know who he was, but I did. My dad had prepared me for this day for what felt like my entire life, and that included detailed accounts of the Italian arm of the operation. Which included Uncle Paolo. I knew he wasn’t here for the good of the family because, if he was, he would have come to my dad’s funeral.
But he hadn’t.
He’d only come stateside when he could gain something—or that was what he thought.
As soon as I had the ring on my finger and Aida as a wife by my side, I could take over. And my first order of business was to find out exactly what Uncle Paolo was doing here.
My nostrils flared the longer we stared at each other, neither of us willing to look away or back down. He may have been the senior person right now, but he wouldn’t be for long. And as if I had willed it, the music started.