“I can’t not react to you,” I finally say.

Gia shifts, looking at me.

She doesn’t say anything, so I take a breath and continue.

“I can’t pretend that I don’t care about you. That I’m not drawn do you. I can’t tell you that when you put yourself in danger, I won’t turn around and try to get you out of it. I’ll always be worried about you. I’ll always want to keep you safe.”

“Sal…”

I press a finger to her lips. “But I can promise that I’ll try to keep my shit together. You can be whoever you want in public. As long as you’re mine when you’re here.”

She tilts her head.

I nod. “As long as I get the real Gia, you can be whoever you want to the world. The real Gia? She’s mine,” I say fiercely.

Gia’s eyes widen. “Sal…”

“You don’t have to say anything yet. Think about it. Because Gia, if you say yes, there’s no going back. There’s no pretending anymore. If you agree to be mine, then you’re mine.”

“And what about you? Are you mine as well?”

I lean forward and press a light kiss on her lips. “Gia, I’ve always been yours.”

I tuck her into my arms and turn out the light.

Gia’s breath evens after a while.

While she sleeps, I hold her.

Hoping, praying, for things that I want so badly, it hurts.

* * *

“I can’t say that I’ve ever really been to Ireland,” Gia says, looking out over the coastline looming in the distance. “But I feel like it’s almost comically green.”

I laugh, joining her on the deck. “Comically?”

“Like, we get it. They like green. You don’t see Italians being so overtly… Italian about everything.”

I shoot her a look. “I think we probably taught the Irish how to do it.”

“Yeah. Fair, I guess. Still. The green seems like a lot.”

I come behind Gia, and press against her, placing a kiss on her head. “It seems like Ireland.”

We draw closer to the coast, and it is indeed, very green.

I’m not exactly happy to be here. For one, I don’t know what we’re going to find. Marco could be here. He could be dead.

The people who tried to kill us in Amsterdam are definitely here. I have no doubt about that.

Given the Irish vitriol toward the Rossi family and the De Luca family I have no doubt that the Irish here are going to be absolutely furious when they find out that Gia and I are here.

Well.

If they find out.

But we have to find Marco before they do. We have to get him, so they can’t use him against us.