Page 78 of Fearless Sinner

“You think it’s a bad idea?”

“No, I’m not saying that. Oh my God. I would never say that.”

“Even with who he is?” She did warn me away from him at the start. “The mafia boss.”

“After all he’s done for us, I don’t care who he is. Cillian O’Ridian has more than taken care of us. I almost died of shock when he called this morning, then he just took charge and made all our worries go away. I’m worried because this is a little spontaneous and you’re not so much into that. Are you really okay with this?”

“Yes. I’m okay.”

“I know the stuff with Nathan is still fresh. How are you feeling in regard to him?”

She’s possibly the only person I can talk to about Nate and not get dragged down at the mention of his name.

“It will always be fresh. I realized that I don’t think I’ll ever get over what he did to me. At the same time, I don’t want to live in fear.”

She nods, wholeheartedly agreeing. “I don’t want that for you either.”

“Cillian has saved me so many times. If all I have is this pocket of time with him, then I want to take it.”

“You really, really like him?” She looks me over.

“Yes.”

“So you’ll be okay with the six months thing?” Roxanne presses her lips together.

“I have to be.”

“Then I’m okay. This is a good thing, and we all benefit from it by him paying the restaurant debts. It means we can achieve other things quicker.”

“We can.” I think of my dance school. That might not be so far away from me now. I contacted the owner and let him know I’d get back to him as soon as I could. Of course, at the time that meant I wasn’t going to get back to him because I had no money. But things might be different now. I could use that fifteen thousand dollars toward the deposit for potentially buying the place. I could save for the rest in the meantime.

“I think he more than likes you, Chloe.” Roxanne takes my hands into hers. “He could have picked someone else to do this but he seems to have shifted everything around so that you’d agree to marry him.”

“I think so.” I don’t know why, but his ex’s twin comes to my mind and I wonder if that was why she was in his office that day.

“He picked you.” Roxanne smiles with more enthusiasm.

“He picked me.”

“Well, I’m a hundred percent behind you.”

“Thank you.”

“This has been one hell of a month.”

“Now we just need Mom to be okay.”

“She will be. She will be okay if only for you. You two have a second chance you both deserve.”

“We do.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cillian

“Oh my God, when do I get to meet her?” Olivia clasps her hands and squeals with joy.

We’re at family dinner again at her house and I just broke the news of my engagement.

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