Page 89 of The Fighter

Three months later…

The grand reopening party for the newly renamed Zuccaro’s happens on December thirtieth.

Everyone shows up. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. Tomas’s whole family flies in from Valencia for the event.

For me.

Because this is my dream.

It’s not just Tomas’s parents. My friend Rosa and her husband Leo are there too. Leo’s not the only one of Tomas’s coworkers in attendance. No, they’re all here, starting with the padrino himself, Antonio Moretti. Dante, Joao, Omar, and Daniel all crowd in, too. My instructors, Naima, Julian, and Nova, are here—yes, I finally hired more teachers, and it’s working great—as are my regulars, Sara, River, Sergio, and the others.

Prosecco flows like water, and the smoothie machine works overtime. Everyone troops upstairs to take in the expanded weight room. “I love it, Ali,” Sara exclaims, hugging me tight. “You were living here, weren’t you? Did you move in with your hottie?”

My hottie is saying something to Luke, who is nodding along animatedly. Tomas still calls him my pretty boy instructor, but the two of them get along well. At least, when they’re not beating the crap out of each other in the octagon.

Tomas notices I’m staring at him. He looks from me to the new ring Marcelo installed, and his lips curl into a wicked smile. I feel myself blush as I remember his promise to me this morning in the shower. “There’s a new ring in the gym,” he said, pushing me against the wall and caging me in with his body. “After the party, when everyone’s gone, I’m going to drag you there, dolcezza.” He winked at me. “And you can show me all your special moves.”

Sara clears her throat. “My God,” she says. “The two of you have been together for three months already. You’re past the honeymoon stage, Ali. Stop eye-fucking him already.”

My cheeks flame. “I wasn’t eye-fucking him.” I totally was. “Yes, I moved into Tomas’s house in Giudecca.” He talked me into it a week after we came back to Venice from Valencia, though, to be honest, I didn’t take much persuading.

I thought it would be pretty great living with Tomas, but it’s even better than I imagined. Freccia is a snuggler, and she’s decided her new favorite nap spot is my lap. Many of the mafia members live in Giudecca, and Tomas’s coworkers and their partners have become the family I’ve always wanted. Antonio and Lucia regularly host dinners at their palazzo. Dante and Valentina are a two-minute walk away, and their daughter Angelica, who has started taking classes with me, is a delight. I even enjoy the thirty-minute commute from Giudecca to Dorsoduro. When I lived above the gym, I never got to really leave work behind. I can now, and I’m much happier for it.

Joao also lives in the neighborhood, though we don’t see very much of him. When Tomas and I got back to Venice, once the dust settled down, I remembered Cici’s words about Gemma, and relayed them to him. Tomas was shocked. “I didn’t even know he was married,” he said.

I know he told Joao what Cici told me. Shortly after I moved in with Tomas, Joao had come over for a visit. “I’m sorry about Stef,” he said. “I didn’t know. We’ve been estranged for a very long time.” His eyes turned hard. “I’ll take care of it. She’ll never threaten you again.”

And after that, I haven’t heard anything.

Tomas walks over and drapes his arm possessively around my waist. Sara laughs. “I think that’s my cue to get more prosecco,” she says. “Great party, Ali. And the space looks fantastic.”

He waits for her to get out of earshot. “Did I tell you that I finally tracked down Groff’s crooked bookkeeper last month?”

I’m wearing three-inch heels, and I still have to look up at his face. “You did? Please tell me you didn’t do any murdering.”

He rolls his eyes. “Felicity Fletcher is alive and well. As I keep telling you, Alina, murdering opportunities are sadly few and far between these days. A great pity.” He reaches into his jacket pocket and extracts a thick bundle of one-hundred-euro notes. “Turns out Groff convinced her that he’d fallen in love with her. And, of course, once he ran away to London, she never heard from him again.” He hands me the cash. “I strongly suggested that she return your money. She’d already spent some of it, but there’s more here than I thought there would be. Fifty-eight thousand, three hundred euros.”

“In cash?” I hiss, pushing the giant wad of bills back to him. “Tomas, you can’t just give me that much money. What if I lose it? What if I get robbed on the way to the bank?”

He laughs openly at my reaction. “Are you or are you not Ciro Del Barba’s underground champion?”

“Okay, fair,” I admit grudgingly. I think back to the day Tomas first discovered the theft. “I never thought I’d be grateful to be stolen from, but if it hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t have had any reason to spend time around each other. We might not have ended up together.”

He gives me a wry smile. “Remember how I volunteered to fix your books? I told you it was a complicated job, and it wouldn’t be easy to find someone to do it, so I offered to do it myself?”

“Yes?”

“It wasn’t that hard. I could have found someone to do it, but I didn’t want to. If anyone was going to spend hours with you, crammed into that ridiculously tiny office, it was going to be me.”

I put my hand over my heart. “I think that might have been the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”

“You’re mocking me, dolcezza,” Tomas says. “Sounds like you’re in need of a good spanking.”

A shiver runs through me. “In the new ring?” I ask hopefully. “Because someone promised to drag me there.”

He grins and pulls me close, so my back is against his chest. “You look hot in this dress, Ali,” he says into my ear. “I want to tear it off you. Tell me again what time this party ends.”

Goosebumps break out on my skin, and I glance discreetly at my watch. “Another hour.”

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