Page 55 of Forced Vows

I've already got two more bodyguards than I need. What's Miceli going to do? Give me two more and make my extra security round the clock?

I don't have to find out because, by sheer luck, we manage to get our tipsy selves back onto the estate and into the house without being detected.

One of the guards is caught on his phone and Mick reads him the riot act while Uncle Brogan yells at the other guards for not noticing. Honestly, I don’t think we would have made it through undetected without the distraction.

Sometimes Fate smiles on mob princesses who just want one night of normal fun. And tonight's that night.

Not like Portland when Fate was playing nasty tricks.

Fi wants to hear everything about our night and we happily spill it all.

Afterward, we finish watching a movie with her before raiding the kitchen for middle-of-the-night root beer floats. My favorite.

Fi insists on both me and Kara also drinking a full bottle of water before going to bed.

"Hangovers are caused by dehydration," she lectures.

We all end up sleeping together in my room, waking at some ridiculous hour to Mick pounding on my door looking for his wife. Kara lets him carry her out and I roll over to go back to sleep.

I don't think Fi even woke up.

All-in-all, it was a pretty perfect birthday, even if it had to happen a week early.

Chapter 19: MICELI

Catalina smiles up at me. "What do you think?"

I think it looks like a pink and gold balloon and confetti monster barfed all over Festa's VIP level.

"It's very pink," I say neutrally.

Not because I don't want my mother, who is standing on Catalina's left to lecture me. Or even because my brother will shoot me if I hurt his wife's feelings. In the arm. Probably.

But because my sister-in-law's pretty face has none of the pain-driven tension that has marred it so often since the surgery on her hip. Recovery and the physical rehabilitation of her hip under the watchful eye of my overprotective brother has been hard on Catalina.

When the hospital sent a male physical therapist, we very nearly had another body to disappear. I got that sorted without bloodshed or death. Go me.

Catalina is happy right now and it shows.

"And gold," she says happily. "Lucky for us that the black accents were already here as part of the regular décor."

One of my cousin Salvatore's high-end nightclubs, Festa's stark black and white simplicity is one of the reasons I like coming here. My one contribution to this party was suggesting the venue.

Festa's VIP area is the most secure party venue in New York. Especially if the entire floor is booked, which it is. By me.

Confetti, glitter and latex…not the fun kind but balloons…have transformed my favorite club into a backdrop for a new Barbie movie.

I didn't go to the first one and I'd rather not star in this one either.

My other contribution to this party: I'm paying for every damn piece of glitter.

"Lucky." A cavity is forming in one of my molars from the sweetness already.

Catalina laughs and lays her hand on my arm. "It's exactly what Róise wants."

"I'll take your word for it." I have to.

Catalina has spent more time with my future fiancée than I have in the weeks since the contracts were signed.

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