Page 69 of Beautiful Vows

Enzo clears his throat. "Regarding marriage stuff. I found out it's not not entirely true," he says.

Milly narrows her eyes. "Sorry? But you told me…"

"Where's Amara?" I ask, wanting to get away from the conversation.

"She's in her room getting ready. Surprise her," Milly says. "Her room is upstairs. The second room on the left."

"The surprise will be her having a heart attack when she doesn't remember me."

"She's used to it now. Go and see her."

I walk away from Milly and Enzo, listening to the conversation they have about what’s expected of him. He tells her he might one day have a bride arranged for him.

Milly sighs when he tells her he can choose the age he gets wed. I know that's not true, but I hear nothing else as I reach the stairs.

It's a floating staircase with a glass and steel balustrade, and non-slip marble on the tread.

I take tentative steps, because there is something unnerving about it. Yet, when I reach the top of the staircase, the view is as amazing as the house.

The entire rear of the home is glass, providing a seamless transition to the expansive stone terrace and the crystal blue pool that bleeds into the immaculately groomed grounds.

Beyond the house is the sea. But because it's behind the bulletproof glass, I don't hear a sound—not a wave, a bird, only the hitch of my stepmother's voice ordering everyone around.

Dominic's home is on a small block of land compared to the massive estates of his fellow Syndicate heads. But his home is on, arguably, the most expensive piece of dirt in the whole Queensland, and from what I've heard, he's been offered obscene amounts of money from developers who'd love to plonk a hotel on the grounds.

Those developers try their luck for so long until they realize who they’re dealing with and then they run as fast as their legs will take them.

When I reach the second door on the right, I lift my hand and tap gently against the wooden door.

"Come in," Amara says gently before I step inside.

"It's me. Your sister, Lia." I say tentatively as I walk toward her and pull her in for a hug. She's looking at me again like she thinks she knows me, but she's not so sure. "How are you?"

"Lia … Lia … Lia." I can see her trying to place me. Trying to remember.

"Your memories will come back," I say. Hoping the doctor was right and they will.

"I know. Mom told me I was dating Mateo before the accident and…"

"What the hell? No, you weren't."

"I wasn't?"

"I found you arguing with him."

"A lovers argument?" she questions.

"No. It was bigger than that and you wanted to talk to me about something that was happening to you. I'm so sorry that I never came to you to find out what was wrong." I hold her biceps as I stare at her and sigh. "But what the hell makes Mom think you're dating Mateo?"

"I might have been. I just don't remember him. Even when he visited me."

"Mateo Conti visited you?"

She nods. "Mom hoped his visit would reignite my memories."

Internally, I scream. The woman she is calling her mother hasn't got a fucking clue.

But come to think about it. Mateo looked at me strangely in the helicopter, and he saw me kill the head of another Syndicate family. He heard me letting everyone know I was ready for the Mafia world.

---