Page 80 of Caesar DeLuca
I chuckle. “What can I say? I’m a late bloomer.”
We head for the highway, speeding in my Audi. It’s our weekly trip out of the city, where we leave behind the penthouse apartment we stay in and travel to the mountains for a weekend getaway.
The perfect compromise for a low-key, solitary woman like mine.
Just enough time to recharge before we return to the city.
Over the last six months, we’ve discovered the routine balances us out. I thrive in big city environments, but sometimes I go too hard; sometimes I’m in need of a break even if I might refuse to admit it. In contrast, Ariana prefers quiet serenity and privacy, and it’s where she’s happiest, but she’s realized it’s good to be a part of society every now and then.
She’s begun finding fulfillment in helping out at a local community center, where she’s able to play to her strengths—nurturing and helping people—but without the high stress environment of a hospital emergency room.
The Crown is still thriving. The casino’s the biggest in the city, with profits higher than even I could have conceived. It’s gone down as an undeniable win for the DeLuca family.
I successfully eliminated the threat the Carisis posed and managed to do so earning hundreds of millions of dollars. I’ve done so finding a woman that’s changed my mindset about what I want out of the rest of my life.
Ariana has made me realize I want more than a life of business transactions. I want more than always focusing on power and profit and what my next move for my operation will be. It’s beneficial to tap into humanity. It’s made me a better man to find a connection with the right woman, who completes me in many ways I wasn’t aware of.
I’m going to have it all—the success as a capo and the relationship that fulfills me.
During the drive, Ariana and I talk over our plans for the next couple of days. Even though we live together in my penthouse deep in the city, we don’t see as much of each other as we’d like during the weekdays. I’m usually retuning so late in the evening that she’s either dressed for bed or already fallen asleep.
Compare that to the weekends where the entire forty-eight hours belongs to us.
Ariana sighs contently when we pull up into the driveway of our home.
“Home sweet home,” she says.
I lean over and press a kiss to her brow. “You’ve been counting down all week long.”
“You have been too… even if you won’t admit it.”
She has a point. I’ve been looking forward to our alone time each day as I run the Crown. It’s become the time where I truly feel able to stop strategizing and overthinking. I can indulge with my woman in secluded privacy.
We head inside the home we’ve created together over the last year.
Ariana was devastated by the loss of her other home. Alfredo had succeeded in burning it down to the ground. Almost everything she owned went down along with it. Property and belongings that she had saved up her entire adult life for.
I couldn’t let that stand. I made it a priority to rebuild her home, except even bigger. A place that was truly ours. She burst into tears when I first drove her up here.
We head into the home that smells of vanilla and fresh cotton and set down our weekend bags.
Ariana raises her arms into the air in a stretch. She’s already kicked off her boots and shrugged off her jacket and hung it up. “How does some homecooked authentic pasta sound?”
“Sounds worth the two hour drive,” I answer.
Ariana starts on our dinner while I uncork a bottle of wine and pour our glasses. When we sit down at our dinner table to enjoy our meal, a pretty smile graces her face.
“I still can’t believe things have worked out the way they have.”
“You mean us? Here?”
She nods. “I had no idea what I was getting myself into stopping to pick you up that night.”
“I didn’t either,” I say, winking at her. “I had no plans of falling for the beautiful stranger that made me wear her ex-boyfriend’s clothes.”
“Caesar, when are you going to let that go?” she cries out with a loud laugh. “You should be happy I gave you any clothes at all. I could’ve left you butt naked.”
“You sound a little too delighted by that idea.”
