Page 100 of Malevolent Secrets

“Thank you for being willing to help me plan my wedding,” she says to me, and I smile at her.

“Of course,” I say. “Anything for my best friend.”

She smiles, but her eyes are still haunted by that old pain. I decide I need to talk to my husband.

***

Later that evening, Lorenzo and I are getting ready for bed and just like he always does every night since that first one, he hugs me from behind, pressing me into him.

“Ready for forever, Tesoro?”

I smile, looking at my wedding ring. I admire the unique design and the ridiculous size of it. I had told him it would be too heavy for my little hand and he had told me that was the goal. He wanted me to think of him every second of every day, even when all I was doing was brushing my teeth or pushing the stroller.

My heart was full. “Always and forever.”

I think of the perfect wedding we just enjoyed. A small corner of my mind had been worried about threats or danger, but everything had gone perfectly. I figured that we were due this one day of peace after so much strife.

“Husband,” I say to him, turning my ring on my finger as I think. “Renee deserves to be in charge of something important. She feels left out of the family decisions. I see the look on her face when she thinks we aren’t watching.”

He sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. “She has always wished that she could run the family business,” he says with a sigh. “That was the one thing that she gave up when she broke the betrothal to Massimo. She lost her chance to be in charge of her own crime family.”

“What if you hand over the club to her? She already knows everything about the business even though she’s been away. It could be the start of something big for her, give her something that truly belongs to her.”

Lorenzo smiles at me and then leans forward to press a kiss to my forehead. “My wife is always so thoughtful,” he says indulgently. “I will be happy to talk with my sister about taking over some of the family businesses. She deserves to be as happy as we are.”

As the sun sets on our perfect day, I know that we’ve found our happily ever after. It might not be perfect and we might not always see eye to eye, but our hearts were made for one another, and that’s enough for me.

The End

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