Page 150 of Assassin's Obsession

She shakes her head at me, the smooth ponytail she left the house in earlier today long gone. "Don't hide yourself from me. I love all of you, Angelo."

"How can you love me as I am?"

"It's easy, just like it was for your nonno and nonna. Severu and Miceli will probably never say the words, but it's clear they love you like family. Your men who trust you and follow you wherever you go, they love you."

"You see my world through rose colored glasses." As much as I enjoy her interpretation, it's not fair to let her keep believing that. "My men are loyal because I pay them well and they know they can trust my leadership to keep them alive."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. Derian told me how many men in your Special Forces unit joined the mafia so they could work for you. Not because they were looking for a big payday."

"Derian has a tendency to romanticize."

She cocks her head to one side like she's considering my words and then shakes it. "Nah. I don't see it. He said the mafia often uses the military to train their men, and sometimes recruits people who serve with them."

"True."

"But no other made man has ever brought as many men he served with into the Cosa Nostra as you."

"I knew I could trust them." They'd proven they had my back and knew I had theirs.

"Angelo, you might lack empathy. You don't always get social or emotional cues and I'll have to remember that. But your loyalty is absolute. You will kill and die for those you care for. You may not call that love, but I do."

"Now who's being morbid?" I ask because other words fail me.

She sees me like that?

"I love you, Angelo, with my whole heart. And Iknowyou love me. Your mother is so wrong about that. You are capable of love and if she'd been a decent parent who treated you with care, she would have known what that feels like too."

"Probably not. I don't even like Perla."

"Neither do I, but the issue isn't with you. It's a her problem."

"What if what I call love isn't enough for you? I'll never benormal, Candi." My obsession with her didn't suddenly give me a new set of emotions toward the world.

Only her. And her mom and sister.

"And you're not as different as you think. You love my mom and you love my sister, and I believe you love the De Lucas and the men on your crew. It just doesn't look like love to everyone else. But itisenough for me because your brand of love is exactly what I need," she says fiercely.

I'll never get used to the look in Candi's beautiful eyes that says I'm the hero in the story.

Death is never the hero. People look at me with caution. But notmia amateor her sister. Mira is still cautious, butthatI understand.

"I didn't realize how much I would like having a little sister," I say. "She looks at me like a hero just like you do."

I will never damage that. Every child deserves to believe that the important adults in their life are their ultimate protectors, that they care about them.

"She'll never know the neglect and insecurity we did," Candi says with deep conviction.

"No, she won't."

"That's one of the things I love about you, Death. My beloved.Youare everything I want."

Fuck.

Shedoesunderstand that me and Death are one in the same and she loves me anyway. "And you are everything I need,mia amate."

I lean down and she meets me halfway.

The kiss we share is not incendiary. There are no biting lips or thrusting tongues. It's a benediction of the love we share. It goes from her lips straight to my beating heart.

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