Page 53 of The Mob Boss' Pet

“Yeah, great.” I eye a stack of plates on the counter and grab two.

“Three years.” Sarah places two slices of bread on my plate and pushes the deli meat toward me. “You asked how long I’ve been with Roberto,” she reminds me.

“Right.” I go about assembling a ham sandwich for myself. “Three years, that’s a long time.”

“Yeah,” she sighs. The engagement ring on her finger catches the light streaming in from the windows. “And now it’s forever.”

I study her for a moment.

“Don’t you want to marry him?” I ask, cutting the sandwich in half.

She jerks her gaze up to me. “Of course I do!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply—”

“It’s just, I mean, I knew what sort of man he was. He never gives me details, but I know he’s not exactly living on the right side of the law. And I was okay with that, even the secrecy and all that.”

“I’m sensing a but.” I take a bite of my sandwich.

“But,” she supplies. “He was lucky this time, what if he’s not next time?” She lowers her eyes to her plate.

“Have you talked to him about that?” I ask softly. I am in no position to hand out relationship advice. Not with all the feelings and thoughts swirling around in me about Vincenzo.

“Up until now he’s been keeping big secrets from me. Vincenzo wouldn’t let him tell me almost anything until we got engaged. But I’m not an idiot. I pieced most of it together before he told me.” She frowns. “Communication isn’t exactly our strongest skill.”

“Vincenzo has a hard time trusting people.” The statement pops out of my mouth before I can stop it.

“I can understand that. I mean every day he has to worry about the family, their businesses, and all of the other families. Betrayal isn’t uncommon in his world.”

Who scarred him so deeply, though?

“He trusts his brothers.” He would do anything for them.

“Yeah. And Sergio, he trusted him.” She nods and looks away from me.

“It seems like you’ve been in the family a long time, how did Roberto keep so much hidden from you?”

Her eyes widen a fraction.

“He didn’t, did he?” I ask quietly. Staff wanders around the house, and I don’t want anyone overhearing us and reporting back to Vincenzo.

“He kept plenty from me,” she defended. “I’m sure Vincenzo wouldn’t approve of how open he was with me, but he never told me anything that would put anyone in jeopardy. But now,” she looks down at the ring, “now he can be as honest as he wants.”

“Which means the little bit of ignorance you had to hide behind is gone,” I fill in the blanks for her.

Her shoulders drop. “Yeah.” She pushes her plate aside. “I love him, ya know. Like really love him.”

“It’s a lot.” I nod like I can empathize. Maybe in a small way, I do. But when it comes to loving a Manetto man, I’m not sure I’m the one to talk to. “Maybe Maria can help. She’s been married to Anton for a while.”

Sarah bursts out a laugh and shakes her head. “Maria? No. She’s been in this life her entire life, she wouldn’t understand.”

“What do you mean?” I ask. After only a few conversations with Maria, I realized she’s not skittish, but I didn’t get a good feel about who she really was—other than private.

“Her father used to work for Anton’s father. That’s how they got married.”

I blink. “An arranged marriage?”

“Yeah.” Sarah picks at the edges of her sandwich.

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