Page 59 of Ruined in Vows

Matteo puts the SUV in drive, heading toward the private airstrip where Nico’s plane awaits us.

“Do you want me to put in a call to Alessio?” he asks, eyes on the road as he speeds toward our destination.

Nico shakes his head. “I will call him. Then I need to check in with my wife.” He checks his watch. “Though she should be sleeping,” he mutters, obviously noting the time on the East Coast is the early hours of the morning.

Fishing the burner phone from my sweatpants pocket, I add, “I need to call Allegra.”

Nico glances back at me from the front passenger seat. “Wait until we are on the plane. We are thirty minutes away and things could still go wrong. I will let Alessio know that we haveextracted you and are on our way to the airfield. He can relay the message. It’s not ideal but at least they will know we are okay.”

Scrubbing a palm over my face, I exhale a breath, falling back against the leather seat. “Allegra is going to lose her shit.”

Nico and Matteo both snort, but it’s the former that speaks. “My sister has you by the balls. Has since the moment you fell for her. You need to get a handle on that before she unmans you.”

Chuckling, I shake my head. “She owns me, Nic. If that means showing her vulnerability, then I will. Nothing wrong with being soft for your woman.” I narrow my eyes. “I saw how you were with Ocean. She may as well have a leash on your dick and call you a good boy.”

Matteo bursts out laughing. “He isn’t wrong there, boss.”

“Don’t you fucking start asshole,” Nico hisses. “My wife may own every single inch of me, heart, body, and soul, but make no mistake, she knows who is in charge.”

I bark out a condescending laugh. “Just admit it, Nic. Like I said, there is no shame.”

“Oh, fuck off,” he growls, bringing his phone to his ear, clearing his throat. “Alessio, we are on route to the plane. Inform my wife, sister, and mamma that everything went as planned.” He pauses, listening to Alessio. “Yeah. Our arrival back to the estate should be between nine and ten a.m. tomorrow morning. I assume my family is awake?” he asks, growling at the answer. “It's one in the goddamn morning. Tell them that we are fine and not to wait for a call. My wife needs to rest. Tell them all to get some sleep and we will see them tomorrow.” He cuts the call, sighing as he leans back in his seat.

“I’m speaking to Allegra,” I tell him, leaving no room for argument.

“Send her a message. They all need some rest. You haven’t seen my sister these last couple days, she has barely slept or eaten what with her worrying about you.”

Guilt hits me at his words.

During our video calls, I noticed the dark circles under her eyes, the tiredness on her face. When I confronted her about it, she waved off my concerns. Now hearing it directly from Nico, I realize I had every right to worry.

“You’re right man. I’m sorry I have put her through all this.” I tell him honestly.

“It’s not your fault. I’m just relieved that you are alive,” he tells me, and I hear the vulnerability in his voice. “Those months when we thought you were dead. When my sister believed you were dead. It was hell. I honestly didn’t think my Allegra was going to make it,” he says cryptically, but I understand exactly what he is saying.

“She wouldn’t have put her family through that,” I murmur quietly, my chest tightening, eyes squeezing shut, as images of my woman taking herself out of this world, because she couldn’t live without me, assaulted my mind.

It’s something I cannot even begin to comprehend.

“Allegra wasn’t thinking clearly. She wasn’t in the right frame of mind.” He sighs. “It was close, Dante. Real fucking close. Something just switched inside of her. And I knew full well that when she approached me about the arrangement with Riccardo, she didn’t care what happened to her. But she wouldn’t let me talk her out of it. Allegra insisted that we go ahead with the contract Papà had entered her into.” He exhales a weary breath. “I should have fought her harder on it… and I know that I sound like a pussy when I say this, but I was grieving, too.”

I cut him off, trying to lighten the mood with my teasing. “Ahh, did you miss me Nic?”

“Fuck off,” he barks, coldly. The indifferent don back in place. “I’m trying to make you understand that we were all going through shit. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind when I agreed to let my sister go ahead with the marriage. Our organization wasweak. We couldn’t afford to go to war with the Russians plus the commission. I had my family to think of. My wife. My son. And the baby on the way.” He clears his throat again, as if recalling that time is too much to bear. “I didn’t agree to it lightly Dante, but I did agree to it. And it makes me feel like the shittiest brother in the whole world to have done that to my sister.”

Exhaling, I digest everything he just told me. It hurts to know they all went through this. The grief they suffered with thinking I was dead. I can’t blame Nico or even Allegra for the engagement to Riccardo. That doesn’t mean I have to like it.

“You had no choice.”

He laughs but it's humorless. “There is always a choice, Dante. You know that. I fucking hate that my sister might have to marry that monster. Hate that we can’t find a paper trail linking Riccardo to the Russians or what happened to you.”

“We will, Nico. If it’s the last thing I do, I will nail that fucker and prove that he is involved. No way will I allow him to get his hands onmyprincipessa.” Vehemence laces every word.

“It’s the only way the commission will take our side in a war against them. We need to find evidence. And soon. The wedding is a month away.”

“There will be no wedding,” I snap, every muscle in my body tensing. Taking a deep breath, I have to force myself to calm down before I lose my fucking shit. “The only wedding that will happen is if I am waiting at the end of the aisle. I don’t want to hear that shit from your mouth again. I will go to fucking war for my woman, and I will find what we need to take Riccardo down. There is no other outcome that I will fucking accept.”

Both Matteo and Nico chuckle before the latter turns to look at me. He smirks.

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