Page 129 of Into the Fire

“Done,” I said immediately.

“Really?” She stared at me like she couldn’t believe what I was saying.

“Have I actually changed so much?” I asked softly. “That you think I’d not compromise with you?”

“We’ve all changed, Enzo.”

I studied her for a moment. “I love you, Sunshine. That is the one constant. That will never change.”

“I’m tired of the same fights. Of the fear and worry. Of-of the responsibilities—”

“Anson and you. . . I want you to remain friends. I do. I know he cares, and I know you do too. I accept that. I don’t like it, but I do accept it. I’m not taking him away. I’m not going to take Jamie or your parents away. Rosalie, I want you to have everything you’ve ever wanted. I just, fuck.” I closed my eyes for a moment to gather my thoughts before I opened them and looked at her. “I want to be your Enzo. Your secret keeper. The guy you come to for everything. I guess maybe I got jealous when Anson took that spot. Or even Fox,” I mumbled.

“I’m scared to come to you. You’re always so angry and quick to violence.”

“I’ll work on that,” I said, truly meaning it. “I’m overwhelmed too. I didn’t think any of this shit was going to happen to me. I thought I had years of freedom ahead of me, but my father wants me to take over. He wants me to really be a part of this. It’s tradition. It’s my future. It’s my responsibility to my family. The problem is that I have two families, and one is being neglected. I don’t know what to do or how to do it. I’m fucking twenty yearsold. I should just be enjoying my girl and my friends. Partying. Making sure my college shit is done. Instead, I’m running a mob syndicate and killing people,” my voice broke. “And I’m losing my girl. Fuck, Rosalie. Make it better. I don’t have anyone who can make this better. Just. . . stay, OK? I’ll give you more. Anything that I can possibly give you.”

She pressed her lips to mine, silencing me. Her kiss was what I needed. I fell into it, wrapping my arms around her, my tongue dancing along hers.

“We’ll do our engagement party on the day we were to be married,” she said softly, pulling away from me. “We’ll marry in September. Any day. You can pick it.”

“You’ll still marry me?” I searched her face for any inkling that she was just trying to make me feel better.

“I said yes. I-I’ll marry you. Just. . . things have to get better. I need to get myself sorted too. I promise you I’ll be better. I’ll do what I’m told, but I want things to be open for discussion before they’re shut down.”

“Agreed.”

She nodded. “OK.”

“I love you so fucking much. I’ll give you everything you’ve ever dreamed of, baby. I want to so much. Even the things I don’t like.” The last sentence held something deeper in it. Something I didn’t want to do but would if it came down to it.

“I love you too,” she said before kissing me again.

Things would get better. They fucking had to.

I never lost a fight, and I wasn’t about to give up this one. Even if Rosalie would have held her ground on not marrying me, I knew I’d have made her.

I didn’t know if that made me desperate or crazy, but it didn’t matter because she’d made a promise I’d make sure she kept.

Maybe it just made me a monster.

FORTY-TWO

FOX

Things were getting back to normal. Rosalie took a few days off, and she and I spent some time together. I apologized profusely for my part in things, and pinky promised I’d never do anything like it again.

We both agreed it had been a mutual fuck-up, and agreed we’d leave it at that.

She and Cole had made up too. Seeing him mope around the house with Enzo was more than I could bear, so I’d taken to working out more in the gym and avoiding everyone as much as possible. E simply stayed in the basement making so many drugs that he was several months ahead on things.

But now things were better a week later, for which I was grateful. Rosalie still hadn’t spoken to Anson, but all that was about to change because she’d texted him and asked him to come over.

Cole had vowed to be on his best behavior.

I really hoped he was able to maintain that.

At seven that evening, the doorbell rang. Rosalie was still upstairs, so I went and answered it. Enzo was on a call to Vander Veer in the office with Cole, and E was in the basement working on a new strain he was keeping quiet on.

---