Page 127 of His Two Hidden Masks

“You are serious,” I said.

“He will move on to different prey.”

“You call it prey.”

“I’m sorry,” Dylan said. “You have to understand how my family thinks. We were born for business, and I chose music.”

“And you did quite well.”

“Until I fucked it all up,” he said. “But now I’m back, because of you. I’m back and this time it’s really me. No more hiding.”

“So that is it? You are all good now?”

Dylan inhaled. “I think so.”

“He isn’t going to stop speaking to you? Cut you off?”

“He can’t cut me off. He may finally want to buy me out, who knows. He may stop speaking to me for a minute or two when he remembers I fucked him over, but he’ll get over it. We always do. And honestly, some silence from him would be a bloody relief.”

“It’s really over.”

“Yes,” Dylan said. “He is right. I never had the passion for the business. Now I have a passion for a woman, just one, one woman, and my music, of course.”

He reached out and touched my cheek. “You are my muse.”

“Doesn’t this make you nervous?” I said. “We don’t even know where we are going to live. Are we crazy?”

“Probably,” he said. “But every cell in my body is telling me to choose you, Bella Uzano, and I do. I choose you.”

He reached down and softly kissed me. We stood in front of the signage for the merger that we’d destroyed. We’d replaced it with something else. With us.

I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I turned to see my mother.

“Mama,” I whispered, clutching Dylan’s hand.

“Bella,” she said, nodding. “Mr. Street.”

“Signora Uzano,” Dylan said, stepping aside. I noticed how he deferred to her.

My mother’s mouth curled in a slight smile. “Bella, I need to talk to you,” she said. “Alone, please.”

“If it’s about Dylan,” I said, “anything you have to say to me, he can hear.” Dylan had not asked me to step away when dealing with his brother.

“It’s all right,” Dylan said, squeezing my hand. “I’ll be downstairs waiting for you. Talk to your family.”

Before he left, he leaned down and gently kissed me on my lips. It was sweet and tender, and when I looked up, I saw my mother’s eyes follow him as he exited the foyer. “I see that you did marry for love,” she whispered.

“Mama.” I walked forward and grasped her hands. “It was supposed to be Roberto, but the plan changed. What mattered to me was getting the votes to stop the acquisition. The plan to marry Dylan wasn’t entirely mine.”

“Well, you did it,” she whispered.

“Paolo said you told him what was at stake.” I searched my mother’s face for a reaction. “Did you really try to get Papa to stop? Did you tell him that James was going to sell off everything.”

She nodded. “I believed you. And contrary to what your father believes, I have a strong mind for business. I knew something was wrong.”

“But if you don’t have a seat at the table, it’s hard to have a voice.”

“Exactly,” she whispered.

---