Page 37 of Her Brutal First Love

"Is that a yes?" How so, so like Giancarlo to ask this like he hadn't done his best to break her heart in the past several weeks.

Everyone thought he was an angel, and she his personal devil, but surely, with the whole of New York watching, they could finally see the truth he had revealed only to her in the past?

Even though he looked as if he had been beaten within an inch of his life, Giancarlo remained the annoyingly gorgeous embodiment of pure unapologetic cockiness, and even though a part of her was childishly tempted to make him pay—-

The other part of her remembered when it was once the other way around, and Giancarlo had neverevergiven up on her—-

It remembered how his love had anchored her in the years she was lost, and how his disappearance had been the reason she had come to truly understand what it meant to depend on God—-

It was because of this that had Sarica throwing herself in his arms—-

"You had my answer years ago," she choked out, "but you didn't come back to hear it."

—-and she realized that she didn't want to waste another day without him.

Giancarlo swallowed hard as Sarica started to cry in her arms.

Thank You, God.

Thank You.

And because he truly was grateful, he paid no attention to Sarica's newly acquired scent as he cupped her face and took her mouth in a kiss.

He loved her, Eau de Garbage and all.

Epilogue

An invitation had been issued and accepted, and the Marchettis' sprawling manor had thrown its gates open to welcome the people over whom Giancarlo's famiglia had ruled for the past few decades.

Cheers rose from the crowd as Potenziana stepped out into view. "Thank you all for coming." Her cultured voice was a force of power in itself. She was and would always be their first queen, a silver-haired woman whose pearls were as iconic as the way she had defeated all of her enemies with cunning and strength and, later on, with grace and faith.

"The future is near. But we have nothing to fear. If God is with us, who can be against us?"

Wild applause broke out even as the older ones remembered and honored in their hearts all the blood that had been shed for this day to come.

She presented her grandchildren and their other halves the order in which they had obeyed her decree.

First was her beloved Cesare, once the unforgiving executioner of herfamiglia, but whose icy heart melted under the innocent warmth of his once-lost bride Penelope.

Next was her charming Massimo, whose wicked smile hid a cruel streak. But in Ysabella, he had met his match, and nearly losing her for good had made this grandson of hers a changed man.

Third was her precious Ezio, who, until now, was a mystery to many, and the same could be said with his wife, Cattleya, who once worked as Potenziana's most dutiful secretary.

Her only granddaughter, Gazelle, was the fourth to be presented, her quiet loveliness a perfect mask for her equally quiet resilience; she was the princess who had tamed the Beast of New York by not wanting to tame him at all.

And finally, it was her eldest grandchild's turn, and even Potenziana found it impossible to keep her voice from breaking as she introduced the two people whose wedding they were celebrating today.

"Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I present to you Giancarlo and Sarica..."

The newly married couple stepped out into view on another balcony, and the reaction from their audience was thunderous.

Sarica did her best to smile and wave likeLa Stregahad told her to do even as feelings of every kind threatened her composure. For so many years of her life, she had felt as if there was no place she could be safe, no person she could belong to.

But now, more than ever, she understood how all the things she had to suffer were part of His perfect plan, and even though there were times her hope and trust in Him had faltered—-

Thank You, God.

Not once did He leave her side.

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