Page 62 of Texting My Mafia Savior

“Snapshot?” Mom says, tears in her eyes.

“It’s his nickname for me.” I mime, taking a photo, making thechh-chhnoise.

Mom turns to Dad. “Rocco…”

“Sandy…” Dad’s voice falters. He looks at Aunt Lucy. “Is everything you said true?”

“What did you say?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “On the way here, your dad was furious. Understandably so.” She says this quickly to placate Dad, gesturing at him. “So I told him the truth about Nico. I told him what a good person he is. I told him how he’s sacrificed his life for me. How he’s always, during our fake marriage, put me first as his friend. I told him I can’t think of anybody better for you to be with, Arria. I mean it.”

Tears fill my eyes. I don’t care that Dad is staring. I grab Nico’s hand.

“I love him, Dad. I don’t want to fight, but I love him. He’s…”Done terrible things for me. “He’s the best man I know. He’s my…”My savior.“One and only. I don’t care if we bonded through texting. I don’t care if people might think it’s silly. We’re thereal deal, and I won’t pretend we’re not.”

Dad smiles.Smiles. Mom lets out a sob that turns into a happy noise.

“I’ve never seen you this happy before,” Dad says softly.

“That’s because I’ve never been this happy. Not even close.”

Dad looks meaningfully at Nico. “You’d better take care of her.”

“I will, Rocco. I swear. Always.”

CHAPTER 26

NICO

Two Months Later

“Are you seriously telling me the safari wasn’t your favorite?” Arria asks, clicking and moving the cursor over the digital photo.

We’re in bed together, having a lazy morning, both of us sweaty and content after our frantic lovemaking. But I’m ready for more. I always am for my Snapshot.

“My favorite is the one you took of that puddle in Paris on that unusually bright day because I can see your reflection in it. Partially.”

“A blurry reflection of me is more beautiful thanthis?” She gestures at the sun-soaked image on the screen.

“A blurry reflection of you is more beautiful than anything,” I tell her, kissing her on the cheek.

She laughs, then makes achh-chhnoise and winks at me. I think we were in Copenhagen when she first combined her laugh witha camera noise, a cute callback to her Snapshot nickname. While we were overseas, I kept tabs back home, primarily through my lawyer contacts, who were handling the day-to-day operation of my practice.

As far as the city is concerned—including the cops and the other Families—Dominic and Enzo ran away after getting involved in some heat they couldn’t handle. Most people are pointing fingers at the Cartel. Nobody suspects that one man was behind it. Apparently, nobody would have the balls to pull off something like that.

“Are you happy to be home?” she asks.

“I am.” I nod. “Traveling was amazing. The best part was watching how excited you got every time you saw a new opportunity for a photo. I’m looking forward to getting back to my pro bono work, though.”

She grabs my hand and squeezes it warmly. This felt so illicit, once, so taboo. There was so much that could go wrong with my niece. Now, it feels like the most natural thing in the world. But then again, who am I kidding? Even when we were risking everything, this felt natural.

“I’m happy for you. I wonder if Destiny will still want me to help her with the photography stuff. We sort of left everybody in the lurch.”

“We had good reason to,” I say, kissing her on the cheek again. “Getting out of the city was good because it gave us a chance to bond, to be together, without prying eyes, without judgment. But it served another purpose, too.”

She nods. “It gave us the chance to make sure the mafia wasn’t out to get us.”

“I’d never let anybody hurt you,” I say. “But yeah. And now…”

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