Page 203 of Divine Obsession

“Back-talk?” Francesca raised a perfectly shaped brow, interlocking her arm with mine. “All I heard was facts, baby bro.”

We laughed as we turned around, extending a hand out to Carmen. She smiled too, joining us. “Bye, Tony.”

“Hey!” Tony shouted after us. “What happened to freedom of choice?”

“I want to marry your daughter.” My voice boomed in the quiet, royal room. The grand door had just closed behind us and no one had even gotten the chance to sit down.

Enzo DeMone laughed, taking a seat on one of the armchairs.

I remained standing, holding Salvatore Moretti’s gaze as he settled his hands on the office desk and leaned over it. “If you think you can just come in here–”

“I apologize if that came off as a question. Iwillmarry, Natalia. With or without your permission.”

“I won’t let my daughter walk into the lion’s mouth–”

“I am in love with your daughter, Don Moretti. And she is in love with me.”

“Now, I know the boy is lying,” Enzo grumbled.

“I know you saw her kiss me back. Both of you,” I finished, looking straight at Salvatore.

“That’s not–”

“I love her. We have been together for years. I have been dating your daughter since we both studied together at Columbia.”

Salvatore’s jaw grinded, no wonder furious that he’d been unaware of my relationship with Natalia.

“Even if that’s true, Salvatore,” Enzo began speaking. “Why’d he wait until now? He’s trying to get between our business arrangements.”

Digging into my suit jacket’s inside pocket – ignoring both Dons and their soldiers as they pointed their guns at me – I pulled out the velvet box, opened it, and set it on the desk.

“I was waiting for the right moment to ask her.”

For the first time that afternoon, the room was filled with silence, both Bosses’ eyebrows shooting to their hairlines.

“Consider this marriage, between me and your daughter, the final step in concluding the rivalry between our families.”

Salvatore’s hard gaze stayed on me. “Why now?”

“Nothing will stand between me and the woman that I love.”

“That’s the third time you’ve said that.” Enzo’s voice caused me to slowly turn to him.

A man acknowledging his love for a woman in the criminal underworld was a dangerous thing – something many considered a weakness. I’d never felt stronger.

“It’s the truth,” I confessed.

He nodded, then stood and walked over to Don Moretti, before speaking low to him only.

They shook hands and Enzo turned to me, slapping my shoulder before walking out with his men. “Good luck,slick.”

Salvatore sighed deeply, leaning back in the office chair.

“If she saysyes, she will become a Su. All obligations to the Cosa Nostra will be ended. Continuing to work with you will be her choice.”

He didn’t like that but shook my hand nonetheless.Calling my bluff. “Tell you what, kid. You get that ring on her finger, we’ll talk.”

When we walked out, the party was gone.

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