Page 107 of Angelo

Elyse could sense where her husband was going with this conversation, and she didn't like it. She didn't like it at all.

"Don't do it, Alessio."

"If I do not, at least,try," he said, "then I am not the kind of man Iwant to be."

There was a hardness in Alessandro's eyes in this anguish-filled moment, a sense of resolution she had never seen before. Elyse could tell that her husband's mind was already made up, and there was no one, short of God or the Devil, who could convince him otherwise.

She tried to stop him, anyway. "What if you fail and Boris succeeds? Prison is no fucking joke. I could lose you for years. Decades even. You could die in there."

As expected, he didn't listen to her. "I am a greedy fucker. I want it all. I want you to live on your terms. Without the threat of violence driving every decision. Most of all, I want to give you the marriage you deserve. A love without shadows. Only light. Trust me, Elyse, I know what I am doing, and I am going to build you a fucking paradise from the ashes of this hell."

Elyse gazed deeply into her husband's eyes, and her heart had never felt fuller. Or more broken. Elyse kissed him, then, with all the hopes and fears she couldn't put into words. They made love in the quiet of their bedroom. The rhythm of their fucking transcended mind, body, and soul. No games, no teasing, no holding back, only the purest form of desire existed between them as his cock loved her pussy over and over again. He bent down to kiss her deeply as they found their release together.

"I love you, Alessio," she whispered over and over again against his mouth.

"I love you, Elyse," Alessandro groaned in return as he thrust into her one final time.

Their fucking drained her in the sweetest way possible even while their love filled her with strength. They were up against precarious odds, but, if Alessandro wanted to shoot for the stars, she wouldn't stand in his way. She would find a way to shine alongside him. Because, in truth, Elyse didn't want to become a devil. She didn't want her husband to deteriorate into the worst version of himself, either.

Perhaps, shooting for the stars, as impossible and risky as Alessandro's plan might be, was the only way they could escape the darkness once and for all.

21

As the end ofDecember charged into a new year, the sirocco winds swept through the island, and Elyse and Alessandro threw themselves into the final stretch of their plans. The rainy Sicilian months of January and February felt like one long, deadly game of chess.

Mr. Schmid recommended a top-notch criminal defense lawyer by the name of Felice Giambrone to guide them every step of the way. Together, they went head to head with Boris to ensure Isabella's safety by renegotiating Benedetto out of the equation. Alessandro was offered in her grandfather's place, and they turned over a convincing array of faulty evidence that might later subvert the trial.

Step by step, fear and anxiety continually nipped at their heels, but husband and wife didn't swerve from their path.

By late March, her husband was brought into police custody on two counts of disorderly conduct and one count of possession of a controlled substance. But these details weren't released to the public. It heightened speculation that thecapowas about to be taken down by far more serious crimes. Alessandro's arrest helped silence the rumors that had been started by Carmen, Bartolo, and Carmine. He pinned the leak on his three dissenters, effectively wiping out their credibility. The De León name now carried the stench of snitches.

Days after Alessandro's arrest, Bartolo and Carmine's bodies ended up in ditches.

A week later, Alessandro was placed under house arrest. Boris began to express suspicion over their agreement, so, in April, Elyse moved out of the palazzo into one of their other villas. To the outside world, it looked as though she was the nervous wife of a guilty man, hell bent on distancing herself from her husband's crimes.Truthfully, though, the separation took a toll on Elyse.Communication needed to be kept to a minimum. Boris had eyes and ears everywhere. Every word Alessandro fed to Elyse needed to be carefully filtered and cherry-picked. The officers who were monitoring him reported to Boris. Husband and wife began to speak in code on the rare occasions they conversed over the phone.

When they spoke of business matters, words took on different meanings, "My period is a day late."The shipment is a day late.

Over time, they developed an efficient way to communicate in secret, "I forgot to pay the water bill."An ally owes us money.

They even came up with a language for private matters. "I miss New York."I miss you.

Elyse was the one who insisted on, "I hate the rain."I love you.

And Alessandro told her at least ten times a day, "I need some coffee."I am fantasizing about fucking you.

She missed him like crazy. But not much could be done. The show needed to go on. Alessandro's trial was set in early May. He continued running their empire from behind the scenes, often relying on Elyse to take over the duties that he could no longer address due to his house arrest. She took over with the steady, competent hand of a true queen devoted to her king, but she couldn't have done it alone, though.

Mr. Schmid and Mariposa aided her in overseeing their recent ventures in tech, real estate, and healthcare. Elyse even stopped by one of their hospitals to supervise a few surgeries. At the same time, Benedetto and his political allies assisted Elyse with their not-so-legal affairs, Valentina stepped up, too, with her ties to Célia's connections, while helping her retract their dealings with the Beltrán cartel and their partners inCosa Nostra. Alessandro's forced confinement served as the perfect excuse to part ways. Their businesses weren't entirely free from the mafia, but, in this way, little by little, light began to replace darkness in the kingdom.

During the rare lulls in her hectic routine, Elyse found her mind wandering toward Isabella. Where was her mother now? It bothered her that their relationship had ended on such an anticlimactic note. Was she still in London? There had been no comma, not even a question mark, only an abrupt period.

Reflecting on her last phone call with Isabella often left Elyse in a grim mood. Isabella seemed keen to stay out of her life, forever, but, strangely, the more Elyse thought about it, the more it became apparent that she wasn't truly alone. Shemight be motherless, but someone else was there to fill the void. Malina was always with her. The older woman became her rock during this time, especially in the late summer evenings when she was alone and consumed by doubt. Whenever sleep eluded Elyse, she would go to Malina.

"Alessandro puts on a brave face, but I think he is afraid.Not for himself. But for me," she relayed on a balmy night in June."I miss him so much."

Malina reached over to give her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Bravery means nothing without fear, my dear, and anything worth having requires a bit of struggle."

"I just want to know how things will play out. Not every story gets a happy ending. It terrifies me."

---