Page 101 of Dangerous King
I blink at her. My chest tightens.
"Let him decide what you are to him, Cat," she says. "Don't take that choice away from him just because you're scared."
I look down at Shadow, who gives me a slow blink of solidarity.
Izzy smiles softly. "He's different with you, you know. You calm him. You matter.I see it every time he looks at you."
I press my lips together. My heart aches with how much I want to believe her. But at the same time, I don't want to go against Eliza, who coincidentally said almost the exact same words to me.
Izzy reaches out and squeezes my hand. "You're not a footnote in his life, Cat. You might be the headline."
"Izzy," I murmur, "I don't want to disrespect your family. Especially not your mamma. She's been so kind to me. She opened her home to my family. She makes me feel like I belong." I blink quickly, trying not to cry again.
Izzy frowns. "What did Mamma say exactly?"
I think back, biting the inside of my cheek. "That Enrico's always lived under expectations—that he's had them for himself, too. That one day, he's supposed to marry a mafia princess. That there are… responsibilities."
Izzy doesn't look surprised. If anything, she looks… knowing. Maybe even a little annoyed. After a moment, she says, "She's testing you."
I'm confused. "What?"
Izzy leans forward. "That wasn't a warning, Cat. That was her way of figuring out how strong you are. How hard you're willing to fightforhim. Mamma doesn't do ultimatums. She does... measurements."
I stare at her.
"She wants to know what you're made of," Izzy continues, her voice gentler now. "Because she sees it too. The way Enrico looks at you. The way heiswith you. She knows it's real. She just needs to know if you're built to last."
"I'm not a mafia princess," I whisper.
"No," Izzy agrees, "you're something better. You're someone who survived, someone who saved me. You didn't come from our world, but you've proven you can stand in it." She leans back, one brow raised. "They haven't forced me into marriage, Cat. And they won't force Enrico either. Trust me on that. If he wants you, and I mean really wants you?" She smiles. "Nothing in the world will stand between him and making you his."
I hug my knees closer to my chest. "But what if I'm not enough?"
"You are," Izzy says fiercely. "And if you don't believe that for yourself yet, then believe it for him. Because that man would burn this whole world down before he let anyone else touch what's his."
I press my lips together, emotions tangling in my chest. Do I dare hope? Do I dare allow those emotions back into my chest and give them free rein?
Izzy whistles the wedding march. "Now, what kind of color scheme do you have in mind?"
I can't help it. I laugh and slap her leg.
My phone dings with an incoming message.
Enrico:
How sore are you?
Me:
Not too bad.
I reply, looking up through lowered lashes at Izzy, who is ostensibly playing with the leftover foam from my bath, grinning from ear to ear.
Enrico:
I'm stuck in meetings. I won't make it to dinner. But I wanted you to know I'm thinking about you.
Me:
