Page 499 of Rosetti Family New York
"I'd sacrifice everything because losing you would destroy me." I reach for her hands, relief flooding through me when she doesn't pull away. "The Rosetti family gave me a life. But you? You gave me a reason to live it."
She steps closer, and I can see her processing what this means. That for the first time in her sheltered existence, someone is willing to give up security, protection, and obligation for love alone. That what we have can transcend family debts and inherited duties.
"We'd both be walking away from everything safe," she says quietly.
"Maybe. Or maybe we'd finally be walking toward something real."
She leans into me then, her forehead resting against my chest, and I know something has shifted. The fury that carried her out of here hours ago has transformed into something else entirely.
"I don't want you to sacrifice everything," she murmurs against my skin. "I want us to build something that doesn't require either of us to lose who we are."
"No more running," I say, wrapping my arms around her like I can shield her from every doubt and fear.
"No more running," she agrees. "And no more threats about extending debts indefinitely just because I'm scared of what this means."
My phone buzzes on the nightstand at 12:42 AM, the sound cutting through our moment like a blade. The display shows Dom's name, and my blood turns to ice. He never calls this late unless there's blood in the water.
Carmela pulls back, following my gaze to the phone. The spell between us fractures as reality crashes back in. We're not just two people making choices in a vacuum. We're standing in the middle of a mafia family bringing all the complications that entails.
"Answer it," she whispers, but her voice shakes. "Whatever it is, we face it together."
The phone keeps buzzing, Dom's name flashing like a threat. I look down at her—at the woman I was prepared to sacrifice everything for—and realize our first real test is about to begin.
Before I can even decide if I want to know what Dom needs at midnight, before I can prepare for whatever crisis is about to shatter this fragile moment of reconciliation, I reach for the phone.
Because whatever comes next, she's right. We face it together.
18 - Carmela
“Morning, princess.”
The voice cuts through the quiet of Van's kitchen like expensive cologne mixed with danger. I spin around, coffee mug still clutched in my hands, to find Luca stepping inside the apartment, pocketing what must be Van's spare key.
My heart hammers, and my voice rises into a squeak. "You have a key?"
"Family needs building access for your protection." His charcoal suit is perfectly pressed despite the early hour. That disturbing smile spreads across his face—too wide, too pleased, like he's enjoying a private joke at someone else's expense. "Van's still at the hospital, but I figured we should chat."
I set down the coffee mug, noting how my hands shake slightly. I've always been scared of Luca, the way he can discuss breaking bones with the same tone other people use to talk about the weather. The way his eyes light up when he mentions his "solutions" to family problems.
But standing here in Van's sterile kitchen, surrounded by the vacuum he's built as armor against the world, something feels different about my fear. Less like terror, more like recognition.
Van's offer from last night keeps echoing in my head:I'll walk away from all of it. The family, the debt, everything. We'll disappear.
He was willing to sacrifice everything. His new identity, his medical career, the life the Rosettis built for him from nothing. All because he thought I wanted to run. Even after Dom's midnight call interrupted our moment of reconciliation—something about accelerating Torrino threats that had Van pacing the apartment until dawn, fielding updates and coordinating security measures—he still offered to abandon everything for me.
"The escalation Dom was discussing during that call," I say, pieces clicking into place. "This is what kept you both up all night."
Luca's smile widens with approval. "The Torrino situation is escalating rapidly. Three more attempts on our associates in the past week. Two failed kidnapping operations targeting family businesses." His presence fills Van's apartment like a dark cloud. Even settling into Van's single chair, he radiates the kind of controlled menace that makes survival instincts scream warnings. "They're getting desperate. Which makes them sloppy, but also dangerous in all the wrong ways."
This is why I've always been terrified of this side of the family business—the ease with which they navigate a world where kidnapping attempts are just items on a to-do list.
But I realize I've been running from something that could actually be my greatest source of power.
I've spent so long seeing my family as a burden, a cage to escape from. But they're also the reason Van is alive. The reason he can save lives every day instead of being buried in some unmarked grave overseas. Family isn't just about protection, it's about strength. The kind of strength that crosses oceans to rescue strangers and builds new identities from nothing.
Van knows exactly what my family does. He's always known, from the moment Dom pulled him out of that hellhole. He told me so himself: he knows about the operations, the territories, the violence that funds our protected world. And he stayed anyway. He chose this life, chose us, chose me, with full knowledge of what it means.
Luca pulls out his phone, swiping to a video file. "Want to see how I handled the last team they sent?"
