Page 108 of Cassio (Belles & Mobsters 3)

The two of us, hand-in-hand, stepped forward. It took all of a few minutes to listen to his words, then we repeated the vows, and I slipped the ring I’d gotten for her onto her finger. Next it was her turn to do the same and she slid a heavy, yellow gold ring onto my finger with a square black diamond in the center.

“I pronounce you husband and wife,” the officiant announced and a heavy weight lifted off my chest.

She was my wife. My life.

* * *

After City Hall,we all went to Maria’s pizzeria. It was Áine’s idea and I loved her even more for it. Maria and her husband closed down the shop and dedicated it all to us. Luciano, Grace, their boy, and Mr. Vitale joined us too. All in all, the afternoon ended up being full of laughter, music, and reminiscing. Just as a wedding day should be. It was simple but Áine looked happy and that was all that mattered to me.

There was a quiet confidence about her and that reserved smile I saw on her during our engagement dinner disappeared around people that mattered.

“Welcome to the family, Áine,” Mr. Vitale hugged my wife, his fragile frame almost matching my wife’s. He was getting up in his years, but I hadn’t seen him so excited in a long time. He finally had his daughter-in-law and a grandchild back. He was beaming.

She grinned widely, looking just as happy as Mr. Vitale. “Thank you.” Her eyes fleeted to his family for a moment, then returned back to him. “Thanks for coming on such short notice.”

Grace joined in with Bianca, smiling wide and rubbing her belly at the same time.

“We wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Grace announced softly. “Give it to Cassio to be the first man in the group not to drag the woman down the aisle. It was a true cause for celebration.”

Áine’s laugh rang through the small restaurant, her eyes shining with excitement. Luciano and Nico gave their wives a warning look, but both men looked too happy to be efficient.

My wife fit in.

Callahan was wrong when he said Áine didn’t belong in this life. She was everything the underworld needed. Her strength, intelligence, and her loyalty had the potential to tear down men in the underworld that meant harm. And she wouldn’t need any man for it. Áine, Grace, and Bianca were exactly the type of queens we needed.

A powerful king needed a strong queen at his side. Áine King was all that, and so much more.

I watched her excuse herself with a smile and walk over to her parents. I knew she’d hug it out with them. She mentioned on our way to City Hall that she didn’t like to hold grudges and while she was upset that they kept her parentage to Jack a secret, she just wanted to move on from it all.

Hours of laughter and stories, and I had to admit our little reception was better than anything else I could have imagined. Luca grabbed a passerby out on the street and asked her to snap a photo of us. With the Sicily landscape themed wall painted behind us and scent of Italian ingredients in the air, the moment was forever captured in the late April afternoon.

On our way out of the restaurant, I told Maria our wedding would be in Italy. She said she wouldn’t miss it for the world, so we would be seeing her again. Soon.

I pulled up in my designated spot, in the private section of the garage of our building in the city.

“We are home, Butterfly.”

I turned to look at her. Her eyes took my breath away every goddamn time. The blue depths of the oceans that could pull you in deeper and deeper. Her lips curved into a soft smile, as she fidgeted with her wedding band. She didn’t know it, but I had a tracker embedded into it. Her location would always be sent to my phone. I’d take no chances with her life.

My eyes locked on her finger, branded with my wedding ring.

Mine.

It would tell the world she was mine. But more importantly, she told me she was mine. In her soft voice she pledged herself to me. Until death do us part. Willingly. It was priceless.

During the small dinner, we came to our first married compromise. She asked to wear her band but not engagement ring. It interfered when she drew and she wasn’t accustomed to wearing jewelry. Though she would wear it for special occasions, and she’d never take the wedding band off.

“I think you called me Butterfly when we first met,” she said pensively.

I nodded. It was the only word that mattered when it came to her.Vita Miabecause she was my life.Butterflybecause she had the strength to survive.

Last night I saw firsthand what Jack was talking about. The terror on her face gutted me. The nightmare plagued her, but the most terrifying thing was that she didn’t scream or whimper. She thrashed, her lips pressed tightly, refusing a sound to pass through her lips.

And I couldn’t do anything to help her. To chase them all away. To kill the ghosts as I killed those men.

“I did,” I admitted, brushing my finger over her soft lips. “Callahan said you had a birthmark, a butterfly, and somehow it stuck.”

“It is the reason I avoid wearing open back dresses,” she admitted with a smile.

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