Page 53 of Vengeance

“Stay here…?”

“Pray’s not coming after us. He’s too afraid. We could let him fight a ghost that’s not coming until he realizes it or his paranoia kills him while we go somewhere he has no reach. Away from all this mafia and criminal shit. You could… go somewhere and become a lawyer or start a non-profit to help people and I could… Be your fucking trophy husband who stays home with the kids and tinkers with his car collection or something.”

“Is that what you want?”

I already know the answer to that.

“No. But we don’t know how this is going to end. And I would if you asked me. If you told me right now you wanted to run away from all this. If you wanted to live the rest of your days out… in peace.”

I laugh at the way he says “peace” as though it’s literal ash on his tongue.

“That wouldn’t be peace for me,” I say.

“That’s literally what you just said.”

“If we did that, I’d always wonder if and when Pray would track us down and find us. Even if he didn’t, I’d always wonder about the people we made promises to and abandoned. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. Even being able to lay next to my children and watch them sleep relatively safely, I would be restless. I would never be at peace. I can’t enjoy these moments with them and with you without finishing what we started. Wehaveto finish what we started.”

“Even though the woman we started this all for isn’t dead and doesn’t want anything to do with this?”

“Maybe she was the catalyst, but this has never just been about her. Or at least, it’s not anymore.” I want to cuddle up under Adrian’s warmth. Touch his face. Kiss him. But the children separate us, and I’m not willing to disturb them. So I reach over and grab his hand. “This is about you and I now. This is about making Stephen Pray regret the day he forced us to become enemies and tried to drive us apart permanently only to make a bigger enemy for himself. This is our vengeance, Adrian. No one else’s.”

The grin Adrian gives me is wild and feral and devious and unhinged and matches the glint in his eyes.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing. You’re just going to make one fucking hell of a mafia queen when this is over Mrs. Fantoni.”

“I’m already one hell of a mafia queen,” I say, letting go of his hand and settling back into my pillow to go to sleep.

“That you are. I’m just the enforcer.”

“Only for now, Adrian.”

I assume the conversation is over based on the silence that follows. But then Adrian says, “You called me Adrian.”

“What else am I supposed to call you? Is it not your n—Oh,” I say, understanding the significance of that. Adrian. He’s Adrian again to me. Not just to humor him by calling him by his name or because we’re in company where that identity is secret and I have to force the name off my tongue. But in my head, he’s Adrian. When I look at him, I see Adrian. The good. The bad. The heinous. And the heartbreak. It’s all him, and I can forgive that now.

The realization is suddenly overwhelming and I feel like I need to cry, but the ability to give into crying for the hell of it was bred out of me long ago. So I just settle for letting out a shuddering breath instead.

I feel his hand around mine again, not realizing until then that I’d reached back out for him.

“I missed you,” I say quietly.

“I’m sorry for making you wait, my love.”

24

Viper

It crosses my mind that I still haven’t made good on my promise to induct Dele into the mile-high club yet as I glance at her sitting next to the window as we fly back to the states. But we’re both too high strung and anxious about what’s about to come for any good sex to come of it, so doing that is going to have to wait for another time. Besides, these last few hours are dedicated to planning.

It seems like all we’ve been doing is planning and planning, but there’s no way to overplan this. Every time we go back over things again, one of us comes up with another scenario that we didn’t think about before and discuss how to adjust and account for it. Even now, after going over everything hundreds of times, the possibilities seem endless, and at this point it’s clear that we’ll never be able to plan for every exact scenario. We’re going to have to eventually play it by ear.

I finally relax to sit next to Dele toward the end of our flight to go over an obscure detail that is probably going to be insignificant but that could very well make the difference. She’s occupied, though. Staring intently at her phone, and when I look over, the camera feed of our suite back at the Fantoni villa is on the screen.

The maid that’s been helping with Bella the entire time is tending to her while Leon, Lady, and Velia listen intently to some story that Phae is telling. I’d initially protested Phae having access to them while we were away, but Dele correctly deduced that if Phae wanted to steal them away, she has nowhere to go. And besides that, Dele seems to be under the impression that Phae has made peace with the consequences of turning her back on everything and anyone involved with a life she wants nothing to do with. The least Dele feels she can do is give her a chance to spend time with her children when she doesn’t have to face us while doing it.

Dele wasn’t going to budge, so I let it be since we have cameras installed everywhere with people constantly watching them to make sure Phae does nothing. Still.

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