Page 56 of Secret Mafia Daddy

Dante nods. “I married Mia for all the wrong reasons, but when I realized I was in love with her, that threw me for a loop.”

“It’s different, though,” I say, although my voice sounds weak to my own ears.

“How?” Nico asks, looking at me intently, and I open and close my mouth, unable to answer.

“So, your heart beats really fast when she’s in a room and all you want to do is bend her over the nearest available surface?” Nico goes on, still loud, and I groan and put my hand over my face.

Dante chuckles. “And you can’t think of anything but her, right?”

“Right,” I say, defeated.

“So, maybe you’re in love with her,” Nico says. “That’s not the end of the world.”

“For me, it kind of is,” I mumble.

Nico snorts. “Whatever. I was even more of a ladies’ man than you ever were, before Aurora. Look at me now. I’m happy with a new baby boy.”

“Chelsea makes me happy,” I say stubbornly. “That’s all it is.”

“Are you sure about that?” Dante asks with a raised eyebrow.

I chug the rest of my tequila and order another. There’s an open bar which Dante has paid for, so I plan on getting my money’s worth.

By the time a few hours go by, I’m three sheets to the wind and so is everyone else. We’re singing some Italian ditty on the way to the cars waiting outside for us.

“What if I am in love with her?” I breathe, looking down at my phone and her contact name, my vision doubling.

“So, what if you are?” Dante asks, parroting what Nico said earlier. “She’s your wife, man.”

He claps me on the back and it almost makes me nauseous, so I crack a window.

I want to call her but my fingers don’t quite work and I’m suddenly so exhausted I can barely make it back into the penthouse. Nico falls on the couch, snoring, and Dante is the only one to make it back to his place, where we’d all planned on going for the night.

I crawl into bed and I realize that my sheets and pillows smell like her, like the hibiscus shampoo she uses on her blonde curls. I breathe her in before finally falling asleep.

I wake up with a massive headache and Nico whistling and bringing me a glass of ice water.

“Aren’t you hungover?” I ask in a croak.

Nico shakes his head, grinning with all his teeth. “Didn’t drink as much as you did.”

“Fucker,” I mumble, and he laughs out loud. It hurts my head.

“Your wedding is in two hours, and we still need to pick up your suit and get you a shave and haircut,” Nico warns.

I groan as I chug the ice water and then stand up, getting dressed in a pair of basketball shorts and T-shirt, wanting to be casual before I have to put on a monkey suit.

By the time my shave and a haircut is finished, it’s time to go to the church. I’m a bit disappointed that I don’t see Catarina, but they’ve whisked her away to some back room to get ready and I do the same.

It doesn’t take me nearly as long as her, though, since I just have to put on my suit, and I stand outside, waiting, watching all the guests come in and sign the guest book.

My throat tightens when I see my father walk in and sign it. He’s alone, just like he said he would be. Thank God for small favors.

My mother comes in right after, smiling brightly at me from the pews as I stand at the altar.

I smile back and give her a little wave.

Andrea sits in the back, again, just like he said he would and something tightens in my chest. I swallow hard and look over at Dante and Nico, my groomsmen.

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