Page 134 of Mafia Virgin (The Kings of Italy)

As I stared at grown men sweeping ice, I wondered how to put all my thoughts into words. “Because I’m not my father. I won’t keep you against your will. I’ve seen what it does to women in our world, and I couldn’t stand to make you unhappy.”

“So you told me to leave, then didn’t come home all night. Where did you go?”

I wouldn’t lie to her. “I drank in my office, then went to Theresa’s.”

“You slept with Theresa?”

Gasps erupted from some of the women seated around us, and one grandmother-type sent me a disapproving glare. I answered loud enough for everyone to hear. “I passed out on her couch. Nothing happened,sul mio onore.”

“Oh.” Emma didn’t speak for a long moment, like she was thinking this over. “Then why did you even go there in the first place?”

“I couldn’t think of someone else who would take me in at that hour.”

“Because you didn’t want to come home.”

“It was a mistake, bambina, and I am sorry for it. I was worried over my sister and took it out on you. Can you forgive me?”

“Is she okay?”

I noticed she skirted the topic of forgiveness. I tried not to take this as a bad sign. “Viviana is married and wants to live her own life. As someone once predicted.”

Emma grabbed my arm and squeezed, her expression full of sympathy. “Oh, I’m sorry. That must devastate you.”

I wasn’t about to lose this chance. Angling toward her, I took her hand in mine and laced our fingers together. I loved touching her, feeling her soft skin against mine. “Her leaving wasn’t nearly as bad as yours. It felt like a part of me died when I learned you left—”

“Aww,” I heard from one of the women nearby.

Heat burned under my skin and I lowered my voice. “Can we go outside or somewhere private to talk?”

Emma nodded, then stood up and went to the desk. She told the attendant we would be right outside, and to please come get us if there was news on D’Agostino.

I followed her through the automatic doors and a blast of cold air stung my bare arms and face. Long strands of brown hair blew around Emma’s face as she stared up at me, so she took a band off her wrist and put her hair up in a bun. It made her look so young and sweet, and my chest expanded with tenderness. She was the sort of woman a man was lucky to find, a rose in the middle of thorns. How had she stayed so perfect, so pure in such an ugly world?

With one finger I smoothed a piece of hair behind her ear. “You are so beautiful,” I said quietly.

She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Hardly. I’ve been held at gunpoint, nearly kidnapped, and shot someone. I’m a literal mess.”

“Not to me. I couldn’t be more proud of my strong and resilient wife.”

Her expression didn’t change. In fact, it turned even more skeptical. “You don’t have to be so nice to me. I know you agreed to sign the annulment papers. Fausto told Frankie about it.”

“As I said earlier, I didn’t want to keep you against your will. I thought you should have a choice in your future.”

“And now?”

“Now I wrestle with both sides. Part of me wants to keep you in Palermo, even if you don’t want to come back.”

“What happened to not being like your father?”

I wasn’t my father, I knew that now. Emma would always come first with me. Losing her had shown me that her happinesswasmy happiness. I would do anything for her.

I ran my knuckles along the edge of her jaw. “Please, bambina. Come back with me. I’ll spend every day at your feet, worshiping the very ground you walk on. I will fight for you, for our children, and I promise to love you harder with each breath I take until the day I die.”

She blinked a few times in rapid succession. “But Virga is dead. We don’t have to stay married. You can go back to your fuck buddies and your mob boss life. We can both forget this ever happened.”

“Is that what you want? To forget me?” I wouldn’t blame her if the answer was yes. What had I done to make her want to stay with me? Why would a genuinely decent person like Emma want to be with me, a crude killer who’d never known kindness? I held my breath, waiting for her answer.

“I can’t see how it would work,” she said, once again avoiding the question. “I want to have a life, a career in medicine. I can’t do that as your wife.”

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