Rosie’s been quiet, working on her tablet in the seat beside mine. Still looking upset, she mumbles, “I’ll never complainabout my family and you guys again. Holy shit, I feel bad for Yuki.”
“Sorry, Rosie. If I had known that would happen, I wouldn’t have forced you to come along,” Christiano says, his tone soft with remorse. His expression grows serious. “Have you thought about assigning a second-in-charge to fill your shoes during meetings?”
“Yeah, but who?” She glances at the four of us.
With Rosie being twenty-one and practically living in her office, she hasn’t been able to form relationships like the rest of us.
“Who do you trust most?” Christiano asks.
She waves a hand at us.
“What about Raffaele?” I mention. “I’m going to start training Riccardo to be my underboss.”
Everyone’s attention turns to me, and Christiano nods his head. “That’s an excellent idea.”
“Are you sure?” Rosie asks. “It would solve a lot of problems for me.”
“I don’t want to demote Raffaele after all he’s done for the family, but it’s time for Riccardo to take his rightful place. You’d be doing me a favor,” I tell Rosie.
“Thank you,” she says, a beautiful smile stretching over her face.
Getting up from my seat, I look to the front of the plane, and catching Raffaele’s eye, I signal for him to come to the back.
I sit down again, and when he joins us, I say, “You’ve always known Riccardo would become my underboss.”
He nods, folding his hands in front of me.
I gesture at Rosie, and it has her saying, “How do you feel about becoming my second-in-charge?”
The corner of his mouth lifts as he says, “I’d be honored, Rosie.”
She lets out a breath of relief and grins at him. “Oh, thank God. Now you can do all the dirty work.”
We all chuckle while Raffaele shakes Rosie’s hand, saying, “I won’t disappoint the La Rosa family.”
“Thank you for all you’ve done for me,” I tell him.
He pats my shoulder, giving me a grateful smile before he returns to his seat.
Rosie resumes working on her tablet, and while Georgi and Adriano talk about their clubs and restaurants, Christiano stares out the oval window beside him.
My thoughts turn to Yuki Tanaka and the shit that went down at the meeting.
When I spoke to her in the bedroom under Yutaro’s watchful eye, none of my words offered her any comfort. Instead, they seem to make her fear me even more.
Seeing her tears was a crushing blow to my heart, and I know I’m in for a rough period until I manage to gain Yuki’s forgiveness and trust.
If that’s even possible.
Just as I start to doubt my decision to marry Yuki, I’m struck with flashes of what happened in the hangar.
On day two, Raffaele had to hold her up while I beat her until I was out of breath and she was unconscious.
I shake my head to rid myself of the memory, regret and a profound loss of self-respect burning in my gut.
Trying to flee from what I’ve done to Yuki, I focus on how I can make things up to her.
She’s been tortured, degraded, and God knows what else.
