The next day is pure chaos in the Romano household. Everyone is stressing out and running amok, trying to get readyfor my graduation ceremony. But for some unknown reason, I’m exceptionally calm. I don’t know if it was the long ass sleep I got last night, or the conversation I had with my mother. All I know is that I feel lighter today, like something inside me has flipped a switch.
Or maybe the reason I don’t feel so weighed down is because before this day ends, not only will I have my bachelor’s degree in business, but I’ll have something far more important—the title of enforcer. Today I will officially bemadeand become part of my family’s legacy. Today I will take theomertàin front of the most distinguishedCapos the Syndicate has in all of Chicago.
Today my dreams are finally coming true.
That’s what I think about as we pile into the SUVs and drive to UChicago for my graduation ceremony.
And it’s what keeps me steady when we leave and head toward the old Salvatore mansion, where my parents will host all their guests,Capos and other influential people mingling under one roof. The official reason for the party is my graduation, though everymafiosohere knows the real purpose behind it—my induction.
My father always does this. He throws big, lavish parties and sprinkles in a fewnormalsto keep up appearances. Then, one by one, every head of theirfamigliaslips away from the celebration and walks into the woods, to the cabin where the real ceremony awaits.
By the time the guests arrive and start making a beeline to shake my father’s hand and congratulate me, my body is more relaxed than it’s been in months.
Actually, in two months, one week, and four days.
But who’s counting?
I offer most of the guests a fabricated polite smile, saving the real one for the heads of families as they pass through the mansion’s threshold. But just as I’m preparing myself to fakeyet another smile, a pair of dark eyes snags my attention and suddenly my entire body feels like it’s been struck by lightning.
Kirill is here.
He came to my induction.
He’s here.
And from the deep shadows under his eyes, it’s clear the last two months, one week, and four days have been hell for him too.
But it’s only when his eyes lock onto mine that I feel my heart beat again. As if that was always its purpose.
To beat.
And to dance with his.
Chapter 25
Kirill
Love makes you do strange things.
When Stella broke up with me outside Mercy Hospital, my first thought was that at least the location was convenient, since I was pretty sure I was about to bleed out from having my heart ripped out of my chest.
But I didn’t die that day. Nor the days that followed, even if I did feel death’s cold grip around my very soul, strangling me the entire time.
No. By some miracle I survived, even if barely.
All because I held out hope.
There is that pesky word again. Hope. Such a dangerous thing to have, and yet the only thing keeping my world from collapsing.
After the initial shock of that day’s events, I told myself that all my woman needed was some time. Time and clarity. Soon she would see that ending things with me was a moot point. You can’t end our love with mere words. You can only delay it for a while.
So I gave her time.
I gave her distance.
I gave her enough space for her to cool down until the shock of her father’s shooting wore off. That had been the trigger after all. The thing that pushed her to end things with me. Once life got back to normal, and she felt the heavy effects of my absence, she would come to me.
She would see the light and come running back into my arms.
