“You do?” I sniffle but the tears still fall down anyway.
“I do. And I’m sorry I made you feel that way. I don’t need you to be the perfect wife. I just need you to be perfect for me. And I realized you are. When I lost you. It was a wakeup call for me.”
“Being taken from you was also a wakeup call for me. It made me realize I missed you. That I want to be with you. That I will choose to make a life with you.”
“I know I chose you at first but it feels good to have you choose me.”
“It feels good to have you choose me too,” I say. “Me for me.”
His eyes settle on Susanna behind me and darken. “Susanna.”
“She was there for me,” I rush in to say. “We spoke. Things will be different. Susanna won’t drag me down like you were worried about. She’ll change as well. We all will.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.” His words make Susanna stiffen but he speaks again. “But I want to believe it.”
“I am sorry for being rude at your wedding,” Susanna says. “I could have lost Nina and I don’t want that. I’m done acting petty with her.”
“I’m glad. This will be the best for all of us,” he responds.
The three of us have a lot of work to do but I believe things will be better. That I can be the woman that makes not only Luca proud but myself proud as well.
Luca
After a day of rest, Alek with Dimitri show up in my hospital room. Dimitri is on crutches from when I shot him in the leg.
Nina is beside me, not having left my side all day and night. Behind Alek and Dimitri are Katya and Sofiya. All of our wives are with us.
“We’ve come to talk about a peace treaty,” Alek says.
I turn my eyes onto Dimitri. “You helped me find Nina. So thank you for that.”
“How much of your pride did you have to push down to say that to me?”
“A lot. So don’t fucking push it.”
Alek holds up his hands. “Enough. Dimitri helped us find Nina, even after you shot him. He was angry that we made a deal and was feeling like we were going to turn on him. It’s why he took Nina the other day. But we’re willing to put all the shit behind us and make a new deal that includes the three of us. One that will make all of us happy. Are you in on it, Luca?”
“If I say no?” I ask.
“Then that’s going to make things tough on us.”
I look at Nina and see how she’s pleading me with her eyes to agree to this. My actions put her in danger. I have to do whatever it takes to keep her safe.
“Fine,” I grit out. “I’ll make a new deal. One where Nina is kept safe.”
“Where all of our wives are kept safe,” Dimitri says, placing his arm around Sofiya’s waist.
“I agree,” Alek says. Katya saddles up beside him, giving him a soft smile. “We can make this work, the three of us.”
“So does that mean we can go after Gabriel?” I ask.
“You’re still resting and you’re going to be for a while. Dimitri also needs time to heal. We can’t go after Gabriel when you’re both in a weakened state.”
“But that’s when Gabriel is going to strike again,” I say. “When we’re weak. We have to go after him now.”
“Gabriel has gone into hiding after he almost died,” Alek continues. “He’s not a problem for right now. Let’s focus on gaining more strength.”
“I agree,” Dimitri says. “I don’t want to start another war with a different Italian mafia man while I’m in this position. We’ll go after Gabriel in a bit.”
