In which Cora finds family. And her wedding ring.
Cora…
Even having lost half his blood volume and barely walking upright, Dario insists on covering my eyes as his brother escorts us out to the car. I know the front must be littered with bodies. My husband is correct, I have plenty of fuel for nightmares as it is.
Once we’re back at the beach mansion they’ve been using, Ekaterina rushes out the front doors, kissing Giovanni fiercely before turning to Dario and me. “I’m so glad you’re safe!” she says, smiling with relief. Not just at my husband, but at me, too. “We’ve been so worried, Cora. Giovanni and Dario brought everyone in for this.”
Impulsively, I reach out and hug her. I’ve never had a family who was relieved or happy when I came home, and there’s an almost embarrassing rush of gratitude at her words. “Thank you. Thank you all, so much.”
Looking around at the men surrounding us, they’re bloody, a little scorched from the explosions, but every one of them wearing a broad grin. “You are family,” Giovanni says, as if that is all that’s needed.
When Dario kisses me with lots of tongue and zero shame, I melt into it, ignoring the catcalls and the cheering. If this is what family means, I don't want to run away from it.
If I wasn’t so grateful that Dario was alive, his return to almost aggressive good health after a blood transfusion and some stitches would be irritating. He slept most of the way home, to my relief. Ekaterina told me he didn’t rest for a second between my capture and rescue.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” I curl up on the seat next to him.
“Fine,” he lies, rubbing his eyes. “How close are we to Boston?”
“About an hour.” Taking his hand, I link my fingers with his. “Thank you for coming for me.”
“I’ve let you be kidnapped twice while you were under my protection,” he said bitterly. “I haven’t kept my promise to you.”
“That is not true!” Straddling him, I put my hands on his cheeks, “Michael used to say that there are forces no one can control, we can only respond to them. And you did. Both times, you got me out before any serious harm came to me.”
Dario snorts, “Are you fucking kidding me right now? Santos beat the hell out of you and the Schmidt hellhounds didn’t have anything pretty planned. You never should have been taken.”
“The reality is, you saved me the first time in Schmidt’s dungeon. The second time, that’s on you, you big bully.” He rolled his eyes and I kissed him. “Both Santos and those women weren’t threats from your universe, they came from mine. And yet, you still saved me.”
He looks away, his square jaw gorgeous and…
For fuck’s sake, concentrate on actually communicating, I’m worse than he is at this point.
“Here’s the thing,” I said slowly. “You make me feel safe. I haven’t felt safe for a long time… not since Michael was murdered and I ran off. It’s hard to trust this feeling, I learned so early that I had to take care of myself. But after all this time, I feel like someone cares enough for me that if I went missing, they would find me.”
Dario cups my cheek in his nice, warm hand. “I will always come for you.” He is so beautiful, smiling at me as if I matter to him, like my life is precious. Flustered, I look away.
“Tell you what,” I proposed, “if it makes you feel better, next time, you can get kidnapped and I’ll come save you. How about that?”
Now, he laughs. “Okay, that sounds fair.” He ran the back of his hand over my cheek, “You were hurt,Bellissima,and I will do everything in my power to never let it happen again.”
“Lina yanked off my wedding ring,” I said sadly, “she must have known about the GPS tracker. I cried when I found it was gone. I never realized…” I smoothed his shirt, not able to look at him. “I never realized until then how much I wanted it.”
Dario gives me his signature triumphant grin and reaches into his pocket. “My men found it in the alley by the bakery.” He pulls out my ring. “I need to get it cleaned, but-“
I thrust out my left hand, “No, it’s good. It’s fine.”
Chuckling, he carefully slides it on my finger, holding my hand for a moment. This feels deeper, more powerful than the first time he did it in front of Bishop Gallo.
This feels like “I do.”
It wasn’t until we were back in his armored SUV and heading back to the city that I remembered.
“Oh, my god I am the worst person in the world!” I gasped.
“What! What’s wrong?” So much for Dario relaxing.
“My parents, she had them kidnapped, I don’t know where they are!” Putting a shaking hand over my mouth, I’m filled with self-disgust. “What if their captors killed them after losing contact with Hilda?”
