The war waged till the day of my wedding—I was caged in with it, turning my back on the only key powerful enough to setme free. Because I knew I would never truly be free. My life was more powerful than the key, its suffocating squeeze locking my Amora inside this hell with me.
If Rosaria Caffi could not survive this life with me, what were the chances my sweet Amora could?
That was the most haunting thought of all, because it was not a thought. It was a question with a clear answer.
Chapter 26
Eternally Yours
The laws of the Faustifamigliastated that no man of Fausti blood was a liar. To lie meant to fear. Who should a Fausti fear? No man. Therefore, if a man lied, he owed blood. Because whose blood was richer than theirs? In their opinion, no other man’s blood could compare.
La mia parola è buona come il mio sangue.
My word is as good as my blood.
Along with their word, their faces refused to lie either, but in the face of a woman being stood up at the altar, they turned away out of respect. I knew there was a chance of this.
After our parties, Rocco had turned to ice, even in the extreme heat.Someone or something had gotten to him during his time away from me, and there was no doubt in my heart, it was either Rosaria Caffi’s memory, or himself.
He had started to fade.
He kept mostly to himself, watching me like he had already lost me. I not only saw it in his eyes, but I also felt it in the marrow of my bones. It was a chilling freeze I never wanted to feel again. It was freezing my heart. I knew he worried that his place in the family would get to me through him, that I’d be trapped in the constraints he was, and with his past—including RosariaCaffi. She was either haunting him, or someone was in honor of her memory. Whoever it was that had threatened to slice my throat, just as she had done the night we faced off, had pulled me into this dangerous triangle.
I got the feeling Rocco thought I was too soft for his world. Maybe Rocco assumed because this life had taken Rosaria Caffi, what did that mean for me?
But.
I was a lot tougher than I looked. I could take this life and whatever came with it on at the mere thought of him. The moment I found him in that window, I knew. He was mine. That meant that his strength became mine, and mine became his.
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
We were going to add a third cord to our vows as we stood at the altar together.
But the voice inside of his head was proving to be stronger than the voice inside of his heart.
At least I’d awoken his lion’s heart, and it was fighting back. That was more than I could say for it the first time I’d seen him. He had one foot in the grave, his heart about to beat for the last time. If he wasn’t still at war over what to do about me, he would have already told me it was over between us.
Rocco was not a coward.
He had just suffered too long, and he did not want to pull me into a frozen hell with him.
Little did he know, I was pulling him up, and it took a lot more than a ghost to defeat me or make me let go.
Was I afraid?
Terrified.
Especially in this moment, when I had no idea how much energy his heart had left in this fight. It was like his mind had his heart in a chokehold, and it couldn’t free itself. I knew Rocco loved me, or he wouldn’t even be considering my safety in his life, but I wanted him, for once, to be effing selfish. Selfish enoughfor the both of us. Especially when I wasn’t only telling him how strong my love was, but actively showing it.
Rosaria Caffi had proved how ruthless she could be.
All great.
So did I. When (no disrespect meant to the dead) Rosaria went over a cliff and the bus I was on kept on the road.
Symbolism meant a lot to this family.
In that case, she and I were going head-to-head over him, and I’d won. I wasn’tallsoft. I didn’t even fall to the floor when the bus swerved.
