“I love you so much. And I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
She snuggles up to me, and we stay embraced until I fall asleep. My thoughts go from one thing to another, wondering how vulnerable I am now. An unhappy man is a dangerous man—he has nothing to lose. And that’s how I’ve spent my life until this point. Now? I feel that I have everything to lose. It terrifies me. However, I don’t think I was truly alive until the day I met Sofia. Or at least, whatever day I slowly stopped despising her.
And maybe I never despised her. Maybe I could sense where the two of us were heading from the moment I stalked her social media profiles. Maybe it made me nervous knowing that I’d fall head over heels for this beautiful woman and life would never be the same again.
Chapter 38
Sofia
“Areyoudoingokaywith all of this?” I bite my lip, worried that Alessandro is falling out of love with me as forty of my family members have taken over his wing. We’re loud. We may know how to dress, but we’re not half as classy as Alessandro is accustomed to.
As an example, a beer bong has already made an appearance.
“It’s fine.” He gives me a tight smile.
It is not fine.
“No, I’m sorry. I didn’t know it would turn into… this.” I look through the sliding doors on the balcony into bedlam. But itwas to be expected; everyone is celebrating the fact that I wasn’t being tortured for weeks and weeks.
“Sofia. This is what I deserve after keeping you from them all this time. And besides, I have all the staff at my fingertips to clean up everything when they go home tomorrow.” He gives me a smile that’s less fake, and I start to feel okay about things. “As long as you don’t get offended that I hide on this balcony for the next two hours until everyone goes to bed, all will be well.”
Two hours? I won’t tell him it’s going to be much longer than that.
I give him a quick kiss and head back inside. He’s made as much progress with my family as he could after everything that’s happened.
I pass through the kitchen and notice Nick leaning against the counter, beer in hand and scrolling through his phone with a pained expression.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
He shudders at my question and quickly stuffs his phone in his pocket. “Yeah. How are you?”
“Good… Are you sure? You look sad. And I visited you in the hospital soon after you got shot, and you had that smart-ass smile on your face the whole time.”
“They had me on the premium stuff for that visit, and I’m just tired from travel today. That’s all.”
“Where’s Savannah?”
I cut to the point of why I think he’s acting this way—Max told me earlier that they broke up. And really broke up, unlike their short breaks that’s common with their relationship. And Max, being a man, had absolutely no details to provide. He didn’t know what had happened or when it had happened. He didn’t even notice that Nick wasn’t acting like himself.
“She’s finding herself in Vietnam,” he says flatly.
“Vietnam?”
“Yep.” He takes a sip of beer.
“Well… I’m sure she’ll come home soon. It’s Savannah. She impulsively went backpacking around Southeast Asia, and she’ll impulsively decide to come back home.”
He shakes his head. “It’s different this time.”
“Well, maybe you should go find her.”
I realize I shouldn’t have been that blunt when he glares at me. I reflexively take a step back. I don’t think he’s ever looked at me like this before.
“You don’t think I’ve tried that already? And I’ve been kind of preoccupied with rescuing my cousin from an evil man only to find out she’s in love and happy as ever.”
“I’m so sorry, Nick. I… it’s been a long few days. I shouldn’t be this nosy.”
His body relaxes, but I can still tell he’s dejected as he leans against the counter again. “I’m sorry, too. Don’t worry about it.”
