“You’re quiet, baby.”
Simeon stares at me with concern, and I love that about him. He considers my feelings and wants to make me happy, and no man has ever done that before.
“I’m thinking about my past and struggling to find answers.”
“Your mom?”
“Among others. I don’t know what I’d hoped to find today. Part of me wanted to discover she had amnesia or something. To have forgotten I existed when she bumped her head in the accident, which explained why she never fought for me.”
“Perhaps keeping away was a fight in itself. Perhaps she realized she would only make things worse, and it killed her having to stay away from you.”
“I’d like to think so, but when I saw her new family, it hurt, Simeon. She found peace and happiness with another man, and they went on to live a life I dreamed so hard of as a child. It was there all along. She had a huge power behind her. My grandfather may be weak in many ways, but he is a billionaire.”
“They must hold some powerful shit over him.”
“But what? He told me he beat his wife and my mom. I understand why they ran away, and yet why would a man like that not even try to get his family back? Then there’s my grandmother. By all accounts, she was a strong woman and stood up to him. She arranged for my inheritance to be guarded from my father, and yet none of them challenged him for me.”
“Because they had too much to lose.”
Simeon leans back in the seat and tightens his hold on my hand. His thumb brushing against my skin with a reassurance I could use right now.
“The world we inhabit is a dark one, baby. You’ve only witnessed a small taste of what it can do. Sure, you lived in the darkness all your life, and Morgan wasn’t the most loving of pretend stepmothers. But you weren’t physically harmed. Mentally you weren’t so lucky, but to a degree you were protected.”
“I suppose we were, but abuse takes on many forms, Simeon.”
“We aren’t talking of abuse, Alice.”
His voice deepens, and the air is thick with tension. “We’re talking about survival. Many don’t. Their endings are a horror story that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Threats are handed out like compliments. Despicable acts carried out before breakfast and blood flowing, just another day at the office. Secrets, manipulation, and lies are the tools of our trade, and the Sorcusi mafia used them to their advantage with no regard for people’s feelings. They are deranged monsters and always keep one eye on the horizon as they plot another weak person’s downfall. Money is power and corrupts like hell. When you don’t have it, you want it, and when you have it, others want to take it from you. You are a target; your head is above the crowd and there are many people waiting to cut it off. You must realize that from your own experience. You did nothing, and yet you are the target of every known criminal out there who has heard your story. They disregard humanity and step out from hell to seize something they believe is their right.”
“Like you.”
There is no bitterness in my voice, only sad acceptance.
“Yes, like me. I am one of those men. I saw my chance, and went for it and didn’t care who got in my way. I had no regard for your feelings, or the lives I took, all because I was following an order.”
“But you were a stranger, not my blood. Not the person who was supposed to love me.”
He moves fast and grips my face between his tattooed hands, and the fierce expression in his eyes should terrify me. It doesn’t though, because his eyes burn with emotion, and for some reason, I have never felt safer with him than with anyone I’ve ever met.
“The cruelest betrayals come dressed as love.”
His words steal through my heart like a thief taking something that was never his to own.
“Your mom betrayed you, baby. She walked away when she could have stood by you and fought. Your father had more to lose than she ever did, and yet she was weak. She never stood up to him and preferred self-survival instead. So, do not cry for the mom you wish you had. Just sharpen your anger against the one who carries that name. You can’t cry for what could have been, only for what was, and use it to make yourself stronger. Put yourself first and be determined to be better than she ever was.”
His thumb rubs away my falling tears and I’m not even sure what I’m crying for anymore. I am here with him. My husband. A man who doesn’t pretend as he opens the door to the darkness and invites me inside. He will fight for me even though it’s not his battle, and I’m convinced he would take a bullet for me if I were ever in danger.
“In the mafia, marriage is a weapon, and your father learned that lesson very early on.”
His words are spoken with rough emotion, and the truth hurts, but not hearing it would hurt more.
“Our marriage is a weapon. The strongest kind there is.”
My heart thumps as he speaks his brutal truth and says fiercely, “Money and greed placed that ring on your finger, and love will keep it there.”
“Love.”
One word changes everything, and his gaze softens as he whispers against my lips.
