“Trust is a fragile thing, and on the extremely rare occasion—so rare I've only had this happen a few times in my long-lived career—trust can also be earned in a split second. Carmine, you managed to earn that trust. There's nothing in this world more important to me than Joey and our children. Our children are the future of this organization, and I take that seriously. Yesterday, you caught a bodyguard attempting to get into my mate's good graces by earning my child’s trust. Your instinct saw something in him that nobody else did, and that’s something we can’t teach. You protected my husband, my children, my brother, my nephews. In doing so, we were able to identify a ratand dispose of him before he could do any damage. For that, trust has been earned."
"Thank you, sir." I was surprised but relieved by his acknowledgment. Dom and I hadn’t been privy to the details of how the interrogation of Shaughn had gone, but based on Andro’s words, I assumed they got information out of him they needed.
"And since the two of you are a package deal now, and I'm not willing to part with Dom, I’ve had to do some negotiating with your uncle."
Both of us straightened and looked between each other. I wasn't sure what sort of negotiating had happened since I hadn’t had any sort of contract with my uncle.
I was family. I worked for the family. No one else.
"We have a proposition for you, Carmine. I'm always open to more alliances, so long as they’re deserving and make good business sense." Andro looked between me and Dom before turning to Lorenzo. "And we think this will be a good one."
"Indeed." Lorenzo cleared his throat and rested his elbows on the armrests. "We're not willing to part with you, Carmine, and though Andro offered a great deal of money to essentially purchase you from us?—"
Andro scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I told you not to phrase it that way."
Lorenzo ignored that and kept going. "Instead, we came up with a better arrangement."
This should be interesting. "Do tell."
"The two of you have proven to work very well together. We want to capitalize on that for the benefit of both families. As a team, the two of you will spend half your time working on this coast and half your time working on mine. We’ll maintain open communication between the two organizations, but we won't have to worry about stepping on any toes since we operate in two very different territories. It will be a bicoastal alliance of sorts."
Dom sighed and brought his hand to his lap. "Do we have any say in this matter?"
"Not really." Andro crossed his arms and leaned back. "But if you'd like to attempt some kind of negotiation, go for it."
Dom exchanged a glance with me, and I shrugged. Honestly, the proposal sounded ideal to me. I could still work for my family, and he could still work for his. An alliance was the best of both worlds. Traveling between coasts would get tiring, but I’d been doing it for years. After all, we couldn't assassinate people long distance…though that would be an exciting challenge. With a slight nod of his head, Dom seemed to agree there were more benefits to the arrangement than downside.
This was our way to be together.
"I think that sounds wonderful, but you should know that I might have to take some time off in the future.” I bit my lip and glanced toward my uncle.
“I take it congratulations are in order?” Andro grinned.
I nodded and looked at Dom.
He put his arm around me and tugged me closer.
I leaned into his embrace and relaxed. We didn’t have to hide or lie about our relationship anymore. We could fully be together publically.
Lorenzo cleared his throat. “You damn well better make an honest omega out of my nephew, Dom.”
“Uncle–” I could feel my cheeks heating up. Nothing like being threatened into a proposal.
“Of course, sir. I’d be honored to take Carmine as my husband, with your permission.”
WTF? “Take? Permission? I’m pretty sureCarminecan make decisions on his own…” I was about to start spouting off on omega rights when Dom slid off the chair and went to one knee in a single graceful motion. As soon as I realized what was happening, I went silent.
Dom took a deep breath and reached for my left hand. “Carmine, since meeting you, I’ve never been more alive, more challenged, or more sure that I’d made the right choices in my life. We complete one another, and I know you feel it, too. Will you marry me?”
“Dom, I don’t need a proposal just because my uncle said we had to get married. You don’t even have a—” I went quiet again as he reached in his pocket and pulled out a simple metal band.
“I do have a ring. This is not me proposing on a whim or because your family demands it. This is me proposing to the love of my life, the man who completes me in ways I didn’t even know were missing from my life, because I love you. I’ve been planning to ask you to marry me and have had this ring ready for when the moment was right. I didn’t expect it to be this moment, but I’venever been more sure of anything in my life. Please, Carmine, will you marry me?”
Fuck, this man was gonna make me cry.
How had he upended my whole life in just a week? “Yes, Dom. Of course I’ll marry you.”
16
