“Ivano, we’ll talk later,” Alonzo says tightly. Ivano cocks his head in acknowledgment. “See to it that you help get things cleaned up for now. Tell the others to get back here and do the same.” Ivano nods and walks calmly out the door. Alonzo eases me to the door too.
I look over and see Ilya and Tatiana—no,Lane, I need to call herLaneagain—staring at each other. “Just fuck and get it overalready,” I tell them in exasperation. Alonzo snorts out a laugh, but neither of them glances at us.
We’re barely in the hall before a loud thump sounds behind us. We share a look but keep walking.
Alonzo leads me to his room, which is exactly like mine and shuts the door. I barely have time to glance around before he suddenly spins me and pins me back against the door. I grunt in pain, but when I open my mouth to blast him, he presses his mouth to mine gently but firmly.
I sink into him instantly. Relief washes over me. “I’m so glad you’re alright,” I whisper when he finally pulls back. “When I saw you fall…”
“And seeing you on the ground, under her, knowing that you were seconds away from dying if we didn’t reach you on time, I never want that to happen again, Aurora. Fuck.” He buries his face into my neck. I wrap my arms around him, wallowing in him. I vaguely hear Hades move to his bed and sink down with a groan. I need to see to him, but I need this. Just for a couple more minutes.
“It’s over. It’s finally over.”
He stills and slowly pulls back. “It’s not over yet, Rori.”
I know instantly what or who he’s talking about. I cup his bruised face, staring into his eyes. “It changes nothing, Alonzo. Mishka is…he’s always going to be special to me. I’m always going to love him, because he was the first. My first love, and my first heartbreak.” His entire body is like stone, but I need him to understand. “He’s always going to be the man that showed me what life could be like, but it wasn’t him that saw me grab it. He’s not the man I’ve fallen in love with, and the man that I want for my own. That’s you, Alonzo Cattaneo. That will always be you. I’m not that young girl anymore. And he was never more than a best friend and brother to me in the end. It was what wewere suited for. And I believe that was because I was looking for something more. Someone more. You.”
He relaxes slowly, but I can see the doubt, the worry. “If he’s alive, then you’re not divorced, Rori.”
“Then we get divorced.” To me it’s so simple. An easy fix. Then a thought occurs to me. “But Mishka Belov was married to Rayea Antonova. She’s dead. And that’s not who I am anymore, either. I’m Aurora O’Brien, and she has no connection to the Belovs as far as anyone is concerned.”
He fully relaxes. “You’re right. So does that mean you plan on marrying me, orsetta?” He reaches down, finding my left hand and pulling it up to his mouth. “I’ll make you Aurora Cattaneo before the night is out if you’ll have me.”
My heart kicks and my mouth drops open. Wait, he wants to marry me? “Alonzo…”
“I love you, Aurora, and I don’t care what you call yourself, as long as you’re mine.”
Maybe it’s just the events of the day, or the emotions finally breaking free, but my eyes water. I can just make out him smiling through the blur of my tears. “I love you, Alonzo,” I whisper. “But we don’t know what’s going to happen when I have to face your family, face Sienna. They may not be as accepting knowing who I am, and my past.”
“It won’t change anything,orsetta, but we can wait until you see that for yourself. All that matters is that you’ll be going home with me. Now, we need to get our boy sewed up and comfortable, and then we’re going to get cleaned up before we go down and end this completely.”
I nod. “And I need to talk to Mishka. Alone.” He winces, and I can see what it costs him, but he nods. “All I need is your trust, Alonzo. I need to close this part of my life.”
A deep sigh. “I know. I do trust you,orsetta, it’s him I don’t. But I won’t hesitate to take him down if he so much as looks at you wrong.”
I barely resist the urge to roll my eyes. “You act like I can’t take care of myself.”
“I know you can, but I still don’t fucking like him that close to you knowing he put that gun to your head.”
I don’t bother pointing out that he was never going to kill me. I doubt he’d listen to reason. Instead, I kiss him again and gently push him back. “All I need to know is that you’re going to be there waiting for me when we’re done,” I tell him simply.
His expression softens. “Always,orsetta. You’ll never have to wonder if I’m in your corner again.”
That’s all I need. All I’ll ever need.
43
RORI
The darkness coversus as I walk with Mishka in silence past the guards patrolling the back yard, still on edge from the fighting earlier. They look at us suspiciously, but two hard, quelling looks, have them moving on. The word has gone out we’re not to be talked to or stopped, but that doesn’t mean any of the guards trying to prove points won’t try to stop.
Or any that are still working for the Belovs. They don’t know that their new Pakhan is the one walking with me, but they’ll figure it out sooner or later.
My father is dead. I’m not sure which one of us killed him, but we all fired shots at the same time into his hanging body after a few hours of making him suffer.
My father’s legacy is finished, and everyone will hear about it soon enough. It’s a relief, but there are still some unanswered questions. Namely, from my husband.
Well, ex-husband.
