"Do you still?"
"No." I met his eyes. "Now I think about you. About us. About whether I can be someone worth choosing."
"You already are." His voice was soft. "I'm here, aren't I? Chose to come tonight even though I'm completely out of my depth with fancy restaurants and wine lists. Chose to give this a chance."
"Why?" I asked. "Why did you choose to stay? After everything I did?"
"Because underneath the architect, I saw you. The real you. And I wanted to know that person." He leaned forward. "And because as fucked up as it is, I haven't been able to stop thinkingabout you since that first coffee shop meeting. Even when I hated you. Even when you terrified me. I wanted you."
The admission made heat coil in my stomach. "I wanted you too. From the beginning. That's what made the control so dangerous. I didn't just want you compliant—I wanted you mine."
"Possessive."
"Extremely." I didn't apologize for it. "But I'm trying to channel that into something healthier. Wanting you to choose me instead of forcing you."
"How's that working out?"
"Terrifying. But also—" I gestured around us. "Here we are. You chose to come. That's better than anything I could have forced."
Our food arrived and we ate for a while in comfortable silence. The osso buco was as good as I'd promised. Valentino had ordered the carbonara and looked like he was having a religious experience with every bite.
"Okay, this is really good," he admitted.
"Told you."
"Doesn't mean I'm not still judging you for bringing me somewhere this expensive."
"Judge away. As long as you're here."
We fell into easier conversation. He told me about his independent journalism work, the local corruption story he was developing. I told him about the property acquisitions Stefan and Julian were handling, how close we were to being fully legitimate.
"Does that scare you?" Valentino asked. "Going fully legal?"
"Yes and no. It's the smart move. Protection from federal prosecution, cleaner operations, sustainable income. But also—" I paused. "It means giving up the safety net. The backup plans. The grey area operations that kept us protected."
"You'll be vulnerable."
"We'll be vulnerable. But we'll also be clean. And that matters now in ways it didn't before."
"Because of me."
"Partly. But also because Sandro's right—we can't live in grey areas forever. Eventually the FBI would have gotten us. Better to go legitimate on our terms than wait to be forced."
Valentino was quiet for a moment. Then: "Tell me about them. Your partners. How did you all end up building this together?"
The question surprised me. "You want to know the origin story?"
"I want to understand your family. The people who matter to you."
So I told him. About meeting Sandro when I was nineteen and feral with rage and desperation. About how he'd seen potential instead of just a violent kid. About Matteo as enforcement, Elio as strategy. About how we'd built something together that was part business, part family, completely unbreakable.
"We've been through hell together," I said. "RICO trial, federal investigations, internal betrayals. But we survived because we trusted each other completely. Because we became brothers in every way that mattered."
"And their partners? The other three?"
"Emilio met Sandro during an earlier trial. Sandro fell hard and fast—I'd never seen him like that. Completely gone for this lawyer who was defending him. They’re expecting a child soon. Matteo and Stefan..." I smiled. "That's a complicated story. Stefan was trying to gather intel. Things went sideways. Matteo ended up keeping him."
"Keeping him."
