“And what about after?” she murmurs. “You can’t keep me under protection forever. I have to go back to work sometime.” She sighs. “If I still have a job after this.”
“I’ll make sure you’re safe then too, and you will have a job after this,” I reassure her.
“Really? Because I’m sleeping with my first choice for the acquisition, and I don’t think the board is going to be convinced that it’s because I think you guys look good on paper.”
Her words slice me to the core.
“You’re not going to lose your career because you fell for me,” I say firmly. “I won’t let that be the price.”
Her eyes flicker. “Antonio—”
“Listen.” I take her face in my hands. “Northstar can put an ethics wall around you. Recuse you from the recommendation. Assign an independent lead. Bring in outside counsel. There are a dozen clean ways to handle this, and we’ll pick the one that protects you.”
Her throat works. “And the deal?”
“If the deal is worth doing, it survives scrutiny,” I say. “If it can’t, then it shouldn’t happen.”
“Okay? Andwhat happens after that?” she says. “My job is in New York. You aren’t.”
She says the last two words quietly.
I press my forehead to hers.
“You once told me you wouldn’t give your job up for a man,” I say.
“It was diff—”
“Elsa,” I say. “If you need to be in New York… then that’s where I’ll be.”
She wraps her fingers around my wrists. “Antonio, your family is here.”
“My family is wherever I am,” I say quietly.
Her fingers tighten on my wrists. “Don’t say that like it’s simple.”
“It isn’t simple,” I admit. “But it is clear.”
Her eyes glisten, frustration and fear braided together. “You can’t just pick up and—”
“I can,” I cut in, not harsh, just certain. “I’m not Luca. I’m not the don. I’m not the one holding the whole structure on my shoulders.”
She inhales like she wants to argueagain, and I beat her to it.
“I can work from New York,” I say. “I can be there without abandoning them. And if they need me, I get on a train, a car, a plane—whatever it takes. But I’m not asking you to shrink your life to fit mine.”
I brush my thumb over her cheekbone, catching the tremor in her.
“I’m telling you,” I murmur, “I’ll expand mine to fit you.”
Chapter Thirty Eight
Elsa
The water is hot enough that it turns my skin pink, and for a few minutes I just relax into it—let the heat seep into my muscles, let it quiet the tremor that keeps trying to come back.
Antonio ran the bath for me and led me to it like he’s done it a hundred times. Like taking care of me is as natural as breathing.
That thought alone makes my throat tighten.
