Ronan looks satisfied with himself, watching us together. He raises his glass.
“To Vincenzo Demonio,” he toasts. “Soon to be our brother in blood as well as bond. The finest man I know outside this family.” He meets my eyes. “And now inside it.”
The brothers drink as Ashlyn presses her temple lightly to my shoulder. I stare at the fire.
“I have to say,” Declan says, dropping into a chair. “I had my doubts. No offense, Vin.”
“None taken.”
“You’ve never been what I’d call a one-woman man.” Ronan grins around the rim of his glass. “But you’ve been holding it together for a year now. A full year. That’s either love or illness.”
The brothers laugh. I know I’m supposed to smile but I fucking forgot how.
“It’s commitment,” I say, and it is. Just not commitment to them. It’s impossible to keep Sophie’s face out of my head.
Ronan nods slowly. “It is,” he agrees. “And that’s why I trust you.”
He steps forward and grips the back of my neck, his forehead nearly touching mine.
“We’re going to do this right, you and I,” he says quietly. “Our fathers did everything the wrong fucking way. We won’t make that mistake.”
I look at the man I have drunk with and fought alongside and trusted with my life for years and feel like total fucking shit.
He’s not wrong about the alliance. He’s not wrong about what this means for the ports, for the family, for everything I’ve built and everything I’m about to inherit. He’s not wrong that our fathers were assholes who made every fucking bad choice in the book.
He’s just wrong about me.
“No,” I say. “We’ll make new mistakes.”
He laughs and grips my neck once more then releases me, turning back to his cousins. The room fills with noise and laughter.
Ashlyn feels like a lead weight against my shoulder. She exhales slowly and deliberately and lifts her head, lets her hand slip out of mine. She doesn’t look at me. She doesn’t have to. I know exactly how she’s feeling because I feel the same way.
Trapped.
5
SOPHIE
I’m doing this for Emilia.
It’s a mantra I repeated in the drive over, walking up the steps to Dragovari Tower, waiting for the elevator. Now, standing in the elevator on the way up to the rooftop, I consider taking my last opportunity to head back down to the lobby and disappear.
But being around Vin is something I need to get used to if I’m going to be in Emilia’s life.
The elevator doors open onto the rooftop. The air is crisp but warm thanks to the heaters everywhere. Strings of Edison lights loop between iron posts, lighting the stone pavers, and the city stretches out in every direction.
It’s beautiful.
Siena spots me immediately and cuts through the crowd with Matti a half-step behind her, his hand resting at the small of her back. She’s in red silk, her hair loose around her shoulders, and she looks so happy.
“So glad you came!” She wraps both arms around me and squeezes hard. “I was starting to worry.”
“I told you I’d be here.”
“You told me you’dthinkabout it, which could mean no.” She pulls back and holds me at arm’s length, looking me over. “You look gorgeous.”
I’m wearing a dress I bought for the occasion and then returned but ultimately bought again: deep burgundy, long-sleeved, fitted through the waist with a not-so-deep V plunge in the front and simple draping that flatters my curves. Nothing flashy like most of the strapless or backless dresses the other women are wearing. I smooth my hands over the fabric, immediately self conscious.
