“You were busy.”
“Not willingly, believe me.” Her nails graze the back of my neck, and I shiver in pleasure.
“How are you? All things considered.”
“Terrified.”
Lowering my head, my whisper coasts into her ear. “You’ll make it through this, Fina. I vow it.”
I don’t exactly know how yet exactly, but it’s a vow I’ll uphold until my dying breath. I failed in my promise that Serafina wouldn’t walk down the aisle to Vitale, but I won’t make the same mistake with this one.
Her expression plummets, painted lips pouting. She steps closer, leaning into my arm and urging me to redirect us to the edge of the dance floor. Once away from others, her mouth parts, and somehow, Iknowwhat she’s about to say even before she does, what she attempted to before the ceremony but couldn’t when I didn’t allow it.
So why does she believe now is a better time?
“Lev, I need to say it. Just in case?—”
She can’t.
“Don’t.”The propriety of maintaining distance between our bodies isn’t a consideration as I yank her against me, needing her to feel in my heart for herself why she can’t do this to us. “Don’t say that. There is no ‘just in case.’ Nothing will happen to you, Fina.Nothing.”
“Lev,” she pleads, digging her nails into my neck. “I won’t be able to leave without telling you.”
“And I won’t be able to watch you go. Do not do this to me.”
Shecan’tsay it. Her earlier hints were enough to destroy my sanity. I don’t know what to do, how to feel, how to react. That emotion isn’t for me, someone shaped by their father’s choices. That emotion—bred from her—heremotion—is meant for someone whose life is different.
Even if I feel the same.
“I’m sorry. Ihaveto say this, to give me something to return to, no matter how tonight goes. I didn’t mean to fall in love with you…but I did. Lev, I love you.”
I love you too.
The thought, the feeling, thefactrushes out of me, admitted for the first time ever, even to myself. It’s as true as the zeros and ones that make up my network.
I love Ana because she’s blood, and unlike our other flesh and blood—our papa—I care for my sister.
I feel for Vanessa, a relationship based on trust and allegiance.
My time with Serafina has been a fraction of what I’ve spent with them, yet there isn’t any more required. She’s dug herself beneath my skin, into the confused fragments of my heart and broken mind, and ensured she’ll never leave.
I’d kill for Vanessa out of loyalty and my vows.
I’d kill for Anastasia because she’s my sister.
Killing is a fraction of what I’d do for Serafina. I’d die for her, betray anyone for her. I’d give up my vows, my life, my home, my sanity, all to keep her safe.
Life hasn’t given me an example of what love, particularly the romantic kind, can be like, but a short couple months with Serafina Mancini has defined the emotion.
Her.
It looks exactly like my Fina. Myprintessa.
I should say it back.The words are caught in my throat because saying them is exactly what I stated before: I won’t be able to let her walk away from me. Not this time. I’ll bring war down on the entire Cosa Nostra right here and now when Vitale comes to drag her away.
As though thepodonokwas called, he appears beside us, his hand coming down heavy and threatening on my shoulder—threatening while still maintaining peace in front of so many.
“Song’s over. It’s time you say your goodbyes, Petrov. For good. Consider this the end to yourfriendship.”
