“You took a bullet in the stomach when you handled Marciano. When you break off the engagement the bullet will be in your head.”
“You think the Lanzas will kill me?”
“Or me. The way Tino speaks about Enzio Lanza, how he deals with anything that touches the honor of his family… How Tino Bellomo himself deals with anything that touches the honor of his family… You don’t wanna piss him off.”
He touched my chin to make me look at him, at his smile. I shook my head. “What are you smiling for?”
“I’m smiling because you’re considering it.”
“Considering what?”
“Marrying me. The only thing that’s stopping you from saying yes is the families, nothing else.” He brushed my cheek with the back of his hand, the gesture reminding me a lot of Marciano’s touch in my dreams with Tino’s tattooed hand. A touch I loved so much from the wrong people and now I could receive from a good man. “I love you, Lina.”
My face warmed, and I remembered how much he loved to make me blush. I swallowed. I couldn’t say it back. I’d probably never be able to say it back. “It’s not only the families, Leo.”
His hand dropped, and his face darkened. “Don’t tell me you’re still attached to that Marciano asshole.”
It was complicated. Too complicated.
Marciano was the first man I had ever desired. After his death, I realized it was only an illusion, and everything that attracted me to him wasn’t real. He did save me from my father, but he wasn’t watching after me like I thought. He only killed my father so he’d have me for himself. It was sick and disgusting, and I regretted it with all my heart.
It wasn’t Marciano that confused me now, though. It was the man I’d never be able to understand or speak of my feelings for with Leo.
Tino. His father.
At first, I believed I was displacing my feelings to get over Marciano. All the dreams, too. Yes, he never stopped calling me his Angel in them, and that was enough proof none of it was real. Then that moment at Tino’s office happened.
That was real.
Not just on my side.
I’d be a fool to chase that feeling or pursue anything further because of it. It was a stolen, interrupted moment that would never be complete.
With Leo and Marciano, Tino had long forgotten it ever happened like he should. Like I should. I should have never wanted it. Not even in my dreams.
It was wrong and taboo and forbidden. Everything I’d felt in that moment must be locked in the darkest corner of my heart.
“It’s not Marciano. It’s Tino. I don’t know why you and your dad don’t get together very well, and it’s none of my business, but I’m in debt to him. I can’t be that ungrateful bitch.”
“Because of school?”
“Yeah, among other things. He took me in. He went through a lot of trouble to protect me.”
“Because of me.”
“I’m aware you’re the one who asked him to bring me here for protection in the beginning, but—”
“He never wanted to do it.”
“What?”
“He was never gonna do it until I traded my future for it. He only agreed when I promised to go through with my initiation and become his underboss soon.”
That fell on my head like a sledgehammer. Everything Tino and I had was never about me? That entire caring and overprotective act was to get his son to do his bidding?
Of course, why else? Who was I for the almighty Bellomo to take in or protect? He would gain absolutely nothing from taking care of an orphaned little girl and her sister. The daughters of a piece of shit, expendable employee he never bothered with.
He’d only do it to get his prodigal son to return. The sole heir to his kingdom.
