“As the underboss?” I ask, not quite understanding where she’s heading.
“I want to be the first woman to achieve that. As your wife, I would have your back, keep everyone in check, and it would be good for my business.” She drawls as if the implications aren’t life-changing. “You want someone who is family, Vian. Someone you can trust. I am that.”
I blink at her, shocked to my bones.
She misinterprets my reaction as refusal. “I thought you’d be happier. Forget it.”
Hurt flashes in her eyes, and as elation overrules the initial shock, I rush to add, “Fuck, Zara, I’d be honored. Are you sure?”
Brows knotting, she stares at her plate. “I don’t know what came over me.”
Love came over her, needing to have my back. It’s on the tip of my tongue to say I fucking love her and that she never ceases to surprise me.
“You want us to be a power couple.” I smirk. “Admit it.”
“Enzo and Calla make it work, don’t they?”
She changed indeed, but maybe it’s her wanting control over her life. Once you taste power, you hold on to it. I can’t fault her for that.
She waves me off, taking another small bite. “There is no hurry. It’s way too soon. I just wanted to present you with another option. You love your uncle, and I am not seeking to replace him, but to be there for you. Someone you can trust just as much.”
In another life, this would have been the best thing to happen to me—ruling the world with my wife by my side. But the chapters of our lives are still being written, and I am terrified the plot twist will upend everything, erasing our fragile foundation.
“We’re married,” I say, lost in melancholy.
She narrows her eyes, giving me a funny look. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Everything,” I rasp, finding her hand on the table and intertwining our fingers.
I’ll give her all the power. She wants to be the underboss, done. She wants to rule this city, she can. I won’t even stop her when she inevitably kills me for my deception. But fuck if she won’t be carrying my child by then. The truth can come out, but not sooner. Even if she hates me, she will love a part of me.
“There’s an initiation,” I say as I caress the inside of her hand. “Blood in. Blood out. You live and serve the cause. There’s no way out. Traitors die.”
She gives my hand a little squeeze. “I have no intention of betraying you, but I doubt you could kill me regardless, husband.”
“True.”
“I won’t either.”
A sigh heaves my chest. “You say that now.”
“Don’t give me a reason. We both know each other’s hard limit. So, are you intending to cheat on me?”
“Never,” I say with thundering resolution.
“Good.”
I arch a brow, waiting for her to say the same when she offers me a coy look. It’s so fake it makes me want to laugh.
Finished eating, she pats the corners of her mouth with a napkin. “Well, husband, I have needs.”
I jump up, the chair tumbling down, crashing like my reservations. It’s a fucking wonder I resisted this long.
“Needs you say?” I ask, stalking to her.
Her eyes glaze over, the desire making her pupils pop. She takes a few steps back until she reaches the wall. I brace my palms on each side of her face, trapping her between two hard surfaces.
She swallows before whispering, “I want you. Badly, but I understand why you wanted to wait for me to sleep off my tipsiness... you’re hurting, so maybe we should––”
