One year ago…
After the long night I had, I knew Mo and I had a big day ahead of us, traveling to Italy for our second wedding anniversary. Since I needed to pay the Gambino family a visit, I figured I could kill two birds with one stone.
“Are you sure you wanna handle this business now?” my bro, Royce, asked.
“Yeah. Mo keeps tripping over me working so much, so I promised her this is the last meeting before I call it quits with all this street shit. We’ve been married two years now, and I’m ready for some kids.”
“I can dig it, but I just didn’t think you would chance bringing her down there.”
“Yeah, that’s not usually my norm, but me and the Gambino family are cool, so this should be an in-and-out meeting. Then we can get right to what we came here for.”
“Alright, I just wanted to make sure you were good with this, since me and Truce can’t go with you.”
“I swear, bro, I’m good. I got a couple of my soldiers going, so we should be straight.”
Royce meant well, but I also knew I had never did nobody dirty. I wasn’t the type to cross people just because I could. I was about my money and my business. So once the business was handled, I was going to give my wife the vacation of her dreams and hopefully make a baby while we were there.
After Royce and I finished talking, he made his way out of my home office. Once I wrapped up my work, I headed upstairs to the bedroom I shared with the love of my life. We still had to finish packing since we had an early flight.
Mo was standing in the closet, folding one of them little dresses she loved wearing on vacation. The soft yellow one. The one that always made her skin glow like God took extra time on her. She looked over her shoulder when I walked in and smiled, and just like that, the weight on my chest eased up.
“There you go,” she said. “I was starting to think work done kidnapped my husband again.”
I smirked and moved behind her, sliding my arms around her waist. “Not this time. I’m all yours.”
She turned in my arms and looked up at me. “You better be. I’m serious, Roman. I need this trip.”
“I know.” I kissed her forehead. “That’s why we going. Business first, then it’s just me and you. No phones, no interruptions, no street shit.”
Her eyes searched mine like she was trying to see if I meant it. With Mo, I learned real fast that words didn’t move her nearly as much as consistency. She had heard promises before. The difference was, mine were the only ones I ever tried to keep.
“You promise?” she asked softly.
“Of course, I promise, baby.”
That seemed to settle her. She gave me that little smile I would’ve gone to war for and pressed her lips to mine. It was soft at first, then deeper, slower, like she was trying to pour all her love into me before we even made it out the country.
The next morning came fast. By the time we landed in Italy, the sun was sitting high and golden over the coast. Everything looked expensive, peaceful, untouched. The kind of place where people came to fall in love, not lose what mattered most.
For the first day, I let Mo enjoy herself. We ate, walked the town, laughed, and took pictures she knew I hated taking. I still did it because she asked. Anything that made her happy, I was with it.
The meeting with the Gambinos was set for that evening at one of their private villas tucked off the water. Old money. Old power. Men who smiled in your face while measuring your worth at the same time.
I left Mo back at the house we were staying in with security nearby. I told her I’d be gone an hour, two max.
When I got there, the energy felt off before anybody even spoke. It was too still. Too polite. Too rehearsed.
I sat across from Salvatore Gambino at a long table with two of his men on either side of him. My soldiers stood behind me, and I got right to it because I wasn’t there to play games.
“I’m shutting my operation down,” I told him. “I came out of respect to let you hear it from me first. After tonight, I’m out.”
Salvatore leaned back in his chair and stared at me for a long second. Then he laughed, but it wasn’t the kind with humor in it.
“Out?” he repeated. “A man like you don’t just get to walk away because he suddenly wants to play husband.”
My jaw tightened. “I wasn’t asking permission.”
The room changed after that. I felt it in the way my soldiers shifted behind me. In the way the men near the door straightened up. In the way Salvatore’s expression hardened.
