Page 189 of Merciless Daddy

Not in the old way. Not because I expected the softness to turn into a debt.

Because I wanted it. I needed it. I didn’t want to lose it.

“Why did you bring me here?” I asked.

Sal placed a plate in the rack.

“You know why.”

“No. I know the security reason. I mean why now.” I looked toward the sea. “Your family is fighting a war. Mezza Notte burned. Gianni is trying to choke your businesses. And you’re here making mediocre pasta.”

“An outrageous slight,” he said. “That pasta was slightly better than mediocre and you know it.”

“Answer me.”

He dried his hands and leaned against the counter across from me.

“Pietro can command. Serafina can command. Angela has the financial side. Tonio has your brother and an entire ranch to feed him in.”

“That is not what I asked.”

Sal’s eyes held mine.

“I used to think being indispensable was the same as being loyal,” he said. “Rosalia asked me to take a weekend away once. We were engaged. She wanted a train trip. Nothing dramatic.”

I stayed silent.

“I refused,” he continued. “There was a shipping issue. There was always a shipping issue. I told myself she would understand because responsibility mattered.”

His mouth tightened.

“She understood. That was the problem. She understood that there would always be something more urgent than her.”

The kitchen went quiet except for the sea.

“I am sorry,” I said.

“So am I.” He looked down at his hands. “I cannot change what I was then. But I can refuse to repeat it.”

He lifted his gaze again.

“Loving my family does not require abandoning you whenever there is a crisis.”

Something sharp moved behind my ribs.

“Do you see me as another soft thing?” I asked. “Something you might lose if you are not careful enough?”

Sal came around the island. He stood between my knees and put his hands on my thighs.

“No,” he said. “You are not fragile. You are not temporary. You are not a prize I put behind glass.”

His thumbs moved once over my skin.

“I love your mind. I love the way you find the weakness in a ledger before anyone else sees the lie. I love that you cheated at skee-ball and called it strategy.”

“That was strategy.”

“It was criminal.”