Page 38 of Bad Husband

“Marco, you’re talking about stepping away from the Bove Mafia?”

“Yes.”

“Why? I thought you loved it.”

“It’s what I’m good at, but I don’t want to do it anymore,” he said. “I don’t want to be part of something you’re not.”

“But you might hate it?”

“That’s the point, Chiara, I don’t miss it. When I get the calls from your father, I’m not grateful that I’m getting them. I’m pissed off, and when I’m away from you, all I want to be is right here with you. I want this life, in No Point, with you, and if I find a way, will you take me as I am, and build this life with me? Will you be able to forgive me?”

She stared at him for what seemed like the longest time. Her mouth was slightly ajar as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. “You’re serious?” she asked.

“Yes, I’m serious. There is nothing I want more than to be with you and to have this,” he said.

Again, her mouth was slightly open, and that shock was still there. She looked so damn cute, and he closed the distance between them.

“I’m not willing to compromise what I want with you. You’re everything to me, Chiara. Everything. Tell me there is hope for us?”

She pressed her face against his open palm.

“If it is what you want, Marco, then I don’t see a reason to hold you back. I can’t hold you back. I won’t hold you back.”

And that was all he needed.

****

Several Days Later

“Have you really thought this through?” Angelo asked.

“Yes.”

“You’re talking about leaving the Bove Mafia.”

“It hasn’t been done before?” Marco asked.

“Oh, it has been attempted, but no one has been successful in actually achieving it.”

Marco looked toward his father-in-law, and he saw Angelo was shocked, even a little incredulous at what he was hearing.

“This is insane,” he said. You can’t be fucking serious, Marco. You’re talking about turning your back on everything you’ve ever known and the Bove won’t want you to end this.”

“I love Chiara,” Marco said. “I nearly lost Chiara because of the orders I made. She was innocent, and I banished her from me and sent her on this path, and I know how much she loves her life in No Point. She loves it so much, she is willing to have nothing—not even her name, or any means of making a life easier for herself. I’ve lived with her, Angelo. I have seen her the happiest I have ever seen her. This life will eventually kill her, and I don’t want to see that happen. I won’t see that happen.”

“And you think you can step away from being this fucking killer, to being a what? A waiter? Marco, you have been trained to kill. You’ve been trained to do so without mercy. This is the life you know.”

Marco secured his cuff, and then checked on his reflection in the mirror.

“I will do anything if it means being with Chiara.”

“Does Chiara even know what you’re planning to do?” Angelo asked.

He didn’t expect his father-in-law to like his plan, but he was also shocked by how little he supported him.

“No,” Marco said.

“And if you do all of this, manage to survive the chance to walk away, and Chiara still doesn’t take you, what then?”