“Let’s move to the meeting room.” We all file out and into the large room. Usually I do the sweep, but my unwillingness to leave Isabella’s side is noticed by Lorenzo. He picks up the equipment and does the sweep instead. Once we are all settled, Bash begins.
“Between Dante and Giovanni, I believe we have the whole picture of what went down. Is that correct, Isabella?” Bash asks her.
“I’m sure whatever they told you is correct,” she tells him with conviction.
“Giovanni killed Fillipo in self-defense, if I’m not mistaken,” he asks her pointedly.
“Correct.” She nods.
“Good,” he tells her with a nod of his own.
“What now?” Mia asks, looking at all of us.
“I already told Bash we can postpone our honeymoon until he deals with the commission. We can just send Greer back on her own,” Sofia offers up.
“No, you cannot postpone your honeymoon. If you do, you’ll end up never going,” Isabella says heatedly.
“If I may suggest. It’s only us in this room who know Fillipo is dead, correct?” I ask Bash.
“Yes.”
“Then how about we go about business as normal? We pretend as if nothing happened, and you go on your honeymoon. In the meantime, give Lo, Matt, and me some time to do some digging. Investigate each of the families. I’m assuming we retrieved Fillipo’s phone, hopefully it can give us some sort of insight into who he had been working with,” I tell him.
“He did say that you had pretty much flushed out all the men who had been on his side within the family,” Iz offers up.
Bash contemplates my idea for a beat.
“It’s actually kind of genius,” Matt muses.
“I agree. And, honestly, it shouldn’t be hard to pull off,” Lo offers.
“I’m for it if you are, love,” Sofia tells Bash.
Bash sighs. “Okay, we will continue as usual. But if any of you have an inkling that anyone knows something is up, if you pick up a rumor about Fillipo being missing or anyone starts asking questions, we are coming right home,” he tells us all while only looking at Sofia.
I settle back in my chair and look over at Isabella.
“You did good recommending that. They would have never gone otherwise,” she murmurs to me.
“I know. Now it’s time to work.”
“Whatever you need, Giovanni, I’m here. This is my family too. I’m in until the end,” she whispers to me.
“Me too,cuore mio.I’m not foolish enough to think that this road we are on will not be hard, but nothing worth having is ever easy. We will each fall victim to our insecurities, but I know that we have what it takes to weather the storm. I love you, Isabella.”
“I love you too.”
Epilogue
6 months later
Giovanni
“Thank you for gathering here tonight. You are some of our closest family, and we appreciate you being here to support us without question.”
Bash stands at the front of the room, delivering his speech. The impromptu gathering had been Sofia’s idea. Reason one million on why I will never cross her. Bash continues, discussing the success of the family and where we will be going in the future.
I slowly make my way around the room, positioning myself behind Bash’s oldest sister, Karrisa, and her husband, Kevin—Kevin, who unbeknownst to us, had been putting himself in Isabella’s path in hopes of getting intel on Sofia to get to Bash. I look over and see Lo positioned in a similar fashion off to the left. Glancing to the right, I see Matt is also in place. I turn my attention back to Bash.
