“Yes.” Her eyes crisscrossed at her pointed finger. “A chicken.” She poked again and shut her eyes, the snug cushion subduing her. “Buck, buck,” her mockery grew fainter as she mimicked a chicken. “Buck.” With her final whisper, she sank into the pillow, unconscious.
“I’m not chicken.” I kept my voice low, tracing my hand along her cheek. Her breathing grew even, a tell she missed every word I spoke. “I’m putting your needs before my own.” I kissed her forehead and left.
After a necessary cold shower, I ambled to the kitchen for a drink. The lights flicked on. Carina hovered in the doorway, her black robe tied at her waist.
“Where have you been?” She tapped her foot in tune with her impatience.
I snickered and slung back the glass. “I’m not some teenager, Carina. You didn’t have to wait up for me.” I deposited the empty cup in the sink and plodded to the doorway.
Carina blocked my exit. “We need to talk.”
I rubbed a hand down my tired face. “Can’t this wait until tomorrow?”
“No, it cannot.” Her stubbornness radiated off her, solid as a brick wall.
The sooner I concluded this discussion, the faster I’d collapse into bed. “Fine. What’s so urgent, it can’t wait until morning?”
She tilted her chin, her usual silent tell whenever she won her way. “Tommaso contacted Nicolo De Luca to negotiate peace.”
Nicolo De Luca? My fists clamped by my sides. At last, good news. If De Luca settled on a truce, we’d not have to watch our backs each time we left the villa. “And how’d he go?”
“They are willing to agree.” Her lips thinned, and something in my gut warned I wouldn’t like where this was going. “Under one condition.”
If they expect me to do their dirty work for them, they could forget it. “Which is?”
“They want you, Enzo. They want you to marry Vito’s niece.” Her expression was cold, unyielding as she dropped the bomb.
Marry a De Luca? My skin crawled. No, there had to be another way. “But I’m already married.”
Carina pursed her lips, her temper getting the best of her, but her gaze was cold. “Your marriage to Gemma is temporary… it was always meant to be. This marriage to the De Luca woman will be for good. We’ll roam Sicily without having to fear for our lives. You forget, Enzo, I always tie up loose ends. That priest understood perfectly well your marriage to Gemma was never to be recorded.”
I stumbled back, as if she’d physically struck me. “Forget it.” Even if our marriage wasn’t recognized by the church, Gemma was still legally my wife.
Carina grappled my arm. “What are you saying? For the last twenty-three years, we’ve lived with a target on our backs. Not our backs alone, but Lucio’s, my brother and his entire household, too.” She jostled me hard enough to hurt the limb, her fingers digging into my arm. “Don’t forget you are the one who caused this mess when you killed Vito all those years ago... a debt that has always been yours to repay.” Her gaze hardened, a protective intensity replacing any other emotion.
My jaw clenched, teeth grinding with a force capable of shattering them. “He aimed his gun at me, a child! What should I have done? Let him kill me after I believed he killed you.”
Carina pinned me with a glare. “You dragged us into this mess. Now you have to be the one to get us out.”
I flung her hand off me and turned my back on her. “I will not marry some De Luca bride.”
“She’s not a De Luca by blood. Bianca is the adopted daughter of Bernado De Luca, Nicolo’s uncle, the same man Lucio shot dead when he helped you rescue Gemma.” She mocked a laugh. “Do you really see yourselves living a blissful life?” Carina scooted in close to my back, making sure I heard her. “They kidnapped the girl. She spent weeks recovering from a gun wound. Life will always be like this, with the threat of death hanging above your heads,herhead. As long as this war continues, you will risk losing her.” Her hand nestled on my shoulder. “And deny all you want, but I see the way you look at her. If you care for this girl,” Carina’s voice was dangerously soft, “you’ll divorce her and do what’s right by your family.”
Was I being selfish? God, I hoped not. Gemma had a right to a life free of danger, a right I was jeopardizing every day. But to let her go, to give her the chance to find someone else? Unbearable.Maybe I could convince myself it was for the best, that marrying some De Luca woman would end the war and guarantee her safety. But deep down, I knew the truth. I didn’t want to lose her. I couldn’t. So I’d find another way, a way to protect her, even if it meant descending further into the darkness. I’d risk everything to keep her safe, to keep her with me, because without her, what was the point of anything?
Chapter 25
Gemma
My skull throbbed like a bomb had exploded inside. I groaned into the pillow, not surprised to find a drool patch.
“Buongiorno, little wife.”
Enzo’s shout echoed painfully within me. I sprang up in bed and regretted the fast movement. “Ouch!” I covered my ears. “Why are you shouting?” It felt like a marching band paraded inside my brain.
He grimaced. “I’m not.”
“Ugh, yes you are! Shh!” I massaged my throbbing temples.
