Forgivable Sins (Bellandi Crime Syndicate 2)

"What?"

"I take it he didn't tell you he invited her, then?" she asked, and her voice got a little louder with each word. Like the sadness of the moment was a thing of the past, I was going to give it a shot, and that was that.

"Uh no. Why would he invite my mother? It's cruel to—" I broke off, huffing out a breath in indignation. "Oh, that manipulative bastard!"

Ivory smiled at me. "He knows you won't make a scene in front of her."

I swallowed as she cleaned the line off my face. "Yavin?"

"Oh, fuck no," Ivory laughed. "As much as I'm sure it pains Lino to not have your brother with you, we all know just what kind of scene Yavin would make. You two will tell him later. Once it's all final."

I closed my eyes, letting her fuss over me and trying to come to terms with the obvious reality.

I was getting married.

Seventeen

Lino

"How'd she take that?" Enzo asked the moment the girls were behind a closed door. With a sigh, I rubbed my eyes, and dropped Samara’s phone onto the table in the foyer. I couldn’t take any chances that she might try and call Yavin.

He couldn’t know until she was legally mine, because I wouldn’t let anyone stand in my way.

“About as good as expected when you have to rush into a wedding three days after your divorce for the sake of safety,” I grunted. I could hear the lingering rage in my voice, the aftermath of Samara begging to not have to marry me. Her protests only threatened to wake up the worst part of me, the part of me that demanded Samara be bound to me in every way so she could never leave.

Father Alessi shook his head at me as he slipped inside the front door that Scar opened for him, signing the cross over his chest in mock indignation at the mention of Samara's divorce. Like the old bastard hadn't seen things gruesome enough to make grown men cower and not even blinked an eye.

Matteo and Enzo exchanged a glance before Enzo spoke. "So, what exactly did you tell her?"

"That marriage was the best way to protect her." I shrugged, looking at Father Alessi in confusion when even he winced. "What?"

"And did you perhaps mention that you've been obsessed with her since before your balls dropped?" Matteo grunted.

When I didn't answer, Enzo looked to the ceiling with a sigh. "Fucking idiots. The both of them."

"What?"

"It is a good idea to tell a woman how you feel before you marry her," Father Alessi inserted.

I scoffed. "That's unnecessary for us. Samara knows how I feel about her."

"Bro, that woman does not understand that you're even remotely interested. Let alone that this is anything other than a sacrifice on your part. Her head? She's a burden."

Matteo's eyes narrowed on Enzo. "How do you know so much about women?"

"I've got five sisters."

"Shit," I hissed, casting my eyes up to the stairs.

"Yeah, shit is right," Enzo laughed.

???

Samara's heartbeat so hard I could feel it in her palm as I held her hands and turned her to face me. Father Alessi stood at the front of Matteo’s sitting room, with us only just in front of him and our little audience on our other side. Her eyes were wide on mine when she turned, and I ignored the way Enzo and Matteo laughed silently in the corner. I ignored the way Samara’s mother sniffled where she sat next to Don. I'd tried to tune out Enzo's words about Samara not knowing how I felt, tried to focus on the fact that after all those years, I would finally have what I'd alway

s wanted.

Samara as mine.