Antonio ( Underworld Mafia Romance 3)

Leo puts a hand on my shoulder. “It’s only a burden if she doesn’t want to bear it. Have you asked her?”

“No,” I answer. “I haven’t really talked to her since Sergio died.”

“In spite of everything, it’s a pity he died the way he did,” my father says. “He was once like a brother to me.”

“It’s even more a pity that someone we considered family betrayed us,” Cain says. “I’m not going to stop hunting him until I find him, and when I do, he’ll pay for all the pain he’s caused us.”

“I still don’t know why Andrea did it,” Leo says. “Do you?”

Cain shakes his head. “But it doesn’t matter.” He looks at his hand and curls his fingers into a fist. “He will answer for his crimes.”

“And that’s that,” Leo tells me. “Leave Andrea to Cain. Leave all the mafia stuff to Dad and me. You go and talk to your wife.”

I look at him with narrowed eyes.

“What?” he asks.

“Are you really Leo?” I ask him.

My father and Cain laugh. Leo frowns and puts his hands on his hips.

“What? Did you think I wouldn’t grow up without you?”

I pat his shoulder and grin. “I’m glad you did. And just for the record, I always thought you would be successful. You’re my twin, after all.”

Leo smiles. “Don’t you ever forget it.”

Then he places his hands on my back and gives me a shove.

“Now, go talk to your wife.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Triss

I let out a contented sigh as the water from the spring gushes down my sweat-drenched back. I stay like that for a while and then move to another spot in the pond to rest my head against a rock. As I look up, I see the clouds moving above the trees. I turn my head and see the flowers and the butterflies in the meadow, though I can imagine the fireflies being there, too. I close my eyes and I can hear the breeze.

This place truly is incredible. There’s something about it that’s soothing, healing even. I can almost feel all my fears and worries melting away. That’s what makes it magical.

Of course, it was even more magical on my wedding night with all the lanterns, the canopy and the stars shining down on Antonio and me.

If only we could go back to that night, to that night when I almost believed in happily ever after, even though I told Antonio it wasn’t real.

If only it were. If only Antonio was still here.

“Looks like somebody took my spot.” A deep voice breaks into my reverie.

My heart skips a beat as I open my eyes. Antonio?

I turn my head and see him standing above me. I rub my eyes and pinch myself just to make sure he’s not a dream.

“Just kidding.” Antonio sits by the rock I’m leaning on. “It’s your spot, too. It’s ours.”

I look at him. “How did you know I was here?”

“Jodie told me you went back to Summerset so I came back, too. I thought you’d be waiting for me at home but you weren’t. This was the only other place I could think of where you might be.”

“Hmm.” I lean my head against the rock. “You didn’t have to come back to Summerset, though.”

“I did,” Antonio says. “My memories may have returned, but Summerset is still my home. Besides, I’m the only doctor here. If I didn’t come back, who’d take care of all the people living here?”

I shrug. “Another doctor?”

“I want to keep being a doctor here. I’ll spend time with my family but I want to keep living here. With you.”

“With me?” I ask him. “Even though I’m not really Triss Conrad?”

“Jodie said she’d help you change your name. Besides, it’s not like my real name is on that certificate, either.”

I nod. “Right. So it really is a sham, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think so,” Antonio answers. “But I wouldn’t mind marrying you again to be sure.”

My eyes grow wide. “You would do that?”

He nods. “If you don’t mind being my wife after knowing who I really am.”

I hold his hand and look into his eyes. “Why would I? You married me even though I had nothing, even though you knew I tried to kill someone, even though there was a monster after me.”

“He’s gone now,” Antonio tells me. “But I’m still part of a world that’s clothed in shadows and stained in blood. Maybe I always will be.”

“Then it’s a part of you that I’ll have to live with,” I reply. “That’s what it means to love someone, right? To accept both the good and the bad.”