173

173
Raella's POV

Calista took one look at me as I walked down the stairs and shook her head. “I don’t even know why I bothered.”

She wasn’t wrong.

I was wrecked.

Fifteen minutes earlier, I had been naked and splayed open beneath Vincenzo. Now, I was about to head down the aisle on legs that were still quivering from all of our scandalous pre-ceremony activities.

My updo had become a loose braid down my back and my eye makeup was a total loss. Calista pulled out a makeup wipe and scrubbed it away while cursing me and my husband-to-be under her breath for wasting all of her hard work. When she was done, my face was pink and flushed, my lips were swollen, and the evidence of what Vincenzo and I had done was still dripping down the insides of my legs.

But it all felt right.

Even the fact that when the double doors opened and I headed down the aisle, Vincenzo looked as good as ever. Not a hair out of place. The man was unrufflable.

From the outside, anyway. Only I knew the truth.

I liked that.

When he looked up at me, he was seeing me in my lace lingerie and heels. He was remembering the way I had felt wrapped around him and dreaming about being back there again tonight.

I loved being the only person who got to see him fall apart. The only person who could bring him to his knees.

He smiled at me and the rest of the world fell away. The mafia, our families, our friends—nothing else mattered. The man I loved was waiting for me. Why should I have cared about my ruined cat-eye?

“You look fucking incredible,” he whispered in my ear when I reached him.

I met the minister’s eyes and then immediately looked away. “Behave yourself.”

He looked me up and down. “Never.”

During the ceremony, I ignored the guests and the minister and the way Calista and Lorenzo were blatantly ogling each other intensely enough to cause a scene. I ignored everything and everyone except the man in front of me.

It passed in a blur of tears and joy, capped off with a kiss that knocked me so thoroughly off my feet that Vincenzo had to scoop me into his arms and carry me down the aisle while our guests cheered.

He carried me straight through the house and out the double doors to the patio where our reception had been set up in the backyard.

String lights hung over the lawn and there was a stage with an orchestra playing music into the evening. It looked almost exactly like it had the first time I ever saw it.

Vincenzo and I cut our cake on the patio where he had saved me from being assaulted by one of his guests all those months ago.

I pointed out the eerie full-circle feeling as Joey swooped in to finish cutting and serving cake to the guests. Vincenzo and I headed to the dance floor for our first dance.

“Saved you?” He snorted. “You didn’t act like I ‘saved you’ at the time. I remember you not being very thankful at all.”

Our guests stood in a wide circle around the lawn while cello music swelled against the warm night. My dad dabbed at his eyes with a white handkerchief. He had been a blubbering mess all night. I guessed I knew where I got it from.

“It was only because I could have handled him on my own. That guy was a sloppy drunk. He was handsy, but I could have fought him off.”

“Thank God for that,” he breathed.

I frowned. “Excuse me?”

“That sloppy drunk destroyed your dress. I have him to thank for finding you naked in my office.” Vincenzo’s amber eyes undressed me, turning darker by the second. “It set a lot of things in motion.”

I rolled my eyes even as a blush spread over my skin. “Maybe you should have invited him here tonight. We have him to thank for our relationship.”

Vincenzo swirled me out and then back against his chest, holding me close. I wasn’t a good dancer, but Vincenzo was graceful enough for the both of us.

He pressed his cheek to my temple, his words soft in my ear. “No. This is all us, Raella. You and me. We got ourselves here.”

I looked over his shoulder at Calista and Lorenzo standing shoulder to shoulder, smiling like two idiots in love. Giselle and Lucian were sharing a piece of cake, feeding each other little bites and laughing. Even Vincenzo’s dad looked marginally happy from his perch at the table in the far back corner. Carlo Marinelli probably still didn’t approve of me, but he was smart enough to stay quiet about it.

Then there were the gifts I had seen on the gift table earlier. A card from Karina without a return address. She was on the other side of the world, single and happy. Even Toni had sent a gift. Vincenzo told me it was his peace offering. The elder Falcone knew Vincenzo had killed Dominic, but he also knew his son had been a reckless asshole. Vincenzo hadn’t had a choice.

All around us were the signs of a new beginning. A future we had carved out for ourselves.

I couldn’t wait another second to get started.

“You’re right.” My voice was shaking, but I powered through. “We got ourselves here. All three of us, actually.”

Vincenzo spun us with ease, but I felt the moment he faltered. His hand tightened around mine and he drew back to look down at me. I had never seen him so still.

“The three of us,” he repeated, taking in my fresh wave of tears and the smile I couldn’t bite back another second.

“We’re having a baby,” I blurted. “I’m pregnant.”

Vincenzo crushed me into a hug just as the song ended. The guests cheered, but they weren’t in on our little secret. It was just for the two of us.

As the orchestra played on, everyone shifted onto the dance floor. But Vincenzo dragged me away in the other direction.

He hauled me by the hand upstairs, down the hall, and into his office. I could hear the hum of the party and see the glow of the lights through the French doors as my husband wrapped my legs around his waist and pressed me against the wall.

Unlike the first time, this wasn’t a fantasy I had accidentally let myself get lost in. Being with Vincenzo wasn’t a break from reality that I would try to enjoy as long as I could before he was gone forever.

Vincenzo was my real life fairytale.

This was our happily ever after.