Chapter 32 Christmas Eve
Isabella POV
Varos drove the vehicle with my cousin in the passenger seat. Sapphire and I sat in the back so we could talk. I hadn’t talked to her much
over the past three weeks because I’d been busy.
“How’s the baby?” I asked. “I know you’re only eight weeks along, but do you feel differently?”
She wasn’t just glowing with her pregnancy but also with her happiness. “We went to the doctor the other day and everything is going well. I’m taking vitamins now.” “That’s great.”
“Varos and I are working on the nursery.” “What about the wedding?” “Well, I want to get married as soon as possible because I don’t want to be huge in my wedding dress, but it’s been so cold this winter. Once spring arrives, we’ll do something small. I’ll only be a few months along by then.”
Varos looked at her in the rearview mirror. “A little baby bump will make you look sexier, if you ask me.” Sapphire smiled, a slight tint coming into her cheeks. Seeing my brother act affectionate with someone was gross, but I shut my mouth and let it go. When I brought my husband around someday, I suspected
he’d be just as affectionate with me. The way Dante was.
Fuck, it was the twentieth time I thought of him since I left. His come was sitting inside me that very moment. “What’s new with you?” Sapphire asked, changing the subject before Varos could say something else inappropriate.
“Nothing,” I said quickly. “Nothing?” she asked with a laugh. “You’re always so busy all the time. I find that hard to believe.”
I’d witnessed Dante kill a man in an alleyway, and he held a knife to my throat and almost murdered me in his home. Now I was fucking him all the time. My life wasn’t the same, and it was pure chaos. No, I wasn’t doing nothing.
“I’ve been painting a lot. School was hectic at the end of the semester. I’m glad it’s finally over. I went out to the bars with a few friends
once finals were over, but nothing interesting happened.” “Are you seeing anyone?”
Dante popped into my mind, six-three. His package lay against his stomach as he waited for me to get on top of him and ride him
hard. My neck felt warm, and I hoped the arousal wasn’t written all over my face. “No. I’ve been too busy and haven’t met anyone worthwhile.” “You could always be a painter at a nunnery,” Varos said. “They’re always
looking for new followers.”
I would definitely not fit in at a nunnery. Dante and I were more aggressively than animals. We had the kind of passion and ferocity that I’d only heard about in stories. I’d never had a relationship so intense and volatile. He could threaten my family one moment and then we be together the next minute. “I’ll pass…” They wouldn’t take me anyway.
On Christmas Eve, we had hot cocoa around the fire and talked about the wonderful things that had happened over the past year. It always happened after a feast, and we sat near the tree and admired all the ornaments that we’d collected together throughout the years. My mom was always exceptionally happy around Christmas time. When we
were all together, laughing in front of the fire, she lit up brighter than the tree. I always caught my father staring at her, affection in his eyes.
Varos had Sapphire sitting across his lap, his hand moving to her stomach from time to time even though she didn’t look pregnant at all. My cousin sat with his mom and talked to her about his car business. My uncle on the other hand drank more wine than anyone else, and usually got particularly loud at the end of the
night. I thought about what Dante had said.
That my uncle used to be a Mafia boss and a hitman. I quickly shook the thought away.
I didn’t participate in the conversation as much as I usually did because my thoughts were clouded by the recent events in my life. When I saw my entire family gathered around to enjoy the holidays, I realized I could never tell them what was really going on with Dante. I couldn’t risk their safety, not when my family had already been through so much. I had to kill Dante myself. That was the only way out of this. He knew it was coming, knew I would make my move eventually.
That meant I had to be clever. I only had one shot to take him out. Poisoning seemed like the best option, but that seemed too obvious. I could shoot him again, but this time, I had to shoot him in the skull or the heart. If I hit him
anywhere else, it wouldn’t stop him. My father moved from his spot on the other couch and sat beside me. He held a glass of red wine, choosing to drink it at family events instead of the scotch he preferred. I knew he drank it when he was alone in his office because I’d
caught him a few times. “Tesoro, how are you?” My father had raised me like a son and he pushed me to be strong, smart, and independent. It annoyed me when I was young, but now I was grateful he pushed me as hard as he did. I believed it was much harder to be a woman in a male dominated world than people realized.
My father prepared me for that. If it weren’t for him, I never would have escaped Knuckles. And if it weren’t for him, I’d be panicking right now. “Good. How’s the winery?”
He didn’t answer me, his hazel eyes watching me with quiet intelligence. “You seem to be distracted today.” I wished my father couldn’t read me so well. “It was just a long semester, and I’ve been thinking about my future as an artist…stuff like that.”
“Talk to me, tesoro. You know you can tell me anything.” Not anything. Not this. “I’ve liked going to school, but I’ve been considering
dropping out…”
Instead of getting angry or shouting his disapproval, he just stared at me. “You know the winery is yours if you decide you want to take it. But you’re very talented, Isabella. I don’t think you should give up just yet.” That’s not what I meant, but I appreciated his words anyway. “That’s not what I meant. I was thinking of dropping out of school so I could focus my time painting. I want to start my own gallery, but since classes take up so much of
my time, I thought it would be more effective for me to spend time creating something…but then that would mean two years of education down the drain.”
It would be easy for my father to get upset because he was the one who paid all the money for my education. “If you’re asking for my approval, you don’t need it. Follow your destiny. No one knows the path better than you do.” “Well…do you think that’s a good idea?”