to. Besides, by the time he’s back, you’ll be off to college. He would probably like you here with me anyway. It’ll be fun, Sana. You and me? Together.”
“It would, wouldn’t it?” she breathes.
Nodding my head, I touch my forehead against her own. “This is where you belong,” I whisper. “This is where you’ll stay. She’s going to have to fight me for you and I’m not going to let her win. I have a hell of a lot more money than she does and a whole lot of badass at my back.”
Renzo chuckles behind me at the same time Rosana giggles. “How about I order you girls some pizzas, yeah?”
Sana looks up, at the same time I turn my head to look back over my shoulder at Renzo. “No cheese, extra pepperoni and olives?” we both ask at the same time.
“Fuck, you both like that shit?” he barks.
“They always put too much cheese,” we say in unison.
Renzo lifts his hand, giving us a wave as he takes his phone out of his pocket and heads toward the kitchen. I hear his voice in a low rumbled murmur as he places the order before I turn back to face Rosana.
Leaning back against the sofa, I wrap my arm around Rosana’s shoulders and we both tilt our heads back to look up at the ceiling.
“Aunt Irene is a total bitch,” Rosana whispers.
“Yeah,” I agree. “But now you’re here with me.”
“Yeah.”
We stay on the sofa, just staring at the ceiling until the front doorbell rings and Renzo announces that the pizzas have arrived. The rest of the evening, we spend eating pizza, I drink wine, Rosana drinks Sprite, and we laugh.
It’s one of the best nights of my life, but my eyes keep drifting over to Massimo’s empty chair. Then my thoughts go back to him, to the way we were for those few beautiful days before he left me. My heart aches just thinking about him, missing him.
Later that night, I lie in bed, Rosana next to me until Renzo moves out and she can claim his room. I could put her in the second guest bedroom, but it’s right next to Renzo’s room and I just don’t think she’d be comfortable all alone up there next to him.
I don’t speak and neither does she, not for a while. “Did you love him, your Massimo?” Rosana asks.
“How can you love someone after only a week of being together?”
She hums. “I think you could. He’s hot too,” she says before she lets out a giggle.
Turning to face her, I lay on my side, tucking my hands beneath my cheek. “He is beautiful, but he’s damaged,” I whisper.
“We’re all damaged, Pip.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “We are, aren’t we.”
“Totally. I still can’t believe you’re married to a Made Man and living in this badass house.”
Smiling, I pinch my eyes closed. I know that she can’t see me, but I wish that she could see the pained expression on my face. If she could, she would know that this isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Married for less than a week and having your husband thrown into prison, then him asking you for a divorce and not allowing you to visit him. It’s a nightmare.
“What you see on the outside, it’s not a true representation of the reality, Rosana.”
“I know, Pip. I saw Bellarosa, and I know that you’re owned by Massimo. I also know that most Made Men are trash. I don’t think he is one of them though. I don’t think his closest guys are either. The way they looked at their wives at your wedding, the way they watched them. The way Massimo looked and watched you.”
“How was that?” I snap.
Rosana laughs softly. “Like he adores you, Pippa. He does, too. He looked at you like he couldn’t believe you were his. I know your situation isn’t normal, but I want that.”
I snort. “No, you don’t.”
She hums. “Maybe not the exact way it happened with you. But still, a guy who looks at me like he can’t believe I’m his. I want that.”
Reaching out, I touch her nose. “I hope you get whatever you want in life, Sana. Whatever you want.”
We don’t say anything else. I don’t sleep, my mind spins with thoughts of my wedding day, of the way Gavino, Arlo, and Luca all looked at their wives. The way Nicola talked about Benicio. They adored them and I never imagined that Massimo could think and talk about me that way.
Does