Mafia's Final Play (Mafia's Obsession #3) - Summer Cooper Page 0,48

had allowed her to bury the guilt over letting Celeste take him, of being weak and powerless. He knew he should try to rebuild a relationship with her, to heal the wound it had left in him, but he felt like Marie was healing all of that. Maybe one day, when this was all over and Celeste was no longer a problem, he could go and see her.

And maybe he’d take Marie back to New York. Hiding out here made keeping her safe much easier, but was it really what she needed? She’d said it so many times now, but he hadn’t heard her. She needed to breathe, to be free, to experience life. She was safe here, but was she alive?

He put his arm around her, and she cuddled closer to him. The ecstatic smile she wore made his heart melt. “Can we stay for another one?”

“If I wasn’t worried about snow, I’d say yes. But we need to head back once it’s finished.”

“I understand.” She leaned over to kiss him and went back to watching the movie.

Yeah, maybe it would be best to take her back. She needed to talk to her counselor some more, and he knew she wanted to see her doctor. She was worried, and he had to admit, he was concerned about the tremors, the restless nights she had, and maybe a doctor’s assurance would help. That had to be weighing her mind down too, worrying that she was going to end up like her mother.

Well, she could never be like her mother. She wasn’t made from the same cloth, even if they did share genes. Marie would overcome anything that came her way, she always had before. She’d get through this too. He’d be there every step of the way.

He decided to talk to Anton and see what he thought. If they could keep her safe in New York, he’d take her back to the city and let her run wild if she wanted to.

15

When they got home Matteo kissed Marie and headed into the kitchen to talk to Anton. She wasn’t sure what it was about, but they often had these little talks, so she went up to the bathroom to shower before bed. He’d been acting strange since they left the theater, lost in his own thoughts.

She thought, perhaps, their discussion before they’d arrived for dinner had set him to thinking. Her goal hadn’t been to depress him or make him feel sorry for her, she hadn’t even had a goal. He’d asked questions and she’d answered as best she could. She wanted to share with him, and he’d even done a bit of sharing of his own.

There was no use worrying over it, so she showered, put on some warm pajamas, and went to bed. He came up after a while and she asked him if he wanted to watch something.

“Yeah, find something funny. I’d like to end the night laughing with you.” He winked at her before he went to the bathroom.

She found a new comedy on Netflix and had everything ready for him when he came back in.

“I went down and got you a bottle of water and some apple juice.” He held both bottles up and she took them with a grateful smile.

“I’ll be up all night if I drink both of those.” She put them on a napkin she’d put there to protect the nightstand from moisture.

“I wasn’t sure which you’d want. I’ll take the one you don’t want.”

She handed over the apple juice and opened the water. He settled into bed and pulled her to him, with his arm over her shoulders. “What are we watching then?”

She told him the plot of the movie. He seemed to like it, so she put it on. She stayed awake for the first hour, but by the time the movie was almost done she was almost asleep. She had turned over, onto her right side away from him, because she just couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore.

“Marie?” he asked quietly, as if afraid to wake her but needing to talk to her.

“What, babe?” She reached back and took his hand in hers.

“Do you want to go back to New York?” The question came just as quietly but she heard him.

“What?” She rolled over, awake now. “Back to New York? But there’s still someone after me, isn’t there?”

“I talked with Anton. We can work out a way to keep you protected there: keep guards with you, change routes when