Twisted Fate (Dark Heart Duet #2) - Ella James Page 0,96

feel emotional. “Was he really?”

She smiles gently. “Yes, and he still will. It could maybe help, him, too—help him inherit his grandfather’s company.”

“Didn’t he get the boot already?”

“Yes, but that’s because his grandfather is a bigot. Won’t pass anything down the line unless he thinks that Jace will have an heir that comes from having sex with a woman.”

“That’s pretty fucking stupid.”

She nods.

“Do you want us to say that?” My pulse quickens as she shakes her head, but then she frowns. “Say what?”

“Do you want to tell people the baby’s his?”

“I don’t.” Her eyes glimmer. “Because I want to be with you.”

I close my eyes, feeling relieved. “We just have to figure out a way. I can talk to Alesso, Roberto. Let me see what I can work out. I know that won’t help your ability to…be seen with me.” My throat goes dry on that part. “But at least you’ll never have to get a nasty surprise at work again.”

“Would you really leave…for me?” she chokes.

“Of course. If I can figure out a way. Even if I can’t…” I shake my head. “I’ll find a way. I didn’t know if you would want to.”

“Yes.”

“Because of the baby?”

“No, Luca. Because of you. I want to be with you. I love my work, but you make life feel…better. Richer. You’re what makes me happy. All we need is to move away from here. But I don’t want to disappoint my voters. Or Jace. Not that Jace would ever let me do anything less than what we want to do.”

I hug her to me, feeling like shit that we’re in this situation. “I need a disguise, and maybe a name change.”

She kisses my chest. “I love you the way you are.”

“I still don’t feel like I deserve it.”

“I love you and just you, Luca. Not some other version of you. Not the you who teaches ethics at a college. This you. I love the way you hold me and the way you smell, the way you laugh, the way you wiggle your eyebrows and make your funny little faces. I love the way you watch my back and help me even when you’re getting nothing from it, no acknowledgment from me. I love how you never push me, and you never ask for anything back. You just love me, and it’s somehow enough.

“Even when there’s no way forward—when it seems like there’s not one—you stick by me. You stick by your brother and your friends. Even Roberto…and your father,” she whispers. “What you told me happened sounds horrible. But I have never felt like it was your fault. I think you live with trauma every day, and you still fight to keep your head above water. Even when I’m not there with you, and I want to be. I’m so sad that I can’t be, because it’s all I want.”

I hug her closer, hoping she won’t notice me losing my shit. But I guess she feels me breathe or feels a teardrop in her hair, because she pulls my face down to her shoulder and she wraps herself around me, too. She’s stroking my shoulders and my nape, my back and then my cheek.

“Don’t be worried, darling. We just have to find a way. Maybe after my term’s over, we can move to Timbuktu.”

“That’s a real place. Did you know?” I force a smile for her; she’s smiling back with wet eyes.

“It’s somewhere desert-like in west-ish Africa, right? And there’s a mosque or something?”

“It’s in Mali.”

“Maybe we should get away. But not quite that far. I’ll miss my friends. Maybe…Jersey. Do they know you down there?” she asks.

“Not how they do here. The Bellinis are in charge in Jersey.”

“You’re the don of nothing down there.”

I nod, resting my chin on the top of her head.

“Does it make you feel weird, that term?”

“I’m not really the don. Roberto is…if we’re going to be technical, based on…ceremonial things. I’m just the fill-in.”

“Do you want to be the fill-in?” She kisses my jaw.

“I’ve done it.”

“You didn’t get a lot of choices.”

“I was fine. I’m fine. Better than fine,” I whisper into her sweet-smelling hair. “I told Max where I think Aren gets…these victims. I’ve told him before, but the other day, I told him a lot more. He seemed like he’d be interested, or like some of his blue bros would be.”

“You’re sad that you can’t help this month?”

“Yeah. I even thought of taking them—like intercepting them on their way to Aren. But I didn’t