Page 28 of His Vicious Vow

Carina

A half hour later she’s guiding me downstairs to the café.

I’m surprised to find Tony and Dominic Sabatini’s wives at a table in a corner with a woman I’ve never seen before. I’ve met Christy, Tony’s wife and Regina, Dominic’s wife a few times. I’ve never spoken to them though. Christy was nice about it. Regina was confused but was very sweet when Celia explained I didn’t speak. She shared she went mute as well when she was a child for more than four years. I desperately wanted to speak to her but I didn’t dare.

“You know Christy and Regina, right?” Lydia asks.

I nod and smile at them both.

“Great, this is Bella. She’s married to Luca. Luca is Sandro’s best friend so I thought it was important she talk to you about him.” Lydia explains as she sits down. “But let’s order first.”

After we’ve ordered and are sipping our drinks. I’m the only one drinking wine as everyone else at the table is pregnant.

Bella is anxious. “I’m not sure I’m going to um…I guess make you feel better about Sandro.”

I lose my smile, fear has my heart pounding in my ears.

She lays a hand on mine. “It’s not, I don’t think, a horrible thing. I just—sorry. He’s just a little um, stiff. That whole stoic thing. He doesn’t smile much or laugh. But he can be really sweet and nice to his sister and it wasn’t like he was mean or even rude to me. I mean I didn’t know him for months or years or anything.”

I’m confused. How she describes him is how he seemed at the first meeting when he was all stiff and rude. But he was different the very next time then at dinner. “He doesn’t laugh?”

Her shrug is small. “I asked Luca about him and he said not so much. Luca said he didn’t have much to smile about. Sandro has this thing where he doesn’t forget anything, a photographic memory or something. So everyone he’s ever…” She flashes a grimace at Lydia. “You know, he can’t forget it. Luca admitted a long time ago Sandro got too heavy into stuff for him to try and forget. But when it didn’t really help, he went cleaner than most although he still uses every once in a while.”

Confusion is threatening to overtake me. Everyone is staring at me with concern. “He laughs with me—sometimes it feels like it’s at me.” I shake my head. “That isn’t true, it just feels like it. And he chuckles, A LOT.”

Now Bella looks confused. “What?”

Regina laughs. “I knew it! This is why I had to come. Sorry, I was standing there when Lydia called Christy to ask if Christy could ask Bella to come meet you. Dominic was chuckling about Sandro having your new ring made. He’s convinced Sandro is low-key obsessed with you.”

“He’s having a new ring made?” He listened and cared that I didn’t like the ring?

Nodding, her smile is taking up half her face. I wonder if it hurts. “Oh yeah, that’s how Dominic knew. The jeweler is the poor guy who had to redo my ring and tiara a few times. Dominic followed up with the jeweler today after he met up with Sandro. Apparently the poor jeweler spent an hour going through all the rings he had then gave up and spent another hour designing a ring for you.”

Huh.

Lydia bumps me with her shoulder. “I told you so. These men, the bigger they are the harder they fall.”

“When Lydia said she wanted Bella to talk to you because you were sure Sandro wasn’t into you despite her being sure he was—I recognized myself and how I was with Dominic. I get it’s not easy. Meeting a guy and then being told you’re to marry a stranger is scary. But Tony trusts in Sandro. Tony likes you and Celia. He hates the way Carlo treats you both. I believe Tony would never have approved Sandro for you if he didn’t think Sandro was good for you.” Regina is sincere.

I cringe at the thought of Tony pitying me and Celia. Yet I believe Regina—that Tony would only go along with a man he thought was nice enough. Tony basically said it when I ran from Sandro. A sigh escapes me. I’m supposed to trust Tony and Sandro with my life.

“Carina?” Christy’s eyes are soft. “Are you afraid of Sandro?”

Her eyes tell me if I am she’ll help me. I want so badly to say yes. Except I don’t dare lie to her. And I don’t want her to deal with the fallout of helping me. “Honestly, no. I just…” I think of what Regina said, Sandro cared about how much I hated the ring. He said he felt bad about me not having a choice either. How I should have the freedom to make mistakes, he understood why I did cosplay—he had to be someone else when he was out too.

Bella’s hand comes down on mine. “Sandro will take care of you. I was hesitant because I was afraid of making you more scared of him but you described someone I don’t recognize except through things Luca mentioned. Even with his sister he doesn’t laugh much. Maybe be patient with him as he reconciles himself to this marriage. You aren’t the only one who wasn’t expecting marriage. Luca said Sandro didn’t want to get married because he never wanted to be like his dad, unwilling or able to keep going after his wife died. I think as bad as it sounds like so many of the men in the life they don’t want to be seen as weak.”

I give her a smile of thanks. She didn’t get it. In the end he would still be freer than I would. He gets to call all the shots and he’s even changed his mind about kids and my own room like he said in the beginning. What else is he going to change before we even get to our wedding day?

* * *

Sandro

I’m pacing the suite. I hate feeling caged up. I’m used to activity, to too much business and not enough hours in the day.

I’ve already run reports and gone over all the accounting for the month. Aside from a question on an expense Luca followed up to explain everything looked good. Even more importantly I’ve talked to every capo to follow up on how things were running. Carlo went ahead and made calls to all our capos to tell them I’m in place as head of Vegas. He let them know I’m in Chicago until Saturday after he’s announced my engagement to his daughter. When I made my calls today not one spoke of the why behind my marriage but all of them congratulated me on not only the marriage but the connection I was making to Carlo.

I bristled at the way some of them laughed at the idea of me with Carina. Her reputation for being odd was legend in the mafia. It was one of the reasons I wanted her to stop with the cosplay and for her clothes to change. At first it was so she wouldn’t embarrass me in front of my men. Then it was because I do not want anyone, man or woman looking down on her. Was Carina different? Yeah, she was braver than all the rest of us for doing her own damn thing no matter what everyone else thought of her.