We lounge on the carpet a bit more, exchanging lazy kisses and talking about our favorite things, before I start to yawn. Paolo takes me to his bedroom on the second floor then, and as soon as we get out of the shower and wrap our limbs around each other, I pass out on his pillows. God, it’s been one hell of a day.
The sunrise finds us in the middle of another round of sex, and only a short nap later do I properly wake up-without Paolo next to me.
The morning is still young when I get out of the bedroom with Paolo’s shirt on my shoulders. I didn’t bring my whole closet when I was leaving the mansion with Louis, okay? Besides, it feels nice to feel his presence on me.
I get down to the first floor where the wide windows open to the bright green lawn and white clouds covering the sky to the horizon. Paolo is standing next to one of them, studying the scenery outside, and his
shoulders are tense again. His frown is too serious to take it as a good sign, and I feel my heart tighten with worry.
“Did something happen?” I ask, walking closer to him, and it warms me up to see the look in his eyes soften as soon as he turns to me.
“No, nothing.” Paolo wraps his arm around my waist and presses a quick kiss to my temple before turning away to the window. But I can feel the tension in his body and the grim look in his eyes.
“Does it worry you?” I glance at the peaceful scenery outside, feeling a tight string of anxiety in my own chest. “That there’s nothing?”
Paolo stays quiet for a long moment, but in the end, he exhales and shakes his head. “I have to drive there and see what happened yesterday.”
I blink and look up at him. “Now?”
“Yes.” He presses a quick kiss to my lips and presses me closer for a moment before letting go. “I’ll be back soon. If you need anything, call me, and-”
God, not again.
“Wait, wait!” I run after Paolo and grab his arm before he reaches the door.
“Jacinta?” He follows my hand and turns around, looking at me with a silent question. Yes, okay, I’m being weird, but…aren’t we supposed to talk about it right at the beginning?
I bite my lip and look to the side, avoiding his gaze. “Are we-you know, are we together? Like…like a couple or something?”
I glance at him as soon as I finish my blabbering, feeling like my heart is gonna jump out of my chest. I mean, it’s a stupid question. Of course it is. God, what if we’re not a couple? What if I push him away with that? Shit, Jacinta, you’re-
“Of course we are.” Paolo frowns in confusion and steps closer to me, reaching out to take my hand. “I love you, and I want to raise our child with you. I think that’s more than enough to qualify us as a couple-unless you…have changed your mind?”
His grip on my hand tightens, and I immediately shake my head.
“What? No, no, that’s not it. Of course, I love you too, and I want to be with you, but…”
“But?” Paolo quirks an eyebrow, and I take a steadying breath and look him in the eyes.
“But I don’t want my life to be as miserable as it was.” I squeeze his hand when I notice his frown turning deeper. “I know I have you, and it’s incredible, it’s more than I’ve ever dreamed of, but…but I don’t want to go from one cage to another. I don’t want to be locked here, I-I want to experience life in the real world, away from the guards and firefights. I want to stay with you forever, but I want to be free too. Do you understand what I mean?”
Damn, it was probably so confusing. And I dropped it on him first thing in the morning. I bite my cheek, watching him look down at our hands with a thoughtful frown. God, I should’ve waited. I just spoiled it, didn’t I?
I almost open my mouth to take it back-but at the last moment, I change my mind. This is important to me, okay? It may be silly, may be weird, but I need my freedom. I want to be a human, a girlfriend, a part of his life, not an actual toy kept in his house for entertainment-and I want Paolo to know about that now before it’s too late to part ways.
“I do understand you, and I can’t promise to keep you away from the Mafia world,” he says after a moment of contemplation, and my heart drops.
Is that it? Is that the end? But then, Paolo squeezes my hand in his hold and does something I never expected to see. He gets down on his knee in front of me, and I freeze. Wait, am I still asleep? Is this a dream?
“I can’t free you from the dangers of my life-but I’ll give you the world. We’ll travel to other countries, we’ll see places you didn’t know
existed, and we’ll get a taste of life outside of Chicago.” Paolo presses a kiss to my knuckles, and I feel tears rising to my eyes. “Jacinta, I’ll do all it takes to make your life everything you’ve always wanted it to be.”
Oh god. I have to gasp for breath before I lunge forward and wrap my arms around him, burying my face into the crook of his neck. What did I do to deserve this?
“I guess you don’t mind it, then,” Paolo says with a chuckle, rubbing my back, and I can only nod, tightening my arms around him. I’m not crying, but damn, it does feel like it.
“I love you,” I whisper into his neck, and even without looking at him, I can feel his smile.
“I love-”
But the buzz of his phone interrupts him. Oh come on, why do they have to call now?
Wait.
I widen my eyes and immediately untangle my arms, hurrying to get away from Paolo and let him pick up his phone. If it’s someone from his family, they’re probably calling to tell him about yesterday, and I’m just as impatient as he is to hear the news. How did the fight end? Has anyone survived? Is Dad still looking for me?
I can’t help but chew my lips, nervously fiddling with the sleeves of my shirt as I watch Paolo reach for his phone. He glances at me before
answering the call and, all of a sudden, turns the speaker on. Wait, does that mean he trusts me enough to hear the conversation?
God, I hope I’ll be able to handle it. I swallow and focus on his phone with an unfamiliar male voice coming from the speakers. “Paolo? Can you hear me?”
“Yes, Matteo, I’m here.”
“Where are you, man? We’ve been searching for you all morning.”
Paolo huffs and shakes his head. “It didn’t occur to you to check my house, huh?”
There’s an audible pause before Matteo says something that sounds like a curse in Italian. “You haven’t been there in months!”
“That’s exactly why we’re here.” Paolo chuckles, but the guy on the other side doesn’t let it slip.
“We? Are you with the girl?”
“Yes, Jacinta is here,” Paolo says after a short pause and glances at me, and I push my sleeves further down my hands, curling them into fists. I guess they’d figure it out anyway, but I still don’t trust his family enough to feel comfortable with them.
And the way Matteo sighs with relief only makes me more nervous.
Why would he want this information? Do they want to send me to Dad again?
“That’s good. Keep her there.”
“Why?” Paolo frowns, and I’m glad to hear displeasure in his voice.
He’s the only one I can trust to protect me. “What do you want her for?”
“Jesus, Paolo, calm down, I’m not gonna do anything to her. I’m just saying that it’s good to keep an eye on her until we sign the truce.”
Paolo and I exchange a glance and both move closer to his phone. “The truce? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you know?” Matteo chuckles with disbelief and sighs into the phone. “As soon as the two of you left last night, the Mexicans laid down their arms. Her daddy couldn’t believe she had willingly gone with you, it was so funny! We forced him to apologize on his knees for betraying us, and he broke down in tears, can you imagine that? The old freak was begging to see her again.”
“He’s not a freak!” I can’t help but yell at him, and Matteo goes silent for a moment before chuckling.
“Do you really think so, Senorita?”
I purse my lips and huff under my breath, sitting back down on the floor. I mean, Dad kinda is a freak, but that Matteo has no right to call him that.
“Alright, but what were you saying about the truce?” Paolo cuts into our bickering. “Does Gerardo agree to all our demands?”
“Yeah, he said he doesn’t care anymore. He only wants to see Jacinta again.”
Oh, I guess that’s wonderful? I mean, if Dad is ready to give up on me, that’s great news! Unless it’s another trap, and he wants to kill Paolo instead. I frown. Damn, why is everything so complicated between our families?
I shake my head, unsure what to think of it, and look at Paolo, mouthing, “What do you think?”
He studies me for a moment with an unreadable expression, and I frown. What?
“You know we can’t trust him to keep his word, right?” Paolo says all of a sudden, and I blink and sit up. No, no, don’t turn him down, don’t start the fight all over again!
Matteo sighs into the phone. “Yeah, but-”
“Unless he agrees to one more condition.” Paolo straightens his shoulders and looks me in the eyes. “I will take Jacinta as my wife.”