by Bethany-Kris
Why did they let her be in their home?
After everything?
“Let’s start from the beginning,” Gian said, “and Vanna, I suspect that starts with you. Don’t leave anything out, hmm?”
She took in a deep breath. “Sure.”
“Whenever you’re ready, then.”
Gracious.
Kind.
Respectful.
All things the Guzzi family seemed to encompass, and even in the face of someone who had only intended to hurt them, they still offered her those things first. It wasn’t lost on Vanna, and if anything, their silence as she talked, explaining how this had all come to be, made her feel more guilt than she thought was possible.
It was okay, though.
She deserved it.
She took it.
“There are a lot of ways I would like to spend my first day home with my wife after everything,” Gian said, his expression neutral as Vanna finished, “but this certainly wasn’t one of them, no offense.”
She nodded. “None taken.”
“It seems we have a lot to clear up, oui?”
God.
If Vanna could shrink into the office chair, and never be seen again, it might be the better option than the way she felt right then with Gian Guzzi sitting across the room from her. Not because he made her feel uncomfortable, but after an hour of admitting every single one of her secrets to the man, and all the shit she had done to him and his family … well, Vanna had never felt more ashamed.
It took a couple of days before the man was finally released. Apparently, a few missing papers could keep him behind bars longer than anyone thought. Then, he arrived home with his wife at his side, the first time she came home and stayed since her husband’s arrest, if Vanna was to believe what others told her.
Standing behind her husband, Bene’s mother kept her hands clasped to his shoulders during the entire conversation. A pillar of the family, it seemed.
Vanna wasn’t surprised.
Women tended to be the powerhouses.
They turned the world.
Men simply went along with it.
“You know,” Gian said, clearing his throat as his gaze flicked to Marcus who stood near the office windows, clearly unhappy, “there was a time when I thought I loved Elena.”
Vanna flinched.
She couldn’t help it.
“All of her making, of course,” Gian added quickly, waving a hand as if to dismiss the notion he could have truly loved her dead aunt, “because she orchestrated it all. From bumping into me at a restaurant, to the lies she told about who she was and what she wanted from me. Instead, she used those things I trusted her with to get away from a man she hated, and then she left me high and dry for years while I felt like I would never have the chance to be with someone I loved entirely. I couldn’t be with someone else when I was already married to her, after all. Until Cara came along, that is.”
Cara smiled briefly, bending down to kiss the man on the top of his head before straightening back up like she hadn’t moved at all.
“Nonetheless, with Elena, nothing was ever true, and even after the things she had done to me and to my family … I would have forgiven her for it all, if only she loved me back the way I thought I loved her. That’s the thing about love, when it’s real, then nothing else really matters. You figure out a way to make it work—it doesn’t give you another choice.”
Beside her, Bene reached over to unfurl her fingers around the arm of the chair. His palm pressed against hers, the warm heat soaking into her hand and straight up her arm almost instantly. Their fingers wove together, and just like that, she felt settled again.
Better.
He made her better.
“Nothing was ever real with Elena,” Gian said, still staring at Vanna as he spoke despite all the others in the room, “and so there was nothing to make work. I think that’s where the two of you differ, isn’t it?”
“How are we supposed to trust her when—”
“Hush, Marcus.”
The man at the windows quieted instantly.
“I’m sorry,” Vanna whispered.
Behind his large desk, Gian nodded. “I understand that even to the detriment of yourself, you did what you could to help fix your errors, and while I could be quick to punish you for the rest first … I’m inclined to learn from the past, and the mistakes I left behind there.”
He glanced up at his wife, asking, “What is it you say this family does, cara mia bella?”
Cara smiled. “We forgive—we love.”
“We do because that is how you teach it to others.” Gian looked Marcus’s way again, the other man stiff in his position in front of the windows. “Something you still have to learn, although your reasoning for wanting to do neither is justifiable. Still, we remain together, or we fight and tear each other apart on our way down, yes?”
It took Marcus a second.
And then, two.
Finally, with a hard exhale, he muttered, “Yes, Papa.”
Gian’s gaze turned on Bene as he said, “Also, I hear we have other news to share. Something … happier, even if you do know better. And Bene, you do know better.”
What?
Bene’s cheeks reddened.
Vanna almost laughed.
“That was not intentional,” he started to say.
“And yet, here we are.”
“Well—”
“We already know,” Cara said behind Gian, her attention drifting to Vanna, and then down to her stomach where one of her hands stayed flat against her body, “because Christopher told us.”
“Oh.”
“I don’t keep secrets,” Christopher said from the back of the room.
“Yes, we know.” Corrado’s reply came out dry, and tired. “Which is why no one tells you anything, man.”
No one turned to look at the two.
“Could have kept that secret for a bit,” Bene returned.
“No, probably not.”
“Bene,” Gian urged, “less them, more me, please.”
“I’m not a child.”
“No, apparently, you’re going to have one.”
Yep.
There it was.
Bene laughed under his breath. “Yeah, so there’s also that. And I know that probably pisses you off the most, but—”
“You’ll be married before the child is born.”
Vanna’s head snapped up.
So did Bene’s.
Gian raised his brow at the two of them. “It’s non-negotiable. It’s our way, and I won’t have more reasons for the made men in this family to instigate issues with my sons, either, and this would absolutely do that being who she is.”
The man shrugged, adding, “And I think it should be made clear that the child is the only reason why we’re sitting here right now doing this instead of something else that would be a far more appropriate answer to your actions against me and mine, young woman. It was my wife … and her reminder to me that we have all made choices in our life that hurt those we try to protect the most, who made me willing to sit down with you. In any other situation, I would not offer my forgiveness or a second chance. And you can absolutely expect that no one else in our family will want to do the same. You don’t have our trust, Vanna, and neither do you, son, because of who stands beside you. Those are things you have to earn back now. I can’t give it to you, Bene.”
“I know, Papa.”
“Good, and as for the rest …”
Her lungs ached with every breath.
Gian was owed his moment, though.
“A marriage settles it,” he continued, “and the child cements it. It’s a Guzzi child regardless, and when you give the mother the last name, too, our line becomes clear. And unless there’s a reason why the two of you would rather not be married, then—”
“No, yes,” Bene said, stumbling over his words as Vanna still tried to find hers, “yes, I want to marry her, of course, I do.”
&nb
sp; “Good,” Gian replied.
“Vanna?” Cara spoke up, then. “Because no one thought to ask you, I guess.”
She smiled.
Cara smiled back.
“I just want to be with Bene.”
Forever.
Truer words had never been spoken.
At least, not from her.
Bene’s hand tightened around hers, and with a firm tug, he had her leaning closer so that he could press a kiss to her temple. “You got me.”
We’ll deal with the rest later.
Because there would be a later, now.
They should have sent her running.
Killed her.
After all she did to them, the Guzzis should have buried her in a shallow grave where no one knew she rotted, and her name became dust in the wind. Instead, because a girl fell in love with a boy … one of theirs, they let her stay. They promised to forgive.
If you do the same, Gian told her. Because you must do the same.
He was right.
Those thoughts chased Vanna through the Guzzi mansion with every step she took, her laughter flying over her shoulder as Bene almost caught up to her when she rounded the corner at the end of the long second-floor hallway.
The nostalgia of it wasn’t lost on her. The familiarity of it all comforted her like nothing else could because everything was different now. Oh, they had a way to go, she was sure. It didn’t take a day for her to damage them, and she didn’t think it would be fixed that quickly, either.
Vanna wasn’t stupid.
Or selfish, either.
“Are you going to make this easy on me, or what?” Bene called behind her.
She winked over her shoulder. “Never.”
He wouldn’t want easy, anyway. He chased her like this once. She let him catch her, then. Only, that had been for entirely different reasons.
Some things didn’t change, though.
Like when he caught her.
Kissed her.
Those things stayed the same.
Entirely perfect.
Like them.
Even if everything else still needed work.
That was okay, too.
She didn’t mind putting in the effort.
Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to four young sons, two cats, and three dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, a snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a spouse calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something ... when she can find the time.
Find Bethany-Kris at her:
www.bethanykris.com
The Guzzi Legacy
Corrado
Alessio
Chris
Beni
Bene
Marcus
* * *
Renzo + Lucia
Privilege
Harbor
Contempt
* * *
Andino + Haven
Duty
Vow
* * *
John + Siena
Loyalty
Disgrace
* * *
Cross + Catherine
Always
Revere
Unruly
The Companion
Naz & Roz
* * *
Guzzi Duet
Unraveled, Book One
Entangled, Book Two
* * *
DeLuca Duet
Waste of Worth: Part One
Worth of Waste: Part Two
* * *
Donati Bloodlines
Thin Lies
Thin Lines
Thin Lives
Behind the Bloodlines
The Complete Trilogy
* * *
Filthy Marcellos
Antony
Lucian
Giovanni
Dante
Legacy
A Very Marcello Christmas
The Complete Collection
* * *
Seasons of Betrayal
Where the Sun Hides
Where the Snow Falls
Where the Wind Whispers
Seasons: The Complete Seasons of Betrayal Series
* * *
Gun Moll Trilogy
Gun Moll
Gangster Moll
Madame Moll
* * *
The Chicago War
Deathless & Divided
Reckless & Ruined
Scarless & Sacred
Breathless & Bloodstained
The Complete Series
Maldives & Mistletoe
* * *
The Russian Guns
The Arrangement
The Life
The Score
Demyan & Ana
Shattered
The Jersey Vignettes
* * *
Standalone Titles
Dirty Pool
Effortless
Inflict
Cozen
Captivated
Dishonored
* * *
Find more on Bethany-Kris’s website at www.bethanykris.com