I swallowed the rest of my drink. “Come on,” I said. “Let’s go home.”
He smiled. “You mean my apartment?”
I shook my head. “No, I mean our apartment.”
He took my hand and we left to go to our apartment. Izzy was going to have to move out, but I was going to stay.
We were going home.
Twenty-Nine
Lucca - One Year Later
“Benito, I know that our capo for the hacking division is getting too strong. I don’t want to take care of him. Maybe I could just talk with him and see if I can get him to back off.”
Benito and I were talking about our company, which is what we often did. After everything with Izzy fell apart, and our marriage was annulled, we were right back to where we were before – Benito desperately needed a merger with my organization, so that the other families would leave him alone. I needed the same. Since I was no longer married to Izzy, both of us were vulnerable.
So we legally merged our organizations. It made sense to me, anyhow, seeing as Benito was going to be my father-in-law again. For real this time. I asked Bianca to marry me the night that she and I got back together, and she immediately said yes.
So, the Fattores merged with the Azzarras, and it went remarkably smooth. We both decided that Benito would be the capofamiglia for the merged company, and that I would be the underboss. That made sense, too. After all, Benito had years of experience and was seasoned and respected. I knew that I was still green and prone to mistakes, and I really relished the idea of not having everything fall on my shoulders all the time.
As for Bianca and me, we were in love, more than ever. She was disappointed that she couldn’t have children with me, but I assured her that wasn’t a problem. We got married, and we immediately applied for adoption. That didn’t go well, considering my background, even though I simply told the home study social worker that I was an IT professional. That checked out, yet we still weren’t able to get a child. No matter, we found a young woman who was willing to be a surrogate, and we managed to get an egg out of Bianca and merged it with one of my sperm, and it took. Thank god Bianca’s ovaries were still intact, because it meant that she and I could have a biological child after all.
Benito didn’t approve of the whole surrogate thing, of course. He was still hopelessly old-fashioned about the whole thing. But he understood because Rafaela had explained to him that Bianca no longer had a uterus, so she had to have a child in a different way. Benito didn’t like it, but he couldn’t stop it, and, when the baby came, he was as thrilled as anyone to be a proud grandfather.
He and Stefano were doing well, better than I could have ever expected. After Benito found out that Stefano was undoubtedly his, he made an effort to make sure that he and Stefano were good at all times. He really bent over backwards. He even promoted Stefano to the position of capo, which meant that he had a platoon of men under him, working for him. The way that it worked was that Stefano collected the money from the men, took his cut, and then gave most of it to Benito.
Nico was able to complete his adoption with his husband, Carmine. The little baby was named Christof and he was beautiful and perfect. They were as happy as they had ever been, according to Bianca, who knew how they were before.
Izzy actually was doing well, too, better than ever. She was dating an Italian man who had the Benito stamp of approval, and she was very happy with him. His name was Robert Zacharelli and he treated Izzy like gold. She told me, more than once, how happy she was that she and I didn’t have to stay married. She was sad that she had lost her baby, but, at the same time, she and I both knew it was really all for the best. She was with the person she was supposed to be with, and so was I. Everything was as it should be.
Everything was as it should be.
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Lucca: Azzarra Crime Family Book Two Page 18