She bites her lip and gives him a tight nod, before turning to leave.
“Are you okay?” he asks closing the distance between us.
I look at him in shock, he’s showing concern for me, that’s something I didn’t think he’d do, ever. “I’m okay,” I tell him gently and I’m rewarded as he gives me a stunningly soft smile.
He’s so close, I could reach out and touch him, I’m itching to do it. His eyes soften as he looks at me. “That was fucking intense, Makenna.”
I do what I’ve been itching to do and place my hand on his chest, his heart beat is slow and steady and it settles me. “Kenna, my family call me Kenna.”
He searches my face and nods. “Kenna.” It rolls off his tongue and I let it wash over me. Loving how he says it. “It was intense, she’s your girl, are you okay?”
I bite my lip to stop my tears from falling, I feel his strong heartbeat and let it settle me again. “I’m okay, she’s not been like that in a while and seeing her like that hurt. But I’m okay, and thanks to you, she’s going to be.”
He’s quiet for a moment, “I meant what I said, tomorrow, we’re talking.”
I nod, “I know and I think I knew this day would come. Not tonight though, Dante, let’s just enjoy today and then tomorrow, we’ll deal with the ugly stuff.”
His head lowers so that our lips are barely touching, “You’re ugly stuff is going to be mine, the sooner you realize that I’m going to protect you from anything and everything that poses any harm to you, the better we’ll both be.”
“I know you want to help, but it’s going to take a while to trust you.” His eyes narrow at my words and for some reason I want to ease his worries, “I don’t trust many people, including my brothers, so please don’t be offended.”
I’ve shocked him, but he quickly recovers and in doing so, he lowers his mouth to mine and gives me a quick, hard kiss.
“Fuck,” I mutter when he leans back.
“I’ll see you in a bit,” he says as he walks to the door. My heart is pounding and yet he seems completely unfazed. “And Kenna…” he calls as he opens the door. “You look beautiful.”
My heart melts at his words.
This isn’t good. This marriage was supposed to be an arrangement, I wasn’t supposed to get attached, to catch feelings. Knowing that the made men of the Famiglia are cruel, it would only hurt more when they abuse me. But Dante, he’s given me hope and that’s one thing that can break me.
Four
Makenna
“You really do look beautiful, Makenna,” Kinsley tells me as she dabs her eyes.
My stomach is full of butterflies fluttering their wings frantically against my belly. My nerves have kicked in but for some reason I’m not scared. When I was told that I’d be marrying Dante, every scenario went through my mind. I always pictured being scared, being so distraught that I’d be a shivering mess. Instead, I’m calm and ready. Everything I’ve come to know about Dante is that he’s a monster, but not to me. The soft look he gives me makes my body react in ways I can’t explain. Thinking about this day, I thought I’d be in hell, but I’m looking forward to our future. Although, I’m not sure how it will go but I’m hopeful and that’s a good thing.
“What do you think of Dante?” I ask her, smoothing down my dress.
Her eyes widen, “Um…”
I laugh, “Kins, you’re my best friend. You know how to read people, you’ve been doing it since you were a child. What do you think of Dante?”
She sighs and takes a seat on the sofa, “Makenna, that man doesn’t know how to love…” hearing her say those words is like a punch in the gut. “From the little I’ve seen you interact, he’s not a maniac around you, the two of you could have a reasonable marriage but that’s about it.”
I close my eyes and sit beside her. “Do you think he’ll push me to tell him what happened?”
She nods, “Definitely. He’s possessive of you already. The hand to the waist, the smouldering looks. He’s going to want to know everything about you, including what happened that night.”
“I can’t tell him everything,” I whisper, there’s no way I can.
She reaches for my hand and gives me a reassuring squeeze. “You need to set the boundaries, Kenna. Make him be truthful, that way, there’s no surprises. But if that happens, it means you have to be completely honest too.”
“Grr.” I cry, “Why do you have to be so wise?”
She laughs before sobering, “You need to decide what you want. You can keep him in the dark, but I know you, I know that if that happened, you’ll be miserable. If you’re honest, then make him be too.”
“Let’s see how tonight goes and then I’ll decide.” I still don’t think it’ll be wise telling him everything.
“Okay, but think about how it will impact your marriage if you don’t be honest with him.” She gives my hand one more squeeze before getting to her feet.
“Kins, he’ll want to know about you too.”
She nods, “Yeah, I know, I’m okay with that.”
I get to my feet. “You are?” Since fucking when? “You’ve made me keep this shit quiet for years, Kins, years! I could have had Da sort this out, hell, I would have done it.”
“It would have caused a war!” she whispers.
“And you don’t think telling Dante what’s going on, will cause one?”
“You won’t let it.”
I laugh, I can’t help it, she’s got an awful lot of faith in me. “I don’t see how that will happen. Anyone who finds out what’s happening isn’t going to sit back and let it continue.” I hate that it’s gone on for this long already. If I had a choice, I’d have made sure it ended from the get go.
She shrugs, “When my father dies, then I’ll be free.”
I shake my head. “Your dad is a piece of shit, Kins; he’s letting you get hurt and doesn’t give a shit.”
“I think that Stuart has something on him, that’s why he’s letting him do it.”
My anger is bubbling beneath the surface, we’ve spoken at length about this in the past and this is the first time that she’s telling me this. “It doesn’t matter if he has something on him. You don’t let your daughter be hurt! You just don’t fucking do it.”
“I think my father killed my grandfather.”
I suck in a sharp breath, Kinsley and I aren’t supposed to have secrets, but we do. We’ve both hidden things from one another in the past, this is one of them. “What makes you think that?”
She glances down at her hands and then back to me, “He was a bastard, Kenna. He really was, was worse than dad. He lashed out on Ace more than anyone, but then Ace got bigger and then he turned his attention on me.”
I know what happened, Ace came to me, hoping that I’d help him by asking my father for a favor. Ace believes that my da will call him when he needs a marker.