Alessio

It was late when I pulled up in front of the house. I balled my hand into a tight fist and then flexed it a few times before opening the car door. I stopped when I noted the house.

It was quiet.

There was no hustle and bustle. No one was coming and leaving, which was unusual to say the least. The house was dark.

I narrowed my eyes and took my gun out clicking the safety off on instinct and making sure to keep it hidden by my coat in case someone was watching through the security camera. The house was never dark, not in my entire life could I remember one instance when the house was in complete darkness.

Too many people, guards, family, workers, there was always someone in the house. Typically two were posted outside the doors, cars should be coming and going as always. Something was very wrong.

I checked the surrounding area, quickly glancing over the windows, none were broken, no locks tampered with. Either an ambush or someone from the inside had handled this. Despite this being something I was once more than used to, I couldn't help but feel more apprehensive than usual. I hadn't been a part of an attack for some time, hadn't had life or death hanging over my head to force my hand to do what it needed to do. If it cramped up now, if I had a tremor, well there would be no flexing it out and trying again next time.

I couldn't dwell on this now, couldn't think this through or call for back up. For all I knew my back up was already dead. Was Katherine still in the house? Had she left to do something for the wedding? When was the last time she had texted me? Could the person responsible for the bomb be responsible for this?

Padre had cameras at every angle throughout the house and even the parking lot, there were no blind spots. The bomb was very intentionally planted by someone very close in the family. Meaning whoever was responsible for that had ample opportunity for whatever this was.

I opened the door to the house, my right hand holding the gun and twitching with anticipation. The lights clicked on and I pulled the trigger just before hearing a chorus of "Surprise!"







Surprise indeed.

Katherine was tapping her foot off the ground, she wouldn't stop tapping her foot off the shiny white tiled floor of the hospital in an alarmingly quick and furious pace.

"I wasn't aware." I said simply.

"Obviously."

"It wasn't like I shot him in the head, I had hardly a nanosecond to readjust the directory and I did. It's not like it was a kill shot or anything."

"That's hardly the point Alessio!" She gasped and rose to her feet.

"Here we go." I muttered under my breath.

"You shot Simone!"

"He'll be fine, I readjusted!"

"Why did you even have a gun! I hate those things! We agreed you would tell me before you went to do business and that it would only be bomb related business. You shouldn't even be armed right now."

"I was at the shooting range, you know how beneficial it has been for my rehabilitation. Would you rather I have just stayed wearing a sling for the rest of my life? Really Katherine, I've been going so often to try to get better, so you wouldn't have to take care of me, so I can be 100% when I make you my wife, so I can take care of you. Would you rather I have stayed on the hospital's regiment? Furiously squeezing balls all day and night with no results? You know how much this has helped my function."

She had the smallest flicker from annoyance to guilt. My hand was that of an elephant in the room. We both knew I was okay but that there were the occasional hiccups along the way. She pretended as though she didn't notice, and I pretended as though they didn't piss me off.

My hand was fine, mostly. Almost completely. I might not be able to thread a needle but then again I had watched Katherine try to do the same a few weeks ago and she'd eventually given up all together. Shooting had helped speed up the process of getting better, but I hadn't gone shooting for weeks.

"I'm sorry." She said sounding deflated and dropped back into her seat, her toe started tapping the ground again this time through nerves. "I know it's important for you to do...just why did you have to carry it around? Why not leave the gun in the case? And I mean, did you really have to shoot him?"

"The lights were off."

"Yeah, people do that at surprise parties."

"I'm not exactly the type you want to surprise."

"I know, I know, I get that. I get that now. I should have gotten it before I just thought...I don't know. You've been stressed. I wanted to do something nice for you. Things have felt...I don't know."

I offered her my hand and she accepted it, I pulled her from her seat and against me. "I know baby. I appreciate that. I really do. I'm just not the type you want to surprise. I love you for trying but perhaps next year we can just go get dinner and be done with it?"

She frowned, pouted actually, her bottom lip coming out in the most adorable of ways. "Your birthday is a big deal, let me make a big deal out of it! We've never done anything for your birthday!"

"No more surprise parties." I said slowly and firmly.

"Surprise no, big deal yes?"

I sighed. "We'll see."

She smiled immediately and raised to her toes to kiss me. No doubt leaving behind an imprint of lipstick on my own. She hadn't gotten dressed up and done her makeup since before the bombing. Tonight she'd dressed up, done her hair, I could even smell perfume on her now that we were this close. She's wrapped streamers around her cast even. "I really don't see why you couldn't have left the gun in the case though in the car. Why'd you have to carry it on you?"

"A gun left alone is about as helpful as a gun pressed against your forehead."

"Still. I just hate the idea of you carrying that around all the time. It just reminds me too much of this time last year. I don't want all that again." She pouted and wrapped her arms around me.

"Don't worry about last year Katherine. That was last year, and none of that will ever happen again." She put her chin on my chest and looked up, I brought my hands through her hair, she'd lightly curled it.

She nodded and unraveled herself from me. She seemed to suddenly be a million miles away.

"Katherine." I said sharply and she raised her chin. "None of that will ever happen again."

She forced a smile faint smile and nodded again. "This past week I've just...I've felt like you were a million miles away."

"I'm right here."

She looked down solemnly and began unravelling streamers from her cast, she'd decorated it for my birthday apparently. "I mean...is this still what you want?" She asked glancing up through her lashes. "You and I? No mafia?"

"What?"

"Well maybe now that you're back in you realize you don't want out. And I don't want in so we have a serious hurdle here Alessio. You keep saying when this is over, and I don't know if it can be over. What if someone new tries to attack you tomorrow? Or Pietro next week? Or your father next year? You're not going to want to step back in."

"Pietro and my father are capable of taking care of themselves."

"Are you happy?"

"What?" She threw her hands up and then let them slap down on her thighs.

"Are you happy? With me, us, this life. Because if you're not you should tell me before we get married. I mean, you proposed when you were sad cripple Alessio-"

"I was not sad cripple Alessio." I replied flatly.

"You thought this part of your life was over, maybe that you couldn't go back and now you can. Except you can't because of me. Is that what will make you happy? The mafia? If that's what you need, I want you to be happy. I'll give you an out if that's what you need, you were in a bad place and you didn't know you still had options, so here, an option. You can have all that back."

"I want you." I said firmly. "I was not sad cripple Alessio, stop saying that."

"Angry cripple Alessio then."

"Just Alessio. Always just Alessio with you. I want to be with you." If she would keep me after what I had done. She had done the same, with Nash so long ago and I had forgiven her, I would forgive her again even. But this, this was so very different.

"You just seem different lately. That's why I planned the stupid surprise party, I thought, I don't know, that this wasn't enough, that maybe I was losing you to that life." She shrugged meekly.

Anger was a powerful emotion, it had that effect on people. Could make them angry. I was angry with Sergio for walking away and ruining this family, Padre for what he had done to him, whomever attacked my Katherine for nearly taking everything from me, and fὑck it all I was angry with myself. I took her hand. "Let's go out, just the two of us. I've never taken you to the restaurant my family owns here, the food surpasses that of even the one I ran back in the states."

She didn't seem entirely convinced but I could tell the idea of just the two of us going out, no wedding talk, no family talk, just two individuals on a romantic date, was more than appealing to her.

"Please Katherine, let me buy you a ridiculously expensive dress, pretend to be horrified and rip it off for me when we get home and I will take you."

She suppressed a giggle and rolled her eyes. "Oh fine."

"Mr. Genovese?" I tossed an uninterested look over my shoulder to the doctor. Kate turned away from me quickly the little light in her eye for me turning back to concern.

"How is he?" She asked immediately in full worry-wart mode.

"He's alright."

Of course he was. I changed my aim, I wasn't a complete idiot. I knew how to not kill my men when I wasn't trying to kill them.

"Can we see him? We should see him." A sudden idea struck her and she swatted me with the back of her cast. "Flowers! You should bring someone flowers when you shoot them!"

"I am not bringing Simone flowers."

"He came all the way here from the States, has been here for a week and you shot him! Buy him flowers! Or a giant teddy bear or-"

I sighed. "I will buy him a steak dinner when he gets out. Happy?"

"No. You can't go to the hospital room empty handed. We should have brought some of the balloons from the party. So stupid! Why couldn't you have shot the balloons!"

I sighed. "Simone and I are not going on a date, there is no reason to woo him with flowers and balloons."

"Do you have wine in the gift shop?" She asked the doctor.

I took her by the elbow and started dragging her. "Come on." With a huff she pulled her arm away from me and we followed the doctor to Simone's room, I stopped her just outside of the room and tucked a bit of hair behind her ear to allow me to whisper into it. "Dinner. Tomorrow night Katherine. Let me have you."

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Hey readers, happy labor day to my fellow Murican's, hope anyway affected by Hurricane Harvey have found a safe place for the holiday. My heart is seriously with you all
I love everyone who has stuck with me in this book because the writing has NOT been on par with what I usually write. It seems like I'm writing just to get to what happens next, all the chemistry and the emotion is void. I've had a hard time with this book and with a lot going on in my personal life, but within the next few chapters I can honestly say the writing gets back to a good place, I'm getting excited about the book again and it definitely shows in the writing and with the characters. So for those who have stuck around, thank you, the writing is coming back to life and as are the characters, and I could notttt be more excited to share it with you guys.

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