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“She’s never said she loves you. You’re assuming.”
“I know she does,” I said softly. “I told her she could leave me if she wanted, that I would continue this business with you, just to see what she would say. And you know what? She decided to stay. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.”
Now he looked away, knowing he was defeated.
“I’m going to spend the rest of my life with her, Dante.”
He continued to avoid my eyes.
“We’re going to open a restaurant together. Have a family together. Do it all together. I know I have no other choice but to accept you as an accessory to our lives. Why can’t you do the same for me?”
His stare came back. “It’s clear that I tolerate you.”
“I deserve to be more than tolerated. I deserve to be fucking celebrated for the way I treat your daughter. I do all the gentlemanly bullshit like open doors and pull out chairs, but I do a lot more than that, like remain faithful to her because I want to be faithful to her, protect her with my life the way I did when I faced the Colombians without a bulletproof vest. I fucking loveyour daughter, and you should be grateful that I care for her so deeply. It’s a dream come true, if you ask me.”
“You make it sound like she can’t do better.”
“No man will ever love her as much as I do,” I said. “I loved her the moment I saw her.”
Dante looked away again. “What do you want from me?”
“Tell her the truth.”
“I can’t.”
“I’ll tell her to forgive you, and she will. It might take some time, but it’ll happen.”
“Not worth the risk.”
“Dante—”
“Axel.” He looked at me again. “The answer is no. I won’t change my mind. Do what you want, just remember what the consequences will be. There’s nothing left to discuss here, so you can show yourself out.”
Chapter 4
Scarlett
I walked into the vacant space, the floor empty of tables and chairs, the back counter where the bar was located covered in old dust. Passersby moved down the street, carrying their groceries, sandwiches, or gelato. Pino’s, the sandwich shop my father and I had visited a while ago, wasn’t too far from here.
It was a little dark and a bit small, not exactly what I pictured for a restaurant, but that was how all the restaurants were in this part of town. In a city as old as this, space was very limited. “What do you think?” I turned back around to look at Axel.
He was wearing a long-sleeved gray shirt and black jeans, his thick muscles impervious to the cold. His hands were in his pockets, but he withdrew them and crossed his arms over his chest as he examined the bar. “A little small…”
“They’re all this size on this street.”
He stood at the counter and leaned forward. “You can only have about twelve tables at a time…and the kitchen is cramped.”
“It’s a starter restaurant. I’m not going to open an enormous place right off the bat.”
“Why not?” He pivoted toward me as he leaned against the counter, the light from the hanging lamps striking his blue eyes perfectly. He was a beautiful man, and whenever we were out in public together, I noticed all the stares he got. I saw women ogle him openly, not caring whether I saw. There were times when it got under my skin, but I reminded myself it was the price I had to pay to have a gorgeous husband…and that was a fee I was happy to pay. When I didn’t say anything, his eyes narrowed. “Baby?”
“Hmm?”
A slow grin moved over his face, like he suspected what had distracted me so deeply. “Why not start with a big restaurant?”
“Because I’d have to hire more staff to run it, which costs more money, and if I don’t have customers to support that, then the business goes belly-up. Basically Business Management 101.”
“You’re preparing for failure before you’ve even named your restaurant.”
