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“Not a problem,” he said, and without another word, scooped me into his arms to cross the threshold.

My heart all but jumped into my mouth. Too many feelings swirled inside me right now. Shock, confusion, fear, and something else. It felt an awful lot like relief.Great, they’ve made me just as crazy as them.

“You can put me down now,” I muttered to him as he carried me through the house.

“Maybe, but I won’t.” His voice was calm and deep.

His confident hold comforted me somehow. I was supposed to be scared of this man, but his grip on me made me feel like I’d never fall.

“Because?” I wondered, studying the place where his starched collar met his tanned neck. It looked positively edible. He was too tempting; it really wasn’t fair.

“I don’t want to,” he answered.

Then we headed into the largest room in Casa Nera. I'd always wondered if it had been a ballroom at some point. Tonight, it was lavishly decorated with fresh flowers and stylish but elegant banquet tables. A fire roared in a hearth big enough to climb inside.

Another round of applause started when we entered. Casa Nera staff stood against the walls, clapping vigorously.

Bottles of champagne popped all around the room as Renato took me to the table in the center and sat me on a plush velvet chair.

Men from outside filed into the room, talking loudly. A lot of slapping shoulders and smiles. It wasn’t the vibe of a deadly mafia family at all.

Then the line formed. My chair was in the middle, and starting there, the line snaked back out of the room, it was so long.

Renato stood behind my chair and placed a hand on my shoulder.

Elio was first. Thesottocapoapproached. He gave me a slight grin and bowed his head, holding out his hand.

“It’s okay, Charlotte, that’s why they’re here,” Renato said, unruffled.

I put my hand in Elio’s, and the deadly mercenary brought it to his lips and lightly kissed the back.“Non ti deluderò, sangue del mio sangue.”The Italian rolled effortlessly off his tongue, and he smiled at me and moved away.

“What does it mean?” I asked Renato over my shoulder.

“I will not fail you, blood of my blood,” Renato translated, covering my shoulder with one of his huge hands and sending a warm jolt through me.

I didn’t have time to ask more than that, since another made man approached, reaching reverently for my hand.

They kept coming. Strangers who bowed their heads and promised me their allegiance. I didn’t know what the hell to think. There was something ancient about the ritual, and the formality of it suited Renato. Everything about him had the edge of history and tradition, though he clearly bent the rules whenever he wanted to.

The ceremony, because that’s what it felt like, went on for nearly an hour.

“What was that?” I asked Renato later, when the men drank champagne to toast their fearless leader’s nuptials and I finally had a moment alone with my new husband.Husband?

Just the idea was ludicrous, and yet it had happened.

Renato messed around with something on the table. He'd doused his hands in sanitizer, the harsh chemical smell seeming out of place in the ballroom that looked straight out of another era.

He took my hands in his, and the shock of his powerful fingers sliding over mine went all the way down to my toes. He smoothed the sanitizer over my hands meticulously.

“Don’t tell me you’re secretly a germophobe?” I wondered.

He simply smirked. “We’re not done yet,anima mia. And that was a pledging ceremony… like knights of old, getting down on one knee and promising their lives to their rulers.”

“Rulers?” I repeated.

Renato hummed in agreement and tugged me to my feet. A hush fell over the assembled men.

“My family is now your family, Charlotte De Sanctis, and every single one will protect you and your sister until their last breath. You’ll never hunger or want for anything again. You’ll never be alone again. You’re a very powerful woman now, Charlotte. You command an army of men who would die for you. They came tonight to pay homage.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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