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She leaned back against me, and I pinned her closer, resting my chin on her head. “Your name only says Mya for the byline.”
“Still undecided on what last name to use. I feel like a fake if I use Vanzetti anymore.”
She’d spoken to Tony from where he was living courtesy of WITSEC a few times in the last couple of weeks. Given his ties to The Collective, along with Alyssa Soren and her kids, they were all under witness protection.
There’d been concerns Meryl, or any number of people in The Collective, might attempt retribution, even from inside their cells with their assets frozen.
As for Meryl, Mya had only spoken to her once, and that’d been to rip into her. Other than that, as far as I could tell, Meryl was dead to her. The Cattaneos had a few choice words for Meryl in both Italian and English, almost nightly after a lot of wine had flowed.
Adelina had slipped away to the States for two nights last week, and we learned after the fact it was to use her FBI badge to pay Meryl a visit in prison. Bold and risky to connect herself to that woman, even as an official-non-official visit. And exactly what Mya would’ve done in her shoes.
“I had to speak my piece,” Adelina had said with a shrug before downing a glass of wine, acting casual about the whole thing.
“I can’t use my real last name.” Mya faced me and looped her arms over my shoulders. “I don’t want to endanger my family.”
I closed one eye, thinking for a moment. “Mind if I make a tweak to the article?”
I removed her arms from my body and blocked her view of the screen while I quickly typed five letters. “How about this?” I stood tall, stepping back so she could see.
“Mya Lucas, huh?” She twisted around to look at me while laughing, assuming it was a joke.
Yeah, not at all. “What do you say?” I arched my brow, my heart now thundering out of control. I hadn’t expected to drop the proposal on her like this, but I had no plans to leave Italy before doing it. “Your father loves me, by the way. Already said yes.” I thought back to the other conversation I’d had a few days earlier. “I talked to Tony, too. Felt weird not to. Hard to hate him when he’s not really evil and took good care of you over the years.”
“And here I didn’t think I could possibly love you anymore than I do now,” she said, her voice soft, a little breathy.
“I feel like my chances of a yes just went up with that response.” My heart rate had yet to dial back, though.
“Mmm, I feel like your chances are pretty damn good, Mr. Lucas.” Arms slung back over my shoulders, she brought herself closer. “But no apple-tree thing when it comes to our wedding.” It took me a second to process her words, then she clarified, “We’re not eloping like your dad and Cindy. I want my family there. My sister as my maid of honor, and my dad walking me down the aisle. My real dad.” One shoulder hiked up as she closed an eye. “Tony can come, though.”
That was one hell of a vision. The love of my life marrying me with everyone there with us.
Her brows tightened, and she brought her mouth closer to mine, growing more serious. “Mya Lucas it is, then.”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said before dropping my lips over hers to kiss the hell out of my future wife.
57
MYA
TWO MONTHS LATER – OCTOBER 2025
“Is it wrong I haven’t mentioned your name yet to Adelina?” Sitting in front of my laptop, I sipped my cappuccino while chatting with Mason. My sister had to go back to work in New York last month or risk losing her job, which I didn’t want, so I knew she wouldn’t accidentally eavesdrop on our web call.
“It’s not like you slept with her ex and knew about it,” Mason pointed out, his voice dropping a bit deeper than normal. “You didn’t even know you had a sister.”
“Ex, huh?” I peeked at him over the rim of my cup. “Thought you didn’t date-date.”
He rotated his neck and cleared his voice. “You know what I mean.”
“Mmmhmm.” I set down the mug and leaned back in my desk chair to steal a look out the window. Oliver was with “Farmer John” and my father, talking about something. As if realizing someone was watching, Oliver shielded his eyes with one hand and waved at me with the other.
No way he saw me from there. The man just felt me.
“So.” Mason dropped the word like a cannonball into the deep end of a pool. It made a splash.
“That the best you got for deflection?” I laughed. “If it’s not a big deal whether I mention our friendship to her, why are you all shifty in your seat? Anxious to see her again? I mean, she’ll find out eventually. I invited her to the Falcon reunion. AKA Savanna’s book release party in Alabama.”
“She’s coming?” The man sounded like a thirteen-year-old just hitting puberty. The voice change said it all.
