“Mia, we’re not going to hurt you,” he quickly assured me.
“I’m…I’m not worried about that,” I told him honestly. “I…I was just remembering the first time I saw you, and…it’s an emotional memory.”
His face softened again as he stepped towards me. Ciro took my hands in his and his next words proved my undoing. “Mia, I know you don’t know this, but that night I took you from your house, I didn’t just save you from a monster. In my heart, I adopted a little girl who stole my heart when she asked me if there was going to be any stranger-danger anymore.” The tears fell. “I swore that night that I would never let anything bad happen to you ever again. You became mine to protect and provide for. And that includes deciding if the man you choose is worthy of you. I can only approve of someone who would give his life for you, like I would.”
“I…I had no idea…that I mattered like that,” I admitted through my quiet tears. “I thought…you know, I thought only Michael loved me.”
“Well, that’s not the case,” Phoenix added. “You’re incredibly special, Mia. You always have been.”
I looked at all three men, and their faces were impassive, even while this conversation was filled with staggering emotion. “So…so what does that mean?”
“We needed to make sure you went to a man who would do anything for you. Even die, if necessary,” Luca replied. “And it looks like we found him.”
I didn’t wait for confirmation. I turned around and threw myself in Nico’s arms. His arms came around me like steal bands, lifting me off the ground.
Ciro’s voice broke up our celebration. “Rossi, if she has even one unhappy day in her life because of you, you’ll become my greatest masterpiece,” Ciro warned. “Am I understood?”
Nico set me down but kept me pressed against his warm body. “Understood,” Nico clipped out. “But there’s also something I need you guys to understand.”
“What’s that?” Luca asked, the challenge in his voice.
“Mia is mine,” Nico explained. “By your approval and her brother’s. And once I get a ring on her finger, which will be soon, nothing and no one comes between us. If I mistreat her, I fully expect to experience your wrath, but because I won’t, I don’t want anyone interfering in my marriage to her.”
“Now, that’s up to you, son,” Phoenix replied. “Don’t do anything to cause interference.”
Before Nico could argue, Ciro said, “That’s the best we can give you, Nico. Take it or leave it.”
Nico didn’t say or do anything for a few tense seconds, but then he finally gave his acquiesce with a sharp nod of his head.
I hear a bottle pop and looked over to see Phoenix Fiore’s dimples lighting up the room. “Well, then, I guess congratulations are in order,” he said, a bottle of liquor in his hand.
No one said anything until I couldn’t hold it in anymore.
I started laughing.
I started laughing, and all four men in the room did something I’ll never forget as long as I live
They all four smiled at me.
Epilogue
Nico – (Five Years Later)~
Thank God for hardwood floors.
I mopped up the blood with a towel, and knew I was going to have to throw it out. It was ruined and no amount of bleach was going to save it.
“I’m a dead man,” I muttered.
“Mommy, mad.”
I stopped wiping up the blood and looked up at my three-year-old son, Niro. He was holding another towel on his nose even though it hasn’t been bleeding for a while now. It was on the tip of my tongue to say, ‘no shit’, but I’ve been working on my child-in-the-vicinity vocabulary lately.
“We can keep this our little secret, bud,” I cajoled. “Mommy doesn’t need to know.”
Niro shook his head. “No lies,” he insisted, and I let out a moan. I should have known when Mia wanted to combine my name and Ciro’s, this kid was going to be a problem. Never mind that his middle name was Michael.
Before I could grab the little traitor and beg him for mercy, I heard the front door open and I knew it was too late.
Mia was home.
And the pitter-patter of little feet beelining for the door told me I was going to have some explaining to do. Ciro’s threat about causing Mia one day of sadness ran through my head. Of course, she was pregnant, so I could claim pregnancy hormones in my defense.
“Daddy didn’t watch me good,” Niro announced. “There’s blood.”
“What?!” Mia screeched. I jumped to my feet and joined them before she filed for divorce on the word of our three-year-old.
I walked towards my wife. “Actually,” I drawled out, “the story goes more like this; Niro started running from me when he heard the word ‘bath’ and I gave chase. Somewhere in between our power struggle, the little shi-angel evaded me right into the corner of that ugly ass table drawer you bought last summer.” Mia’s eyes narrowed, but I didn’t know if it was because her child was wounded or because I called that table drawer ugly. “At any rate, Niro’ll live.”
“I’ll live, Mommy,” he echoed proudly.
Mia leaned down and kissed the top of his head. “Do I get one of those?” She waddled her ass towards me and I got my kiss. “How was work?”
She walked past me and into the kitchen. “Ciro’s a lunatic,” she replied nonchalantly. “Certified.”
After the day they all threatened to kill me if I didn’t treat Mia right, The Holy Trinity had kept their word and hadn’t interfered in my courtship. However, they summoned Mia more often, to the point that she didn’t quiver and quake whenever they were around. It also took Mia two months before she professed her love for me.
We had gotten married the day after.
Life went on as usual, except that someone else had been assigned to Mia and I ended up joining Sal Benetti’s crew fulltime. It made sense with what
