Page 65 of The Wrong Mafia Bride
"I have not figured that out yet. I think he just likes having access to my room whenever he wants."
"That is both creepy and kind of hot."
"Erin!"
"What? I am just saying. The man took your door off because you would not come to dinner. That is some serious commitment to getting what he wants."
We talk for another twenty minutes, about nothing and everything, about her farm and Dolan's terrible jokes and the neighbor's goat that keeps escaping and eating their vegetables. About Gabriel teaching me video games and Luca stealing bites of my sandwiches and Dante kissing me breathless in the back of cars.
"I miss you," I say finally, because I do, because even though I am finding my place here with Dante and Gabriel and Luca, there is still an Erin-shaped hole in my daily life that no one else can fill.
"I miss you too, Rosie. So much." Her voice gets thick with emotion. "But I am glad you are okay. I am glad you are finding something good in all of this mess I left you with."
"You did not leave me with a mess. You gave me a chance at something I did not even know I wanted."
"Still," she says quietly. "I am sorry. For putting you in this position. For asking you to take my place. For running away and leaving you to deal with the consequences. I know it was not fair to you."
"Erin," I interrupt gently, sitting up on the bed. "I would do it again. In a heartbeat. You know that, right? I would walk down that aisle a hundred times if it meant you got to be happy with Dolan."
"I know," she whispers. "I love you, Rosie. You are the best friend I have ever had. The best sister."
"I love you too," I say, and my voice cracks slightly on the words, tears stinging my eyes. "Stay safe out there with your chickens."
"You too. Try not to start any more wars with mafia dons."
"No promises."
She laughs, and then the line goes quiet for a moment, both of us just breathing, holding onto this connection across the distance.
"I should go," she says finally. "Dolan is making breakfast for dinner and if I do not get out there soon he will eat all the bacon."
"Breakfast for dinner?"
"It is a thing we do now. We are very domestic and disgusting."
"Completely disgusting," I agree, but I am smiling.
"Says the woman who is potentially dating three men at once."
"Fair point."
"Call me if you need anything," she says, her voice serious now. "Anything at all. Unknown number or not, I will always answer for you."
"I know. Same goes for you."
"Love you, Rosie."
"Love you, Erin."
The line goes dead, and I sit there for a moment just staring at my phone, feeling lighter than I have felt in weeks, like someonehas lifted a weight off my chest that I did not even realize I was carrying.
She is safe. She is happy. She is raising chickens in Texas with Dolan, and even though the whole situation is completely insane, it is working.
Maybe insane is what we both needed.
I am still sitting there, phone in hand, processing the conversation, when I hear footsteps on the stairs. Heavy, deliberate footsteps that I have learned to recognize.
Luca appears in my doorway—because of course he does, because I do not have a door to knock on—dressed in all black, clearly about to head out for whatever business he and Dante have tonight with Frank Lucas. He looks good—unfairly good—with his hair styled and his shirt fitted and that dangerous energy he always carries like a second skin.
