After a few days had passed, Carmen forgot about her anger entirely.

Our nights were spent naked under the sheets, and our afternoons were filled with quiet conversations over dinner then time on the couch in front of the TV. It was still unclear what would happen with her father, but when he was ready to face me, he would have to make his first move.

A week later, it happened.

We were sitting on the couch together when his name popped up on Carmen’s phone screen.

She held the phone up to her face. “It’s my father…” The screen was clearly visible to me, but she said it out loud anyway, like she was saying it to herself. She took the call and pressed the phone to her ear. “Hey, Father.”

“Hey, sweetheart.” His tone didn’t seem threatening, but it wasn’t full of fatherly love either. “Hope I’m not calling at a bad time.”

“No, we’re just watching TV.” She grimaced slightly when she mentioned me, like that was a stupid mistake.

He would have to get used to it. We lived together now, and she wasn’t going back to her apartment unless she was packing up the rest of her stuff and vacating it.

He didn’t address what she’d said. “Your mother and I have been talking a lot lately…”

“Yeah, she told me she would wear you down, dent your armor a bit.”

“And she finally has…because she doesn’t let up.”

Carmen smiled. “She gets what she wants, Father. That’s why you fell in love with her in the first place.”

He chuckled slightly. “Yeah…I admire her perseverance. Anyway…maybe the four of us could have dinner over here tomorrow. Your mother will cook, and we’ll have some wine…and talk.” He’d invited both of us to dinner, but he struggled to get the words out nonetheless. He hated every second of this…but at least he was trying.

“We would love to. And thanks for inviting us.” Carmen’s happiness was obvious, both in her voice and on her face. This was what she wanted, the beginning of progress.

I admired him for making the call himself. He could have had his wife do it, but he did it personally.

He paused for a long time. “See you then, sweetheart.” Then he hung up.

Carmen set the phone down and looked at me. “I guess we have plans tomorrow night.”

“Yeah, I guess we do.” I wasn’t thrilled about spending time with her father, but since this was important to her and necessary to our relationship, I would do it—and be as polite as possible.

“I think everything is going to be okay. Since my mom is on board, it’s only a matter of time before my father relaxes. We just need to be patient. If he insults you or anything…just let it go.”

I turned to her, my smile disappearing. “Beautiful, I love you. But I don’t let any man insult me. It’s one of the reasons you love me. I’m not going to change who I am. I promise I won’t provoke him, but I’ll certainly defend myself if necessary.” I would compromise with her on anything, but not that. He’d already called me an asshole a few times at the casino, but I didn’t rise to his rage. It would have been easy for me to let my pride get to me and shoot him between the eyes, but I didn’t. I gave him a grace period since it was our first meeting. But there would be no more mercy from me.

Carmen didn’t try to talk me out of it. “Alright. Fair enough.”

I drove the Bugatti out of Florence and into the countryside. Since this was a family dinner, bringing two dozen guards wouldn’t make a very good impression. It was his property, so I didn’t have any jurisdiction.

The men followed me until I was two minutes from the house. Then they set up a perimeter in a two-mile radius of the property, securing everything around the house other than the property itself.

Cane would never know.

“Here.” Carmen pointed to the two-story house surrounded by the limestone wall. “That’s their place.”

The gate had been left open, so I drove up the path until I came to a roundabout with a statue of a horse in the center. Water was flowing from the fountain, creating a serene backdrop that complemented the lush landscape.

I wasn’t nervous whatsoever. I didn’t get nervous. But I wanted this to be over so we could go home. I preferred solitude with Carmen, sharing my space with only her alone. I lived for the nights when she walked around in my t-shirt, no panties underneath. I lived for the moments when she fell asleep on the couch while her head rested on my thigh. I lived for the moments when she was underneath me in bed, coming around my dick several times in a single go. It was easy to please a woman who wanted to be satisfied so thoroughly.

I locked the car then we walked up to the front door.

“This should be fun…” Carmen spoke under her breath, showing her restless nerves.

“The fact that he’s invited me to his home is a big step. That’s the biggest gesture of a truce.”

“Yeah…that’s a good point.”

The door opened, revealing Carmen’s mom. She wore a long-sleeved red dress with tights underneath. She had the same brown hair Carmen possessed, but different colored eyes. I saw so many similarities that they seemed more like sisters than mother and daughter.

She hugged Carmen tightly before she turned to me. “Please come in, Bosco. I’m Adelina.” Instead of giving me a handshake, she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me the way she’d hugged her daughter.

The way my mother used to hug me.

She rubbed my back before she pulled away. “It’s so nice to meet you. Can I take your coat?”

“It’s lovely to meet you as well, Mrs. Barsetti.” I stripped off my coat. “And thank you.”

She hung it on the coatrack before she turned back to me. “Please call me Adelina. There are so many Mrs. Barsettis now that it’s just confusing. I share that name with three other women.”

I chuckled. “That is a lot.”

Adelina pulled Carmen to her side and kissed her on the temple. “You look beautiful, honey. I like this sweater.”

“Thanks, Mama,” Carmen said, hugging her mother back.

I already adored Adelina far more than Cane. I wasn’t even sure how a cold man like Cane landed such a warm wife.

“Your father is setting the table in the dining room. Let’s join him.” She walked with me beside her. “Red or white wine, Bosco?”

“I like both,” I answered. “So whatever Carmen is having.”

“Her favorite is red.” Adelina guided us to the dining room.

Cane was there, the table set and a decanter of scotch open in the middle. His short glass was empty because he’d started drinking long before we got there. He didn’t look at me. He looked at his daughter first and gave her a smile that was so forced it look odd. He hugged her and kissed her on the temple. “Hey, sweetheart. Thanks for coming over.”

“We’re glad to be here.” Carmen stepped away then darted her eyes back and forth between us, noticing the tension as the two of us stared at each other.

Cane looked at me, but no hand was extended. He seemed to retain his calmness until he actually had to make eye contact with me. Now that we were looking directly at one another, all of his courage seemed to evaporate—replaced by the same anger he showed me the last time we met.

I didn’t want to put up with his hypocritical bullshit, but I knew it would mean the world to Carmen if we could work this out. I wanted this woman more than anything, and I was going to do anything to keep her—even swallow my pride and make the first gesture. “Thank you for inviting me to dinner, Mr. Barsetti.” I extended my right hand to shake his.

Cane didn’t even look at it.

Carmen sighed under her breath, but it was so quiet in the room that we could all hear it.

Cane couldn’t bring himself to do it, still seeing me as the enemy. He turned away and approached the table. “I’m glad you could join us, Bosco.” His tone was ice-cold, like he didn’t mean a word he said.

Adelina watched him with daggers of disappointment in her eyes. “Ignore him, Bosco.” She said it loud enough so Cane could hear. “He’ll come around. Have a seat, and we’ll get started.”

I wasn’t offended by his aloofness, but I knew his frosty greeting would rip Carmen apart. I pulled out the chair for her like I always did and then sat down.

Cane watched my movements. “I’m not impressed by your little show.”

Carmen glared at her father.

I unfolded the napkin and placed it in my lap. “I don’t care what you think, Mr. Barsetti. I pull out the chair for Carmen everywhere we go because she’s my lady, and I put my lady first. How else would you explain my visit here tonight? I’m one of the richest men in the country, so I could be doing absolutely anything else in the world right now. But I’m here—with you. I understand this is hard for you, sir. But your coldness doesn’t hurt me. It hurts Carmen.” I grabbed the bottle of wine and filled her glass before I filled mine.

Cane stared at me with the same hostile glare, not saying a word but conveying all his feelings and thoughts in just his expression. “Arrogant. Pompous. Asshole.”

Adelina shook her head slightly. “Oh dear. We haven’t even served the food, and you’re acting like wolves.”

Cane repeated the words he’d just said, but this time slower. “Arrogant. Pompous. Asshole.”

Carmen sighed beside me, covering half of her face with her fingers.

“Yes, I’m all those things,” I said in agreement. “But not when it comes to Carmen.”

“But you have no problem acting like an asshole in my house.” Cane’s voice rose higher, his anger bouncing off the vaulted ceiling.

“Cane.” Adelina silenced him with her stern voice. “He literally just sat down, and you’re already ripping into him.”

“What happened to giving him a chance?” Carmen demanded.

“He just behaved like a jerk.” Cane addressed his daughter next, throwing me under the bus.

“Because you provoked him,” Carmen countered. “Father, you need to calm down. You’re being ridiculous right now.”

I was glad she defended me instead of letting her father get away with his juvenile behavior.

“Let’s start over,” I offered. “Let’s just forget the last two minutes ever happened.”

Adelina looked at me. “I think that’s a very forgiving offer, Bosco. And we all accept.”

“I don’t,” Cane barked. “You think you’re a better man than me? Try being a father to a wonderful daughter. Then we’ll see how forgiving you really are.”

This man couldn’t even look at me without losing his shit. Just my face alone made him spiral out of control. When he spoke to Carmen last night, he’d seemed reasonably calm. But now that I sat across from him, calm simply wasn’t possible. I tried another tactic, only because I loved Carmen so damn much. “I’ll have dinner with you as many times as it takes to gain your acceptance. I’ll put up with your rage and your bullshit as long as you want. Nothing you say is gonna chase me off. It doesn’t matter how insufferable you are, I’ll put up with it. I love your daughter, and I’m here for the long-haul, the forever, the rest of my life kind of commitment. You’re the most important man in her life, so I’ll keep sitting here as many times as it takes for you to give me a chance. Just to be clear, I don’t care if you don’t like me. But it would mean the world to your daughter, the woman I love, if we could at least try to move forward. I’m willing to keep an open mind if you are.”

He held my gaze without blinking, respecting my speech but also hating me more because of it.

The corner of Adelina’s mouth rose in a slight smile.

Carmen didn’t do anything. She just waited for some kind of reaction.

Cane kept up the stare. It seemed like he could do it forever.

“I promised Carmen I would sell the casino to my brother, completely cutting ties to the business so I could live in Tuscany with her. She wants a family, and I’ve agreed to give her that. Even after selling the casino, my net worth is astronomical. I can give her the life she wants, the kind of life no other man could offer her. You think I’m not good enough for your daughter, but you’re wrong. I’m the best candidate for the job. Maybe I’m pompous. Maybe I’m arrogant. But you should want an arrogant man. If he has so much success that he is arrogant, then he understands his self-worth. I don’t put up with bullshit—not even from you. That’s the kind of man you want for your daughter, someone who doesn’t bow down to anyone. The only person I’ve ever kneeled for is your daughter—and that’s exactly how it should be.”

Cane remained silent.

Adelina grinned widely.

Carmen still didn’t say anything.

“Well, I like him,” Adelina said. “I think he’s a confident young man who fights for what he wants. He’s given up everything for our daughter, and that’s more than enough proof for me.”

Cane broke his trance and looked at his wife. “You remember what he did. You remember who this man is, what he’s done—”

“And that has no bearing on the man I’m looking at now.” She stood up to her husband the way Carmen stood up to me. “I see a man who loves and respects our daughter, who’s willing to do anything for her, even put up with you. If he stands up to you, that means he’s always going to stand up for our daughter. That’s more important to me than who he used to be. And you should be the last person to judge a man for something like that.” She turned away and drank her wine.

Cane didn’t challenge her again. He slowly turned his head back to me, the fury not so apparent in his gaze. “I won’t apologize for what I said. I won’t apologize for wanting the best for my daughter. But…I will try to be better.”

That was better than nothing, I guess.

The women did the dishes in the kitchen, so I sat on the other couch while Cane sat across from me. Like a baby with a security blanket, he brought his decanter of scotch everywhere he went in the house. Now it was on the table between us.

I helped myself to a glass, enclosed in a private space with him without the women to mitigate the tension. “I bought a place down the road from here. It’s within two miles. Three stories. Five bedrooms—”

“Are you trying to be a show-off right now?” He interrupted me, his gaze as cold as it was earlier.

“No.” I swallowed the harsh retort I wanted to throw back at him. “I bought it for Carmen and me…whenever we get through this nightmare. She wants to live close to you while she raises a family. I just wanted you to know I’m not trying to take her away from you.”

He stared at the fire burning in the fireplace.

“I thought that might make you happy.”

“The idea of you shacking up with my daughter doesn’t make me happy at all, Bosco. I wish you’d never met her.”

This guy was the stubbornest person on the planet. And that was saying something because I was pretty stubborn. “That’s a shame because my mother would have loved Carmen. It breaks my heart that they never met.”

The mention of my dead mother seemed to soften Cane, or at least made him rethink being such an asshole. “What about your father?”

“Abandoned us after my brother was born.” I didn’t feel any pain about it. I never sensed like there something missing in my life. My mother raised me to be a man—and she did a great job.

“You never spoke to him again?”

“No. And I’m glad I didn’t. If he ever came back into my life, I would tell him to fuck off. I don’t harbor a grudge against him because my brother and I didn’t have a father. My mother was more than enough. But I’ll always hate him for abandoning her, making her work two jobs just to support us. Raising two kids as a single mom is tough work. His behavior was unforgivable.”

Cane stared at me.

“I think that’s why I fell for Carmen so easily. She’s strong the way my mother was, independent, smart, and fierce. Most women want me for my money, but Carmen couldn’t care less. She can do anything she wants on her own. She doesn’t need a man. But that makes me want to be the man she never needed in the first place.” I wasn’t sure why I was saying all of this to Cane. I guess I wanted to have a conversation that didn’t have anything to do with the casino. The one subject we had in common was Carmen. “I like taking care of her…” She let me buy her diamonds that she never asked for. She let me protect her with my army of men. She let me buy her dresses that she loved. She let me share my home with her. She wasn’t the kind of woman to be dependent on a man, but she let herself be dependent on me.

Cane looked away. “I know you love her. You don’t need to keep trying to convince me.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“If any man said he loved my daughter, I would believe him. She’s the most wonderful woman on this planet. She’s beautiful, smart, ambitious…knows how to throw an awesome right hook. We both know she could have any man she wants.”

“Then why is this so hard for you to accept? I have all the money in the world, all the resources. I want to give Carmen everything. For once in my life, I don’t want to be greedy and keep all my money to myself. I want to give that woman the world.”

“Bosco.” He turned his body toward me and held his glass in his fingers. “It’s nothing personal. You come from the underworld. I just don’t want my daughter to marry someone from that world. I spent decades trying to get out of it, but it still keeps pulling me back in.”

“I’m not part of the underworld,” I said confidently. “I own it. I can make any problem go away.”

“And every man hates you for it. You might have the respect of most men, but you have the envy of even more. There’s nothing an unhappy man wants more than to destroy a happy man’s life. You’ll always be a target.”

“My brother is taking over the casino.”

“And you’re associated with him. If people want to get to Ronan, they’ll come after you.”

He had me there. “I’m very cautious. I have fifty men who have secured a two-mile perimeter around your property.”

“And I’m aware of their presence—because I’m cautious too.”

Now I stared at him with tension rising in my chest.

“The worst feature of a man is arrogance, not because it’s tacky, but because he thinks he’s invincible. And that’s when his enemies find his weakness—because he’s too conceited to think he has any.” He pointed his glass at me. “That’s what I see when I look at you. I know my daughter loves you and you love her, but that’s not always enough. The best way to be safe is to disappear. My brother and I have been trying to disappear for decades, but our sons have inherited our affinity for trouble.”

At the root of all his anxiety was fear. He just wanted his daughter to be safe. “Cane, I can’t promise that nothing will ever happen to her, because that’s just not a realistic promise to make. But I can promise you that I will always protect her, and I will do everything in my power to keep her safe. If it ever came down to it, I would take a bullet for her. I would sacrifice my life for hers.”

He held my gaze as he absorbed my words.

“That’s the best I can do. That’s the best you can do.”

“But I’m afraid she’s in more danger by being with you. Surely, you must agree.”

She was kidnapped in an alleyway, and that had nothing to do with me. But The Butcher became obsessed with her when he spotted us together. In both cases, I fixed the problem, just as I did in the bank. “She’s also just as likely to be hurt in some other way. At least with me, she has all the protection money can buy.”

“Money can’t buy everything, Bosco. It can’t buy peace.”

After we said good night, we got into my car and drove back to Florence.

Carmen sighed in the seat beside me, her gaze focused out the window into the darkness surrounding us. “I’m sorry my father was so difficult.”

“It’s alright, Carmen. Not your fault.”

“I don’t know if he’s ever going to be okay with this…”

He would have to be, even if I had to force him. “We’ll figure it out, Beautiful.” I held her hand on the center console.

“What did you guys talk about when we were doing the dishes? I didn’t hear any yelling.”

“Same old shit. I told him I loved you. He said that wasn’t enough.”

“Then what is enough?” she asked.

“He’s just scared that you’re going to get hurt because of me, because of my tenure at the casino. I understand his concern because he’s just protective and wants to make sure nothing happens to you. But what he doesn’t understand is you’re in danger no matter who you’re with. At least with me, I can save you.”

“That’s a good point. Did you say that to him?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think he’s gonna change his mind.”

She sighed. “He will in time. I’ll make him change his mind, or my mother will. If my mom is on board with this, then he should be too.”

“I love your mom, by the way. She’s pretty amazing.”

Carmen smiled. “I love her too. She really balances out my father, erases his intensity.”

It reminded me of Carmen, how she balanced out my flaws with her endless good qualities. I squeezed her hand before I brought it to my lips for a kiss. “We’ll get through this—together. Because I’m not giving up on you, Carmen. I’m not gonna stop until you’re Carmen Roth.”

“Carmen Roth…” She stared at our joined hands as a small smile stretched across her mouth. “I like that.”