Page 159 of Mafia Obsession

“You’re both welcome back.” Her phone rings, and her eyes light up. “I gotta take this.”

Watching her scamper away, Ares says, “Did she get the person in Las Vegas to talk?”

“She’s still working on it.” I smile at Elodie talking to the source she’s trying to break. “And no, Ares. You can’t find the guy and beat him up.”

Ares just laughs and steers me to the SUV he bought for himself and the guards who have been here with him this whole time. “Like you can stop me.”

Shaking my head, I get into the back of the Escalade, and Ares sits beside me.

We reach the facility ten minutes later. Stepping into the familiar lobby tightens my chest with the knowledge that I’m saying goodbye. At least this one isn’t in the shadows of many separations she and I have faced.

Sandrine sits with her sketchpad in the blooming garden behind the main building. When she sees us approaching, she smiles at our clasped hands.

Will there be love for her one day? I never thought about that until now. Maybe that’s how far she’s come, and I didn’t notice until I stepped back. How she smiles that I’m happy maybe means she sees herself being happy like this, too.

Oh… Ares will have something to say about that. He already acts like her older, bossy brother.

I sit next to her in the garden and kiss her on the side of the head.

“I can’t believe it’s already the day you’re leaving,” she says, being brave about it. “I feel like we just got here.”

“I know,” I reply softly. “But Elodie will be here later and most days that. I’ll be back frequently for visits.”

She studies me carefully, and then she smiles in a way that feels stronger than anything I’ve seen from her since the accident. For just that second, she’s the Sandrine I kissed goodbye to go back to college.

“It’s okay, Lourdes,” she says. “I never expected you’d stay here forever just because of me.”

My throat tightens. “I never minded staying.”

“I know,” she replies gently. “But you deserve your life with a husband who loves you and your baby.”

Ares steps toward us, and seeing him, she smiles and sits straight up. A look passes between them. He’s been visiting her himself here and there. Getting to know her. I found it incredibly sweet.

I turn to face my husband. But he lowers to one knee in front of me in the middle of the rehabilitation garden, in front of patients, nurses, therapists, and my sister. For a man like Ares Zervas, born of the Gods, a man who never bends to anyone, this is his surrender.

“Ares…”

“Lourdes Zervas. You are already my wife. But I denied you a proper marriage proposal. I denied you the truth about what you mean to me and why I really wanted you to be my wife. It was complicated before. But now it’s simple. I love you.” He takes out a velvet box. “This is empty. It’s a symbol of the ring I want you to pick out.”

I blink. “Ares, the ring you gave me was beautiful. And the wedding bands. And the dress you picked out and our whole wedding. This proposal was the only part missing. I don’t want to do any of it over again. I’m your wife. I want to stay your wife. And now I have this memory of you declaring for me.”

He stands up. “I’ll declare for you every day. I just need toask you the question. Will you be my wife, Lourdes?”

“Yes, Ares, I’ll be your wife.” I can addstay,but that’s not who we are anymore.

He kisses me, and a smattering of cheering erupts from behind us. Sandrine rushes into our circle, and we both hug her, too.

I recall thinking Ares would be turned off by her disability, her injuries, the care she needs. It’s turned him into someone I’m not sure he knew he was deep inside.

“You call us with anything you need,” he tells Sandrine. “You’remysister, too.”

Sandrine leans forward and lowers her voice just enough that she thinks I can’t hear.

“Take care of Lourdes,” she whispers to him. “She’s too strong to ask for it.”

But I do hear it, and tears spill down my face, hot and unrestrained.

Ares’s answer is steady and certain. “You can count on that, too.”