Chapter 66 RóISE

That was so much easier than I expected, but I knew I needed to talk to Miceli about what Fi wants.

Trust goes two ways. He has been giving me proof of his trust all along. Today was my chance to show that I trust him too.

And it paid off.

When we get up to the studio, I'm surprised to see what looks like a super comfy, oversized chair in one corner of the studio. It's pink. Definitely for me.

Of course, the first thing we use it for isn't me watching him paint. But to reenact our first lovemaking session in the boathouse.

After a quick shower, I pull on Miceli's discarded shirt. He paints naked. Yum!

I tear myself away from the eye candy to go to the bedroom where all of the finished canvases are stored.

You can tell the difference in painting style between Miceli and his father at a glance. While my fiancé paints wildly imaginative, if sometimes morbid fantasy covers for books, his father painted portraits.

The only portraits I've seen from Miceli are the two he did of me.

Every painting I pull out on his father's side of the storage room is a portrait of some member of the De Luca family.

You can tell the ones from when he had just started painting, and those from when he was older, but one thing that is common among all of them is the love you can feel of the artist for the subjects of the paintings.

There is one portrait, almost life-size of Aria that brings tears to my eyes. She is painted as a beautiful, ethereal being, almost angelic. That the painter worshipped her is clear in every stroke of paint .

"I always wanted to show that to my mom, but this was my father's secret, and I didn't have the right to expose it."

I turn to face Miceli, making no effort to hide my tears. "Your father is dead. Your mom is still alive. Do you really think he would want you to withhold all of this from the people that loved him and that he so obviously loved. "

"A promise is a promise."

"But was your promise for after death?" Did his father really swear him to posthumous secrecy?

Miceli stares at me for a very long time before saying, "It was never actually spoken out loud."

"So, you're going on the assumption of what you thought he wanted you to promise him that you never actually did." That's not a vow. "It's not a promise when you didn't actually make it."

"He was so adamant about me hiding my weakness –"

"Being an artist is not a weakness," I break in. "Your dad was afraid to express his emotions but he had them. All of you would've been happier if he had told you the things in his heart while he was alive."

When Miceli doesn't disagree, I go on. "Now you have the chance to show your mother the depth of the love your father had for her and your brother how proud he was of him. They're like love letters written for each of you."

The conflict in Miceli's expression hurts my heart. "I can't make you share these with them. But I will tell you that if it were me and there was something out there from my dad, no matter what it was, that let me feel his love one more time, I would want it."

My fiancé sighs. "You're right, but showing them the paintings means telling them about me."

"Would that be such a bad thing?"

"It might be. Sev could decide that I'm not strong enough to be Don of the Genovese."

"I don't think your brother's that's stupid."

Miceli's smile is sardonic, but something is flickering in his eyes. Hope? "I'll think about it."

"While you're thinking about it, consider this: are you going to teach our children that their gifts make them weak? Because I won't support that."

I am going to hang at least one piece of Miceli's artwork in all of the rooms of our penthouse.

If that means his family cannot come to visit, so be it. Because he said to make it into a home and the only way that happens is if both our hearts are in the design.

His heart is in his paintings.

~ ~ ~

The following weeks are a dream I don't want to wake up from.

The self-defense classes start the day after Miceli gives me access to the studio. He spends an hour every day teaching me. Despite my former training, there's nothing easy about learning the skills he wants to teach me.

But he flies my cousins in by helicopter twice a week to join us and that helps make up for the sore muscles and bruises.

He assigns Zoey to teach them three more times a week.

He cares about my family and their safety. That means a lot to me.

Fiona's special "secret" 18 th birthday celebration goes off with without a hitch. She absolutely loves the cloak and dagger of sneaking off the property and the bike ride is so much fun.

She calls me late that night to tell me she had her first kiss. And it was wonderful.

Kara texts me fifteen minutes later.

Kara : I told Zoey that if she broke Fi's heart, I would cut hers out of her chest .

Rosy : I'll help .

You can take the girl out of the mob, but you can't take the mob out of the girl.

Remembering that would have saved me a lot of heartache grieving my lost dreams.

Moma comes to stay for two days a week and helps me with the interior design update. Miceli makes sure he's there to have at least one meal with her and she adores him.

I haven't lost my family at all.

There's also a bunch of construction happening two floors down. I've asked what it is, but Miceli keeps telling me it's a project for the office building. Only I'm pretty sure this isn't about an increase in office space, especially since they're tearing down offices on those floors.

We go out on public dates once or twice a week. So do Severu and Catalina. Though we never meet up.

Miceli says it's our way of showing the city that the De Lucas are not afraid.

That doesn't mean he's like my grandfather and putting me at risk. Oh, no. Whenever we are out those snipers he told me about are always there. The stealth security detail is always there too. Miceli said it's the same for Severu and Catalina.

My fiancé works from his home office as often as he can. Which is the desk in one of the spare bedrooms.

One of the first things I'm going to fix in this apartment, that's really a giant six bedroom hotel suite, is his home office .

Even the terrace outside has no personality. I have an entire container garden of bright foliage and mini trees arriving soon to make it more welcoming.

I'm having fun making Miceli think I'm using pink everywhere. Moma said I always had a streak of mischief in me.

She is not wrong.

I keep pink swatches of fabric out all the time along with paint cards. But underneath I have the real stuff.

I'm updating all the furniture to warmer items. I like Scandinavian design too, but I'm adding the throw pillow and blanket throws that give coziness to a room. Even one as big as our great room.

The sunroom off the kitchen reminds me of my mom's favorite room in the mansion. She called it the morning room so I'm calling this one, the morning room too. It's my domain and I've already changed the furniture.

Instead of a glass top table with four leather chairs, there is now a wicker dinette set with a matching chair and ottoman in one corner.

There's one other change I'm making right away. The far bedroom at the end of the hall is the only other room, besides the primary bedroom, with a corner view and two walls of windows.

It's perfect for an artist's studio, but I have no idea how Miceli's going to respond to it when it's done. I hope he'll use it because I want his heart here.

Not in another building.

The table is covered with my design samples right now and it makes me happy to see them because I finally get why we're really living here.

It's to protect me, but not from our enemies. Miceli's mom hasn't accepted me yet and he doesn't want her distrust and lack of welcome to hurt my feelings.