I glare at my brother but look back at them, shifting my eyes from Gabriella’s soaked cheeks to Leonardo, and for the first time, I notice the tears in his eyes. I watch with something like horror as they fall. I’ve never seen Leonardo Rossi shed a tear. Not even when his wife died. He stood by her grave, a boulder with an angry air about him that kept everyone at arm’s length. For many years, he remained a very angry man, and ittook a while for that to change. Seeing him emotional in front of so many people feels surreal.
When he leans forward to hug his daughter, something in me loosens.
“Damn, Nico. You’re a goner, aren’t you?”
“Completely,” I agree, turning to my brother, content to leave Gabriella and her father to their moment. “She’s it for me.”
“I’m happy for you. Both of you,” he says. Ghost still looks well—apparently he’s stayed sober and even put on some more muscle since I last saw him in Vegas. He’s found his place in there, just as I’ve found mine here.
It wasn’t easy.
When we came back to New York after the trip, I thought Matteo and Leonardo were going to shoot me for even thinking of touching Gabriella. Hell, they probably would have if Gabriella hadn’t threatened to cut the entire family off and run if they killed me. Her brave little speech bought me time, but it didn’t stop the tension that followed.
For weeks, Matteo and I were barely civil. He felt I’d violated his trust, and he wasn’t wrong—I’d known how he’d feel about it, and I’d let it happen anyway. The silence between us was worse than any confrontation. It was Gabriella who finally forced the issue. They spoke privately one evening, and I don’t know what was said by either of them. I didn’t ask. I refuse to come between Gabriella and her family more than I have already.
What I know is that he came to find me the next evening, and we sat together for a long time saying very little, and by the end of it, something had shifted. Matteo’s greatest fear had been that I’d been conducting a secret affair behind his back forGod knows how long—I was able to look him in the eye and tell him honestly that I hadn’t. That when I recognized what I felt for Gabriella, I had fought it. That the trip changed things, and I hadn’t been able to make myself turn away.
After that, the Rossi brothers made their position clear—hurt her, and there would be consequences. I accepted every word. Still, the most important thing was this: No other man could care for Gabriella the way I always will. With that understood, I finally had their blessing.
“Invite me to the wedding,” Ghost says, pulling my thoughts back to the present. “I have a feeling it might happen sooner than later.”
At his words, I turn to Gabriella, smiling when I spot her walking toward us. Everything else fades away, and my heart picks up as it always does when she’s near. Tonight, she’s wearing a long, flowing white dress that shimmers under the gallery light. It’s simple, elegant, and it makes her look like an angel. The fabric shifts as she walks, draping over her figure in a way that makes me picture her walking down the aisle to me.
“Yep, you’re a goner.”
Ghost’s voice is a distant hum in my head as I watch Gabriella make her way to me, her smile radiant. I wait until she’s in my arms to press a kiss on her temple. “Tired?” I whisper into her hair.
“Not really?” she says, lifting her face to look into my eyes.
“I saw you speaking with Leonardo,” I say, nodding to the dried tears on her cheeks. “Everything alright?”
She nods. “We’re having a lunch date tomorrow. He wants to know everything that’s happening in my life. My plans for thegallery. And I get to talk to him about this guy I’m seeing,” she teases.
“Oh yeah, will you tell him the guy is madly in love with you?”
She bites her bottom lip, which she knows drives me crazy. “I might mention it at lunch tomorrow. Depending on how he treats me tonight.”
“Is that so?” I muse, dropping my hand down to her ass and squeezing it, watching her eyes go bright with need. “I will treat you very nicely tonight then. How about I—”
Someone clears their throat, and Gabriella looks over my shoulder to spot my brother. “I know I’m called Ghost, but most people swear they can see me,” Ghost says, not without humor.
“Oh, sorry, Ghost,” Gabriella says with a blush, trying and failing to detangle herself from my arms. “Nico!”
I’m about to whisper something about her squirming ass doing things to my cock when I spot a tray of champagne glasses carried by a passing waiter, so I release her to snag two. I pass one to Gabriella with a smile before tapping my ring against the side of the other to get everyone’s attention. The room quiets as everyone turns to me, and I notice my girlfriend’s flush from all the attention.
“Alright, everyone, I’d like to say something. Sorry to keep you away from the free food and open bar, but I won’t talk for too long.” A good-humored chuckle moves through the crowd. “I’m absolutely thrilled to be here tonight, to look out and see everyone show up to celebrate Gabriella’s special day.”
I wrap my arm around and pull her to my side, pressing my lips to her temple before turning to the crowd. “I’m very proud of her. For everything she’s accomplished, and I can’t waitto see what she does next. I promise to be there for the journey, as I told Matteo when I came back from Vegas and asked for his blessing. Which he eventually gave.” Another laugh. “But seriously—tonight is about celebrating Gabriella. Looking at her now, I’m reminded of how far we’ve come. From being there for each other to accepting that our feelings ran deeper than either of us was willing to acknowledge.”
When I turn to Gabriella, I notice the smile dancing on her face—the purity of it, the openness. “She’s beautiful, intelligent, kind, loving, and the most talented person I’ve ever met. Every day, I learn so much from her. She makes me a better man, and I never want to know a life where she isn’t with me.” I watch the smile on her lips falter and her pretty brown eyes widen with shock as I drop on one knee—right in the center of her gallery, in front of all our family.
“Gabriella Rossi, I want you to know how incredibly lucky I am to have you in my life. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Make me the happiest man in the world and marry me.”
“Nico!”
The next hour is a blur of laughter, happy tears, kissing, a staggering number of champagne bottles being popped open, and rough claps on my shoulder that I’m certain I’ll feel tomorrow. The air turns merry as people talk, drink, and pour ridiculous amounts of money into the art on the walls, and when the evening winds to a close, and I’ve pushed the last couple into their car to be driven home, I finally let out a relieved sigh.
I find Gabriella in the studio at the back of the gallery, not painting but watching her engagement ring catch the light. “Do you like it?”