Ruined in Vows (Marchetti Family #3)

17. Allegra

Chapter 17

Allegra

“ T ell me everything,” Dante demands. His gaze bounces between us, a look of determination flickering in his eyes.

My shoulders sag, relieved that he is willing to at least hear us out. It’s got to mean something. Right?

This whole situation, Dante sitting here beside me, still feels strange. As if I am in a dreamlike state and the moment I wake up, he will disappear. For months, I believed he was dead. Mourned him every minute of every day. Felt the loss of him, deep in my soul. And though he doesn’t seem to know me, or himself, I wouldn’t change having him alive for anything. Whatever it takes, I will make him remember. One glance at my brother reveals he feels the same. Nico was dubious to begin with. Thought that I was going crazy and imagining things. But it’s clear from his expression, the way he watches him, that he knows this man is Dante.

Nico pulls Ocean into his arms, holding her protectively. She looks at him in confusion, but he ignores her, clearing his throat. And then he tells Dante everything. From when they were toddlers right up until the moment Dante died, only skipping the parts about my relationship with Dante. It’s a deliberate move. Not because he is ignoring our love but because he wants me to tell that part of the story. My heart warms and I love him for being considerate to my feelings.

Nico may have witnessed and been around when our love story started, but he doesn’t know the extent of our relationship. Has no idea that we had and have a love that is pure, soul deep. A type of love that very few people get to experience in their lifetimes. A love that I believed I had lost up until that moment in front of the Bellagio fountains. For a brief second, I thought he was a ghost. I had to blink several times, just to make sure he was real, and my mind wasn’t playing a sick trick on me. The undeniable relief I felt when I realized he was very much real, is something I will never forget.

My brother’s voice trails off with the last of his story. Dante stares at him, taking it all in but he looks overwhelmed at all the information he is being given. He scrubs a palm across his mouth, exhaling. With caution, I search his face. Does he believe Nico or is he suspicious? My heart pounds in my chest as minutes of silence tick by. Dante has not run away, so that has got to be a good sign.

Hope ignites in my veins, that hearing Nico’s story might be the breakthrough he needs. I mean, I’m not na?ve enough to think that everything will just come flooding back like a tidal wave or that we will go back to normal right this minute – but I’m more than encouraged by his reaction.

Though the next issue we need to face is the extent of his injuries. The memory loss and how we overcome that. Then we need to ask the question I know is plaguing all of us. Why this happened and who is responsible for it.

Nothing makes sense. But I will not stop searching for the answers, if it means getting my man back. My man. It feels right… though I frown, chills running through my body when I remember the other obstruction in my path to a happily ever after.

Riccardo Romano.

My fiancé.

The man I am set to marry in mere months.

A gentle, albeit calloused touch to my wrist has my gaze snapping down. Dante runs smooth calming circles on my skin. Glancing up, I find him watching me with a curious frown on his face. He stares at me expectantly, waiting for me to speak. I must have spaced out or something. I know Dante wants to hear everything, and Riccardo is the last person I want to think or tell him about.

Sure, he was aware of the marriage arrangement my father made before he died. But I can tell he is having a hard time getting his head around all this new information he has been given. And although a part of me is being selfish by keeping it from him, I just also don’t want to cause him any further distress. So I file that news away for now, making a mental note – not that I could ever forget – to tell him about Riccardo another time.

Smiling, I thread our fingers together, enjoying the feeling of his touch and drawing strength from having him close.

“Are you ready to hear about us or do you need more time to take in everything you just learned?”

He sighs, his gaze laser focused on our joined hands, murmuring quietly, “I want you to tell me.”

Nodding, I turn my attention to my family. “Can you give us some privacy?”

Nico shakes his head. “No. Whatever you have to say, you say it now or not at all.” He waves his hand toward Dante. “May I remind you that we don’t know what he has been through or whether he is a danger.”

“He isn’t. Dante won’t hurt me,” I rush out.

“You don’t know that,” my brother grates out.

“I won’t hurt her,” Dante speaks up from beside me. He exhales, glancing around the room. “I may not know what the hell is going on or be sure as to who you people are, but I know I would never hurt Allegra. I can feel it deep in my soul.” He squeezes my hand gently as if to prove his point.

Looking over at my brother I can tell by the rigid line of his jaw he won’t budge on this. “No. I won’t take that risk. We can make ourselves scarce in the kitchenette, but no matter what happens, or however much you beg, I am not leaving you alone in this suite.”

Before anything, Nico will put the safety of his family first and knowing I won’t win this argument, I concede.

“Okay,” I agree, watching as they all rise and move toward the kitchenette. They all take a seat around the small, four-seater table and I bite back a laugh at how ridiculous my brother looks, his big body looking like it is about to break the chair.

Tearing my gaze away from them, I look at Dante. He watches me expectantly, waiting for me to begin. It’s my favorite story, one I could tell over and over again.

Sucking in a breath, I cast my mind back to the beginning. To the moment, I realized I was in love with my brother’s best friend and the frustrating times my feelings weren’t reciprocated. I mean I understood why he didn’t feel the same way. I was young and the age gap was too vast. But that didn’t change the love I had for him. As the years went on it only grew stronger, morphing into something deep, unbreakable and irrevocable.

It was only when I turned eighteen that things changed, and Dante started looking at me differently, seeing me as a woman and not the baby sister of Nico. I remember as if it were yesterday, the moment I knew things between us had changed.

It was the best day of my life.

The day I realized that finally everything I felt toward my brother’s best friend was returned.

He saw me just as I saw him.

It was the beginning of something neither of us would come back from.