Chapter 26 – Vows & Velvet Skies
Rafael D'Amico
If you'd told me a year ago that I'd be standing in a vineyard in Tuscany, wearing a suit that cost more than most people's cars, waiting to marry the woman who once threatened to stab me in my sleep…
…I would've laughed.
Or shot you.
But here I was.
Heart racing.
Palms sweating.
Like some lovesick teenager instead of a retired mafia king with a body count.
And all because of her.
Valentina Cruz.
The girl who broke into my life like a thief and walked out with my soul.
⸻
She wore black.
Of course she did.
None of that white-lace-virgin-bullshit.
Her dress was satin, slit high on the thigh, hugging every dangerous curve. Her hair was up, but wild strands fell like they refused to be tamed.
Like her.
She walked down the aisle barefoot, in full rebellion.
I swear the wind held its breath when she reached me.
"You're late," I whispered.
"You're lucky I showed up at all," she whispered back.
We grinned like criminals.
⸻
The ceremony was small — just Cruz, a few close allies, and a terrified officiant who'd been bribed not to ask too many questions.
"I promise," I said, holding her hands, "to never lie, unless it's to protect you. To never run, unless it's toward you. And to never stop fighting… for you, even when you're the one swinging."
She snorted. "Romantic."
"Wait for yours."
She stared at me, eyes full of fire and tears.
"I promise to keep you grounded when your ego flies too high. To patch you up when your stubbornness gets you shot. To love you even when you're a bastard. And to always choose you… especially when it's hard."
We didn't wait for permission.
We kissed.
Long, deep, hungry.
Like we'd survived a war.
Because we had.
⸻
Later that night, after too much wine and too few clothes, we lay tangled under the stars on the balcony of our honeymoon suite.
"I still don't believe it," she murmured, head on my chest.
"What part?"
"That I went from broke college student to mafia wife in less than a year."
"Ex-mafia," I corrected.
She raised an eyebrow. "Says the man with a gun under the pillow."
"Old habits."
She kissed my collarbone. "I love your scars."
I tilted her chin up. "I love your chaos."
She smiled. "Then we're doomed."
"Maybe," I whispered, "but we'll be doomed together."
⸻
Far below, the vineyard swayed in the breeze. No blood. No screams. Just the quiet promise of something better.
And above us, the velvet sky.
Full of stars.
Full of hope.
Full of the future we never thought we'd get.