An Inheritance of Shame(63)

That didn’t sound good. ‘But—’

‘You were right, Lucia. You were right about everything.’

‘Oh, Angelo, I wasn’t—’

‘I went in pursuit of what I told myself was my dream and I felt only emptier. Lonelier. You’re the one who fills me, Lucia. The one who loves me, and I threw the most important thing in my life away with both hands and for what? Just more emptiness. More bitterness.’ He shook his head slowly. ‘I’m done with it. Done with revenge, done with buying up businesses as a way to change the past or myself or the way others think of me. I’m done with all of it, Lucia.’

‘Oh, Angelo.’ Tears slipped down her cheeks as she reached for his hands. ‘I came here to tell you that I was wrong for pushing you so hard. Forcing you to choose when you weren’t ready, when everything between us was still so new. I did it because I was afraid, because even then I was bracing myself for you to walk away from me. If I made you do it, it would be better somehow—but of course it wasn’t. It was awful. It was the worst thing in the world.’

‘I’m not walking away now,’ he told her in a low voice. ‘I’ll never walk away from you, Lucia. I was a fool to have let you walk away from me. I love you, and I want to live the rest of my life with you, to grow old with you and have more children if you’re willing.’

‘Yes.’ Her throat was so tight she could barely get the word out. ‘Yes, I want all of that, more than anything.’

‘So do I.’ Angelo smiled, his own eyes bright. ‘So do I.’

And there, in the middle of the marble lobby of the Corretti Hotel, he sank to one knee, his hand clasped with hers as he looked up at her with love-filled eyes. ‘Lucia Anturri, I love you more than life itself. Will you marry me?’

Wordlessly Lucia nodded. Her throat ached too much and her heart was too full to speak. ‘Get up,’ she finally managed with a tearful laugh. She pulled him to his feet. ‘Get up so I can kiss you.’

‘I think I can manage that.’ Smiling, Angelo drew her into his arms and kissed her soundly, as around them the staff and guests of the Corretti Hotel began to cheer.