Gia, a woman I’d hurt, one I’d been paid to break, had given me a part of her soul and stolen a piece of mine.

“Okay?” she asked quietly.

I nodded, and we walked back to the grave.

“I love you, old man. I miss you, and I wish I hadn’t wasted the last seven years of your life. But you took care of me in the end, didn’t you? You made sure I’d have the family’s allegiance. And I forgive you for that night, for telling me like that.”

Just then, a robin landed on my father’s headstone.

Gia gasped beside me. The bird simply perched there, unmoving, and watched me for a long moment before it flew off and landed on a branch of the closest tree, still watching us. We remained silent until finally, it flew off into the sky.

“Wow,” Gia said.

I exhaled a breath with a smile. “I don’t think it’s a sign or something.”

“A robin symbolizes renewal, Dominic. Maybe it was your father—”

I touched the headstone one more time and turned to her, caressing her cheek, kissing the tip of her cold nose. “That’s sweet, but it’s just not really Franco Benedetti’s style,” I said with a short laugh.

I didn’t want Gia to know I was worried. If Angus Scava suspected Gia turned over evidence, he’d send men after her. He wouldn’t need proof to do it. But I hoped with Victor coming forward as a key witness, he’d blame it all on his nephew. Victor would have had access to the recordings too, after all, and that recording was only a small piece of the evidence against Angus.

Gia quit her job, but she wouldn’t quit school. So I moved in with her into her crap apartment for just over a month until I signed the lease on a condo in Little Italy. We fell in love with it the first time we saw it. It was charming with its exposed brick, reclaimed wooden floors, and huge windows. Gia and I had similar taste in furnishings: ultramodern, and it had nothing in common with any of the houses my family owned. Moving in together felt so natural, as if we’d lived together our whole lives.

Effie flew up to New York to visit. Isabella let her stay with us over the Thanksgiving break, and she and Gia hit it off from the start. I liked seeing Effie so at ease, and as much as I wished I could tell her the truth, I knew it wasn’t the time. I saw Gia watching me with her, and I hated the look of pity she sometimes got. We never talked about it, though.