“Did you try?” Adalyn asked in horror.
“Try?” Lake was the one that slapped the back of her head. “Look at her. Maria doesn’t have to try anything.”
Maria appreciated the compliment, but she understood what Adalyn meant.
“Trust me.” She looked them dead in the eyes, remembering all the endless things she did to try to get Dom in her bed. “I TRIED.”
“Oh,” Chloe said again, and Maria didn’t miss the sympathetic look, now understanding why she was eager to get married.
Adalyn took Maria’s hand in all seriousness. “Honey, I am so sorry.”
“I think it’s sweet,” Elle said with a sweet smile, her mood instantly changing. The hopeless romantic at heart was easily swayed.
“What can we do?” Lake asked as they were all now on board for mission “Get Maria Fucked.”
Maria put Katarina’s arms down as it was safe now to listen. “Now, we have some fun.”
“Why are they screaming over there?” Nero asked in concern, hearing the screams on the other side of the wall. “Are they all right?”
“They’re fine.” Lucca stopped him from getting up before he looked at Dominic to continue. “You were saying?”
Dom looked around the room that consisted of his and Maria’s close family of men. While she was breaking it down to the girls in the next apartment over, Dominic was breaking it down to the men. Why, you might ask? Because his future wife was a psychopath who had insisted it be done this way.
Dominic just got to the fucking chase. “Maria and I are getting married … tomorrow.”
The Caruso side of the room went silent, while Lucca and the Luciano brothers smiled as they watched the reactions around the room.
“You’re marrying my sister?” Nero asked, confused.
Dominic nodded. “Yes.”
“Maria Caruso?” he asked just to make sure Dom had it correct.
“Yes.”
“And she is doing this willingly?” Nero didn’t ask the question to the Luciano boss but to his brother.
Lucca nodded to confirm. “Trust me; she is.”
Looking at Nero, Dominic could tell he still didn’t believe it, needing to see it for himself.
Dominic couldn’t help but notice the one-eyed Caruso brother sat in the back of the room quietly, unfazed.
“Oh, great.” Vincent sat back in a huff, hearing the girls let out another scream of excitement. “You know what this means?” He looked at Nero and Angel sullenly. “They’re going to expect us to put out too.”
Dominic snapped his head to the little prick that was neither a brother or friend of his or Maria’s. “Why the fuck are you even here?”
“Because my girl’s over there, screaming out a fucking lung.” Vincent threw a cocky thumb in the direction the screams were coming from before he patted the back of the man sitting next to him. “And me and Nero are friends, so I just followed him in here, because I wasn’t going to be left out of whatever the fuck was going on.”
Nero scooted his chair away from Vincent’s, clearly not wanting to claim him as a friend at the moment.
“Well, now you know.” Dominic nodded toward the door. “Good-bye.”
“Hell no, I ain’t going nowhe—”
“You do not want me to touch this asshole,” Dominic warned, looking at the underboss.
Lucca didn’t make a move.
Thankfully for Vincent’s sake, Drago got up ….
“Okay, fine!” Vincent yelled before Drago could touch him. “Maria asked me to be here.”
Dominic and Lucca furrowed their brows as they both had the same thought …
Why?
“Maria and Dom, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g …” The girls behind her sung in unison as they danced and taunted the blonde who had sworn she would never let a man break her into marriage.
“First comes love …”
Luckily for them, Maria felt a little less coldhearted today with a ring on her finger.
“Then comes marriage …”
It really fucking sucked to eat crow.
“Then comes the baby in a …” All the girls trailed down the hallway after Maria when she threw open the apartment door to find all the men sitting there, waiting.
“Hello, boys.” Maria waltzed in with the prettiest smile on her face. “Now that you’ve heard the news ….” She went right up to Dominic and planted a big kiss on his lips to get it all right out of the way.
All the girls gasped.
“Holy shit …” Nero quickly realized that it wasn’t a joke, as he had never seen his sister touch a man before, let alone kiss one. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
“Don’t worry.” Drago made a weird face after seeing it. “I needed a minute too.”
“Oh, shut up.” Maria rolled her eyes at her dramatic brother. “Like I haven’t seen your tongue down Elle’s throat enough.”
Even though Maria had let him go, Dominic was still a bit thrown off by her kiss.
“Anyway,” Maria got back to why they were all here, “I thought you boys could have a little bachelor party while the girls and I go out to have my bachelorette.” She quickly waved as she turned to leave with four very excited girls. “Okay, bye!”