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One

Enzo

There comes a day in a man’s life when he enters a roo in his pocket, fully prepared to get down on one knee To pledge his eternal devotion To take his soulto love, honor, and cherish her forever and ever, until death do them part, amen

This was not that day

However, I did have a ring in my pocket—a very nice one-point-four carat diareat deal on it because uy had just returned it Sure, it was engraved with someone else’s name, but Paulie had assured me that could be removed

In hindsight, I probably should have done that before I proposed But I wasn’t thinking straight—I needed a wife, and I needed one fast

It was all because of this ridiculous tradition in my family In order to inherit the family construction business, Moretti & Sons, the oldest son has to be “settled doith a wife and preferably a kid or two by the tiht years old and ready to retire, had been threatening to leave the business to er brother Pietro for years now

Fucking Pietro!

He ht be thirty-two and married with his third bambino on the way, but he was never on ti to be an effective er Contractors, suppliers, and clients were constantly walking all over him because he hated confrontation

Don’t get uy—and my niece and nephew are aweso your multi-million-dollar firm

Me? I loved confrontation I wasn’t afraid to tell so up or remind thereed to I knehen to be char dickhead And I kne to close a deal

At least, I thought I did

But that was before I proposed

I’d been seeing Reina for about three ht was a pretty decent aht not be the best judge of that since long-ter Not that I was a jerk about it—I always made sure a woood ti a relationship)

But as thirty-five closed in on eton soer

Reina seeood a candidate for Mrs Moretti as anyone She was a little young—she’d just turned twenty-one yesterday, in fact—a little too attached to her phone, and so about, but she checked all the other boxes forwith her family, and her ood What more could I ask for?

She checked my parents’ boxes too: Catholic Italian My Nonna knew her Nonna

Was I in love with her? No But love was so that developed over time, wasn’t it? I wasn’t exactly sure, since I’d never been in love, but it see you settled into, like a couch that’s a little stiff at first but grows et there eventually

The iht noas to secure my place at the top of Moretti & Sons, where I’d worked every damn day of my life since I was fourteen years old I hadn’t put all that blood, sweat, and tears into growing the business just to see it go to Pietro, and I sure as hell wasn’t about to be the only oldest son in five generations who failed to inherit If I had to get a wife and kid to do it, I’d get myself a wife and kid