Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 43928 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43928 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
"You want to put a ring on me?"
"Yes."
"Then yes," he agrees, his expression soft and his voice full of reverence. "I'll wear a ring for you, Aurelia. I'll wear anything you want."
"Fine. Then I guess I'll marry you again." I try to sound casual, but my heart races, anticipation and excitement thrumming through me.
He grins at me, humor dancing in his eyes. "That's all it took, huh? An agreement to wear your ring?"
I shrug, refusing to admit that I've wanted a ring on his finger since night one. If he's jealous, so am I. I can't help it. I want the whole world to know he belongs to me and only to me. If he doesn't share, neither do I. He's mine.
He crawls over me, his muscular body pressing down onto mine, a possessive gleam in his gaze. "I like it when you're feeling possessive of me, topolina. It makes my fucking cock hard," he growls.
"Yeah?" I breathe, my heart pounding as I stare up at him.
"Yeah," he practically purrs, leaning down to kiss me.
I wait until his lips are a mere breath from mine and then I turn my head, denying him. "Well, that's too bad, Mattia. Because we're supposed to be at Luca's in twenty minutes, and you aren't making us late."
"Then you better fucking fight me, little mouse," he growls, his eyes growing darker as he pins me beneath him. He grips my wrists, his hold on me unyielding. "Because I'm not leaving this bed until you're screaming my goddamn name."
"Mattia!" I try to buck him off me, even as arousal floods between my legs, turning me wet and needy. Damn him for knowing exactly how to push my buttons.
"That's it, cara mia," he purrs, jerking my leg up over his thigh as he thrusts into me.
I throw my head back, crying out. Oh, God, why does he have to be so good at this?
"Fight me."
I do. I fight like hell.
And I lose. But I win too.
"Damn you," I mutter, glancing at the clock when he finally releases me. We're so late. But I don't even care anymore. I'm precisely where I want to be. And he knows it, too.
"Love you too, little mouse," he says, smirking as he presses a soft kiss to my forehead. And even though I'm sure he's going to be the death of me, I can't help but return his smile, feeling lighter and more at peace than ever before.
Epilogue
Mattia
Five Years Later
"It's literally terrifying how much you know about the mafia, Passero," Diego says to Coda, staring at him across my dining room table. "You're like a fucking walking encyclopedia of death."
"Here we go again," Athena groans, making Karina crack up.
"Jealous, Butera?" Coda smirks.
"Yes," Diego's wife says. "It drives him nuts that you know everything."
"He only thinks he knows everything," Diego scoffs.
"I know more than you, motherfucker."
"Coda!" Karina says, smacking her husband.
Diego lifts his middle finger in the air, flipping Coda off.
"I'm impressed," Nico says, lifting his beer to his lips to take a pull. "If you ever decide to go straight, there are about nine universities that'd kill to get their hands on you."
Coda's grin widens, which makes Diego scowl.
"Wait," Callandria says, her brows wrinkled. "They teach mafia classes?"
"Yep." Nico's wife, Norah, beams at them. "They teach everything these days."
"She's not lying," Genesis mutters, her eyes wide. "I accidentally signed up for a kayaking class. I thought I was going to die."
"How do you accidentally sign up for kayaking?" Amalia asks.
"That's what I want to know!" Domani's wife, Ireland, cries.
"Don't even ask," Genesis groans, making the girls laugh. "It's entirely Gabriel's fault."
"Hey, I had nothing to do with that," he protests.
I chuckle, shaking my head as I glance around the table at our family. Aurelia dragged everyone here tonight to celebrate my birthday. Until her, that wasn't something I did. I let the day pass every year without marking it. What was the point when it just reminded me of the family I'd lost?
Aurelia changed that. She's changed everything.
The past five years have been the best five years of my life, as fucking cheesy as it is to say. They haven't passed without their challenges. In this life, there are always fucking challenges. But we meet them when they come and appreciate peace all that much more when we have it.
Every man at this table knows what it is to fight. And they know precisely what we fight for.
We've all had to face our own demons and deal with our own shit. Somehow, we've all managed to find a way through the darkness.
We owe that to every woman at this table.
That's what we fight for.
That's who we kill for.
We know violence, but they know strength. They give it to us every fucking day.
I glance at Coda, who's now engaged in a lively discussion with Diego and Nico about some obscure mafia war from a century ago that only he'd know about. He grew up on the streets, but he finally knows where he belongs.