Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 57287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 191(@300wpm)
I had everything that I wanted and more. They all knew just how to make me lose myself. Enzo kissed me. "You look beautiful."
I felt beautiful. Somehow, all of them made me feel whole.
Time passed. They slid in and out of me as I offered myself to them. We were in a different world as my strong, wonderful men came inside me again and again. I lost track of how often I felt the impact of orgasm; each surge seemed more powerful than the last, vibrating through my body. I saw their faces. These men who had once seemed so dangerous and frightening, where had they gone? Perhaps those harsh faces still existed for others, and even more so for anyone who dared to try and hurt me. But, here, as far as I was concerned, they were my lovers, filled with desire and tenderness.
Rather than anger and frustration, or the reticence of weeks before, genuine love filled both Angelo's and Rocco's faces. Enzo, friendly as ever, took care of me, smoothly, but also with raw emotions. Vincenzo teased me, earning another cry of complete and unbound pleasure.
Luca stroked and licked my breasts. "Everything you ever imagined?"
"More than I imagined. I trust you. All of you. We're going to be a family together."
"That we will," said Giuliano, smiling. "For always."
Giuliano: the first lover I'd taken from among them. I reached my hands up to stroke his face, drawing him to me as I lay back on the bed and gave myself to him. He slid deep inside. I felt his heat and hardness. In some ways, it was like the first night we'd been together but now we weren't alone anymore. Instead, we were surrounded by men caressing and kissing me, men who adored me.
"I promise," Guiliano uttered, his eyes on me, "I promise that I will protect you, no matter what. You…and our baby. Mi Tesoro."
"I know. I know you all will."
Then, with a gasp of fulfillment, he emptied himself inside me. As Guiliano pulled away, I collapsed on the center of the bed. Seven guys were close around me, and I knew they loved me more than themselves. Who saw me as their treasure. I felt whole—no longer filled with doubts.
"We're a family, Pearl," said Giuliano. "We will take care of you. Just as we took care of each other."
I loved the very sound of it. Each of these men shared a bond. And the wonderful thing was that I was it.
"I'm never letting you go," Nico said.
"Our Pearl," Angelo and Rocco added. I smiled, glowing with contentment.
"I am yours," I said. "Each of you has shown me strength. And I'm excited for the future. To be a mother and to raise the child we've created, someone special to all of us."
Each of the men agreed. We shared small conversations before a satisfied exhaustion took us into sleep. The barriers were gone—we could say and feel anything we wanted with each other. Love had dissolved all boundaries.
We'd be together to face what came next. Providence was about to change—and it would start with us.
EPILOGUE: PEARL
"Piccola, no running in the house!" Rocco's voice carried from the kitchen, followed by the unmistakable sound of tiny feet doing exactly that.
"She gets that from you," I heard Angelo tell his twin, amusement clear in his voice.
"Me? You're the one who taught her to climb everything in sight!"
I smiled from my window seat in our library, watching the sunset paint our garden red and gold.
The newspaper on my lap carried another headline about Vittorio's latest appeal being denied: all these months later, and seeing his name behind bars still felt like a dream. Ella had sent me the clipping with a note about justice being served, though we both knew no prison sentence could make up for what he'd done. Still, knowing Alessandro's clinics were shut down, and their victims were getting help through our new rehabilitation program meant something good had emerged from all the darkness.
The immunity deal we'd struck with authorities—our evidence for a clean slate—had given us the chance to build something legitimate from the ashes of the past. A chance we hadn't wasted.
Nan had insisted on running the program herself after retiring from the tower—though "retiring" might be the wrong word when she had a corner office in our downtown building and more energy than half our staff combined. Now, she split her time between overseeing the rehabilitation center and spoiling Sofia rotten. Her son, Thomas, had also joined the program, bringing his medical expertise to help the women heal. It felt right, having them both still part of our family after everything Nan had risked to save me.
The sound of pots clanging made me wince: someone was trying to help Nico with dinner again. He'd gotten fiercely protective of the kitchen ever since appointing himself our family's designated cook, insisting that Sofia needed to grow up knowing "real Italian food, not that American nonsense."