I reached around him when he sat forward, and between the two of us, we tended the long, jagged tear that ran several inches down his side. “Do you need a doctor?”
“No. If it needs stitching, Renzo can do it.” His back tensed when I pressed a hand to the wound to hold the gauze in place. “I can’t risk anyone seeing us like this.”
I didn’t have to ask why. Today’s massacre showed me how depraved this world could be. Alessio hesitated to let anyone see them as weak in any capacity. The syndicates needed to think they’d walked away unscathed.
I’d known what they were for a while now, but I’d blocked it from my mind. I couldn’t afford to do that anymore. If I was going to be part of this family, I had to accept what they were…what they did.
Leo and Renzo carried on a lingering conversation about scars and battles until Leo talked himself out and crashed on the loveseat behind Renzo. The room was different from what I’d seen in the other house. That one had been utilitarian, the colors stark and the walls bare. This one had more depth and warmth with its leather recliner and loveseat. Even the bed looked different, the gun-metal gray sheets and covers draping pleasingly across a wooden sleigh bed. Three paintings graced the walls, each one a brilliant scene of natural landscapes done in vivid colors that ranged from mountains to beach and a beautiful desert.
Renzo caught me looking. “Do you like them?”
“They’re beautiful.” I drew my feet beneath me and rested my elbow on the arm of the recliner.
Alessio shifted closer and draped an arm over my stomach.
Renzo leaned forward and planted his elbows on his knees. “They remind me of you. It’s why I bought them. Mountains for your sharp wit and dangerous edges. Beach for your beauty. Desert for your unending passion.”
“I knew it.” Matteo smacked Renzo’s good arm with the back of his hand. “Either I’ve rubbed off on you, or you’ve been hiding a poet’s heart under all that bluff and bluster this whole time.”
“You’ll never know which it is,” Renzo fired back. His eyes crinkled when he smiled, and he backhanded Matteo off the arm of the chair where he’d sat after putting Leo on the loveseat. He’d finally removed his weapons, and he fell backward onto the floor with a loud guffaw, his overexaggeration lightening the mood and giving me courage.
“I have something I need to say.” I scooted off the recliner and stood to my full but unimpressive height. “I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to avoid my feelings. Today proved once and for all that I can’t keep doing that. I refuse to let another day pass without telling you how much you mean to me.” I squeezed Alessio’s hand. “You all have been essential in protecting me and proving that I have what it takes to be part of this family.”
Matteo righted himself in the chair and kicked his legs out straight in front of him, crossing his ankles. “Lila, I’ve been in love with you so deeply I can’t remember a time I didn’t want your happiness above everything else.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Renzo. “This man boughtpaintingsbecause they reminded him of you. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.”
“I can answer for myself.” Renzo sounded annoyed, but when he looked at me, it all melted away. The power of his eyes took me away from the hell we’d endured and brought me back to the light of love and happiness. “My world revolves around you, Lila. There was nothing before but darkness, anger, and regret. You’ve given me back a piece of my heart that I never expected.”
I blinked away the tears, needing to see their faces. “You are all essential to my life. If we stand together, there’s nothing that can tear us apart.”
Alessio kissed the back of my hand. “I have been obsessed with you since the first day of a certain literature class. I may have screwed it up along the way, but I won’t do that again. I’m here to stay, Lila. We will fight for each other any time it is necessary.” He shifted in the chair and sat forward. “And that might come sooner than we hoped. Luca revealed that the Russo syndicate was behind the intel they received.”
“Your family?” I sank onto the arm of the chair, exhaustion and worry eating at the warmth of their love.
Matteo shook his head in a quick jerk. “Not my family in any way that matters.” He cursed under his breath, stopping when Leo rolled over with a rustle of leather. “My own past brings the risk of future danger to our doorstep.”
“Whatever happens, we face it together.” I held out a hand to him, linking myself to Alessio and Matteo. Matteo joined hands with Renzo, who grabbed Alessio until we’d created a circle. “We are one. Nothing can break us unless we allow it, and I refuse to allow anything to come between us ever again.” I was bound to them, heart and soul.
“I’ll drink to that.” Matteo released our hands and wiggled his eyebrows. “I know where Renzo hides the whiskey. Nothing better to toast a success than a good dose of whiskey.”
“None for me.” I rubbed my stomach. “I’d love some water.”
“Coming right up.” Matteo snapped his fingers and returned to the side room. A short bang from the lockers, and he came back with glasses, a decanter, and a bottle of water. He handed the water to me and poured three generous glasses of whiskey for them.
I lifted my water in a toast. “To life, love, and happily ever after, even if we have to pry it from death’s cold grasp.”
“Here, here.” Matteo clinked his glass against my water, then the other men’s glasses.
A smile spread as I watched them enjoy the moment. They were alive, even if in pain. The relief of winning warred with the potential threats coming down the line. I would not live my life in fear, but it would take time to truly understand what I’d gotten myself into by falling in love with my mafia men.
A knock sounded on the door.
Renzo stood and blocked us with his body. “What?”
“Sir, it’s Bruce. I have something.”
Renzo yanked the door open and dragged Bruce through.
The soldier barely blinked at the rough treatment or the sight of us together. He handed Alessio a phone. “I took this myself. We went out to dispose of the bodies as our orders instructed.”
