“It’s fine.This was not your fault.He was promised something at the mafia table, and he thought he was going to live to actually get it.I told him you wouldn’t allow that to happen.That you would hunt him down and never let him rest.”
Mateo looked into her smiling face that then stopped on a wince.
“I want to go and fucking kill him again.No one harms you and no one harms Terry and gets away with it.”
“Crap, Terry!”She went to get to her feet, but Mateo stopped her.
“She in the bathroom?”
Ella nodded.“We’ll get her together, but there is something I need to say to you.”
“What is it?”she asked.
He looked into her brown eyes, so beautiful and big, bold, and kind.Even now, she was still so freaking kind.He didn’t know how he had gotten so lucky, but he had.
“I love you,” he said.
Ella’s eyes went wide, and at first, she didn’t do or say anything.Mateo knew there was a chance she didn’t love him.He was not going to be an easy man to love.
Then she cupped his face, and laughed.“And I love you.”
She pulled him in close and kissed him.“I love you so much.”
And she surprised him by going in for a kiss first.He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.
“I love you,” he said.“And I am going to cherish you.I love Terry as well.I want to raise her as our daughter.”
Ella laughed.“I love her too.”She took his hand and placed it on her stomach.“I also think I’m pregnant.”
“I’ve got the tests in the car.That was why I was running late.I wanted to get you the tests.”
“I love you,” she said.
And he pulled her into his arms, and then together, they went to the bathroom.He didn’t know what he expected to find, but Terry was in the bathtub, and the little girl looked up at them both and simply asked if it was over.
Epilogue
Ten Years Later
“Mom, handing out candy is, like, so lame,” Terry said.
Ella looked toward her seventeen-year-old daughter, and she couldn’t help but laugh.“Lame?Do you remember being a young kid?Dressing up as a witch and a monster, and even as an assassin, and going around for candy?”
Terry rolled her eyes.“That was different.”
“Why?Because you were not a cool teenager then?”Ella asked.
She saw her girl with her red cheeks.
“You can either hand out candy, or you can take the kids trick-or-treating?”She already knew she and Mateo were taking the kids trick-or-treating.
It had been a crazy ten years.Mateo took over the mafia completely.He titled it after his mother, The Cole Mafia.Rather than let it die, which is what he attempted to do, he grew it.They had taken over multiple states, had many deals set up and down the country.He was partners with some Bratva, other mafia syndicates, as well as drug lords, and MC.
He was a powerful man, but he also knew he had to take care of his family.Which is why he’d built this entire street, with the men and women he trusted.Their families could pretend to enjoy the few joys without fear of being killed.
Their kids could go around trick-or-treating, without fear of enemies.They divided their time between this private street and their country home.
Jay was there, dressed as a pumpkin.He had no idea what Steven had planned.At first, Mateo didn’t trust him, but little by little, he came to realize that Steven acted on his own.Jay was like family to them.
