Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82332 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82332 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“You don’t know that. I must have some of him in me. I have to.”
“Bullshit. There’s not one ounce of that man in you. Why would you say that?”
“Because I didn’t even feel bad. I wanted him to die. I wanted him to hurt. I was… glad. What kind of monster does that make me?”
“Lina, that doesn’t make you a monster.”
“It does,” she insists. “It has to.”
“It doesn’t. It means you’re human. You were glad because the hell that you’ve been living in was finally over.”
“But—”
I shake my head no. I don’t let her finish. She needs to see what I see when I look at her. I slide off the bed and pick her up and take her to the other side of the room where there’s a large dressing mirror. I stand her in front of it and then, get behind her. Her nude reflection stares back at me, my much larger frame towers over her, making her appear even smaller and more feminine. Mine is dark, and riddled in scars and ink, while hers is untouched by even the sun. She’s completely unmarred—except for the small branding scar on her side.
I want to talk to her about having it removed. Plastic surgery will prove painful, but I think it’s needed. I don’t want one memory of her father remaining where she can see it. Hell, I’ve spoken to Marco about burning the old house down to the ground. I’d rather that when she visits her brother, it be all new and not full of ghosts. For that matter, I think it would be better for Marco and her other brothers too.
“Look at yourself, Lina. Look in that mirror and see what I see,” I urge her.
“Our child is making me fat,” she whispers, her hand moving over her stomach reverently.
“You’re blooming in pregnancy and that is only making you more gorgeous, but that’s not it.”
“Then what?” she asks, tilting her head to look at me. “Tell me, because I’d really rather go climb back under the covers instead of staring at myself in the mirror and freezing my ass off because I’m naked.”
“You’re beautiful. You give love with every smile. Even now, your hand is gently touching your stomach as if you’re holding our child so that she can feel the love you have for him or her. You have a softness in you, a capacity for love that I’ve never seen, but fuck, I’m so glad I get to be the lucky bastard to feel it. You are everything I could ever ask for as a mother to my children, and as my wife.”
Tears gather in the corner of her eyes as she looks up at me. “You mean that?” she asks, her voice trembling.
“I do. I mean it with everything in me.”
I stare at her, letting her see the truth on my face.
“I love you, Antonio.”
“I know you do. I feel it every single time you look at me. Do you really think your father ever had the capacity for love?”
“No,” she admits, shaking her head. “He was evil.”
“And when you look at Marco, or any of your other brothers, do you see that same evil?”
“No…”
“Can you even sense it?”
“I sense anger, a lot of it in Marco and Elias, but no, nothing as dark as what was in our father. His evil sucked the air out of the room.”
“You’re not going to poison our child, il mio tesoro. You’re going to love it. You’re going to teach him or her to live with joy and a full heart—just like you’re teaching me.”
She turns into me, wrapping her body around me. I pick her up, my fingers sinking into the soft flesh of the cheeks of her ass. I carry her to the bed and sit on the soft, plush mattress.
She looks down at me, and fuck if she doesn’t make me feel like a damn king when she stares at me like that. “You’re wrong, Antonio.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re both going to teach our child how to live happily and love even more fiercely.”
“Now, on that, we can totally agree, sweetheart.”
She giggles, her cheeks heating with color. “I do think I might need another lesson in how to properly love my man.”
“Is that a fact?” I respond, gently pressing my lips against her neck and raking my teeth across her tender flesh.
“Mmm…”
“Should I call Gordon in here to watch?” I joke. No one will ever come in our bedroom except the two of us.
“Not this time. This time let’s just make it you and me.”
“See what a good wife you are? That’s exactly what I want tonight.”
“Quit talking and make love to me,” she moans, her hips rocking against me.
Fuck, I’m a lucky man…
epilogue
Melina
Three Months Later
“Antonio?”
“It’s me, baby. Go back to sleep, it’s late.”
“I didn’t know you were coming back from Greece tonight,” I mumble, trying to push away sleep and clear my head. I squint as I look at the clock on my nightstand. When I see the time, I sit up—sleep forgotten. “Honey, it’s three in the morning. You must be exhausted.”