ISADORA POV“Yes, honey,” he rasped. He tensed and came with a small shudder, his eyes falling shut. My own lust was hot and heavy between my legs, but I ignored it for now.I swallowed and kept working him with my tongue and mouth as he twitched with the last aftershocks of his orgasm. I stroked his balls lightly and kept him in my mouth, only gently sucking. When he stilled and looked at me, he cupped my cheek. I let his cock slowly glide out of my mouth, causing him to moan low in his throat again. I kissed his thigh. “Better?”He let out a raw chuckle. “Yeah.” He leaned forward and grasped my hips. “Now it’s my turn.”“This was about you.”“I know.” He hoisted me to my feet, then slipped his head under my nightgown. Hooking a finger under my pants, he moved them aside, revealing my swollen flesh. He slipped his tongue between my lips, and I gasped. He grasped my thigh and lifted one of my legs so my foot was on the armrest, opening me up for him. Like I had done, he took the ice
ISADORA POVI hugged Daniele tightly to my chest, not sure why he needed my closeness but more than willing to give it to him. “Mom,” he whispered. I froze. Jude tensed, his eyes tumultuous as he watched. Was Daniele thinking of Josephine? Missing her? I pulled back slowly.Daniele looked down at my chin. “Can I call you mom?”I choked, and tears sprang into my eyes at his unexpected request.Jude’s face became still.I kissed Daniel’s cheek, then crushed him to me once more. “Yes. Nothing would make me happier. I love you.”He began to sniffle, and I couldn’t hold back either. Jude averted his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. After a moment, he came over to us and kneeled beside us, hugging us both. I pressed my face into his chest, feeling his heartbeat thundering in his ribcage. Jude kissed the top of my head, then Daniele’s.Daniele called me mom every chance he got that day, shy at first but later with adorable giddiness.In the evening, Jude and I sat on the swing
ISADORA POV***Nine years after the wedding***Jude came home in the afternoon. He’d reserved a table in our favorite restaurant for our ninth anniversary, a small place that served rustic French food. Mia had agreed to watch Simona and Daniele. Though it was more of a sleepover, considering that they were nine and almost twelve. They didn’t need to be watched 24/7 anymore, even if they were up to no good more often than not.We’d just finished a delicious liver paté with warm Brioche and two glasses of Viognier, my favorite white wine, when I gathered my courage. “Do you still not want any more children?” I meant to ask it in a calm, low voice, but instead I’d blurted it out.Jude lowered his glass slowly, brows pulling tight. “Are you…?”I gave him a look then raised my almost empty wine glass. “Really? You think I’d drink two glasses of wine if I were pregnant?”He chuckled. “I didn’t think about it.”“Men,” I muttered, but I couldn’t help but smile. “So, what do you say?”I was od
JUDE POVWe waited six more weeks before we announced the pregnancy to them at the dining table one evening.For a moment, both of them only watched with wide eyes. Then they began to cheer. They didn’t know what a baby meant: babysitting and diaper changing duties.Isadora laughed in relief.Simona jumped up from her chair and rushed over to Isadora , throwing her arms around her.“Careful,” I said. “Your mom has a baby in her belly.”Simona nodded wide-eyed and stared at Isadora’s still flat stomach. “Can it hear me?”“Yes.”She leaned down. “Please be a little sister. Boys are annoying.”“Hey! You’re annoying.” Daniele had talked with his mouth full and a few noodles fell out when he spoke.Simona wrinkled her nose. “You stink.”Daniele swallowed and let out a burp. “That stinks.” “Ewww!”“Enough,” I said firmly. “We’re having dinner.” Daniele nodded, but he kept his eyes on Simona.Simona stroked Isadora ’s belly as if it was a magic lamp and would grant her a wish before she retu
ISADORA POV"Okay,” Jude said. In the background, I could hear male voices. “I love you,” he said quietly so no one but me could hear.“And I love you.”I hung up, more resolved than before. Elia regarded me closely. “Is there anything I should know?”“No.” I softened the word with a smile. It was bad enough that Mansueto had told my father. Knowing him, he’d probably already passed the news on to Mom and Christian. It was only a matter of time before it spread like wildfire. I didn’t even want to imagine what it would do to Daniele and Simona.I fell asleep after a while. Elia woke me when we pulled up in front of my old home. He got out and held the door open for me.Mom and Dad waited on the porch, both of them beaming like a kid on Christmas morning. I wished it wasn’t because of something that could destroy the people I loved most in the world.I headed toward them and hugged them briefly. Christian waited behind them for his turn. “You’re growing bigger every day.”“That’s not s
ISADORA POV“Don’t waste your time,” I said before I closed the door. There was only one person who could guarantee my parents’ silence at this point. The man my father feared like the devil, and not just because he was his Capo.“Is Luca still in Philly?”Elia frowned. “I think so. The meeting is supposed to go late. He won’t return to New York until tomorrow morning.”“Find out where he is and take me to him.”Elia cut his gaze to me. “You can’t just go to the Capo.”“Said Capo is also my cousin. He can make time for family, right?”“What is going on, Isadora ? You can trust me, or Jude wouldn’t have chosen me as your bodyguard.”“I trust you.” I looked out of the window. Elia was a good man, and an even better soldier and bodyguard.“But you won’t tell me what this is about?”I leaned my forehead against the glass. “I can’t.” Elia was Jude ’s soldier first. He was loyal to him. He’d tell Jude the truth the moment he found out.“Because Jude isn’t supposed to know.” A hint of suspic
ISADORA POVI stumbled to my feet and staggered toward Luca, grabbing his arm. I didn’t care if his expression brought grown men to their knees or if he was one of the most feared men in the States, only rivaled in his cruelty by the monsters in Vegas. Luca wouldn’t kill his pregnant cousin, but he might kill the father of an unborn child. “He was broken up over Josephine, out of his mind from pain and anger. He didn’t know what he was doing.”Luca’s expression didn’t change. Maybe my words only made things worse? If Luca thought Jude acted on impulse, spurred on by his emotions, he might remove him even faster.Bile traveled up my throat. “Andrea might have been a rat anyway. I don’t know.”Luca pulled his arm out of my grip. “I’ll talk to Jude, and he’ll explain everything to me.”I stared up at him. “You won’t kill the father of my unborn baby.” It was meant as a question, but somehow it came out as a threat, and for a moment I wanted to laugh at the insanity of the situation.“A m
JUDE POV“I expect you to tell me when there’s a traitor in the family.” “Andrea was a rat.”“Was he? Or was he just the man who fucked your wife?”With anyone but Luca, I might have attacked. I stifled my fury. “He was both. The Vice President of the chapter of the Tartarus MC in Philadelphia that I dismembered told me they had a contact, and the description fit Andrea.”“Did you press a confession out of him?”“It’s what I should have done,” I admitted. I held Luca’s gaze. “When I came home after attacking the clubhouse, I found my naked, heavily pregnant wife riding my brother-in-law—her half-brother—under my roof with my little son downstairs, thinking they were playing some game. When I confronted Andrea, he bragged to me about fucking my wife from the first day of our marriage and that my children weren’t mine. I beat him to death with my bare fists, broke every fucking bone in his body, smashed in his cheating face until his eyes popped out, and I would do it again.”Luca nodd