I pinch myself for the third time today. How did I get so lucky? All around me, our friends and family are laughing and drinking, and my heart is completely full. The food Alma and I prepared came out excellent, and both Alessandro and Dario thanked us for it. Dario even said it was like having his mother there. I almost cried at that. Stupid hormones. Alessandro has been clinging to me, not that I mind. I'd bake biscotto and tiramisu every single day if I can keep that look of utter adoration in his eyes when he looks at me. "Check it out, my princess!" T.J. rushes up to me and shows me the drone his father helped to assemble. Yeah, I did get him the drone, and Thomas doesn't look very happy about it, but he can stick it. "Wow!" Alessandro exclaims. "That's really cool!" T.J. smiles proudly. "This can be one of my spy devices when I take care of the babies." I smile at that. He's got it in his head that he will become the bodyguard of the triplets. I think it's the cutest t
Alma, the supposed fucking journalist, is more like an assassin than a person who used to write news articles for a living. I'm not really all that surprised because before getting pregnant, Thomas was training me too. The bunker looks like a small apartment, and I follow Phoebe with my eyes, who walks over to the fridge in the small kitchenette. "Are we preparing for a world war or something?" She mumbles as she scours the cabinets, too. The fridge and cabinets are fully stocked. There's another door, and Alma picks T.J. up. "Hey, would you a big boy for mommy and watch some cartoons in the bedroom through there?" I follow behind her, and she opens the door to a bedroom that has six beds in it. This place is prepared! She kisses T.J. and puts headphones over his ears with a tablet that she gets from one of the cabinets. "What the hell is this place?" I ask her as soon as she closes the door. "It's a safe house. There are five more over the city." She goes to sit behind a tiny
It's the first night I don't sleep in a while.I stare at Phoebe and Kevin, tightly huddled together on the small bed, and I eventually give up and get up . I find Alma in the living area watching a trashy reality show. "Can't sleep?" She asks me and switches off the T.V. I shake my head. "No. You?" She gives me a tiny smile. "I'm always restless whenever Thomas is out on a mission. Until he gets back." Until he gets back alive, is what she's leaving out. I hate just being a sitting duck, not knowing what's happening out there. "How do you do it?" I plop down next to her on the couch, looking at the rings on my finger. "How do you not go crazy?" "Who says I'm not crazy?" She smirks at me. "But T.J. keeps me sane. Whatever happens, I still have that boy who depends on me." I lay my hands protectively over my stomach. I don't want to raise my kids without their father, but if that's what I have to do, then that's what I have to do. "I've always known Thomas's job is dangerous."
"We're going on an adventure!" T.J. whispers to me, his eyes wide with excitement. I wish I could share in his joy of going to yet another place, but I don't. This is not what I envisioned Christmas for us to be. I didn't even get to give Alessandro his present. At this point, we might as well become a traveling circus. "How long are we disappearing for this time?" I ask Thomas, the irritation clear in my voice. "You do realize that I'm pregnant with triplets, right? That I have to see my doctor every second week?" I know they know this, and I'm sure they've taken this into consideration. But we're not at a place where I can just pack up and go to wherever Alessandro thinks it will be safer. "We're staying in the city this time." Thomas informs us. "We have various places set up in case of emergencies." It must be the safe houses Alma told me about. "What about my doctor?" I need to know. I have to see her after New Year's. "Will I be able to go to her?" "Alma will monitor your
It's the second night I don't sleep. Because Alessandro has not made an appearance yet. I'm worried and slightly pissed off. How hard can it be to just send me a text and let me know he's okay and fucking alive?This time, I don't even have Phoebe with me for company, but I'm elated that Kevin finally pulled his head out of his ass so she can stop being insecure about where she stands with him. Being with a powerful man sometimes sucks because they're almost never around. I suddenly miss school, because at least then I had something for me. Definitely going back to school as soon as I get the chance. Or when the triplets are a bit older. I'm not going to sit around for the rest of my life waiting on Alessandro to come back from whatever adventure he finds himself on.I hear a commotion coming from downstairs, and I immediately reach for the gun under my pillowcase. I won't be caught unarmed ever again. I quietly get out of bed and get in behind the door. I don't know if the triple
ALESSANDRO Long after Farrah falls asleep, I stare at her with my hand on her tummy, my three sons moving inside her. They do that every night when she's sleeping. I smile. I hope it's not an indication of what's to come. I read that they tend to sleep during the day because the mother is moving more, lulling them to sleep. I've never been so equally happy and terrified in all my life. I'm scared something will happen to Farrah and the babies every single second of every minute of every hour. I've just lost my parents in the blink of an eye. What if all the bad deeds, all the people I've hurt and killed, what if all that somehow comes back to me and steals the one person I don't see myself living without? A now familiar ache starts in my chest as I think of my mother and father. I can still taste the fear on my tongue as I saw my mother lying in an alley in a pool of her own blood, barely breathing. I should've known then that I wouldn't find my father in a better condition, y
ALESSANDRO I get up at the crack of dawn, reluctantly pushing Farrah's leg from mine. This house is not as luxurious as the ones I usually stay in because my enemies wouldn't expect me to hide my family in this neighborhood. I know for a fact that the lower rungs of the mafia think I'm out of touch with what's happening in the streets. And maybe I am because I'm done doing business there. Maybe I should just hand the mafia over to Mattia. He wants it after all. But if I do that, my deal with the FBI will be null and void. They want one less mafia family to deal with, and just handing over the reins to my uncle is not going to do that. I need to squash his need to rule in the city and direct him back to where he came from. And I need to keep him the fuck away from Farrah. He seems to want everything I do, and dangling the information that Raquel is my side-piece in front of him only confirmed that. I wouldn't touch Raquel even if she was the last woman on earth. She's spoilt and
FARRAH "Why couldn't we hide on a tropical island?" Phoebe moans at the breakfast table. "Greece was really cool. We could've gone somewhere where it's summer." I roll my eyes at her. "Spoilt much? You sound a little like Raquel." She pulls a face like I poured sour milk into her cereal. "Do not make that comparison ever again. I'm going to have to wash my ears out." I can't help but smirk. "I thought you liked her. She has a lot of Instagram followers, remember? " "In case you haven't noticed." Phoebe points her spoon at me. "My followers are steadily climbing. Last week, I got a death threat from a girl who told me to leave Kevin alone or that she would stab me in the vagina." "That can't be good." Alma places a plate with steaming hashbrowns, eggs, and sausages in front of me. "This is just the start." Phoebe shrugs. "Once Kevin goes pro, things will probably get worse." The culprit in question joins us and steals a hashbrown from my plate with a dimpled smile. Alma swats a
I look down at my three babies, where they're all bundled in the same incubator. They were born on thirty-three weeks, but none of them had to be incubated. I'm so proud of them, all of them able to breathe on their own. I was so worried, but they did it. I've never cried so much as I've been crying in the last week. The pediatrician said they should stay in the incubator for at least two weeks, and they were each placed in their own one. But the nurses said when they're apart, they cry, and when they're together, they don't. It's the cutest thing ever. Alessandro can't tell them apart because they look exactly alike. I don't know how, but I know who is who. Their father proudly named them, and right now, Arcangelo's mouth cutely yawns, even though they're sleeping. One week until we can take them home. Right now, they've wearing onesies courtesy of their aunt saying Thing One, Thing Two, and Thing Three. I miss Phoebe in the house, but she has to follow her own path, and she
FARRAH "I'm so sorry, Thomas." My bodyguard is a lone figure at the grave of his wife. "Me too." He says softly with his head bowed. "I was so busy with..." He doesn't complete the sentence, so I take his hand in mine and squeeze his. "It's okay to say it." "I was so busy protecting others, I didn't take care of my own family." He completes the sentence on a sob. "You know that's not true." I tell him. "You were looking after all of us. You just didn't think her past would catch up to you." "But I should have!" He turns guilty eyes to mine where I'm sitting in a wheelchair next to him. "That's what I was trained to do, and I failed my own wife." He's going to feel guilty for a while, probably forever, so I don't say a word. Alma's killer was from a religious society who has been following her and Thomas's lives for a while now. They believe that she betrayed her country and her religion. She would have been stoned to death if she was in her own country. The government has tak
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Trey looks worriedly at me, his eyes darting back and forth in the dark street. "This ends tonight." I go over my body again, making sure for what seems like the hundredth time that I have all my guns and hand grenades in place. It seems like the fuckers are playing right into my hands. Thanks to Enzo's intel, I have the remaining four elders all under one roof in one night. By now, they must know that Fabiono is dead, but they still think I'm inside that jail. They probably know it was me, too, so they're most likely having a meeting to decide what they're doing next. Little do they know, I'm striking while the iron is still hot. Trey shakes his head, his eyes on the surveillance footage on his phone, all courtesy of Evan. Farrah was right, I did orchestrate Evan's bullying so I could be his savior. It was one of the best things I ever did, too, because I now have access to a satellite that gives me vision all over the world. And I have a gre
ALESSANDRO As soon as I stop in front of the quaint cottage, a shot gets fired from me from somewhere in the house, and I duck. I slowly get out of the driver's seat with my hands in the air. If this guy is as dangerous as Thomas said he is, I will be dead in the next second. "My name is Alessandro Moretti, I believe my wife is in there." I shout, hoping they can hear me. I take it as a good sign when I don't get shot at again. The front door opens, and a sight for sore eyes greets me. I run to that door as fast as I can, and then I scoop Farrah in my arms, her smell that is uniquely hers enveloping me. "What the fuck did you do, asshole." She sobs in my neck. "Are you okay? I thought you were in jail." I pull back so I can look at her. There are dark circles under her eyes, and she looks tired, but she's always the best thing I will ever see. "What are you doing on your feet?" I ask her. "You're not supposed to be walking around. You're supposed to be still." She hugs me ag
ALESSANDRO Dario is waiting for me when I walk out of jail the next morning. I don't like the look in his eyes. "What's wrong?" I want to know immediately. He holds the keys to his car out for me, and I grab it. I may be the younger of the two of us, but I've always been the one that was in control. He's never seemed to mind. It's just how our personalities work. "Farrah is gone." The earth drops from beneath my feet for a moment, but I take a deep breath. With Farrah, I've found that there's always an explanation. I get behind the wheel and wait for him to get in beside me. "What happened?" "One of her bodyguards was found with a single stab wound. Luckily, he's not dead." Dario sounds worried. "The hospital's cameras were conveniently out of order for about two hours, but both her and Phoebe are gone. And the other bodyguard." "What about Thomas?" "Still missing." I'm trying to keep my cool, but I bang on the steering wheel. "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!" Thomas has a few numbers I
FARRAH "Oh my God!" I scream. "T.J!" Damian doesn't even stay at the crash. He just swerves his car and goes around the wreck. "What are you doing?" Kevin shouts at him. "You have to stop, we have to help her!" "Are you okay? "Damian looks at me in the rearview mirror. "I'm fucking fine!" I'm about to lose it. We just left a kid there in a crashed car. "We have to go back and help her." Damian is still calm as he grabs his phone from the console and dials 911. He calmly tells the operator that there was a crash with the address, and then he disconnects before the operator can ask any questions. Phoebe is sobbing next to me, and I feel my own tears wetting my cheeks. We just left Alma there. What if she was badly hurt? Who was that behind the wheel of the truck, and why did he crash into her? The windows weren't even tinted of the car. If they were looking for me, they would've been able to see I wasn't in that car. "The three of you better listen to me and listen to me carefu
FARRAH "Is something going on here that I should know about?" Damian looks accusingly at me in Dr. Sanchez's office. "I've been calling Abe with no luck." Abe is the other bodyguard who's currently on shift. "I think that was my husband's uncle on the way to my room." I gulp, my heart rate skyrocketing. "I'm not sure, but with everything going on with my husband right now, I think he might be trying to hurt me." Hurt is a mild word, but Dr. Sanchez is in the room, and she already looks freaked out. I don't want to worry her any more than she already is. "And you were planning to do what exactly?" Damian wants to know. "I need to get out of here." "Against my advice!" Dr. Sanchez looks at me like I'm crazy. "What if you need blood? You do realize how serious your condition is, right? You are not just risking the lives of the babies, but yours, too." "I'm a sitting duck in the hospital." I shake my head at her. "And if someone kills me, there will be no babies or me anyway. Trus
ALESSANDRO Edward Whittle looks like I'm going to jump him any minute. But like I told him, I'm not here for him. He deserves to go to trial for what he's done, to be torn apart by the public and sentenced. Killing him would be a mercy he doesn't deserve. The asshole starts crying after I don't give him any attention, and I look at him in utter disgust. Those girls in that container were crying, too. I wonder how many girls he's smuggled in containers over the years. What has happened to those girls, were they still alive? Edward Whittle should get life in prison and become the bitch of a thousand men. And even that punishment won't be enough. He follows me around like a little puppy when it's dinner time. The dude jumps at the tiniest noise. That's what you get when you play on the wrong side of the law, and you don't think of the consequences. The inmates seem to know who I am and avoid me, so I get my food that looks like someone puked on it in peace, with my entourage of o
FARRAH "You can't leave the hospital." Phoebe drags both her hands through her hair. "We have to come up with something else. Plus, I think you're being paranoid." I don't know how to explain it to her. All I know is that my gut is never wrong, and I can feel that impending gloom. Nobody is hurting my babies, I would kill them first. Even if I have to do it kicking and bleeding. "I'm not paranoid." I sigh. I wish Alessandro would let me in on his damn plans and stop leaving me blindsided. "Call in one of the bodyguards." Phoebe looks at me skeptically, but do as I ask. The guy is well-built and looks like he belongs on a magazine cover and not outside my hospital room. He nods his head at me. "Mrs. Moretti." I'm still not used to being called that, but I do like the ring to it. "Do you know where Thomas is?" I ask. There's no way he just dropped off the face of the earth. "No ma'am. Thomas just gave us strict instructions that the door should be guarded at all times and that