The door bursts open, shaking both me and Alessandro from the stupor we've been in ever since the doctor dropped the bombshell on us. Phoebe halts, her gaze cautiously moving from me to Alessandro. "What's going on?" She asks carefully. "I brought you a change of clothes, I thought maybe you wouldn't want to get into a tight dress and heels again." Yeah, definitely no tight dresses for me anymore. "Is everything okay?" She asks when neither one of us answers us. "Is there something wrong with the baby? For fucks sake, please don't tell me there's something wrong with the baby!" Alessandro shakes his head and wordlessly holds the sonogram pictures out for her to take. She looks as scared as I'm feeling as she drops the bag on the chest of drawers and walks over to take it from him. "What the hell is this? There are three numbers on here." She frowns down at the picture, trying to make out what it is. Alessandro clears his throat. "There isn't a baby, Phoebe." For the life of me
There' s a persistent soft tickle on my cheek, and I groan as I open one eye, and T.J.'s toothless grin meets me. "What are you doing here, my knight?" I groan as I close my eye again. "It's time to get up and eat, sleepyhead!" He exclaims. "Mama is making you breakfast. " My eyes fly open now, and I groggily sit up in bed. I reach for my phone to check the time. It's already almost half past ten, and Alessandro must have woken up hours ago."Wait, what are your mom and you doing here?" I frown at my knight's cute face, but he just shrugs and then runs out the door. I feel much better than I did yesterday with whatever they gave me at the hospital, but I'm still feeling more tired than usual. I brush my teeth and wash my face before I go to the kitchen, where I find Alma cooking up a storm. "Good morning!" She greets cheerfully. "Sorry about T.J. It's Sunday, so I had to bring him with me." I frown. Am I missing something? Did we maybe make plans that I forgot about? "T.J. is
My heart is pounding as Phoebe and I get into the back of the SUV with Enzo behind the wheel. Apparently, Thomas was with Alessandro when he left to go to his mother's. The drive out of the city feels longer as usual, and I'm so grateful for Phoebe clutching my hand. I don't know what the hell I would have done without her this last month. She has been my rock and anchor, especially when I had to be a rock for Alessandro. I will never be able to repay her for this. I should actually thank her douche of an ex-boyfriend. If he didn't play a hand in this, she might have never moved to the city. Maybe he deserved to keep his hands after all. A nurse opens the door when we arrive at the Moretti house, and the first thing I hear is a heartbreaking wail. I immediately rush up the stairs and barge into Gabby's room. My feet still as I take in the absolutely agonizing site in front of me. A sob rips from my throat as my eyes land on Alessandro, who is kneeling by the side of his mother's
The back of Alessandro's hand sweeps across my cheek. My eyes flutter open, and he smiles sadly down at me where I'm sprawled on the couch. "Go home, baby, you're tired." He whispers. "Are you not coming?" I frown. I still have a thousand questions for him, but he became so busy fielding phone calls and looking after Dario that we never got a proper chance to talk."No, I need to be here for Dario." Dario is understandably a mess. He loved his mother, and they were close, so her death is devastating. I remember falling asleep watching him and Phoebe slow dance to Gabby's favorite songs. "I can just stay here with you." I sit up and rub my tired eyes. "I'll go sleep in one of the guestrooms." "I don't want you here." He says curtly and a hurt like no other shoots through my chest. He must see the expression on my face because he swears and then drops down next to me. "This house just has bad memories for me right now." He kisses the top of my head. "I don't want you and the ba
Soft kisses trail down from my neck to my shoulder, my leg lifted to open me to fingers dipping into my panties. My eyes flutter open into the darkness of the night. "Alessandro?" He doesn't answer me, but he slowly parts my lips to rub slow circles on my clit. I'm still slightly upset with him for shutting me out and going radio silence for the whole day, but my body didn't get that memo. He groans as I push my ass into his erection and his fingers go down further to dip a single digit inside. It's been too long since he's been inside me, and I hungrily ride that finger. I missed him. Even if he's been here, he was so busy, and when he did sleep, I was out like a candle. "Your pussy is so wet." He adds another finger and I moan at the pressure. "Is it wet for me? Do you want me to fuck you?" "Yes." I gasp. His fingers leave me and his cock fills me in one go. My pussy contracts around him and he groans low in my ear. "Fuck, you feel too good." His hand rubs my lower belly. "
We're standing in front of another open grave. In all my life, I've only ever attended two funerals. My grandmother's, which I can hardly remember. The rumor goes that she was run off the road by the wife of the man she was having an affair with at the time. I haven't seen my mother in years, but if she's not careful, she will surely end up just like her mother. Gabby's funeral is small and intimate, and nothing like the man we're burying her next to. There is no ostentatious get-together afterward, just a few close friends of hers who look just as sad to lose her like her sons. Security has been lightened significantly, although I don't think that's a good idea. If those people from Italy could kill Antonio over a deal, would they not come back for him? Would they do to me what they did to Gabby? That thought scares the living shit out of me. The thought of my babies being hurt while they're inside me makes me murderous. I will do anything to protect them. "Wishing you had a dr
This can't be happening! My heart threatens to explode out of my chest, and Thomas literally has to lift me from Dario. Alessandro can't lose another person. It would kill literally anybody, no matter how strong, to lose all their family members in a matter of weeks of each other. "Open the door for the paramedics." Thomas instructs calmly as he turns Dario on his side. I rush to the door, and I'm glad that I don't need a security code to unlock from the inside. It can't be longer than ten minutes until the paramedics arrive, but it feels like an eternity standing at that door. "He's in here!" I run to his bedroom where Thomas is still holding a shaking Dario. "What is he on?" The female asks calmly while checking Dario's blood pressure. "Alcohol, maybe opioid." Thomas backs off to give he paramedics space to work. Opioid? I've only seen Dario drink before, but a person is not exactly going to use drugs in front of other people if they don't wanna be caught. Again, I can't sa
Raquel has the nerve to look at me like I'm the one who has done something wrong. Screw her father's company and whatever deal Alessandro made with them to buy it. She has done things to clearly undermine me and get closer to Alessandro, and I'm not having any of it anymore. I'm no longer standing by and watching her touch him or maneuver her way into his space.I'm pretty sure that she has some kind of eyes on me to alert her to what I'm doing. She was made to serve only as a pawn in the game Alessandro is playing with her father to completely take over the company. And I know it's a huge deal for him, and the why, so I should have just shut my trap and stayed on the safe side. But I've never had, and I'm not about to start now. "Stop pretending that you actually give a damn about Dario." I tell her under my breath. "I know it's Alessandro that you want, so you can quit with the little act you've got going on." One thing about Raquel is that she's a damn good actress. I don't kn
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