Epilogue Luciano
~18 years later~
"Oof! Get off me, old man!"
"Are you going to keep your trap shut to your mother?" Fuck I felt old; struggling around on the floor with my nearly legal son made my damn bones ache as if I'd been slammed against the cage twenty times in a row by a charging bull.
Throwing his elbow back, Gale caught me right in the face, making my hold on him loosen enough for him to slip free. "No! I don't want her ripping my head off after you throw me under the bus. I ain't taking the fall for it this time."
Slightly winded, I panted softly, "You got a new Lambo out of the situation last time," I argued back with him as I scrambled up to my feet and charged after him.
Just as he grabbed the door handle, I wrapped my arms around him and threw him backward onto the floor. Quickly, I threw him into a headlock and held him down.
"That Lambo was so not worth Mom's wrath. I nearly shat my pants when she chewed me out! And she locked up the Lambo, so I can't even freaking drive it. Nothing is gonna keep my mouth shut this time." He argued back in a strained voice.
Grunts of struggles, along with the thumping of our bodies hitting the floor, filled the room as we rolled around.
Unfortunately, I stood no chance against my son because I raised the damn kid, and at seventeen, going on eighteen soon, he was already my size. Actually, as much as I hated to admit it, he was bigger than me. I wasn't close to my prime now at a much older age, and with age came its downfalls. By no means was I weak and useless, still picture perfect in terms of health, but I definitely wasn't how I was when I was in my twenties and thirties in terms of strength, agility, and dexterity.
Which my son took full advantage of.
A pained grunt and hiss scratched at my throat at the feeling of something large and hard bashing my face. "Son of a bitch." I cursed out of habit as I reeled back and held my face.
And unfortunately, he had Juliet's smartass mouth. "Wow, that's not nice to say of mom. Then again, that's not nice to call your wife. Though, also, for me to be born, you would have had to..." His word drew out from the stern glare I shot him.
"You're about to be grounded until college at this rate," I grumbled in a stuffed-up voice because of my aching nose.
"Ooooh, what you gonna do? Lock me at home? No technology? You know I can still fuck shit up no matter what." Gale sassed me back with his arms crossed and a smug smirk on his face.
Fucking… I am seriously not doing this right now.
I shouldn't be arguing with my damn kid, nor should I be letting him get under my skin this much. Then again, I had no one to blame but myself because he came from my balls. Granted, he is half of Juliet, but I couldn't blame all of Gale's spunk on her genes because I definitely was a huge asshole like him when I was his age.
God damn it. Parenting was supposed to be easy at this age, not harder.
"Would you just shut up and go to your room already." It wasn't so much a question as it was a demand.
Of course, being the smug little devil spawn he was, he locked his feet down and widened his smirk. "No." I wanted to punch his puffed-out little chest and knock him down a few pegs. "What are you gonna do about it, old man?"
"I'm gonna beat your ass and make it look like an accident and drag it to your room myself if you don't move on the count of three." Okay, I wouldn't hurt him that bad, just enough to teach him a lesson on who was in charge around the place.
"I can take you on any day."
Yeah, no, we're doing this.
My cocky ass son needed to be taught a lesson the hard way.
Lunging at him, I easily tackled him to the ground with a grunt and put him in a knee hold down. "Don't forget who taught you how to fight." The extra trainers who helped him when I couldn't were nowhere near my playing field.
Gritting his teeth, Gale threw his hands at me while bucking his body to try and throw me off. "Don't forget that I am your son." I don't know how, maybe through sheer determination or some stupid stubbornness, but he managed to pull one of my legs out from under me, toppling me over. "And that I am better and stronger." A winded grunt punched out of my body from Gale's weight falling onto me.
"Stronger I'll give you. Better?" Just to prove my own stubborn point, I tripped him down by grabbing his arm and pulling him right into me. Not giving him a hair of a second to react, I wrap my arms and legs around him, putting him into a guillotine chokehold.
"Luca! What the fuck are you doing to our son? Let him go, you asshole!"
Uh oh.
"Ooooh, you're in troooouuuubllllle." Gale's strangled voice choked out mockingly from under me.
When I showed no signs of releasing Gale because I was too busy plotting an escape and coming up with a whole list of excuses to lessen the blow from my lovely wife, a swift kick lodged itself into my side. Instinctively, my arms released my son with my cough so my body could curl up to defend myself against another blow.
"The fuck is wrong with you? How many times do I have to tell you to quit doing that kind of hold on Gale? What if you snap his neck or suffocate him with your fat arms?" Juliet had every right to fret over our kid, even if she knew I'd never truly harm him—mother's instinct and all. Well, that and a guillotine choke was rather risky, but it often got my point across to Gale fairly quickly. Of course, I'd never harm him; I was a professional, so I knew what I was doing.
Checking Gale over, Juliet completely ignored me—rude—as I groaned in pain on the floor. It might have been exaggerated to earn some sympathy from Juliet, but I doubt it'd work since she knew her hits could never hurt me unless she went for a cheap shot between the legs.
Huffing, Juliet glared at both me and Gale with her arms crossed. "Why the hell were you tw—OH MY FUCKING GOD! WHY THE FUCK IS MY NEW COMPUTER brOKEN!?"
And that would be our cue to scram.
"Get the fucking keys," I told Gale in a hurry as I scrambled to my feet and made a run for it.
"She'll just hack the car and shut it down." Gale's voice trailed behind me as we ran through the house to the garage.
Stopping at the key cabinet, I trifled through it with Gale. "Not the Camry." Eventually, I grew smart enough in the first few years of our relationship to stash away some old cars that didn't rely on computers and fancy electronics. Juliet couldn't hack something that didn't have Wi-Fi unless she managed to Jerry rig it.
"I thought she slashed the tires on that damn thing last time she caught us." Gale's words were as frantic as his hands as he brushed them through every set of hanging keys.
"Wheels are replaceable." With the keys in one hand, I snatched my son's wrist and dragged both our asses out the door just mere seconds before Juliet got her hands on us. "Get in!" I practically shoved my son into the car when I flung the door open and forced him to crawl across the center console.
Unfortunately, our escape hit a flat before we even started the car. "Holy shit, dad! Mom's got her controller and the drone up!" Yeah, words I never ever want to hear from my son or anyone. A pissed-off wife with any kind of weapon was a huge no-no, but my pissed-off wife with a weapon? Yeah, no, we were fucked.
Three soft pops rang out in succession, and the distinct sound of air hissing out of deflating tires filled my ears and the air around us.
"I'm gonna kill both of you." Juliet's deadly voice chilled the air and my spine.
"Sweetheart," with a sheepish smile, I turned around to face her with my hands up in the air. "It was an accident. I'll replace it like I always do."
"Okay, the fact you broke my expensive, customized shit pisses me the fuck off, but what really threw me off my hinges is the fact I had a program running through there that's taken me weeks to perfect. You potentially fucked it all up! The whole network that the program was going to shut down could potentially be all gone. Yeah, I'm fucking pissed about the broken screen and computer tower, but I'm really fucking pissed and angry and upset about the program and victims who are going to be harmed if this shit fails!"
Juliet kept prattling on and on about how this had been a long project for her and the business and how it was a big stint, and honestly, I felt like a fucking asshole now. Looking over at Gale, I could see his shoulders slumping with his cowering body as he looked at his mother apologetically.
Yeah, this time we fucked up, bad.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I slowly approached Juliet, taking the gun away from her before pulling her into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry." I was definitely groveling more tonight. "What can we do to fix it. Please, tell us. We really should have been more careful with our roughhousing, and we should have known better than to roughhouse around your systems."
Climbing out of the car, Gale joined in on the hug. "Yeah, I'm sorry mom. I should have just listened to Dad and not egg him. It's my fault the fight started." At least he had our big hearts where it counted. "Please, let us help you fix it. Do you need me to try and run a backup program or a different program to try and patchwork things? Is there anything I can help you recover?"
"I don't know how much of it can be salvaged, or if any of it can… Just… Go plug in my spare tower, boot it up, and transfer whatever data you can from the tower you broke. I need a moment to cool off before I rip both your heads off and kick them into the sea." Juliet sighed heavily against us with a deep frown.
"Mom, I promise I won't mess around with Dad in the media room anymore. Just don't be upset anymore, please." Gale pulled his best puppy dog face on Juliet, making her roll her eyes and shove at him.
Struggling to hold back her smile, she covered it up with a scoff as she shoved at Gale. "Don't make that face anymore, and I won't. Seriously, you look like you're constipated."
"That's rude," Gale remarked with a roll of his eyes.
"But the truth, so suck it up." Juliet bit back at our son with gusto. "Go fix your fuck up while I deal with your dad."
Smirking at me, Gale stuck his tongue out and mouthed, 'You're in trouble' like the little turd he was before he turned around and scrammed out of sight.
"You're sleeping in the bushes tonight, mister." Juliet deadpanned at me, jabbing a finger into my chest.
" Amorina, principessa, sweetheart, baby, come on. We're going to fix it as best as we can. Gale is fixing the system, and I'll do what I can. If you have a location or area of interest, send me that way, and I'll take care of the rest, no problem." I sweetened my voice, hoping to get in some of her good graces.
Knowing Juliet, she meant what she said about me sleeping in the bushes. It wouldn't be the first time she locked me out of the house and forced me to sleep outside.
Kissing her tense forehead, I looked at her pleadingly as I dropped down to my knees. "Juliet, sweetheart, please, I am sorry. I was being stupid, and I should have known better. I swear, we won't mess around in the media room after today. I just wanted to teach him a lesson for being a little turd, and things got out of hand. I'm really sorry." After hearing about her program and how we possibly fucked it up, in turn fucking up a big operation, I truly felt guilty as hell.
Wrapping my arms around her waist, I hugged her tightly and blessed her body with kisses on her stomach and thighs. "Juliet, please."
"Put that mouth to use elsewhere tonight, and maybe I'll reconsider your sleeping arrangements." She relented begrudgingly with a forced glare. "And your ass better be out there tonight to catch any runaways."
Victorious, I grinned up at her for a second before getting back up on my feet and hugging her with a sway. "I'll gut anyone who moves," I promised with a twisted grin.
"Or you can save them for our coming anniversary trip," Juliet suggested with a dark smile of her own.
"I'm surprised the ocean isn't permanently red from how many bodies we've bloodied it with." I mused with a fucked-up laugh.
Joining with a twisted laugh of her own, Juliet reached up and wrapped her arms around my neck. "At some point, it probably will." She commented.
For a sweet moment, the two of us stood there looking at each other with sheer adoration. "Sometimes, I still can't believe we've been together for twenty-four years and the wonderful life we've created together. And our son," I had to pause for a moment to chuckle and shake my head, "Gale might be a pain in the ass, but I couldn't be more proud of the man we've raised him to be."
"I can't believe it myself sometimes. I mean, thinking back on it after all this time, just… I don't know. It sounds like a dream I might wake up from any day now." Running the tips of her fingers across my cheek, she settled her hand against my face, tilting her smiling face at me. "I really can't thank you enough for saving me that night and taking a chance with me. We've had our mountains in the road, but we made it through them together and became stronger, and that's all that matters. The life we've built is more than picture-perfect to me, and sometimes, I can't believe Gale is our kid because he's just so perfect. We really did good with him, and I can't believe he's going off to college in a few months."
A whole-ass kid. My whole-ass kid who I didn't fuck up somehow. Parenthood has been one hell of a ride that had me clenching every step of the way. I had good parents growing up who did a wonderful job of raising me, but I very clearly remembered how much of a rat-ass bastard I was. And lordy, to think of my son as a mini-me, especially in his teenage years—fuck. Thank God Gale was more than a wonderful kid. He had a bit of a temper and complex like me, but it was dimmed enough by Juliet's personality that he was more than tolerable.
"Given who his parents are, I say he turned out just perfect. And hey, I gotta say, we did a damn good job with him." Seriously, I don't know how we fucking managed, but we did. So, we both deserved pats on the back.
"Ugh, I'm not ready to let our baby out into the world." Juliet pouted sadly with teary eyes. "I still remember when he was the size of a stuffed animal in my arms."
"And now he's breaking arms." I snickered, unable to help myself.
"Luca!" Juliet exclaimed, slapping my chest. "Don't ruin my moment. He's already a spitting image of you. Don't remind me that he likes to fight like you."
"He's still a little computer nerd like you, too. He's got both brains and brawns, so what more can you ask for." I remarked with a chuckle, tightening my arms around Juliet and swaying her back and forth a little. "But hey, at least he's not partaking in underground fights and just beating people for no reason like I did when I was his age."
"Fair point, and at least he's not hacking the government and stealing money from people or something," Juliet added with a soft laugh of her own.
Taking a deep breath, I rested my chin atop her head. "Our boy is going to be just fine out in the world. We made sure of it."
"I know. It's just the mom in me being sentimental and emotional. I mean, he's our son, and he's grown now, and I guess the mom side of me that wants to keep him as a baby forever is having trouble with that." Juliet chuckled dryly with a soft sniffle. "Sometimes I wish we could have had more."
Frowning, I pulled away to hold Juliet's face and look at her sternly. " Amorina , Gale is perfect, and I will tell you time and time again, one perfect child to devote all our love and attention to is better than a whole army of children whom we can barely remember the names of. I don't and won't ever love you any less because you only blessed me with one child. It really does not matter to me. As long as you are here and healthy with me, that's all I want and need."
Honestly, it didn't bother me one bit that Juliet only gave us one child. Hell, she could give us none, and I'd still love her like never before. As long as I had my Juliet, that's all I cared about.
I nearly died that day at the hospital when the doctor had to rush Juliet into emergency surgery following a complication of her surgery, which then resulted in her needing a hysterectomy. I didn't care one bit for the latter. I would have been a broken man if I had to leave the hospital without my wife by my side.
I was never one to put a quantity to children anyway, so I really couldn't care less about how many children she'd give me.
It was harsh to think and say, but I would have rather left that hospital with Juliet alive and without our child than without her and a bundle of what should be joy in my arms. Functioning without Juliet was impossible after all these years, and if I had to raise our son every day without her by my side, I'd die of a broken heart the moment Gale turned eighteen.
Thankfully, the worst-case scenario didn't come to fruition, but it could have. Even if she didn't have to have her uterus removed, I wouldn't have risked another child with her anyway because her life was more important than having another spawn of mine fill the world. Also, after raising Gale, one of me was more than enough for this damn world.
"Don't ever apologize for that, ever. I don't know how many times I have to tell you." I hated how she weighed that burden on herself so much when it genuinely held no value to me. "I love you and married you for you, not for your womb. I love you because you are a wonderful woman with a heart of gold despite all the shit the world has thrown at you."
Kissing her with a smile, I held her lips against mine to pour every ounce of my soul into her. "I will always choose you over everything at the end of the day because I love you, for you."
I seared her mouth with another heavy kiss before holding her tenderly in my arms. "I love you, Juliet, for now and always."
"Thank you for loving me and having me. I will always love you, Luciano, until the end of time."