Chapter 2
ENZO
“How do people eat raw fish?” Robby practically gags even as he tries to keep a straight face. I add some cucumbers and fresh tuna to the rice, ready to roll the sushi, while he does the same with salmon beside me.
I figured cooking together would be a great way for us to spend some one-on-one time.
From the start, Robby and I were tight. Even if he hadn’t become my son on paper, I’d love him like one anyway.
Me being his dad just makes this all the much sweeter.
He’s a good kid. I couldn’t do better if I had chosen him myself.
“Your mom loves this crap. Thank your aunt Raquel. She got her hooked.” I chuckle, throwing some avocado on there too.
“I’m never eating this.”
“Good. Your mom would never share.” I bump him and he laughs. “Thanks for being okay with sleeping over at Uncle Dante’s tonight so your mom and I could have our date.”
“I don’t mind.” He shrugs. “I usually beat him in video games and that means extra ice cream for me.”
I laugh. “I see your game. Well played.”
“I learn from the best.” His mouth flips into a smile.
“I hope you mean me.” I narrow a stare.
His brows furrow. “Well, duh.”
“Wiseass.” I shake my head on a deep chuckle.
My brothers love Robby. He even helps my brother and Raquel with their new baby. Carnelia is nine months old and already beginning to stand. They’ve got their hands full.
Dom has some too. Twins, only four months old. After seeing how tired he is, I definitely don’t want two at once. I can’t wait for Jade and I to have some more kids. I know Robby would love a sibling.
We finish making the sushi, then start on the seafood salad. I kinda lied to Jade about the baseball game. Robby and I wanted to surprise her with dinner. She’s going to like this, especially when she knows we both made it. Seeing her happy, both of them—it’s what I live for.
And that center she runs, helping all those people, I couldn’t be prouder. She’s a damn hero. My girl. Everything she went through, and to still have it in her to get up and rehash all those painful memories when others talk about their shit, it’s beautiful. She’s damn special and all mine.
We no longer have an enemy to fight, and I like this side of the world. I don’t miss it. But fuck with us and I’ll gladly pull out that savage, lying-dormant inside. He’s still in there, waiting. But I keep him contained. He’s my weapon when I need him.
“She should be home soon,” Robby says, washing the cutting board. “You think she’ll be happy?”
“You kidding? She’s gonna cry.”
“No she’s not.” He rolls his eyes.
“Oh, she will. Especially when she tastes those brownies we made.”
He scoffs.
“Okay, tough guy,” I tell him. “How about if I’m right, I get your dessert for the next two nights?”
“That’s not fair.” He grimaces.
“Fine. One night.”
His looks at me contemplative as he considers it for a moment before sticking his hand out to shake mine. “And if I win, I get yours,” he challenges.
“Deal.” I tip up my chin and shake his hand.
We start on setting up the table—white tablecloth, the gold-trimmed plates she insisted on buying for holidays, laid out on the table, along with some fancy-ass glasses, and a bottle of her favorite wine.
She’s purchased lots of things to make my home, ours. And I wanted her to. She should have everything she’s ever dreamed of, and I’ll always be the man to give it to her.
My damn heart aches whenever she walks into a room, and that feeling, it fills me up more than any of the liquor or the women I used to use to hide behind. I don’t hide anymore and neither does she. We embrace everything together.
Once we’re done, Robby and I get to the sofa in the den, clicking on the television, waiting for her, knowing she’ll be here any minute.
She’s always on time. Some car show comes on and we get to watching for a few minutes, while my mind drifts to the day I proposed in Bora Bora, three months after we destroyed the Bianchis.
She had told me she wanted to go to the beach. A place where the water is so clear, you can see your feet in it. Her mom never had money for vacations, she explained, so I gave her the first one she ever had and I made it one to remember.
I help Robby get dressed, while Jade is in the bedroom getting ready for dinner on the beach. The air is warm as I button his shirt in the villa I had rented for our two-week trip to Bora Bora.
I want to take them everywhere, have them experience everything they missed out on, especially as mother and son.
She never got to hold him as a baby. Never got that time with him she deserved.
It broke my damn heart when she told me about the day that bastard snatched him away.
Rage filled my veins, and I wished for Agnelo to be alive again just so I could get the pleasure of killing him.
But knowing how he died, what Aida did to him, it’s a slice of satisfaction, even if it wasn’t my hands doing it.
“I wanted to ask you something,” I say to Robby. “Man-to-man.” He stares up with curious eyes.
I drag in a breath, more nervous than I realized. “I want to marry your mom and I wanted to get your okay.”
He instantly grins, like a full-on smile. “Really? You wanna marry Mommy? When? Now?” His gaze darts to the door, Jade behind it.
“Today. Now actually. I kind of have it all planned on the beach already. So, if you say no, it better be right now, ’cause, ugh, it’d be a little weird when they bring the ring out with our dinner. So, what do you say?”
“Yes!” he shouts, then gasps. “Oops,” he whispers, staring back at the door “I mean, yes.”
I chuckle, my palms landing on his shoulders and I kneel, looking into the eyes of the boy who I love as much as his mom. “Thank fuuu—fudge.”
“Were you gonna curse? I won’t tell Mom.” He shakes his head, all serious.
“We don’t keep secrets from her, okay?”
“Okay.” He shrugs as I tilt my head to the side with a smirk.
“Fine,” I throw in. “Maybe some secrets should be between us.” I wink. “Like the extra cupcakes I give you after dinner when she isn’t looking.”
“She already knows.” He giggles. “She just pretends she doesn’t to you.”
“Is that so?” I narrow my stare, and he continues to laugh. I love the sound. That’s what children should be doing—laughing, having fun. Not be locked up in cages. Fuck. My chest tightens and anger swells in my gut.
I release a deep sigh, still amazed at what I ended up with—a woman I’m insane about and a kid who may as well share my blood. “You know what it means for us once your mom and me are married?”
He shakes his head, and a wide grin rolls over my face.
“It means I can adopt you.”
“What does that mean?” He looks curiously at me, widening his stare.
“It means you get to officially be my son and I get to be your dad. Do you think you’d want that?”
“You wanna be my dad?” His eyes swell larger.
“Very much. It would mean a lot to me.”
“Could I call you that? Now? My dad?” Tears rain within his eyes, and shit, I feel them too. I swallow hard.
“Yeah, son. You can.” I blink rapidly, trying to keep my emotions in check, but when he throws his arms around me, and grips me tight, I’m lost to them. I squeeze my eyes shut, my breaths rapid.
“I love you, Dad.”
Tears roll down my face, and I didn’t even know I could do that.
A sniffle comes from behind Robby, and when I look up, I see her, wiping under her eyes. I didn’t even notice her come out of the room.
Our gazes meet and her features are overflowing with love. “Hey there, beautiful,” I say, just as Robby pulls away and I rise.
“Enzo . . . you’re amazing.”
“I try. For you, baby.” I make it to her, Robby beside me. I tuck her chin in between two fingers, looking deep into her eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you. So damn much.”
I kiss her, both hands holding her face as I let her feel my love. Reluctantly, I draw back, knowing this will get out of hand quickly if we keep going, and we kinda have a kid staring at us.
“We ready to go?” I clear my throat, my palm running up and down her back.
Her mouth paints with a gleaming smile. “I’m most definitely ready.”
“Let’s eat.”
We make it out of the villa, walking down the bridge to the sand. Robby rushes down before us, while we stroll, holding hands, her long pink dress, flapping behind her.
“What you said back there? About adopting him?” She turns to me, and our walking slows. “Thank you. I was nervous to bring it up. I wasn’t sure if you wanted that.”
“I want everything with you, Jade. When are you going to see that? I’m in this forever, baby. You two are my whole damn world.”
Her eyes water. “You need to stop being so sweet.”
“Sorry, baby.” I curl an arm around her hips and pull her hard into my chest, my lips brushing against hers. “I can’t do that. Not with you. Not ever.”
“Mmm. Can’t seduce me right now. Your mouth . . . it does wicked things to me.”
“Oh, I know.” I run a hand down her stomach, sliding lower until a finger rolls in between her slit. “When he’s fast asleep, I’m gonna fuck you on the floor, overlooking the water. And you better not make a sound.”
“My God, Enzo.”
“Mom! Dad! You coming?” Robby calls.
I quickly drop my touch away, turning to him. “Yes, buddy.”
She sucks in a rough inhale, tangling her hand through mine. “He called you dad again. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing that.”
“Me neither.” I smile, meaning it.
Our feet hit the sand and we continue further up to where a table is set with a bottle of wine and food covered with silver covers. A server is there to greet us.
I pull a chair for her just as Robby takes one next to her. “That sunset,” she gushes, staring up at the sky, blazing with flames of orange dipped in gold. “This is like a dream. I could never get sick of the view.”
“Yeah,” I say, staring right at her. “I could never get sick of the view either.”
Her eyes hurry to mine, and her brows tighten when she realizes that the only view I ever want to stare at is sitting right beside me. My hand slides to hers and I pull it to my lap, holding it there.