Chapter 48 – Gabriella #2
The damn boss babe seemed to be having a field day at our expense. She stood there, holding the course of our lives in the palm of her hand, not a thread of her expensive power suit out of place.
“You know what,” said Linda. “I’ll do what I can to help you gain rights to him, because I want to leave my husband.
He doesn’t deserve to keep that beautiful boy.
And when I get myself settled, I don’t ever want to change another diaper!
Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Since I was thinking of leaving my husband and didn’t know what to do about the custody. ”
Another blessing. It fell from heaven, straight into my lap.
I was going to pass out. The relief was going to drown me.
“That was too easy,” Amanda muttered.
I glared at her, but she wasn’t looking at me.
“My advice,” the lawyer continued, “find a better man.”
With a manic laugh, Linda shook her head. “I want to play the field. A harem of guys or nothing.”
My stomach flipped. To each their own, and I didn’t want to yuck her fun, but that future sounded exhausting.
Wiping her eyes, Linda pushed off the armchair, came over, and sat down on the couch beside me. She stuck her finger in Luca’s chubby fist.
“Can we…can we keep in touch?” she asked. “I’d like to know how he turns out.”
“I would love that,” I admitted.
Because I couldn’t face the feelings rolling through me, I put my arm around her and gave her a hug.
Linda returned it before she pulled back. “I assume you’re taking him with you?”
The response was a clap of thunder from the other side of the room. “Yes.”
I cut my gaze to Liam’s.
Emotion blazed through his eyes, turning them the brightest shade of blue I’d ever seen. While it was hard to describe the look he gave me, I didn’t feel anger rolling off him.
He didn’t see me as the black sheep, the disgraced girl who’d been knocked up. His fierce focus drilled into me.
As if….
As if I were the most beautiful creature he’d ever laid eyes on.
“Well, there’s no reason for me to stay here,” Linda said, sounding relieved. “I’ll pack a bag, and I won’t tell Garret that Brady’s gone back to his birth mother until you’ve settled the paperwork.”
“I’m going to need you to sign a few things,” Amanda said quickly. “But when we’re done, we can grab drinks, and I’ll help you devise a plan to take that bastard for everything he’s worth.”
“You’d do that?” Linda gaped.
Amanda smirked. “A cheating husband? Absolutely. Free of charge.”
Linda breathed a deep sigh and smiled. Amanda began tapping on her phone. She followed the soon-to-be divorcee to the foyer.
But Linda paused in the archway. “Brady—I mean, Luca, sleeps with a red bear.”
“I know,” I whispered.
Linda’s perfectly manicured brows knit together. She muttered something about creepy but was already jogging up the staircase to start her free, single life.
I would have expected her to fight harder.
I snuggled Luca, who was starting to fuss again, clearly sleepy. He was worth it.
He was everything.
A shadow crossed in front of me, and the beast crouched. “So, this is Luca.”
I peeked up at the underworld kingpin, a soft smile playing on my lips. “Yes,” I breathed, and then, summoning all the courage I had left, I added, “Do I really get to keep him?”
Liam’s eyes flashed with pain. “You do, cailín.”
My eyelids closed, and I fought back the tears. “Liam.”
Gloved fingers gently brushed under my chin, tipping my face up. “Look at me, little bird.”
I obeyed. I owed the masked devil that much.
“He’s coming home with us,” Liam promised.
I cried then. Tears of joy leaked uncontrollably from my eyes.
“Hush, cailín,” Liam urged. “It’s all going to be okay.”
Sniffling, I nodded. “I believe you.”
Liam was quite possibly the most crazy, unhinged, simply beautiful individual I’d ever seen.
And because I had to show him how much this meant to me, I smiled. “Luca, meet your daddy.”
Maybe, just maybe, that was moisture sparkling in the blue-grey storm clouds gazing at my son. It was hard to say, because the monster hid it well.
***
The emotions in my chest were too big to handle. I went through the motions of driving home with Luca on my lap, unloading the single bag of supplies and the stroller into the house, and sitting on the edge of the counter while Liam made us a late lunch.
The food was dry and brittle on my tongue, but I ate the scrambled eggs and heavily buttered toast despite that. Then, when nature was too much and I had to use the bathroom, I relinquished my hold and let Liam take the sleeping boy.
When I was alone, I stood over the sink and faced myself in the mirror.
This was it.
The future was filled with everything I’d ever wanted.
My poor, splintered heart barely had time to beat properly, let alone realize that it could start healing. But that was exactly what was going to happen.
I whispered words I didn’t dare believe: “I don’t have to run.”
My body trembled as I moved out of the bathroom. My skin felt cold. It was too good to believe this kind of thing could happen to a girl like me. I didn’t have to choose.
I can keep them both.
Liam wasn’t mad. He didn’t seem the least bit bothered that I had a secret child. If anything, he seemed relieved.
I should have trusted him from the beginning.
But how could I have dreamed this was how it would turn out? No, I’d made safe decisions. I hadn’t taken any risks. It was easy to look to the past and tell myself that I should have done things differently, but that was behind me. I hadn’t told him to protect my son.
“You will never regret that decision,” I instructed myself.
The only thing now was to move forward and always be grateful about how things turned out. If I had stolen Luca and run, I would never have had this fairytale ending. But that hadn’t happened.
And now I was complete.
Unable to stay away from the two people I loved the most, I hurried back to find my guys.
Liam wasn’t in the kitchen where I’d left him, but other than the initial surprise, no bolt of panic went through me.
The beast wouldn’t hurt the baby. They weren’t in the library either, but they were standing in the backyard while Storm did his business.
Luca snoozed soundly in the crook of Liam’s arm while the puppy tried to lift his leg like a big dog.
All the panic, all the fear, all the pain vanished. My insides melted.
“How did you know about the red bear, cailín?” Liam asked as he stared across the freshly mown lawn.
It was an odd question to ask first, but I chuckled.
“I gave instructions that he should sleep with it as part of the adoption process,” I answered softly. “It always made me happy the times she had the bear in the stroller for her morning walks.”
Liam snorted. “And here I thought you were breaking into the bleeding house to nurse the wee babe in the dark of night.”
I threw back my head and laughed. “They have a high-tech security system, and I don’t know the first thing about working around those. It was always a flaw in my plans to kidnap Luca.”
Liam’s eyes, more blue than grey, flashed wide at my admission. I let a smile tip up my lips.
“What?” I smirked. “Are you so shocked that I’m from the underworld and wouldn’t think twice about breaking in to take my child?”
Something almost reverent flashed across his face. He stepped close, put his hand under my chin, and brushed his thumb over my lips.
“Finally,” he breathed.
I smiled broadly despite my confusion. “What’s gotten into you?”
He shook his head. “Nothing, my beautiful little bird. Don’t worry about it.”
I sighed and leaned into his touch. “We’re really keeping him?”
Liam snorted. “Well, after the spectacle you made, you were not taking him back.”
“No,” I said quickly. “I mean, it’s just hard to believe. And what if he doesn’t warm up to me? What if I took him away from the only mother he knows, and he resents me? Or I damage his delicate little psyche with the transition?”
Liam replaced his thumb with two fingers, pressed tightly against my lips. “Hush. Don’t worry about it. He knows you, Gabriella. It might take a day or two to adjust his routine, but he…knows…you.”
He sounded so certain.
“And how are we?” I spoke around his fingers. “You seem okay—more than okay. But we should really talk it out.”
Please don’t be bottling up your true feelings.
I didn’t think I could take any resentment.
Liam jerked his head to the house. “I have an apology to make,” he said. “And I’d rather kneel on the carpet than out here.”
I snorted. “I’m not having you kneel.”
He passed the sleeping bundle back to me. “I need to earn your forgiveness, Gabriella.”
I was the one who’d kept secrets, yet he was the one making amends.
“Liam,” I breathed.
But he only shook his head.
“I’m so sorry I doubted you,” he admitted. “I always thought you were too good a thing to come to a guy like me, and I thought—”
Liam brushed his fingers over the mop of feathery hair on Luca’s head.
“And I thought he was your lover,” he whispered on a harsh exhale. “I was wrong.”
“I never lied to you,” I murmured. “I’m just so sorry I never told you the truth.”
Liam’s smile was sad. “Me too. But that’s behind us now.”
As simple as that.
Our heartbreak was in the past.
“I want to know the story. But unfortunately, some shit’s gone down at the club,” Liam grunted. “I have to go, or else we’ll be paying a trip to the courthouse for other reasons.”
“What’s happened?” I asked quickly.
“Nothing to worry about. Nothing Amanda can’t fix.”
“That she can,” I said, mimicking the way Liam talked with a lilt in my voice.
He laughed, and I laughed with him. It felt right.
It felt normal.
“Fucking unbelievable,” he said, touching my lips again. “I’ll be home for supper. Start ordering what we need from . I don’t have anything baby-proofed in this house, and if that lad falls or bonks his head, I’ll have hell to pay.”
I grinned. “You’ll never let him fall.”
Liam crossed himself. “Don’t jinx it now!”
I laughed, but then added more seriously, “I’ll place an order, but I don’t know what we need.”
“Well,” said Liam, opening the dining room door, “it’s a good thing there’s no limit on that credit card I gave you. Buy one of everything, and what we don’t end up using, we’ll keep in the packages and donate to a family in need.”
With that plan firmly in place, Liam went to the garage, and I was left standing there, pinching myself to see if it was real.
It was.