Chapter Thirty
Lilianna Genovese
“Mommy, Daddy!” Callum shouted, rushing toward us with open arms.
Relief like I’d never felt before slammed into me as Callum’s little arms wrapped around my neck.
“Uppy!” he screamed as he clung to me. I lifted him and squeezed, meeting Matteo’s eyes. The warmth turned the onyx color of them a slightly lighter shade of brown, and my shoulders softened. Matteo moved forward and rested a hand on Callum’s back as our boy bounced up and down in my arms.
“Okay, Mommy?” he asked, placing a hand over the darkened bruise on my cheek.
“I’m okay, baby.”
Callum turned quickly to look at Matteo before launching himself toward him.
Matteo caught him with open arms. “Okay, Daddy?”
Callum stared at Matteo for a long moment before I spoke. “He’s asking if you’re okay,” I translated with a wide grin.
Matteo immediately met our son’s eyes. “I am now, buddy.”
He spoke to Callum like he was grown—like Matteo would respect whatever came out of Callum’s mouth next. The feeling of utter happiness I achieved from watching them was unlike anything I’d ever felt in the past. Tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them away and forced myself to take a deep breath as they hugged.
We’d stayed away for an evening, ensuring both that we weren’t followed, and that the person next in line to take over wouldn’t immediately put a hit on us. The moment the Petrovs were dead, we’d called an immediate ceasefire.
With Anthony and Marcus monitoring the conflict, we’d all waited in one of Matteo’s luxury hotels for the news. A doctor in Matteo’s employ had come to patch our wounds—mine first per Matteo’s request.
I supposed it wasn’t a request at all. Not when he threatened to kill the doctor and find a new one if I wasn’t the first person to be tended to. I’d been checked out and given an icepack for my bruises, but beyond that, there was little to do. Matteo’s arm, on the other hand, had a through-and-through bullet wound that required both stitches and bandaging.
And the moment the doctor left—the moment we thought we’d have a free second to talk—news came quickly.
Three of Matteo’s men were traitors.
Six of my men had sworn themselves to both me and the Petrovs.
But when the Petrov’s men learned of what happened to their leaders at our hands, they’d seemed to entirely disband as everyone rushed to find new leadership. The most likely candidate, as Marcus informed us, was Victor Petrov, a distant cousin who had previously worked as a soldier. That was the best-case scenario, as our family had never had a personal vendetta against him the way we had with Vlad.
We weren’t sure about the trajectory of that situation, but even the worst-case scenarios were better than Vlad’s rule.
A new Don would need support, and waging an immediate war wouldn’t get it.
I glanced at where Sophie stood across the room, smiling at Matteo and Callum, and I walked over to her. “Hi,” she greeted me with a genuine smile.
“Thank you,” I told her, stepping in and gathering the woman in my arms.
She seemed hesitant at first, but after a moment, she loosened up and returned the gesture.
“Thank you for caring for him when I couldn’t.”
“He’s family.” I pulled back and examined her expression. “Matteo informed me when he brought us here. He told me that if anything happened to his heir…well, I’m sure you can imagine what he told me.”
I didn’t want to imagine the threats he’d given to his cousin while he was stressed. With me missing and Callum in danger, Matteo’s emotional state would have been unpredictable at best.
“I need you to keep him for a couple more hours as we do one more thing,” I told her, glancing at where Callum and Matteo sat together. Matteo had dropped to the floor in front of him, entirely fixated on Callum as our son showed off some sort of small collection of cars. I heard him emphasize the word “fire truck” as Matteo nodded and listened intently.
I never realized how much Callum was missing without Matteo in the picture, but now that I saw them together, I knew I’d never let them lose this relationship.
“I’m always happy to keep him.”
I smiled and strode forward.
We had one more thing to take care of, and then Matteo could spend all the time in the world with Callum.
***
“You think you can bullshit us after you killed two of your own?” Matteo shouted, twirling a hammer in his hand as if it were a baton. His three men were chained in a cellar beneath a local Italian restaurant. His chef friend had no problem offering the space.
One of them spit at Matteo, and he went rigid, wiping the spit from his chin and flicking the glob away.
“They were never my men,” one said in thickly accented Italian.
Matteo tossed the hammer into the air. I watched it twirl and land in his hand before his long fingers wrapped around it. In an instant, he swung it. The crack of the man’s jaw rang through the room, and I didn’t flinch as he shouted and cried out.
“I’m not here to bargain with you,” Matteo said. “I’m not even here to ask for information. I have everything I need to know. The men who died because of your betrayal had family who watched them die. That family is waiting outside. They’ll take care of you however they see fit.”
I scowled at the men, even as one of them shook so hard that he should have slipped from his restraints. A pool of liquid darkened the front of his pants, but I turned away and looked at the six men chained behind me. The six men who had betrayed me. Six men who had double-crossed me.
There were more who had fought for the Russians and been killed. These six men sat out of the fighting altogether, waiting to see which side would come out on top.
They were my responsibility.
“I have no use for soldiers who aren’t loyal,” I said quietly. Everyone could hear me. All their eyes bore straight through me as if they could intimidate me. “I don’t know if you were like this with my father, but I guarantee he wouldn’t have stood for it, either.”
I grabbed a revolver from my holster. I’d considered how I would approach this situation. I still needed to establish my dominance over my father’s men, and killing these men in private wouldn’t do that. I needed word to continue spreading that I was a force to be reckoned with.
“You’re not your father.”
I met the man’s eyes as I reached into my pocket and grabbed a bullet. I slid it into the chamber and pointed the weapon.
“No,” I admitted. I pulled the trigger before he could say anything else. “I’ll be better.”
Matteo’s comforting presence settled at my side, and something inside me eased as I pulled out four more bullets and loaded them into the gun. All the other slots were empty.
“You didn’t outright betray me. You didn’t fight against me, but you all proved that you’re expendable. You proved that you aren’t loyal. I had to decide how to handle that, and I came up with the perfect solution. One that serves all of our agendas.” I looked between them. “Do all of you regret what you’ve done?”
They all nodded dumbly.
“I don’t think they’re sincere,” Matteo said with a tsk.
His men shifted behind us, terrified by what was to come for them. “Hmm,” I muttered. “Are you?”
They all nodded again.
“Good,” I said. “I thought you’d all be agreeable given your predicament. I also anticipated that you’d each be apologetic. But I can’t let your crimes go unanswered.”
“We—we didn’t know which way this war would go, and we needed to be employed. We needed to be on the right side. I’m sorry,” one of the men said, stumbling over his words.
“It’s too difficult to keep track of five potential traitors,” I informed them, walking toward the first. “But I can keep track of one. I can watch him very closely. I’ll let fate decide.”
I pointed the revolver and pulled the trigger.
The man flinched so hard that he cracked his head into the wall, but the gun didn’t go off.
“Four bullets, five men. We’ll see which one of you gets a second chance.”
I needed to be seen as both merciless and merciful. I needed to be feared, but not fought against. I needed my father’s men to transition to my leadership, and this was the way.
I walked down the line of men, and the third time I pulled the trigger, the gun fired a bullet with a sharp noise that rang through the small space. The same thing happened to the third man. Three men remained. Two of them sobbed, and the other sat with his eyes closed, mumbling to whatever God he served. I wanted to apologize to them, but I knew this was what had to happen. I would have to grow used to blood on my hands.
I knew from experience that mercy got people killed.
I wouldn’t make that mistake again. Not without doing it very intentionally. The man who walked away today would be watched closely by Marcus for weeks before we allowed him full freedom again.
But he’d also tell others not to cross me.
I lifted the gun and pulled the trigger again.
Again.
And finally, only one man remained.
I crouched in front of him. “You get a second chance, but if you challenge me again—if you step out of line—you won’t get mercy next time. Do you understand?”
He nodded emphatically, and fear danced in his gaze as I stood.
“Good.”
Matteo and I turned simultaneously and strolled from the room, leaving him behind. Someone would be back for him later, but he could sit in his fear for a while.
When we opened the door and three soldiers rushed in to take care of his men, we closed the door behind them. We made it nearly to the end of the hallway before a warm hand pressed into my back and veered me in a different direction.
I didn’t hesitate before following Matteo’s lead and turning into what looked like a stock room. I turned around and watched him seal the door before turning back to me. When his eyes locked on mine, my stomach dipped in anticipation. They were dark, but not with malice or anger. The lust that danced across every inch of his expression sent shivers down my spine.
“Do you know how fucking sexy you are?” he asked as he moved forward and grabbed my hips. He effortlessly lifted me onto a wide counter. Cleaning products sat on one side of the counter, and a box of napkins rested on the other.
I chuckled and rested both hands on his chest.
“I’m serious, Lili. You couldn’t be hotter.”
My smile dropped, and I bit my lip.
His chuckle reverberated deep in his chest. A single dark curl dangled over his forehead, and I reached forward, smoothing it back into the rest of his hair. My tongue darted out and licked my bottom lip.
“Don’t do that.”
My brows rose. “What?”
“If you lick that damn lip, there are other things I’ll have you lick, too.”
My heart skidded to a halting stop. For a moment, I hadn’t been sure I’d ever be able to lick him again. I never thought I’d be able to be with him or experience this. “We haven’t had a chance to talk much about our future in…that regard,” I admitted.
“Lilianna,” he whispered. “There’s nothing to discuss. You’re mine, and that’s not going to change. You’re the person I envision being with for the rest of my life. You’re the only one I want, and that won’t change.”
Mine.
He’d said it before, but this time it wasn’t for appearances. It was only us, and I knew he meant it.
I’d needed to hear it.
I leaned forward slightly, meeting his sizzling gaze, as I licked him from the bottom of his cheek to his hairline. “You’re mine, too.”
His grip on my hips tightened before he moved his hands to either side of my neck. “Dangerous words,” he growled.
“Danger runs in my blood these days.”
Our lips met in a tangle of passion and need. He kissed me like he would never see me again. He kissed me as if this was the last time he’d ever have the chance, and I knew why it felt that way. He hadn’t been sure there would ever be another chance when I’d been taken. Neither of us had been sure.
This was a moment that hadn’t been guaranteed, and we’d both take advantage of it. We’d both make it worth every moment we had been forced to wait for it.
His hands found the hem of my shirt as he raised it over my head, breaking our kiss for less than a second. My body felt like it would burn from the inside out. I couldn’t wait another moment. I couldn’t breathe without him close to me. I never realized how much I needed him until right now. Until his hands moved down my sides, and I scooted out of my pants.
I reached for him, unbuckling his belt with trembling fingers and pressing the waistband downward.
Fuck.
His boxers dropped alongside his pants, and his cock sprung free between us. With me sitting on the edge of the shelf, he nestled between my thighs, and I involuntarily moved into him. He pushed me back slightly.
“You’re staying,” he demanded. “Now that this is over, you’re not leaving again. You’re never leaving me again.”
There wasn’t a single reason to leave that was more important than the ones I had to stay.
“I think Callum will enjoy being with his dad. I think he’ll be safer, even if he’s known as your son,” I admitted. “And I think I’m fond of danger. It’s…exhilarating.”
“Those are your only reasons?” he asked teasingly. “Nothing else?”
“Well,” I drawled, biting my tongue between my teeth for a moment, “loving you might have something to do with it, too.”
He chuckled, his lips dancing down my neck as he pressed closer. I gasped, releasing a breathy moan as the tip of him entered me. I hooked my legs around him to draw the length the rest of the way, but he held me back.
“A mafia princess, through and through,” he teased.
“A mafia queen .”
I thrust my hips hard enough that I captured him deeper inside of me. He released his grip on my hips and allowed it. I stifled my gasp with a bite to his shoulder. His strong fingers wrapped in my hair and tugged back, exposing my throat. His lips found it as he thrust into me with a slow motion that made me reel.
“Matteo, faster,” I begged. The growing ache between my thighs couldn’t become more than just a lingering presence of pleasure at this pace. As he moved a finger between us, working my core, I cried out and bucked into him, but he held a steady pace until my entire body trembled around him.
I tipped my head back and gripped the edges of the shelf as he continued his assault. “God, Matteo,” I whispered, biting my lip.
The hand in my hair forced my head down, and his mouth covered mine. He suctioned my bottom lip into his mouth and bit it harder than I expected, drawing a gasp from me. He smirked as he held it between his teeth.
His thrusting quickened, and I shuddered from the quickly rising pressure in my core.
His lips moved down my throat as he whispered words into my skin. “Mine,” he said again. “All mine.”
“I love you,” I moaned, feeling the apex of my pleasure rising and rising…
It all came crashing down as I shuddered and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. I bit into his shoulder, and Matteo groaned as his chest trembled beneath me. Together, we found our pleasure.
Together.
Everything from here on out would be together, and I would have it no other way.