Chapter 30 Matteo
MATTEO
Weeks later
The moment Stella walks onto the aisle, adorned with flowers in that eye-catching, flowy wedding dress engraved with crystals, my jaw drops. Her beauty still takes my breath away, no matter how many times I’ve already seen her.
I can’t believe this gorgeous woman is about to be my wife … for the second time.
I swallow away the lump in my throat as she approaches with that same pretty smile on her face that makes my heart beat faster.
When Stella finally reaches the altar, her mother releases her hand, and she sits down beside my brother, who gives her a quick smile and a nod.
I haven’t spoken to either of them yet, but the smiles on their faces tell me enough.
This time, it’s all about love instead of war and vengeance. And my God, the amount of love I feel for this woman who quite literally saved me from a fate worse than death is beyond this world.
“You look beautiful in that dress,” I tell her.
“And you look handsome in that tux.”
I lean in to whisper, “I can’t wait to tear it off your body.”
She giggles and hides her embarrassment behind her bouquet.
In the crowd, Franco gives a gentle wave, and I smile back. I’m glad he’s on his feet again with no lasting injuries, and that he came to see us at our second wedding. Even Sarah and Leticia and all of my other staff have shown up, and it warms my heart when Stella gives them a gentle wave.
The pastor begins his talk, but I’m not even listening, because all I can focus on is that we’re here again, and that this time I’m marrying someone who actually loves me, instead of someone who hates my guts.
I laugh to myself.
“What’s so funny?” Stella whispers.
“I was just thinking of the last time we did this.”
She narrows her eyes. “Against my will.”
“Is it still, though?” I whisper back.
She just smirks at me. “Maybe.”
Always the little vixen.
“You won’t be so sassy when I throw you over the kitchen counter after we get home.”
I enjoy watching the obvious strawberry-red streaks spread across her face very much.
The pastor clears his throat. “Matteo De Silva, will you continue to have Stella De Silva as your wife? Do you reaffirm your love to her, and will you love, honor, and cherish her in sickness and in health ... as long as you both shall live?”
“I do,” I say without a single shred of doubt, keeping my eyes locked on hers.
“And do you, Stella De Silva, continue to take Matteo De Silva as your husband? Do you reaffirm your love to him, and will you love, honor, and cherish him in sickness and in health ... as long as you both shall live?”
“Positively yes,” she says, smiling.
Leticia’s child comes hopping down the aisle with a basket containing two new rings, and Stella’s eyes widen.
“What?” she mutters. “You got us new ones?”
I slip the ring Lucio bought for her off her finger and grab the new one from the basket, which the little boy holds up.
“Thank you,” I tell him.
“You’re welcome, sir,” the boy says.
I grab Stella’s hand and slip the new ring around her finger. “A diamond? It’s beautiful.”
“I wanted to go all out to make you happy.”
“I’m already so, so happy,” she replies.
The boy offers her the basket, and she takes the ring, grabbing my hand to slip the old ring off so she can put the new one on. It looks much better, and this time, it was given to me out of her own volition.
This time, she wants to be mine.
“You’ve renewed the promises you made on your wedding day today, and I’m honored to pronounce you as still happily married! You may now … kiss your wife.”
The pastor chuckles, but I pay him no mind as I grab my wife’s face with both hands and kiss her so passionately that even the crowd begins to cheer and whistle for us. My hand slips down her waist, and I grasp her ass and squeeze it tight.
“Get a room!” someone shouts.
Bunch of oversexed people in here, and one of them is me, because I, for one, can’t fucking wait to carry her into my house and fuck my wife anywhere I damn well want to.
When our lips unlatch, I grin. “Now, when I call you wife, you won’t look so snooty at me.”
“You think I won’t?” she taunts. “My name is still Stella, not wife.”
“Stella De Silva …” I grin. “Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”
“Like you weren’t already used to it.” She playfully slaps me on the chest.
“No, I wanna say it again, and again, Stella De Silva, my Stella, my wife … Tesoro.” I press another kiss to her lips to seal our fate and entwine it forever. “Tu sei mia.”
“I love it when you talk dirty to me,” she says, kissing me back. “Do it again.”
“Questo significa che posso scoparti?”
“I have no clue what you just said,” she whispers, so I squeeze her butt and push my finger up between her thighs until I reach her pussy.
“Does this explain enough, my naughty girl?”
She giggles. “After the reception.”
I smile and plant another passionate kiss on her mouth. “Famous last words. Now, let’s go celebrate before we bang, wife.”
Stella
After the ceremony, I run to hug my mother, who waits for me at the reception. She laughs and nearly crushes me in a hug so tight that I can barely breathe, but it’s perfect.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” I tell her.
“Of course, I wouldn’t miss my daughter’s second wedding,” she jokes, and she pulls away to grab my shoulders. “Look at you.”
Happy tears run down my cheeks because I’m so glad we all made it out alive, but she wipes them away with the pad of her thumb. “Don’t cry. You look beautiful, honey. And you’re finally marrying someone you actually wanted to be married to.”
I nod. “Yes. For real this time.”
Mom eyes Matteo, giving him a stern look. “And you’d better take good care of her.”
“Of course I will, ma’am,” he replies, and he grabs her hand and presses a kiss on top, just like he did with me. “You have my word.”
She blushes as he releases her. “You have a way with words. No wonder you managed to wrap her heart around your fingers.”
“Oh no, she’s the one who wrapped me around her fingers.”
My mom chuckles.
“I do want to apologize for not seeing through Lucio’s plan to put a tracker on you.”
“So what actually happened down at the cemetery after I left?” she asks. “All I was told by your guy who came to snoop in my bag was that it was an ambush. He said he found a tracker, and I got scared for a second.”
“You don’t have to worry about any of it, nor the tracker. But there was a … shoot-out in the cemetery right after you left,” Matteo explains.
“Oh dear,” she mutters, clutching her glass of champagne tightly.
“But my men took care of it,” Matteo says.
“And I protected you.” I wink.
Matteo smiles at me. “You did, and I’m grateful, you know that. I just worry about the impression I’ve left on your mother.” He clears his throat. “We didn’t have a very good start.”
Mom rubs her lips together. “It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”
Suddenly, he goes onto one knee and grabs her hand. “Yes, it is. I stole your daughter’s hand and whisked her away, and for that, I want to apologize. I don’t regret making your daughter mine, but I do regret the way I went about it. Will you forgive me?”
She stammers for a moment. “I-I …” She glances my way, and I nod to signal it’s okay. “Yes, of course. If my daughter has accepted you, then so will I.”
He looks up. “I also put you in harm’s way, and I am sorry for that as well. I will do my best to make everything right again. I want to be the son-in-law you wished for your daughter.”
“Thank you.” Mom smiles, and Matteo gets up from the floor again.
“And it’s fine. You did what you did, and it was wrong, yes, but if she’s over it, I’m over it.
I’m just glad that bastard Lucio didn’t harass me again after that first wedding.
I don’t even know how that tracker got into my bag in the first place. ”
“Lucio has his ways, unfortunately,” Matteo says.
“Had,” I correct.
He narrows his eyes at me, and I can just tell I’ve pissed him off the right amount to later get my ass handed to me with a thrust of his cock, and I’m so ready.
“Suffice to say, Lucio has been taken care of. You do not have to worry about him anymore,” Matteo says. “Either of you.”
“Good. That’s the last time someone will ever try to marry my girl just for the sake of money,” Mom says, and she takes a big swig of her drink.
“Should you be drinking that?” I ask. “You know, with your meds and all that.”
She leans in. “I grabbed one of the kiddie drinks.” She adds a wink, and we both laugh.
“I heard about your diagnosis from Stella. I hope everything is okay?” Matteo asks.
“My doctor has actually cleared me. The cancer is gone.” She focuses on me. “Thanks to my Stella, who went above and beyond to help me when there was no one else.”
She wraps her arm around my shoulder, and we hug again.
“Anything for you, Mom,” I say. “I’m just glad you’re still here with me.”
“Agreed. And if there is anything you need—anything at all—just call me, and my men will be ready to assist,” Matteo adds. “That includes anything you want to purchase.”
She leans in to whisper, “Such a gentleman. You really got a good one this time.”
I chuckle. “You wouldn’t say that if you saw what’s underneath.”
Her lips tighten, and her eyes widen, a red flush crossing her cheeks, before she bursts out into laughter in such an infectious way that I can’t help but laugh with her.
“How are the newlyweds doing?” Angelo’s voice booms over the laughter as he approaches us from behind, and Matteo leans into him for a bro-hug.
“Glad to see you made it too,” Matteo says.
“Dad’s here too, somewhere,” Angelo responds, eyes skittering about the room.
“You left Dad here to fend for himself between all these single ladies?” Matteo jokes. “He’ll have a hard time swatting them away.”
I snort. “I doubt that.”
“Wait until you see him,” Angelo replies, raising a brow at Matteo. “Where else do you think he got his looks?”
Matteo nudges him with his elbow, and it only makes me snort harder.
However, from the corner of my eye, I spot someone I didn’t expect to see.
My father.