Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
KIERAN
T his is everything that I have ever wanted, I was just too stupid to know it until Ada’s arms wrapped around me. The relief when she smiled at me made all the knots in my chest loosen at once. I kiss her back, letting my eyes close and leaving myself wholly at the mercy of her brother. Defenseless. Ada’s touch is the only one that has ever made me vulnerable.
I pour all the fear, the longing, every other pent-up emotion and unspoken promise of the last couple of days into that kiss.
I wish we had more time. Cristiano’s voice cuts through the air like a knife, shattering the brief respite.
Cold metal digs into the back of my head. Should have seen that coming. My grip on Ada shifts, my arms loosen and my hands rest on her hip and I give her a soft smile. She needs to move. When they shoot me, I don’t want my blood on her any more than it’s already been. She shouldn’t have to see me die.
Alberto shoves the gun forward into the base of my skull, digging into the skin painfully.
Ada whips around, pressing her back to my chest and sliding her hands into my own. I don’t dare move, but my eyes slide over to Cristiano, who looks seconds away from ripping Ada out of my arms so he can kill me with his bare hands. It takes everything in me to keep from smirking at him just to make him snap all that much more.
“What the hell are you doing, Ada? Get the fuck out of the way.” Cristiano seethes, the vein in his forehead looking like it’s about to burst.
My fingers indent Ada’s hip, pulling her back to me for what might be the very last time. “It’s okay, Ada. This was always how this was going to end.”
Ada’s chin wobbles and she shakes her head. “No.”
“Is this why you said I can’t kill him?!” Cristiano shouts.
His tone offends me. He shouldn’t speak to her that way.
“You can’t kill him…” Ada inhales, summoning courage as she tightens her grip on my hand. “You can’t kill him because I love him.”
Cristiano laughs, it’s a cruel and bitter sound. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Get away from him.”
“You’re always doing that to me, Cristiano! Telling me how I feel, what I want, what I don’t want. Don’t talk to me like that! I know what I feel, Cristiano! I love him, we’re engaged, and I’m having his child.” Ada’s voice cracks, the painful truth of her feelings cutting through the anger and fear.
The gun at the back of my head falters, just for a fraction of a second. The timing is perfect as my knees threaten to buckle too. Is that true? My ears are ringing. Am I hallucinating? Maybe I’m already dead, and this whole thing of her standing at my side is nothing more than a hallucination. That would be far more plausible.
“Wha-” The word falls from my lips incredulously as I wait for somebody else to speak, anybody else to speak.
A child, a promise of a legacy that I had never dared to hope for.
“Preg– a baby?” I stammer, shock is making my whole body feel icy cold.
Ada spins in my arms again, her thin hand lifting to cup my face, a gesture that I lean into. I can’t let her go. I never cared if I lived or died before, I knew that was always a possibility but now that I’m having a child? I can’t let her handle this alone. She’s going to need so much support.
“How long have you known? You didn’t…”
“I wasn’t sure before… but now I am. It’s been a few days and there’s still a chance that it might not stick… but the test was positive.”
Ada looks up at me with the most heart wrenchingly beautiful smile that I’ve ever seen. I forget how to breathe.
The prospect of her having my child is everything beyond what I imagined in my quest for revenge. It’s a life-altering revelation that makes everything else seem trivial. I know that it was something I teased her about, a threat to hold over her head… but now that it’s real?
“You’re not keeping it.” Cristiano says, his voice cold and full of malice. “You can’t want to actually keep his child, do you?”
Ada cuts her gaze to him, not removing herself from me another inch. She holds up her hand, wearing the ring that I gave her. “We’re getting married.”
Alberto’s fury is palpable. I can feel his rage in the way the gun against the back of my head seems to tremble as he seethes. He might just kill me anyway. He might not listen to orders for once, and blow my brains out.
“Stand down, Alberto.” Cristiano says after a long tense moment.
Alberto hesitates, and then lowers his arm.
“You don’t know him… you can’t judge him by his father’s actions. Let this be the end of it. Please, he’s protecting me… he loves me, Cristiano. I know that it might not make sense to you now, but it will. This is what’s best for me,” Ada explains.
Cristiano’s jaw tightens. “You expect me to forgive him for kidnapping you? How can you forgive that?!”
He has a point there.
“He’s right,” I say softly. “I don’t think that’s a mistake that I can ever atone for…”
“Everybody makes mistakes. Things happen for a reason… it brought us together.” Ada says as she shakes her head. It’s obvious that she’s ready to put all of this behind us.
“If it’s penance that you need, I’ll trade my services for it,” I say. I hear the words leave my lips, my eyes still locked on the woman in front of me. Otherwise, I don’t think I could even believe that it was a thing that I was willing to offer. But for Ada? Anything.
“What services could you possibly offer me?” Cristiano answers reluctantly.
“My services as the Reaper, but for the Dominio clan… consider it another gesture to solidify your new alliance with the Doyle clan in Boston.” Only then do my eyes finally cut over to Cristiano. I don’t know if we will ever really be able to move past the bad blood between us, but it is a start. We both will have to be willing to try for Ada’s sake.
“Please, brother,” Ada whispers just loud enough for him to hear.
Crisitano’s gaze shifts between Ada and myself. “I’ll consider it.”