Chapter 30
AIDA
Seeing him with his brothers, reunited after all these years, it brought so much happiness to me. I’m not ashamed of how heavy the tears ran down my face as each one of his brothers hugged him.
On the drive to Enzo’s home, Dom told us what they had been through since they lost their father and Matteo.
I can’t imagine being on my own so young, living on the street and then homeless shelters.
He also explained how he knew Chiara, that he loved her, that Dante and Raquel were together too, as well as Robby’s mom and Enzo.
It’s nice to know both of my cousins have found men who care for them.
Dom parks his SUV in the driveway of a sprawling mansion. Here I thought Agnelo’s home was big. This is like three of them.
Nerves etch away in my stomach, and I shiver at the thought of seeing my cousins, telling them what I’ve been through and why I wasn’t allowed to see them.
It all makes sense now, why he kept me hidden. He was worried the truth of my real identity would be revealed. But even with all the worry at seeing them, I can’t wait to hold Robby in my arms, to know he’s really there.
“You ready?” Matteo whispers into my ear, the cadence of his voice soothing away my fears.
“No. But I’ll have to be. And having you with me”—I angle my body toward him—“it makes everything possible.”
“I love you, Aida.” His eyes deepen as he plants a kiss to my forehead.
“I’ve loved you then. I love you now. And I’ll love you in every space in between.
” My heart practically jumps in my throat, my hand grasping his.
It’s still going to take me time to finally realize that we’re free.
Agnelo won’t break us anymore. Our bond, it’s forever.
We exit the car and walk hand in hand behind his brothers. I shudder with a breath, leaning into his side, his arm rounded around me, tugging me closer as we enter the home.
“Aida!” Robby shouts as soon as he sees me, and I burst into tears, kneeling, gasping with a sob as he runs into my outstretched arms. “You’re okay!” He coughs, wheezing a bit, and I remember he was sick the last time I saw him.
“I’m okay,” I pant, tears streaking down my face. “How are you feeling?”
“I feel better.” He pushes back to look at me. “I got medicine at the hospital.”
The hospital? Oh God.
I try not to react, forcing a smile. “Oh, buddy. I’m glad they took care of you there.”
“I’m so happy you’re here!” He grins, hugging me again. “I missed you, Aida.”
“I missed you so much.” My eyelids press into a tight close for a few seconds as I hold him.
I happen a glance behind him, finding both of my cousins, their expressions soft, the tears warping their gazes too.
Beside them is a tall, blonde woman. The kindness in her smile, those eyes—that’s Robby’s mother.
My heart lurches from fear that she’ll hate me for taking her son.
With Robby holding my hand, I stand up, making my way to them. “I’m sorry,” I immediately tell her, biting into my lower lip.
“Sorry?” Her brows knit. “For what?”
“For having him, for…I—I don’t know.”
“Oh, no.” She shakes her head, her gaze gleaming.
“If it weren’t for you, my son would never have known what it meant to be loved, and you loved him when I wasn’t there to do it.
For that, I’ll always be thankful.” She swipes a finger under her eyes.
“And Ms. Greco, is she here too? I’d like to properly thank her. ”
My eyes drop to my feet.
“Oh,” she whispers. “I’m sorry.” Her hand seeks mine, gently clasping it.
Kissing the back of Robby’s hand, I let it go, and he runs to his mother’s side, clasping his arms around her thigh. That’s where he should be. I’ve had him long enough.
Chiara and Raquel both come to me now. “You don’t know how happy we are to see you.” Raquel throws herself at me, hugging me tight.
“We’ve been so worried with everything going on,” Chiara adds. “Once Dom told me Matteo was looking for you, fuck, I wanted to go after you myself.”
“And she would’ve.” Raquel pulls back, saying, “If it weren’t for the guys stopping her, she’d go fighting.”
Chiara shrugs, tipping up the edge of her mouth. “I killed my father after all.”
My eyes round. “Faro is dead?”
“Oh, girlfriend.” Chiara throws an arm around my shoulder, moving us to the sofa. “We have so much to catch up on.”
And we do. They fill me in on the fact that the Bianchi men are now all dead, and at the news, Matteo and I look at each other and smile. It’s really over. They’ll never hurt us anymore. But for the first time, I’m sad not to belong to this family.
“I should tell you…” I turn to the girls on the other side of me. “I’m not your cousin. Agnelo…” I take in a shallow breath. “He kidnapped my mother and me, so we’re not—”
“Not what?” Chiara folds her arms, tilting up her chin.
“Not family? Because let me stop you right there. We may not have been close growing up because of him, but you’ll always be our family.
Blood isn’t always thicker than water, cuz.
We all should know that better than anyone.
So…” She throws a palm to my knee. “You’re stuck with us. ”
Raquel nods from behind her with a soft smile.
I find it hard to speak, and it seems all I can do is cry, not knowing how to express the amount of appreciation and love I feel in this moment.
We may not have grown up close, but to them it doesn’t matter.
They’ve accepted me as one of their own, and for that I’ll always be grateful.
Chiara scoots closer, enveloping me in her arms. “If anyone ever messes with you again, you tell me, and I’ll make sure they regret it.”
“I don’t know,” Matteo interrupts. “With the way she killed Agnelo, you may need her to defend you.” Our eyes meet and he looks at me proudly.
“Really, now?” Chiara backs away, her gaze narrowing. “And you were saying we’re not family.”
MATTEO
After Raquel took care of my bullet wound and patched me up, we headed toward the bar in the corner while the ladies continued to catch up. Raquel said I was lucky the shot only grazed me. I honestly forgot all about it until my brothers noticed it.
“What the hell is this?” I smell the honey-colored liquid in my glass, looking curiously at Enzo. “You realize I’ve been in a basement for fifteen years, right?”
Enzo and Dante chuckle, downing their own drinks.
“Damn showoffs,” I say under my breath.
“Give it a week, you’ll be drinking just as easy as us.” Enzo slaps me on the shoulder.
“Fine, fuck it.” I take a swig and… “Shit! This tastes like ass. What the hell?”
“I’ll get you a beer.” Dom laughs, his whole body rocking as he lowers to get one from the mini fridge.
“Baby bro is a lightweight. We gotta start him slow,” Dante throws in.
Dom pops the cap off and hands me a cold bottle. This time when I take a sip, I don’t feel like I want to toss that crap in the garbage.
“Look,” Dom says to me, suddenly appearing serious. “We want you to know you never have to worry about a thing as far as money and everything. We’ve got plenty of it now. What’s ours is yours.”
“That’s right,” Enzo says. “Except my cars. You can’t touch that shit.”
“Yeah, he’s right,” Dante adds. “That’s sacred territory.”
“When do I get one of those?” I swallow another swig of the beer, only half-kidding around. It’d be good to have one so I can take Aida on all the dates I once promised myself I would take her on.
“Oh, we’ll hook you up.” Enzo drapes his arm over my shoulder. “Any kind you want. Hell, I’ll buy you three.”
“One is good.” I chuckle.
They tell me more about what they do for work and how they got to be where they are. I’m glad they got something out of this, not that it’d replace anything they had gone through, but at least they didn’t struggle for the rest of their lives.
“If there’s anything you ever need,” Enzo says, “we’ll make it happen.”
“Yeah.” Dom nods. “We can buy you two your own place once you’re ready for that, but feel free to stay with Chiara and me for as long as you want.” He had offered his place to us earlier, and we agreed to stay.
“Thank you.” A lump lodges in my throat. I can’t believe I’m actually here. It feels like a dream. “There’s something you can maybe do for us.”
“Anything.” Dom’s stare grows hard.
“This woman, Alison Greco, they killed her. We want to find her family. It’d mean a lot to Aida.” I could never tell anyone I killed her. It’s something only Aida and I will know.
“Done. I can get my men on it right now.” He takes out his cell.
As he types into it, I continue, “There’s another person she’s trying to find. Her biological dad. We don’t know his name, but her mom’s name was Cecilia Robinson.”
“Got it. I promise to get you their addresses by tomorrow.”
“Thanks.” I remember that in my pocket is the photo of us with Dad. My hand reaches in, and carefully, I pull it out.
Enzo’s arm falls away as he sees what’s in my hand.
“Shit,” he mutters. “You still have that?”
My other brothers hover closer and their eyes go to the photo too.
“Damn, look how stupid we look.” Dante laughs.
“Yeah, you do. Me? I look goood.” Enzo wags his brows, and I shake my head. They haven’t changed much.
“Mom and Dad would be happy to see us back together,” Dom says.
“You think they can see us?” I ask.
Dante sighs. “I’d like to think they can.”
We’re alone now, just Aida and me, in one of the empty bedrooms in Dom’s house. He left me some clothes, and it seems like we’re basically the same size.
Chiara had given Aida some stuff to sleep in too, and she’s in the bathroom changing while I’m out here, fiddling with my damn fingers like a scared little kid. How am I supposed to share a bed with her and not get hard? It’s impossible and wrong after everything she’s been through.
The mattress is big enough where I could move away, but what if she wants to be close?
The bathroom door opens, and my eyes sweep to her. She comes out in a long white t-shirt, touching the top of her thighs, a hint of shorts under it. I never thought a simple shirt could look this good on a person.
Yeah, this is bad.
“Does this look okay?” She twists her mouth nervously.
The unease, it brings me back to when she doubted how beautiful she was, and I instantly want to reassure her.
“You look stunning,” I say, rising off the mattress, stepping up to her, a finger brushing down from her shoulder to the very tip of her fingers.
I could feel the goose bumps I’m leaving behind.
Her breaths hitch as she swallows, her eyes meeting mine. She reaches a palm to my face, holding me still. “I want us to have everything together,” she says. “I want to be with you, all the way, but…” Her brows snap as she inhales deeply.
“Hey…” I tighten her hand in mine. “Whatever it is, I promise it’s okay. Don’t be afraid to tell me.”
She nods. “I’m just scared, Matteo. Scared that when you make love to me for the first time, I’ll see their faces.”
Fuck. My damn heart…
“I’ll wait until you’re ready.” I stare deep into her eyes, hoping she knows how true that is. “As long as it takes, even if it never happens at all. You are all that matters to me, Aida. Always.”
“I love you, Matteo.” Her voice grows wispy and low, breaking with emotion as she rises on her feet, her lips growing closer to mine. I lower my face at the same time and tenderly she captures my lips with hers.
I kiss her like I want to remember every second, the feel of her, the taste. I kiss her slow, like it’s the very first time I’ve ever gotten to do it, my palms slowly climbing up from her back, up to the thick, soft strands of her hair.
She moans as she kisses me deeper, her fingers reaching under my white t-shirt, and I flinch away from her touch, not realizing I did it until I completely pull away.
“What’s wrong?” She wraps her hands around herself, uncertainty riddled on her face.
“It’s not you. It’s just—” How do I tell her that the scars on my back from the beating I took while I hung on that beam may repulse her?
“Matteo, it’s me.” Her gaze cuts through my self-doubt and she places a hand to the center of my chest. “You can tell me anything too.”
“I know I can.” I peer down at her touch, my heart beating with renewed passion. “There are ugly scars on my back. I don’t want you to have to see them.” I’ve never actually looked, but I can feel them when I run my hands there.
“Oh, Matteo…” She reaches a palm to my cheek, holding me in its warmth. “I don’t care about scars. We all have them.” Her hand returns to my back once more, her palm running up the ugliness seeped into my flesh. “They’d never scare me away, no matter where they are.”
I release a long, shaky huff, then I turn around, yanking the shirt up my back so she can finally see them for herself. Her hands touch me there, running down my marred skin.
“I love you,” she says, her cheek falling to the scars, her arms surrounding me.
I shut my eyes, reveling in the feel of her—just being this close, no chains, no walls keeping us apart. It’s something I’ll never take for granted.
“I can’t believe they’re all dead.” She sighs, her hands coming to rest at my chest.
“You can stop looking over your shoulder now. There’s no one there anymore.”
“Yeah…” Her voice drifts. “We can have a life now, Matteo. It’s ours.” She burrows her face further into my back, her lips landing over my mutilated skin.
Fuck, I love her so damn much, but am I capable of giving her the kind of life she’s always deserved? Knowing all the things I’ve done in the past, do I even deserve it?
“Where do we go from here?” I ask her.
“I don’t know…” She holds me tighter. “But wherever we go, we do it together.”