Luca
I haven’t come to this decision lightly. And its roots are the same as Elena’s insistence that nothing matters when her kids are unsafe. She’ll do whatever it takes.
Well, I’ll do whatever it takes, including getting them as far away from me and this life as possible.
It will gut me, but nothing is more important than their safety.
She’s looking at me like she wants to throttle me. Too bad.
"I can arrange everything," I continue, avoiding Elena's eyes. "Money, security, schooling. You'd want for nothing. The FBI agent's offer isn't terrible—"
"Stop." Elena's voice cuts through my spiraling thoughts.
I finally look at her. Her face is pale with exhaustion, but there's steel in her voice.
"I spent seven years raising our children alone, Luca. Years of jumping at shadows, afraid of what might happen if anyone discovered who their father was." She crosses the room until she's directly in front of me. "I won't do it again."
"This isn't about what either of us wants," I snap. "Someone took our son, used him for reasons we don’t even know yet."
She places her hand on my arm, and I fight the urge to pull her close. "Dom tried to protect me all these years, and I'm grateful. But I was always alone. Always looking over my shoulder."
I’m a little surprised at her resistance. This is what she initially wanted. After everything that's happened between us, I expected her to jump at the chance to escape.
"The children need their father," she finishes. I note that she doesn’t say she needs me, but the truth is she doesn’t. She was doing fine without me.
"I couldn't protect Rocco."
Her fingers tighten on my arm. "It happened under my watch too. Look, Luca, I'm not asking for promises you can't keep. I'm asking you not to abandon your children."
I close my eyes, torn between what seems safest and what my heart desires.
“If you don’t go, the children stay with me. I can protect them best here.”
The air in the room changes instantly. Elena's hand drops from my arm as if burned, and she steps back, her face transforming from vulnerability to fury in seconds.
"Are you serious right now? You think you can just take them from me?"
Huh? "That's not what I—"
"The hell it isn't!" She advances on me, finger jabbing toward my chest. "You've been their father for less than a month, and now you think you get to make unilateral decisions about their lives?"
I feel my own temper rising to match hers. "They're my children too, Elena."
"Children you didn't even know existed until recently!" Her eyes flash with a protective fury that makes me think of a lioness defending her cubs. "You don't get to waltz in and decide our futures. You don't get to take my children from me."
"Our children," I correct, my voice hardening.
She's trembling now, whether from anger or fear, I can't tell. "I will die before I let anyone—even you—take them from me."
I’m shocked and confused. I've severely miscalculated, thinking she’d see reason and want to stay, all of us safe in my home that offers more security than hers.
I drag a hand down my face, forcing myself to take a steadying breath.
My initial instinct is to dominate this argument like I would any business dispute.
But this isn't business.
This is family, my family.
"Elena, listen to me." I work to keep my voice measured. "I'm not trying to take them from you. I'm saying we all need to stay together. Under my protection. All of us."
Her eyes narrow in suspicion.
"You just said if we didn’t leave, the children stay with you. Those were your exact words."
"I meant with me and you. Together." I step closer, risking her anger. "We're their parents. Both of us."
“So we live here like a family but not really a family?”
I’m so completely lost in what’s going on.
I remember her words from last night. I love you. Those words had ignited hope in me. But something is off here.
“Are you punishing me for keeping them from you all these years?"
“Punishing you? Asking you and the kids to live with me is punishment?” Maybe I dreamed that she said she loved me.
“What if I took you up on your offer and then you decide you resent me too much? Or wheat if you meet someone else? It would be awkward to bring a woman home with your ex living in your house, don’t you think?”
The thought of another woman in my life almost makes me laugh, but I hold it back, knowing she's serious.
But it’s clear to me now where I went wrong. At least I hope I’m understanding correctly.
"Elena, look at me." I wait until her eyes meet mine. "I haven’t met a woman in seven years. What makes you think I would any time in the future?”
“I doubt you’ve been a monk.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. “No. But I haven’t loved a woman. How can I? There's never been anyone but you. Even when you were blaming me, even when I tried to forget you, it's always been you. It will always be you, Elena. I’ve known that for seven years."
Her eyes glisten with tears.
"I'm not trying to take control or punish you. I'm trying to protect what's mine, and that includes you."
I take her hand, relieved when she doesn't pull away.
"I understand why you did what you did. Aldo was a monster. If he'd known about us, about the children…" I push the images out of my mind. "You did what you thought was right to protect them. I can respect that, even if it hurts like hell to have lost those years."
A tear slips down her cheek, and I brush it away with my thumb.
"You know what hurts the most?" I wonder if I should shut up. It’s quite possible I’ll say something wrong again, but I keep going. "Not just the years I lost with them, but the years I lost with you. Birthdays. Anniversaries we never had. So many moments I can never get back."
Elena's eyes hold mine, and I finally see something that gives me hope again.
"I wanted to hate you for that," I admit. "It hurts. But when I look at those three beautiful children sleeping upstairs, I can't hold onto that anger anymore."
I take both her hands in mine. "I forgive you, Elena. Not because what happened doesn't matter, but because what happens next matters more. We've wasted enough time. This is our chance, maybe our only chance, to build something real. Something lasting."
Without warning, Elena launches herself into my arms, nearly knocking me backward. Her body collides with mine, arms wrapping around my neck and legs around my waist. I catch her, steadying us both. This is a good sign, right?
"Why didn't you say this sooner?" she asks, her voice muffled against my neck. "All this time, I thought you could never forgive what I did."
“I won’t deny that I didn’t think I could forgive you either, but I can. I have. I love you, Elena. I always have. I always will. Nothing can break that. I guess the question is whether you meant it when you said you love me.”
“I always say what I mean.” She grins at me and then fuses her mouth to mine.
I groan as her kiss sends a blast of heat and joy through me. I push her against the door, and the heat between us ignites like a match to gasoline, sudden, explosive, consuming.
She arches, pressing herself against me, and my dick hardens to painful levels.
My hands fumble to remove her clothes.
I’m desperate to touch her, to slide inside her. It’s like I won’t be whole again until our bodies, until our souls are joined again.
“Tell me this means you’re staying,” I say as I cascade kisses along her neck while unhooking her bra and releasing her sweet, firm tits.
“I’m staying,” she gasps, her hand sliding between us, cupping me until I worry I might come too soon. “Luca… God, I need you.” She shoves my boxer briefs down.
This is the Elena I remember, the woman who knew exactly what she wanted and wasn't afraid to claim it.
Lucky for me, I’m the one she’s claiming.
I lift her, her legs wrapping around my waist as I press her more firmly against the door.
Our mouths clash in a desperate dance of tongues and teeth, neither of us willing to break contact for even a moment.
Until I realize…”Fuck… I don’t have a condom.”
Her legs squeeze me until I can’t breathe. “Well, you have two options.”
“My brain is short-circuiting. You’ll need to tell me them.”
“One, I suck your dick.”
My dick jerks, and I’m embarrassingly close to coming. “And two?”
“Two, you fuck me anyway.”
Holy hell. I’m about to self-combust.
“There’s a risk, of course… You might become a father again, but then you’d be a part of every moment.”
The world stops at that moment.
I look down into the green eyes of this amazing, brave woman who has just given me the commitment I’d been too afraid to ask for. A lifetime that includes more children.
I swallow. “I like option two.”
Her smile takes my breath away. “Good, because I prefer it too.”
For a moment, I think I should get her to a bed. Something this momentous should be in a bed, right?
But Elena leans in, sucks on my earlobe, and says, “Let’s make a baby.”
I drive into her, and it’s like my world explodes with color and music I’d never seen or heard before. My heart is whole again. My soul is soaring.
“I love you, I love you,” I chant like a mantra.
“Luca.” She says my name with love and reverence.
I capture her mouth again, pouring seven years of longing into the kiss. And that longing morphs into the deepest love.
“Fuck… I’m coming.” I hate that I couldn’t last longer, but even as the words escape my mouth, Elena cries out, her pussy tightening around me until stars blast behind my eyes.
We continue to move together as one until our orgasms subside. I kiss her again.
Speak words of love again.
She kisses me back.
Tells me she loves me back. For the first time since returning home, I feel like I’ve finally recaptured all that I lost.
Even more incredible is that I’ve gained oh, so much more.