Chapter 35
MICHAEL
The next two weeks fly by in a glance, and every day has been better than the last. I’ve never laughed this much, never felt this much. Like my heart is permanently outside my body. She makes me feel that way every moment we’re together.
But with each passing minute, I’ve been dreading the war that’s coming. The one I’ve known was coming all along. Now that most of my father’s men are loyal to me, I’ve been gathering the ones I can trust to fight alongside me in the battle I’m surely going to win.
But winning isn’t what’s most important to me. I have to keep my girls safe. That’s the main priority. This can’t touch them. He can’t know we’re coming.
I’ve been building a plan in these last few weeks, hoping he surrenders peacefully, hoping we won’t require a fight where casualties fall on both sides. But if it comes to it, we’re ready. We’re coming for him. This will all end one way or another.
“Don’t dip your fingers in the sauce,” I tell Sophia, who’s helping Elsie make her grandmother’s mac and cheese.
She’s been cooking a lot lately—and singing too. Now that she has Kayla, Jade, and her parents back, talking to them every day, all she does is smile. Her friends have already stopped by for a visit twice. I’m glad she has the people she loves back.
“What’s the fun in that, Daddy?” Elsie glances at me behind her shoulder, dipping her finger into the sauce too.
Those sultry eyes dancing with a glint, staring right into my soul. Her lips jerk with a barely there smile before she sucks her finger clean.
A groan thunders out of me, my jaw clenching. With a sharp inhale, I walk to her from behind, grabbing her throat and pushing her head against my chest.
“You keep sucking like that…” I whisper into the shell of her ear, my voice as rough as gravel. “…and I’ll have something else for you to suck on later.”
I register that low gasp, and she’s clearing her throat, laughing nervously, her palm gripping the edge of the counter so hard her hand jitters.
With my other hand, I dip a finger into the sauce too. Drops spill when I near her mouth, and I spread her lips, allowing her to suck the taste of it off me.
“Daddy!” Sophia giggles. “You just told me not to do that.”
She slaps a palm against her forehead, shaking her head, while I watch Elsie’s pupils dilate as she sucks me dry.
“Good girl,” I tell her, holding back a groan, when the tip of her tongue circles around me, and my cock instantly throbs.
I swipe across her lips with my thumb, cleaning her up, a smirk fitting to my mouth when her cheeks build with a slight shade of pink.
“Okay…” She fumbles, righting herself, picking up a ladle she almost dropped. “Let’s get this sauce in the pan and into the oven.”
She side-eyes me as she spills it over the macaroni, while I admire her. And not just her beauty, but all of her: the way she smiles, the way she carries herself with such ease, the way she holds my daughter’s hand and treats her like she’s been her mother our entire life.
The next morning, she’s purring in my ear, rubbing her thigh up against my cock. And I’m ready to bury myself inside her like I just did minutes ago.
“Don’t go…” she moans.
All I want to do is stay in this bed beside her, to feel her warmth instead of getting on a plane with Gio and Father to meet the Irish on their turf, but this is important.
It’s part of how we end the family feud between us.
It’s also when Gio finally learns what he has to do to help mend the bridge between us and the Irish.
If I had told him beforehand, he’d never have agreed to come, and I’d have another problem to solve.
But this way, in front of Patrick, he can’t refuse. Sometimes, we have to make sacrifices for the sake of our family and their safety, and this is his. He’ll forgive me eventually.
“I’m sorry, baby. I promise to be back by tonight.”
“Okay.” She sits up on her knees, watching me rise to button my shirt and zip my pants back up.
She catches her bottom lip with her teeth, her gaze swinging down my chest and lower, to my thighs.
“Better stop looking at my cock that way, or I’ll be very late for my meeting.”
“Looking at it how?” she teases, that lustful gaze narrowing.
I button up the cuffs, picking up my suit jacket and throwing it back on while pinning my gaze to hers.
She spreads her lips up into a teasing smile, a brow bowing. And in a flash, I clutch the back of her head, roughly fisting her hair, gritting as I drag my lips to hers, licking between them.
“Like you’re begging me to force that mouth open and have you choking on it.”
She whimpers, and my mouth is on her in an instant, growling as she moans, all teeth and lips. This kiss…it’s hungry, maddening. I kiss her like I might never see her again, like it’s the last one we’ll ever share. And being who I am, that may well be true.
When I draw back, we’re both breathless.
“You keep kissing me like that, and I might just not let you leave.” She gasps for air, landing another kiss to my cheek, throwing her hands around my shoulders.
“I’ll miss you.” The confession rolls off my tongue without hesitation.
“And I you.” She sighs, grabbing my hand and getting out of bed, her fingers slicing through mine.
She clasps my cheek, staring up into my eyes, and I feel this sudden pull to stay, this heaviness in my chest coming out of nowhere. But I know I have to go. This meeting needs to happen today. There are four men patrolling the house. The girls will be fine.
I reach for my nine and remove it.
“Take this,” I tell her, stretching out my hand for hers.
“What?” Her eyes round. “I can barely use one.”
“Sure didn’t look that way when you had that gun pointed at me while I was pretending to be sleeping.” A smirk lands on my mouth until my features grows harsh.
“That was…uh…” Her lips jerk. “Different.”
“Oh yeah?” I arch a brow, cupping her ass, squeezing that damn thing in my palm. “How’s that, baby?”
“I wasn’t actually going to kill you.” She rolls her eyes. “Maybe.” A small laugh bubbles out.
“It’ll make me feel better if I know you have something to protect yourself and Sophia with.”
Her features grow tense. “Who would hurt us? The Bianchis are dead.”
“Just take it. As a precaution.”
I don’t remind her that I have a lot of enemies. Some of them even look like friends. No reason to make her worry even more.
“O-okay.” She tentatively grips the handle and takes it, staring down at it in both hands.
“I hate this too,” I tell her. “But it comes with the price of being mine.”
I bring my lips down to hers and kiss her softly.
“And you are mine,” I whisper. “All mine. Remember that.”