Chapter 43 – Two Weeks Later
GIO
TWO WEEKS LATER
My estate has been decked out for a wedding. Mom took care of everything, of course.
About one hundred of our closest friends and family are in attendance to witness the most stubborn woman wed the luckiest man in the world.
I haven’t seen her for two days. Two long, aching days without her in my bed.
She took the whole “can’t see the bride the night before the wedding” thing way too seriously. And I’ve missed her like crazy. Can’t wait to get my hands on her.
But mostly, I can’t wait to see her walk down the aisle and pledge her life to me. I never thought she’d go through with this. I had money on her running away again, leaving me alone at the altar.
But she’s here somewhere, getting ready with Eriu, Elsie, and Nicolette.
Waiting at the end of the aisle with my brothers, I fidget with my cufflinks, the tux making me feel too constricted. Fucking bowties.
I loosen it a little.
Is it hot in here?
“Nervous?” Raph asks with a chuckle.
“No. Just want this shit over. I need that damn priest to officially say she’s my wife so she can’t ever fight me on it.”
Just then, the music changes to the wedding march and everyone gets to their feet.
My heart races. My eyes remain glued straight ahead. Tall, clear vases with blood-red candles line each end of the aisle runner, where she’s about to walk down from.
I don’t see her yet. My gut is knotting, the nerves building, until…
“Holy shit,” I whisper.
Fucking tears slam into the back of my eyes.
I’ve never felt this amount of…everything before. Not until this very moment.
Everyone else disappears as my eyes lock with a grinning Iseult, her red strapless ball gown fitting tightly around her waist, a bouquet of white lilies in her grasp. Patrick looks proud as he leads her toward me.
She doesn’t have on a veil, and I love that I can see her clearly, see the brightness of her eyes as she looks at me. And in them, I don’t see any doubt or fear. She’s giving herself over to me completely, and I’ll cherish that—cherish her—for as long as I’m alive.
Only a few steps remain, and then she’s there and I’m finally about to hold her.
Her father kisses both sides of her face, then walks up to me. “You do good by her, you hear?”
“It’d be my honor.”
He nods and places her hand in mine. And before I can think better of it, I grab her face in my hands and kiss her so damn hard, my heart’s ready to fucking explode.
Laughter breaks out, and I reluctantly pull back, while she smiles widely at me.
“Missed me?”
“You have no idea how much, bambina. Never leave me for that long again.”
“Always so dramatic.” She locks her hand with mine, gazing affectionately, and together we face the priest.
He recites his lines, and when it’s my turn, I do the same.
He then says to her, “Do you, Iseult Gwendolynn Quinn—”
“Gwendolynn?” I whisper in mock horror.
She narrows a teasing stare. “If you want this wedding to happen, I would shut up about it if I were you.”
When I chuckle, she looks to the priest and lifts up her chin. “Go on. Please.”
He clears his throat, his thick gray mustache jerking.
“Do you, Iseult Gwendolynn Quinn, promise to take Giovanni Roberto Marino to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, ’til death do you part? ”
At that last line, she looks at me with a mischievous glint in her eyes, and I know just what she’s thinking: the first time we met.
“What will it be?” the priest asks sternly, and we fight the urge not to laugh, staring into each other’s eyes.
“I do,” she promises. “I really do.”
And before the priest has a chance to announce us as husband and wife, she leans closer, her feathery lips against my ear.
“Just so you know, husband, I always sleep with a knife under my pillow.”
“That’s okay, my little bambina, because I sleep with a gun under mine.”
The dance floor is filled with people, while I spin Iseult around the center of it.
“This marriage thing isn’t so bad so far.” She grinds her ass on me while I groan, snaking my hand around her stomach.
“You keep that up, and I’m gonna get you pregnant by tonight.”
She stills, her body growing tense.
“I want that, Iseult. I want a family with you, baby.” My mouth drops to the space between her neck and shoulder, kissing her, my teeth grazing her skin.
“What if I ruin our child and make them hate me?” She whirls around, and in her eyes, I find fear—so much of it, it’s like she’s buried in it. “What if I’m the worst mother? Would you even love me then?”
My hand clasps her nape. “You never have to worry about my love for you. It can carry us through anything, Red. I promise you that. And as far as kids, we’ll figure it out together.” My gaze penetrates hers. “But I know that you will be one hell of a mother. You’ll see.”
“Well, if I’m not, I’m blaming you for it.”
I laugh. “That’s fine by me, as long as I have your permission to start tonight.”
“Maybe if you play your cards right…” Her eyes turn hooded, and she discreetly slinks a hand between our bodies and wraps her hand around my semi-hard cock.
“You’d better get that hand off my dick or I will find the nearest room and fuck you in it.”
“Promise?”
Just as I’m about to answer, about ten of my men rush into the tent, heading straight for me.
I instantly tense.
Something is wrong.
Iseult becomes equally nervous.
“Sir,” one of them says. “We have a situation outside by one of the gates. There’s been a breach.”
“What kind of breach?”
“It’s best if you come with us.” He glances at Iseult. “And it may be best to come alone.”
“Absolutely not!” Iseult grinds her jaw.
I grab her hand. “My wife is to be kept in the loop of everything that goes on in our home, do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.” He nods.
“Make sure all the men know that.”
“Of course.”
“Now, let’s go see what’s going on,” I demand.
As we’re about to head out, Michael and Raph, along with Patrick and Mom, tread toward us.
“What’s going on?” Michael asks, noticing the seriousness of the situation.
“Something happened by one of the gates.”
“We’re all going, then,” Patrick announces.
And at this point, I don’t care who comes as long as someone fucking tells me what’s going on.
“Let’s just go,” I tell my men, and we follow them out to the southernmost gate.
He opens it and stops, looking intensely at me, his eyes filling with quiet disdain.
“He killed three of our men and left a present,” he reveals.
My pulse slams in my ear. “What the hell are you talking about?”
He exhales a short breath as he rounds past the gate entrance, and I’m the first to follow him out.
“What the…” I whip my head back, and my heart rate quickens.
“Oh my God!” Mom cries and hides her face in Patrick’s chest.
“Who did this!” Michael bellows, while Raph mutters a curse.
I take in the sight before me, three of my men with their throats sliced open, one missing a hand, as though sawed off.
“We don’t know,” my guy offers. “But…”
His eyes swivel toward the gate, and it’s then I see it.
The missing hand. A knife through it.
But that’s not all, because pierced with a knife is a piece of paper, and it has my mother’s name on it.
My gut pummels with a heavy feeling as I yank the knife out, taking the note in my hand as the severed hand falls to the ground.
“The note is addressed to you, Ma,” I tell her.
That has her tearing her face away from Patrick and looking at me questioningly. “W-w-what?”
I turn the paper around, and she tracks her name clearly written in blood.
Fernanda
“Open the fucking thing!” Patrick hollers. “Tell me who it’s from, so I can find the bloody arsehole and kill him.”
“Oh my God…” Mom gasps. “It can’t…I…no…” She swallows thickly and backs away, almost tripping on one of the dead bodies.
Patrick grabs her forearm and steadies her. “Do you know who did this, darling?”
“I…uh…maybe? Oh, God,” she cries. “Please, just open it.”
Quickly, I unfold it, but when I actually read the typed-out words, I jerk my head back, a cold rush of disbelief launching through my blood.
“Ma? Tell me this isn’t true.”
She cries.
Oh, fuck. Fuck!
“What the hell does it say?” Raph asks.
And with a grinding of my jaw, I read the words out loud.
Dear Mother,
I hope this letter finds you well. I’m so glad to see the beautiful life you’ve built for yourself. But I must admit, I am a little hurt that life didn’t include me. I see you kept my twin, Raphael, but I guess I was disposable. Thrown away like trash.
But don’t worry. I know where you live. I’ve known for a long time. Waiting in the shadows. But I’m done waiting. And I’m coming for you. For all of you.
-A
“Holy shit,” Iseult mutters, while everyone else appears shellshocked.
“Ma.” Raph’s voice hardens. “Tell me this isn’t true.”
With a heavy sob, she covers her face with a palm. “I’m sorry.” She sniffles. “But I can’t do that.”
“Bloody fucking hell!” Patrick explodes. “You had another one of my sons and never told me?”
“Oh, God, I’m s-s-so sorry.” She can’t stop crying, trying to get the rest of the words out.
“Just tell us, Ma,” Michael boils. “What the hell is going on?!”
“It was so long ago.” She swipes under her eyes. “I gave birth to two fraternal twins that day, but was only allowed to keep one.”
“Why the hell is that?” Patrick’s face grows redder by the second.
“You see, that boy… He had your eyes, Patrick.” She scowls, her face crumbling.
“One look into them, and my mother knew. I knew. And so would Giancarlo.” She pauses to collect herself.
“So my mother told me I had to give him up, or else our plan to make Gian believe the baby was his would backfire.”
“So you just let her take our baby?!”
“No! Of course not. I fought. I begged. But she threatened to take both of my babies. And I had just given birth, Pat. I was disoriented, bleeding, my heart aching. But she took him and told me he would go to a good home. Then she bundled him up and left with him. I never saw him again!” she wails.
“Oh my God.” She falls to the ground and sobs. “What have I done?”
Patrick lowers beside her and holds her. “It’s okay, darling. I know. It’s okay.”
“What was his name?” Raph asks, his face crestfallen.
“I don’t know. I never even signed a birth certificate. My mother must’ve paid the staff at the hospital to keep it quiet once they realized I now had only one child in that room.”
“So we have nothing to fucking go on.” Michael runs an aggravated hand through his hair. “Get this cleaned up,” he tells the men. “Now. And if any of you breathes a word of this to anyone, you will die.”
“Yes, sir.”
Patrick picks Mom up, and with the letter in my hand, we head back to the wedding, pretending our world hasn’t just turned upside down.
ISEULT
My head is still reeling at the news that Raph has a twin. And after the wedding wound down, Gio and I escaped to our bedroom. He needed time away from the noise, because that news hit all of us.
That crazy lunatic who fought off Gio’s foot soldiers and managed to cut off one of their hands is my half brother. I mean, he clearly belongs in the family, no doubt about that.
“Are you okay?” I ask him as he removes the rest of his clothes, his eyes roving down my bare body.
“I will be in just a minute.” His hungered stare has me aching, but I worry about him.
“Are you sure?” I ask, sitting up.
“I just need to get lost in my wife right now.”
The bed dips with his weight as he pushes me flat on my back and curves his body to mine just right.
He wasted no time moving all of my belongings into his home before the wedding. I have never witnessed someone’s stuff getting moved as quickly as mine did. The man hired over ten people to make sure I had all my things arranged before we became husband and wife.
His eyes bore into mine as he fits a hand between our bodies, his fingers slowly strumming my clit.
“Slow,” he grunts. “I wanna savor you slow.”
I moan softly at the familiar warmth cruising through my body, his cock rock hard against my core. He works me gradually, relishing in this moment, and I never want it to end either.
“Spread those thighs wider for me, wife. Let me feel what I do to you.”
As I do, he thrusts his fingers deep inside me until my back arches, my eyes seeing stars when he massages my G-spot.
“That’s it. That’s my good girl. Give me one before you come around my cock.”
With his thumb, he continues to fondle my clit while his fingers piston inside me, until the pressure mounts and stars erupt before my eyes.
I scream out his name, staring into the eyes of the man I love with such fevered desperation, I ache in my soul.
He’s my perfect equal, my partner in crime, my everything. I’d die for him. But most of all, I want to live for him.
I want to be the best version of myself, because he deserves that. Because he gives me that too.
He growls as my pussy continues to ripple in waves, giving him everything before he slips out his fingers and sucks them into his mouth without looking away from my eyes.
“What do I taste like?” I ask him, my lips feathering over his as I rock myself against his rigid length.
“Mine,” he says with a heartfelt oath, the power of that single word echoing through my heart. “You taste like you’re mine, the way you were the moment I met you.”
With one last look into my eyes, he kisses me hard, lining the crown of his cock against my entrance and slamming home.
And I know without a doubt that this love is forever, and it’s only just the start.