Chapter Fourteen
Giana
Dream weddings can be anything your heart desires.
It could be huge, beautiful bouquets of flowers to color the space in with sweet smells. Draped silk and delicate velvet seating. Bright colors paired with muted suits. It could also be dangerous men and their women in fine suits, huddled in an adorable cabin with wildflowers and a wounded groom.
“This dress is fabulous,” I gush as I smooth the chiffon folds that split at the thigh.
How Dita knew the perfect dress to choose for me, I am not sure. How they knew the perfect size is pure luck. The pearl beaded lace corset top fits me as if it were made just for my body. It is backless and the train is flowing but not over the top. It is just the dress I would have chosen for myself.
“We saw it after the day you came to the penthouse. It was fate.”
Beaming at Dita as she wraps my hair up with some of the wildflowers Sabin picked, I nod. It was fate. Finding Gabriel when I needed to be saved was fate. He once said we would have met one way or another. Meeting before or after I was married off would not have made a difference.
Before we met, I was dreading walking down the aisle. I had not thought of a dress or flowers or anything brides think about. All I could think about was how my freedom was going to be ripped from me. Even though I am becoming his bride, even if I let him have control of me to soothe his fears about my safety, being with Gabriel is the freest I have ever been.
“I am so glad he found you,” Sabin tells me as she fusses with my hair. “He is so much.... softer. Not weaker. Just soft. He was always good to us, he spoils us, spoils mama. He will spoil the hell out of you. You’ve made him happier than I have ever seen him. I thought he would never find someone.”
“I am lucky he found me,” I respond, dabbing at my tears with a tissue. “If he had not found me when he did, who knows where I would be now. Married to a man I could never love. Living a life I did not want. Now I have him and I love him. I love him so much, it is bigger than any of the daydreams I used to keep surviving.”
“Well, he will be good to you,” Dita declares. “I know you will be good to him too. It is beautiful seeing the two of you together.”
Hearing a soft knock at the door, we turn to see Dario. His eyes stray to Dita, who I rarely see him take his eyes off, then to me. Smiling at me, he nods his head to let me know it is time. Both girls go with him as he makes a show of holding his arms out for them to loop theirs through. I laugh and then I almost start crying when my brother walks in the room.
“Awe look at you, chipmunk,” Anto murmurs as he comes close, taking my hands. “I am so glad I get to be here. I cannot make up for all the time we lost, but I want to be here for these moments. Both of you seem so fucking light, so full of love, it is beautiful. I am proud of you. You got through it all alone and I hate that you had to do that. But you did it. You get to choose whatever kind of life you want.”
“I do. I could have made the choice to go. He would have let me go. I decided this is what I want. With him. With you, with all of those people downstairs. I dreamt of leaving this place, this life for so long. Now I know this is where I was meant to be, with who I was meant to be with.”
“Good, I want you here. With us. We will wreck the Bianchi families together. No one will even remember them once we’re done. You will be a Capelli now. Don’t forget—now you’re a Scarsi. We share the same blood; we will share everything else too.”
“Deal. Now, brother of mine...I am going to go get married.”
Anto laughs and offers his arm, leading the way from the room to the top of the stairs. It is an adorable cabin, and I am glad we’re getting married here. Gabriel said we will spend a few weeks here until things in Silver Shores get figured out. Not only do I get a quaint wedding, but I also get a romantic cabin in the woods honeymoon to boot.
With the fire going, candles flickering anywhere they could find room, and the lights down low, it is beautiful. Our few guests stand, watching me descend with my brother walking me down the aisle. Gabriel waits with the priest, beaming at me as I make my way to him.
Handing me off with a kiss atop my head, my brother goes to join Dario and Dita. I turn to Gabriel, my heart galloping in my chest. I am so excited to become his wife. To start our life together. What I had feared for so long is the one thing that I want the most. I want to be a wife, a mother, a princess, a queen. I want to be all that Gabriel wants me to be.
“Hello beautiful princess,” Gabriel hums as he takes my hand, holding them tightly between us.
“Hello, my handsome prince,” I whisper back, my heart slowing once I am close to him. I am at peace, I am safe, I am filled with joy whenever I am with him. It is beyond anything I ever thought I would get to have.
“The most beautiful bride in the world,” he swears, bringing my hands to his lips.
We turn towards the priest as he gets started, our hands still woven tightly together. I am shaking but I am not afraid. I am excited. To say the words that will tie us together. To slide on the ring his mother gave me from his father. It will make this all perfect. My brother being here to give me away, his father being here in the one way he can be.
“Do you have your own vows?”
I shake my head even as Gabriel nods. “Yes, I do. I was a different man the night we met. I was thinking about this life. About whom I am, what I do. How there is no time to laugh, to be light, to let myself feel good. And I did not want to be at that engagement party. If I had not gone...my entire life would be different. I told you that we would have met somehow. It was fate. We were always going to meet because I am always going to love you.”
Taking a step closer, he brushes his thumb across my cheek, and I realize at tear had escaped. “You smiled at me the way you smile at everyone. With big, bright eyes full of wonder, full of hope, of dreams. The minute you smiled at me, I knew I would do anything, be anything, give anything, to have you. Sacrifices had to be made, but we’re here right where we belong. I love you, Gianna, and I always will. I am a better man because of you. I thought I was king of my borough. I was wrong. You made me a king.”
Staring up at him, the shattered parts of my heart fuse themselves back together. Parts that my mother and father tore down one piece at a time. They took my freedom, they took my brother, they took my real father, all for their own greed. Their own selfishness. From the moment we met, Gabriel has slowly given me everything they took back. Piece by piece.
“I love you too. I thought I knew what that was before. I thought I had a little love from my mother, from my father. Since I met you, I know how wrong I was. That was not love. This is,” turning, I look at the people gathered here for us. The people we love and who love us. “This is what love is. What it looks like, how it should feel. Before you I had no idea what love truly was. But now I know. And now I never want to be without it. I love you and I am so lucky you found me.”
The priest has us repeat some words and we exchange rings. When he announces us as husband and wife, the small cabin erupts. Dario pops the cork on a bottle of champagne as my new husband scoops me up and kisses me stupid. When he puts me back down, I am dizzy with love, with lust, with joy, but I take the champagne flute that is shoved at me and empty it fast.
Anto leads everyone out to the back where strings of lights crisscross the back yard. It sets the whole space aglow beneath the dark skies. Two or three tables create some seating for everyone. I laugh when I see several pots of pasta, meatballs, and plenty of wine. There is even a small millefoglie that we cut with a blade he pulls out of a sheath.
Could our wedding be any more mafia toned?
“To the rest of our lives,” Gabriel husks as he feeds me a piece of creamy pastry.
“To chasing lots of dreams together,” I whisper back.
With the people who matter most, we celebrate for hours. Not just our wedding. We celebrate the triumph that Anto and my husband managed by banding together against my father and the Marconi’s. They will never recover from this war. Two other families are poised to take their place among the five families. The Marconi’s and the Bianchi’s will be forgotten before Gabriel and Anto are done.
It will take some time for the danger to calm down. We will all be on high alert until the families consider the war settled. Others will be hurt. Some might be killed if they go against the status quo. Gabriel and Anto created the status quo—go against them and seal your fate.
“Where has my little princess snuck off to?”
Blinking up at my husband— I am a wife —I shake my head as if clearing my thoughts. “War. Fate. Kingdoms and their kings.”
Grinning, he shakes his head, spinning me as we dance across the earthen dance floor. “Just why you will make the perfect queen. I found you at the precise moment I was meant to. When you needed saved, and I needed something worth saving. Worth fighting for. I love you, princess.”
“I love you, capo,” I whisper back, grinning as his eyes darken.
His grin turns dark as he lifts his head. I frown before he speaks, shouting above the low din of music and chatter. “Party is over. You ain’t gotta go home, but you can’t stay here. I am taking my wife inside. Don’t come looking for us for at least a week.” Scooping me up bridal style, he sails past the others to head inside.
Time for this king and queen to get started on some little princes and princesses.
Epilogue
Gabriel
Two Years Later...
Nothing stains the same as blood.
Wiping the blood from my hands, I watch the crimson circle down the drain. Letting the water run, I try to get every drop of it. The towel is soaked with it, and I imagine my favorite shirt is ruined. Good thing I can afford another one.
My wife will be pissed. I was told not to wear my good suit to the meeting. I wanted to make an impression. When I am with the heads of the five families, I need to make sure they never forget me. That they always remember it was my move that set us on the path we’re on.
Our syndicate has become so powerful, we’re expanding outside of Silver Shores. We’ve got our hands in everything along the eastern seaboard. We’re in True Ridge, Driftwood, hell we even have some bars and clubs down in Sunset Springs. All because we trimmed the fat and made our focus lea
“Gabriel,” that sweet voice I love so much calls, sharper than usual.
Turning, I grin at her because she can never resist my smile. Proving me right, her eyes soften as she runs a hand over her round belly. Seeing her pregnant makes me happier than anything else in the world. Besides being there at her side when she had our daughter
“Yes, princess. And my prince,” I hum, going to press my hands to her belly. They’re clean of blood and she never liked that guy anyway.
“You have a little princess waiting for you, capo,” she taunts me, kissing my lips before she spins away from me.
Laughing, I swat her ass as she shakes it at my playfully. Jesus, I love her. I might not deserve her, but I am keeping her anyway. I am a bad man that I know she deserves something better, something more, but I won’t ever let her go.
“And I am going to see my little girl. Has she been good for mama?”
“That would be a negative. You promised her breakfast. She has been pouting all morning. You see to your girl then come see to your wife.”
Growling at her playfully, smacking her ass again. Watching her wide hips sway side to side as she heads up the stairs towards our bedroom, I have to adjust my cock in my slacks. My greedy dick will have to wait.
Before I do another thing, I have a dragon to slay. My little girl is upset at me. Grabbing the bag I set down when I walked in, I saunter down the hall to her bedroom. Stepping inside, I hold back a chuckle. Because how is this my life?
Gracie Rose, my first-born child, my little girl, my spoiled princess, sits at the little throne I had made for her, pouting. I catch her just before she puts the pout on—this is all a show to make daddy feel bad. My little princess has me wrapped around her tiny finger and she knows it.
“Hey little one,” I whisper as I kneel down, ready to take my penance. “I forgot our king breakfast huh? Daddy’s sorry. I had to go…someone had some dragons that needed slaying.”
Gracie tries not to smile but she loves our fairytale pretending. This room was done up in pink from the thick fluffy rug to the pink and gold teardrop chandelier. Nothing but the best for my little girl. Plus, she wanted her room to be sparkly, like mama’s—because yes our room is pink and fluffy and sparkly. Whatever both my girls want, they get.
“Dada,” she calls, holding her hands up for me to pick her up. That sweet little voice calling me Dada fixes my jaded heart each time I hear it.
“Coming little one,” I call, going to swoop her up. Gracie giggles and lets me press kisses all over her chunky face. Setting her on my hip, I pull out something guaranteed to make her forget she was ever upset.
“How about this one, Gracie? Do we like it?”
Holding up the little music box, my heart surges as her eyes go big, wide, filling with wonder. Of course she has her mother’s eyes. I was done for the minute she opened them after she was born. I said I would set this town on fire for my wife. Well, I would set myself on fire if it meant protecting my little girl.
“Dada! Sparkle,” she coos, pressing her face up against the glass of the globe.
It was specially ordered for her a few weeks ago. It is a recreation of Silver Shores, with the crashing waves, the pier, the boardwalk, and one bright green hot air balloon. All encased in a sparkling glitter dome, it sparkles with nighttime stars or daytime sunshine. It plays her favorite song, a jazz number her uncle Dario got her hooked on.
“That’s home, little one. Where mama and dada found each other and started living a dream,” I whisper, rocking her back and forth gently.
It is later than it should be, but I would have been upset if Gianna put my girl to bed before I got home. Settling in her little princess bed, I set the music box on the table beside it. As I cover her up, I tell her a little romantic fairytale.
“Daddy did not want to, but he had no choice. He shot the bad guy Ceasar right in the face. Because he was one of mama’s dragons.”
I am not ashamed of who I am. Of the man I have had to become to protect the people I love. Some might see my love for my wife, my daughter, my sisters, as a weakness. I consider it my strength. It gave me something to fight for, something to want to die for. Something to live for. I will always do everything in my power to get back to my girls—even if it means someone else doesn’t get to go home to theirs.
Finding Gianna did make me a better man. But I am still not a good man. The blood I washed off earlier was not from me cutting off a thief’s fingers. It was from beating a man to death because he had tried to traffic some young girls down to True Ridge. If I could, I’d have dragged it out to let him suffer a little bit more. He deserved what he got.
Once I see my little one is out, I head down the hall to my wife. Stepping inside, I lean against the door to stare at her. Jesus, she is beautiful. It is those sparkling, bright, full-of-love eyes of hers that make it impossible for me not to love her. I would do anything she asked of me whenever she turns those pretty fucking eyes on me.
“You’re so fucking beautiful pregnant with my children,” I tell her.
Pushing off the frame, I stalk towards her, pulling at my tie, undoing my cuff links. Gianna lies in the middle of the bed, her round belly soft and bare, a tiny lace camisole barely covering her full tits. No panties. I do not allow her to wear panties. Won’t even let her buy the things.
“Keep looking that good, capo, I am going to stay pregnant with your children,” she shoots back, licking her lips as her eyes devour me.
“Music to my ears, little princess,” I hum, grabbing under her knees, yanking her down the bed. Dropping down between her thighs, I lift one leg, kissing a path up her thigh, then the other.
“Hope you saved some for me, baby,” she purrs, coming her fingers through my hair. Yanking, she pulls me against her pussy, and I sigh.
“Always for you, my queen.”
For close to an hour, I lie face first in her thighs, eating, sucking, licking her to countless orgasms. Sliding beneath her, I lift her astride me when she begs me to fill her. As she slides down my cock, she calls my name, and I am reminded how fucking lucky I am to have stolen her.
Yeah, I did steal her I guess—but in a way, she stole me first.