CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE #2
“Regret what? Becoming addicted? Losing everything? I don’t get why you’re against me now.”
“Because you’re a sociopath—”
“Bullshit. You want Adelina. That’s it. But you don’t get her for free.” He smiled impishly, and bile rose in my throat. I covered my mouth.
“You’re disgusting,” Luca said and huffed. “You came to my home and threatened to blackmail me? Go right ahead. Do your best, but I’ll never allow you to hurt Adelina and her family again.”
Judge Colby guffawed. “You got that out; now let’s be serious. You tried to buy her from me, you gave me money to blackmail Connie and Reggie, and I have the proof.” He patted his bag. “Just give me ninety million, and I’ll keep quiet.”
“How dare you? Get the fuck out of here. Do you hear me, Colby?” Luca came around the desk.
Thud. He tumbled over his chair and down on the floor.
“Shit,” Judge Colby yelled.
“Eric…Help me. Call for help,” Luca got out between staggered wheezes.
Judge Colby took out his phone but stopped. “Give me an account number, and I will.”
Luca didn’t answer.
One minute. Two…
“Call someone. Call someone. Please,” I choked, begging the man on the screen, but it was a film. The result had already happened. Luca died the next day.
Judge Colby opened the drawer, removed the necklace and the hollowed book, and then stepped out of the screenshot.
The room went dark.
Minutes passed, and my heart pounded in panic.
The door opened, and the lights came back on. Diedre screamed. “Aiuto! Aiuto! Chiama il 112.” Help! Help! Call 112. She appeared behind the desk and slammed the laptop shut.
My vision blurred, and I grasped the edge of the desk to stay upright. I looked over at Rocco. His expression was serene. “Why aren’t you freaking out? Did you show this to the police?”
He reached inside his pocket and pulled out the necklace?
He held it up for me to look at. “It’s my grandmother Aurora’s diamond collar necklace. It’s an heirloom for her family, the Espositos. Luca wanted to give this to you to wear at your wedding, but it’s been missing.”
“You have it?” I said, puzzled. “How?”
“Because I took it from Eric Colby’s body,” he said in a flat tone.
My heart hammered hard against my ribs. “Rocco…did you…” I shook my head back and forth rapidly. “What happened?”
“He hadn’t gone far after he attacked you. We found him a few yards away, trying to get the drugs that were in the dirt next to his car.”
“What did you do?”
“We took him down to the cellar, and I punched him until he couldn’t stand.
Then, I gave him the drugs to use, reminding him that I’m big in Florence, and he will get arrested without bail.
They’ll drop him in a hole where he’ll never see daylight again.
I also told him everyone will know what he did.
I’ll get the press to run it every day for years.
Then, I left him, and he did as I expected. He took them all and died.”
My jaw dropped. “He’s dead?” I shook my head in confusion. “No. No way.”
Rocco took a Polaroid out of his pocket. “This is the only copy. I saved it to show you.”
The photo showed Judge Colby, lifeless, dirty, and bruised with blood and a needle in his arm.
Rocco picked up a lighter and burned the image. “The camera was shattered afterward and thrown away in the ocean.”
I shook my head. “How did you get the necklace?”
“Pawn owner was a cousin of my friend Enzo the jeweler, you met him in Siena. He sold it in Rome for practically nothing.”
Judge Colby never got much from pawning when he was strung out on drugs.
But there must be a body. The police aren’t looking for him?”
“They are, and he will be found soon. That’s more than he deserves.”
I stared at him, speechless and waiting for him to tell me it wasn’t true, but he sat there confident and defiant. He had crossed a line, just as I had when I used the folding chair in that hotel room to stop my father from hurting my mother.
“When you fought him, you didn’t know if he lived or died. But after what he did to you, I always planned to kill him. No one ever hurts you and gets to live. No one.” I knew my rage, and now I knew his. He loved me so much he’d destroy anything that harmed me.
I rose to my feet, captured his face between my hands, and kissed him with a wild urgency I had never known.
He sprang from his chair, fingers tangling in my hair as he pulled me closer, tilting my chin up to meet his.
Our gazes sparked, and in their depths was pain and love, but oh so much more.
Here was a man ready to risk his life, his freedom, everything for my sake.
There could be no one else; I am utterly besotted, devoted to him until my last breath.
Our lips pressed, and a jolt coursed through me on contact.
He yanked my hair roughly, and my blood and pulse rushed like I was on fire.
We pulled away to breathe; my heart was too full, and my lips spilled a confession.
“I first fell for you on a street in Siena, and then all over again at the foot of the staircase on our wedding day. You, my Rocco, are my world.”
Rocco groaned. “And you are mine, Bella. I fell in love with you the first day I saw you, and every day I fall deeper.”
Happiness sang in my veins as heat flooded my body, and a sharp shudder ran through me.
The room was filled with the soft rustle of fabric, and the heady scent of cologne mingled with desire.
He snatched at my silk blouse, the smoothness slipping through his fingers, and I matched his hunger, tearing open his suit jacket with a satisfying rip, clutching at his shirt, desperate to feel his hot, bare skin.
Our eyes locked again, and I could see the lust and craving consuming his dark gaze.
“You, only you,” Rocco breathed between jagged inhales, his body trembling like the low rumble of distant thunder under my touch.
With urgency, he backed me up to the desk, the cool wood meeting my skin as he swept the clutter aside to make room for us.
I pushed my skirt and thong down, and he kissed me.
He started from my head, trailing down my jaw, and I threw my neck back, relishing the tingling sensation as he kissed down to my breasts, each touch sending a shiver through me, the sensitivity heightened with the baby.
He gently grazed his tongue over my nipple, coaxing a gasp from my lips.
He lifted me to the edge of the desk, and I lay back, feeling the sturdy support beneath me as he moved between my legs.
“You’re my forever, Bella.” His voice was a whisper that vibrated through me.
He stretched my leg, pressing close just to capture my lips again, our tongues swirling in hot, sweet kisses.
Then he rose and lifted one of my legs, his mouth trailing searing kisses up my inner thigh, and my pussy clenched with anticipation.
I lifted my hands over my head, surrendering fully to the moment, releasing a loud gasp of complete and utter surrender. “Take all of me. I’m yours.”
He moaned and shuddered. “I will in this life and the next.” He stood strong and powerful, carved out of the best of nature, with a heart bigger than the universe.
His large cock jutted thickly, the tip already glistening, and I was ready.
I trembled as he entered me, stopping to hold still, and I could feel him throbbing.
“Oh, you are to be savored.” He held himself still, and my inner walls clenched, and he let out a low groan and started to move, pounding into me with reckless abandon.
“Oh yes, I love you,” I moaned, gripping the edge of the desk and losing myself in the pleasure of every anarchic sensual drive.
I felt my inner muscles squeezing, and I let out a scream in pleasure as I came.
Rocco circled his hips and grazed my ankle with his teeth. His hands gripped tighter. “Yes, fuck. I feel it. Oh.”
He jerked forward and let out a loud roar, his whole body shaking.
We looked at each other again, and in that instant, the world felt utterly complete. His hand gently traced my belly, cradling our baby.
“You are my destiny.”
I knew with absolute certainty he was mine.
A new page turned in our lives, and it was almost blank.
But I knew with absolute certainty that it would be wonderful. There would be ups and downs, as Luca had said about marriages. But we were making our marriage amazing with so many years ahead of us to fill with love and joy.
Thank you, Luca, for making this all possible. I miss you.