100. Chapter One Hundred
Mateo
A few hours later, I sit back comfortably and steer our new boat onto the open sea.
We have no destination, just sailing toward the horizon, where the first light of dawn waits to break. The sky is already painted in soft hues, a promise of the sun to come.
After the stormy night, the sea is calm now, the sky clear, not a cloud in sight. I’d like to believe it’s a good omen for our happy future ahead.
Mari sinks onto my lap, freshly showered and smelling like heaven itself. My arms instinctively wrap around her, pulling her close, needing her warmth, her touch. She winces when I graze the bullet wound on her side.
I hate the reminder of how close I came to losing her. Again.
Good thing our mafia days are behind us. Perhaps now, I can finally breathe and live without the constant fear of something happening to Mari.
“Wow. What a night,” she exhales, snuggling in deeper.
I huff out a laugh, nuzzling my nose along the length of her neck, breathing her in. “That’s what I like to hear after a stormy night in bed, not after being ambushed.”
She blows out a breath. “Yeah, it got a little dicey a few times. And you said we just had a simple plan to execute.”
I shake my head. “I never expected a fiery family reunion, that’s for damn sure.”
Mari tilts her head, watching me carefully. “How are you feeling about it all?”
Good question. The shock of finding out I have another brother is still rattling me. And before I can get to know him, I’ve lost him too.
“My mind is a mess,” I admit. “Part of me is actually relieved, though. At least some part of my ancestral legacy will live on. What our family built over generations won’t just disappear into the hands of our enemies. If Nico takes the Molinaro side too, he could unite both empires and bring the kind of stability Tiero and I never could achieve.”
She hums, tracing a lazy pattern over my chest. “Do you think he’ll do it under the De Marco name?”
“No,” I say without hesitation. “And I doubt he’ll do it under the Molinaro name either.”
“Romero then?” she muses.
“Maybe. But I wouldn’t be surprised if he chose something entirely new. He’s not the kind of man who wants to live in anyone’s shadow.”
She shifts, tilting her face up to mine. “Is he really your brother? His eyes looked like yours, and there were similarities, but he could have been lying.”
I shake my head. “As crazy as it sounds, I believe him. He has papà ’s mannerisms.”
Mari’s brows lift. “Your father had an arrogant smirk too?”
I chuckle. “No. After mamma passed, he rarely smiled at all. But Nico moves like him. He watches people the same way.” I pause, exhaling slowly. “For a moment, I swear, I thought I was looking at a young papà .”
Tonight’s revelations will take time to process. Molinaro’s dying words to Tiero that his little brother would be his downfall, and Antonio’s taunt that I hadn’t seen the last of the Molinaros, make total sense now.
Fuck me! Molinaro and Romero have been planning this for decades. I never thought either of them had the patience. Clearly, I was wrong.
But none of that matters anymore. I’m free of it all.
Now, my only focus is Mari, us, our life together.
The possibilities stretching out before us are endless.
“Where are we going from here, dolcezza ? And I mean that literally,” I say as I put the boat on autopilot and carry my wife out onto the deck, settling with her on the lounger so we can better enjoy the sunrise.
Mari tilts her head, thoughtful. After a moment, her eyes shine with glee.
“I love being on the water. It’s freedom and adventure.”
Her face lights up and with it my heart.
“I want to sail the world,” she says, her voice brimming with excitement.
I cup her face, my thumbs sweeping over her cheeks as I pull her in.
“As long as it’s with you, I’ll go anywhere.”
She melts against me, my hand tracing lazy patterns along her arm while the sun slowly rises from the sea.
By the time the golden light spills across the horizon, Mari stretches, lifting her arms above her head, her body shifting against mine.
“Now that was a lovely way to start the rest of our lives,” she murmurs.
My cock stirs beneath her, reacting to every little movement of her perfect body.
“Hmm,” I rumble, my voice dipping low. “There’s an even better way.”
As expected, she stills, her gaze locking onto mine, a slow, sexy smile spreading across her lips.
“Oh?” she teases, biting her lip. Then, with deliberate ease, she swings her leg over, straddling me.
“Care to tell me about it?”
I slide my hands over her hips, pulling her flush against me, my lips brushing the shell of her ear before trailing down the curve of her neck.
“How about I show you?”
THE END