28. Eva
28
EVA
L iam returned after I’d already fallen asleep. Tessa received a call from Romeo that they were safe and the perpetrator was killed. All the perpetrators were killed near the back property wall.
Just like I’d known he would, Liam handled the danger well. He was my soldier man, undefeatable, but I still sighed with relief at the news.
“He’s still out there with them,” Tessa reported to me. “Still cleaning up and discussing with them what to do next.”
I yawned, nodding at her as I held Olivia to me. After the excitement of getting ready for the wedding—that felt like it happened a week ago, not hours ago—and the worry about not reaching the house, I was exhausted. “I expect he’ll be busy yet.”
“Heading to bed?” Nina asked.
“Yes.” I didn’t want to sound flippant or dismissive. I’d been tense waiting for word from Liam, but this was the second episode of that specific anxiety. When he went to plant those bugs at the MC’s compound, I was up so late, worried to the nth degree. Then tonight, anxious for word after he ran out of the house after that man, I experienced more of that gut-wrenching nervousness.
I wasn’t blowing anything off. I was desperate to see him. To kiss him. To check him over with my own eyes and hands and know he was all right.
But I also had faith in him. If he was wounded or needing any kind of help, Romeo wouldn’t lie about it.
Besides, this break-in would necessitate a lot of strategy and follow-up. Uncle Dante didn’t only raise me to be guarded. He’d also trained me from early on that sometimes, the men had meetings that took precedence over all else.
I could be patient. With Olivia comforting me, we could rest until he was prepared to call it a night. He would never suffer nagging pressure from me to check in. I got it. I really did.
Olivia didn’t stir as I took her to bed. I didn’t like letting her sleep in our bed with us, but since it was just me right now, I wanted to have her close. I laid her in bed and formed a line of pillows so she couldn’t roll out. She didn’t move much in her sleep. She was a cuddler, but not a busy toddler kicking and moving all over in her sleep. Liam and I were like that, too, so the risks of co-sleeping were likely lower, but tonight was an exception.
I wanted to be there for her if she woke, and I wanted her close if I did. After facing the fear—even slight—of losing her, I would be clingy. And I wouldn’t apologize for it.
“I love you, lil Liv.” I kissed her forehead after I laid her down. Then I shed my dress and slipped on some pajamas before I cleaned off my makeup.
Snuggling in with her was heaven, and I couldn’t help myself. I kissed her head again and fought the tears of relief that she was okay. That she was safe.
Olivia mattered so much to me, and I knew that I had to tell Liam. It felt wrong to know that I loved him and his daughter and not share that revelation.
Late in the night, he trudged into our room and showered. I was so sleepy that I didn’t get up, but I felt the weight of his stare before he went into the bathroom.
Without a word but yawning heavily, he climbed into bed and spooned me. Keeping his arm over me, his hand over mine on Olivia’s belly, I was sandwiched between the two people who’d come to mean the whole world to me.
And when I slept, it was a blissful darkness of no nightmares.
Olivia woke us in the morning, and I would never in my life forget how.
“Mama. Mama, Mama, Mama !”
I blinked at the new name and smiled instantly.
Until she paired the wakeup call with a smack to my face. It was likely intended to be a pat, but she hadn’t mastered the fine art of measuring her strength.
“Mama?” I asked her, wincing as I rubbed the eye she’d smacked.
She clapped, proud that she’d gotten me to reply. “Mama wake. Mama wake.”
Oh, my heart. I sniffled, on the verge of happy tears.
“Mama’s awake, huh?” Liam asked her.
His voice was husky with sleep, and I smiled wider at the sound of him like this. I loved how drowsy and relaxed he was. His bedroom eyes were potent, but his sleepy voice never failed to jumpstart my libido.
“I guess so,” I told him. As I rolled over to face him, I smacked into his hand.
“Ow,” I said, rearing back to rub my other eye. He must have been up for a while, despite that sleepy, sexy voice. As I slumped onto my back, Olivia dropped onto me and hugged me at an awkward angle. Her diaper rested on my forearm, trapping me, and I blinked at two realizations at once.
Her diaper wasn’t soggy. Liam had already gotten up and changed her.
That wasn’t all he’d done, rising before me.
He’d procured a ring box. It was open, showing me a sparkling diamond ring. That was what I’d rolled over to smack into.
“What do you say, Mama ?”
I blinked slowly, wondering if I was still dreaming.
It was a gift of the highest manner for Olivia to take it upon herself to call me mama. No one ever used that word around her except when reading books. Maybe some pre-k cartoon shows, like the one with the annoying voice for the cow character.
She’d put it together to call me mama, and I was honored that she saw me as a mother in her young life.
But a ring? Liam had been hinting at getting serious with me, and we were loosely planning to move in the spring.
I told Tessa and Nina that I wanted to commit, but he was proving how much he intended to connect himself with me.
“Wait a minute.” I scooted up on the bed to sit facing him. “Was that a proposal?”
He sighed, wincing a little bit that endeared him to me all the more. “Well, it wasn’t my original proposal.”
You sweet, sexy man. “Yeah? How’d that one go?” I smiled, eyeing him with so much love that I swore I’d burst.
“I brought it to the wedding last night. I thought I could get you somewhere quiet near the end of the night. Maybe I could sneak you off into… another closet.”
I rolled my eyes but smiled, loving that this could be our little joke.
“But then…” He raised his brows. “We didn’t exactly stay until the end.”
I nodded, sobering at that reminder.
“So this morning, I thought I could have Olivia hand the box to you.”
I held her close and kissed her cheek. “No go?”
He shook his head. “A blow out. I never changed a diaper so fast. I was worried the stink would wake you and we’d lose the element of surprise.”
“Uh-oh,” I teased her.
“Uh-oh!” She loved exclaiming it loudly.
“Then she lost interest in holding the box to hand it to you.” He frowned at the wet corner. “Then she wanted to gnaw on it.” He wiped the corner off on the sheet. “And then she decided to give you a new name and wake you up. And here we are.”
He held the box closer, smiling at me with so much love in his gaze.
“I love you, Eva. Will you make me the happiest man alive and be my wife? The mother of my children?”
I leaned in to kiss him, brushing against the ring box he held out. “Yes, Liam. I would love to be your wife.”
“Mama!” Olivia wedged in, hugging me close.
“And I would love to be the mother of your children.”
He kissed me harder, keeping me close. When we parted, he took the ring out of the box and slid it onto my finger. “Perfect fit.”
I smiled, staring at it fondly. “It is. Just like you are a perfect fit in my life.” I kissed Olivia’s cheek. “Both of you. I love you, Liam.”
“I love you too.” After another heated kiss, he got a smug smile on his lips as he gazed at my hand and the glittering diamond on my finger. “I had Tessa and Nina help pick the ring when you had Olivia at a swim lesson.”
I gasped. “They knew all along?”
“Romeo too. He came to give me advice as well. He teased me the whole time that he knew from the moment he introduced us that we’d hit it off.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, that’s silly. He did not.”
“Hmmm. I think I might have.” He pulled me closer until we snuggled with Olivia climbing over us both.
“You knew the moment you saw me that you’d want to marry me?”
“Well, I knew I wanted something with you. And I’m glad we both fought hard enough to find what we have.”
“And what’s that, my handsome fiancé?”
“A very bright future.”
We kissed to seal it.
While the morning started on a good note—a proposal and being dubbed Mama—we walked into the kitchen to face much more serious and bad news.
Over breakfast, everyone congratulated us. Danicia was there as well, recovered from being drugged already. It really did seem that everyone knew about Liam’s plans to make it official with me. Franco had helped quite a bit in securing the paperwork to have me officially adopt Olivia, too. Once we married, she would really be my daughter, and he would be my husband.
I couldn’t wait. I’d been eager for a purpose and for something to concentrate on, and I sure had gotten my wish granted in that regard. And I’d never take a second of it for granted. As everyone talked about how good of a match we were, I realized how much I’d changed—and how I hadn’t, staying true to myself—after meeting Liam. No longer just an icy Mafia princess, I was someone who’d be married to a wonderful man. I was already recognized as a mother. Both roles, being Liam’s wife and Olivia’s mother, felt like a dream come true, a dream I hadn’t even known I’d been waiting for until I met them.
After the celebratory moments, Uncle Dante filled us in on what happened last night. We had most of the details now, according to the surveillance cameras and what the guards and Danicia remembered. Everyone was recovering from the darts, and that was the best news we could’ve hoped for.
Liam and Romeo also shared what happened when they chased the biker to the property wall. I knew they were watering it down. Their summaries were brief and to the point, but conclusive so we wouldn’t have any questions and would feel satisfied with answers. I would never ask Liam how many people he killed. I didn’t want to know, and I didn’t want him to think that his kill count mattered to me. Part of his appeal was his rugged masculinity, and even if it did reduce my feminism, knowing he could go to the extreme of killing people made him all the more attractive. He was no coward. He was a bold fighter, fighting the good fight with us.
“A middle man?” Nina asked after Liam and Romeo finished talking. “Who could be this middle man in the governor’s office?”
“Oscar Morelli,” Franco said as he entered the spacious kitchen, overhearing us as he came into the room. “I had Andy and a couple other spies look into it based on who the bikers were talking to.”
Romeo narrowed his eyes and nodded. “That sounds familiar.”
Franco seemed pleased with this information. “I’m not surprised. Once we tracked where Reaper’s bike was going, we realized he was making a habit of visiting someone near the governor’s house. Once we had a name, we looked up surveillance, and it added up.”
“He’s definitely the one helping the MC?” Dante asked.
“Yes.” Franco nodded. “We’ve got video of him meeting with Reaper. Then our hackers found a trail of transactions. It seems Oscar’s got a fondness for coke and young whores, which Reaper provides.”
“When do we go after him?” Romeo asked, glancing at his father. “If we kill him, they don’t have an ace up their sleeve anymore.”
“Always one step ahead,” Dante agreed.
“Not so fast,” Franco warned. “I have a feeling it won’t be a we situation.” He pointed at Liam. “More like a sniper and expert marksman situation.”
Liam nodded as he rubbed his chin. “Why? Is he a hard man to get alone?”
“Very,” Franco replied. “He’s heavily guarded and seems super paranoid. It would be a challenge to get to him directly.”
I squeezed his hand, nodding at him.
“Today? Or tonight?” Liam asked, seeming to understand that I was giving him permission. He didn’t need permission from me, but we were hoping to ask someone to watch Olivia here while we had dinner, just the two of us in our room, to celebrate our engagement.
This would put a damper on our plans, but I understood. This was the way of the Mafia life.
“Yes. The sooner, the better,” Franco said. “Before he can try to hide any better.”
“You say jump, and I’ll jump.”
Franco smiled, just now spotting the ring on my finger. “Ah. Planning to celebrate tonight?”
I waved him off. “I can wait.” I felt like I’d been waiting all my life for someone like Liam, a strong man who could understand me and be able to handle me. But one more night wasn’t impossible. He’d proven this morning that he wanted to give me all of his days and every one of his nights.
“Shouldn’t take long if we leave soon.” Franco tipped his head toward the door. “We can talk about the details on the way.”
“All right.” Liam stood, but he didn’t hurry to follow after Franco. First, he downed his coffee. Then he leaned in toward Olivia and kissed the top of her head. “Be good for your mama,” he told her and backed away before she got him with a syrupy spoon.
“Who do I need to be good for?” I teased him as he approached me to kiss me goodbye.
“Me,” he replied. After he framed my face, he kissed me so tenderly that I wanted to swoon. But he didn’t let go. Slanting toward my ear, he whispered, “But I like it when you’re bad for me too.”
I smiled, pressing my lips together to keep from grinning.
Watching him leave was getting easier. He’d proven time and time again that he was capable of surviving all odds against any other man. Each time he headed out to do something for the family’s security, I knew that he wouldn’t be rash or foolish.
He couldn’t, not when he had so much to live for and enjoy with me and Olivia. Even though he could be stoic and guarded—like me—at times, it was impossible for me to miss the happiness and zest for life that shone in his light-blue eyes. They pierced me, reaching to my soul every time we locked gazes, and in his loving stare, I felt the excitement he couldn’t hide. The excitement to start the rest of his life with me at his side.
“I’ll be back,” he called out before he left through the doorway in the direction toward the garages, where Franco had gone.
Yes, you will. I agreed with his claim, and I knew he wasn’t saying it to be cocky or sound smart.
I had all confidence that he’d come home to me. And when he did, we’d spend the night celebrating the next step of our relationship.
Maybe with some more of that “practice” to make a younger brother or sister for Liv…
I sighed, not caring if everyone noticed how dreamy I sounded.
“That was fast,” Uncle Dante teased.
I shrugged. “Is there any set speed at which a woman can meet her fiancé?”
“No.” He shook his head. “I’m just taking advantage of the moment to throw that judgment back at your face. You were so critical of me and Nina hitting it off when we did. You claimed it was too hurried.”
“Sometimes, life determines it all.” I pondered how it all happened so far. “Because if you hadn’t met Nina and fallen in love, maybe Tessa never would have met Romeo and fallen in love. And if Tessa weren’t in our home, I might not have ever met Liam and Olivia.”
A wide smile stretched my lips.
Now, we just have to have some hope that Franco could move on from Chloe one day.
It was infectious, this falling-in-love business. And no one would ever hear me complaining about it.