Chapter 50
Matteo
Nome.
That’s where Stella told us to be on the day we celebrated our first wedding anniversary.
That’s the last memory we have of our old world. Just a few rushed instructions whispered into my wife’s ear by her sister before leaving us alone in their father’s club basement to make our grand escape.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure they could pull it off. It felt like there were too many moving parts to Marcello’s plan. Too many variables that could have gone wrong for it to succeed. But I underestimated how far the Romano siblings would go to ensure their sister’s happiness.
At first, it took me a moment to understand what we were supposed to do.
Luckily, my wife knew exactly how everything would unfold thanks to Stella’s goodbye.
We were to head toward the LaSalle Street Bridge, making sure we sped the entire way there, so people would witness my erratic driving and recall it later.
I have to admit, I wasn’t keen on driving like a madman while my wife sat beside me, but I had no choice but to trust that she knew what she was doing.
There was a moment where I thought Anna wouldn’t be able to go through with it, though.
That doubt only hit me when she saw one brother gaining on us from behind while another drove right beside us.
“Who is that?” I asked when she stared out my window at the car with two men speeding toe to toe with us.
“That’s Enzo. My brother,” she whispered softly, wiping the tears from her eyes. “And the man driving the car is his husband, Alejandro.”
I turned to look at them, Enzo holding some kind of remote while mouthing ‘I love you’ to his sister. Then he looked at me with the same tenderness and mouthed, ‘Take care of her.’
I only had time to nod before his husband pulled in front of us, followed by another car that looked exactly like ours. It was hard to see through the heavy snow, but for a split second, I realized the vehicle ahead of us wasn’t just an exact replica of our car. It was also missing a driver.
Enzo must’ve somehow been controlling it with that remote.
Anna glanced at the rearview mirror one last time, silently saying goodbye to Jude and Mina behind us, but with how heavily the snow was falling, I doubted they even saw her do it.
I wanted to comfort her, but I never got the chance.
“Turn here, Matteo. Now!” Anna shouted at the top of her lungs, grabbing the wheel and swerving it hard enough for us to veer into a tunnel.
My heart was beating a mile a minute, waiting for someone to catch us, but Anna no longer looked worried.
“It’s done now,” she said, looking exhausted. “It’s done.”
It wasn’t until we drove past Detroit, crossed the Canadian border into Windsor using the fake passports hidden in the glove compartment, and checked into a motel in Ontario that I finally understood the full scope of what had unfolded that night.
Anna’s siblings had thought of everything. The backpacks hidden in the trunk were filled with clothes, fake identities, and enough American and Canadian cash to help us disappear for good. And when I searched online for news of what had happened to us, everything became even clearer.
As far as the world was concerned, Anna and I had died in a horrific car accident. One where our vehicle had plunged nose-first into the Chicago River.
When the Romanos set their minds on something, they don’t do things halfway.
Safe to say, this was not the ending I expected.
I knew the moment I stepped onto their turf that I had signed my own death warrant. I knew Marcello couldn’t keep me alive. The Outfit would’ve demanded my head for the war I started.
But Marcello also knew killing me wasn’t an option. Not when it would destroy his sister in the process.
So he came up with an alternative that satisfied both sides.
The Outfit got their death.
And Anna got to spend the rest of her life with me.
All things considered, it wasn’t a bad trade.
If I had known all I had to do was die to get the girl, I would’ve done it sooner.
Ever since then, we’d been on the run, making sure not to stay in one place for too long while knowing Nome was the destination we needed to reach six months later.
We’d spent the better part of the last month moving through different parts of Alaska, and though most people would probably consider it a frozen prison, Anna and I felt like we were standing at the edge of the world. One filled with promise and hope.
Stella hadn’t told Annamaria exactly where to find her once we got there, though. But last night, there had been a message waiting for us at our hotel. One instructing us to be at this airstrip at exactly seven o’clock.
“What time is it again?” Anna shivers, rubbing her gloved hands over her arms.
“Ten to seven, sweetheart. Just five minutes later than the last time you asked me,” I tease, pulling her into my arms to warm her up.
“Sorry,” she sighs. “I’m just excited. I haven’t seen any of my siblings in so long. I guess I’m a little anxious.”
My smile softens with sadness. “You know after today, it might be a while before you see them again. If ever.”
“I know,” she laments, her shoulders slumping slightly. “But I have hope that won’t be the case. We’ll see the people we love again eventually, even if all we get are a few stolen moments here and there.”
My heart swells at the absolute faith she has that everything will somehow work out. That we’ll live a rich, abundant life filled with love. There’s no room for doubt in her mind, and her optimism coaxes my own back to life.
“I love you, you know that?” I whisper, running my nose along hers.
“You’d better. My family went to a lot of trouble to keep us together.” She giggles.
“Oh, I know,” I chuckle. “And I’ll repay them for that kindness by loving you every day for as long as I live and breathe. You’ll never get rid of me now.”
“I’ll hold you to it,” she smiles widely, rising onto her tiptoes to press her lips against mine.
Suddenly, the cold chill does nothing to temper the heat burning through me from just one kiss.
And when my Anna invades my mouth with her tongue, every limb in my body feels like it’s springing to life.
And by the way her hand presses against my hardening cock, the little vixen knows exactly what her kiss just started.
“Careful, wife,” I groan as I break our kiss and start nipping at her chin, peppering her long, slender neck with little licks and bites. “Stella should be arriving any minute now. You don’t want the first thing she sees to be you bent over my truck’s hood while I take you from behind.”
Her eyes immediately hood at the threat, adding pressure to the hand still pressed against my bulge.
“You did say we still have ten minutes. There’s a lot we can do in ten minutes,” she pants, tilting her neck to the side so I can kiss her there.
“Ten minutes isn’t long enough for all the things I want to do to you,” I growl, suddenly feeling like I might combust if I have to wait much longer to be inside her.
This.
This will never get old. I’ll never get enough of my wife, no matter how many anniversaries we celebrate, how many years we spend together, or how many lives we share. I will always be this obsessed with my Anna. My vita mia.
It’s only when we hear the sound of a small plane approaching that we finally pull apart, though not before I grab hold of her chin to keep her from stepping too far away.
“You will finish what you started, wife.”
“Oh, I intend to, husband.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me.
I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her back against my chest, my hard cock pressing against her ass.
Even beneath hoodies, flannels, fleece jackets, leggings, and cargo pants, I can still feel the heat of Anna’s body scorching mine.
Yes, my wife will finish what she started.
She can’t tease me like this and expect me not to make her pay for it later.
And I’ll make sure she’ll love every minute of her punishment.
“Where is she? She’s not here?” Anna asks, concern creeping into her voice when no one exits the small plane, the pilot remaining inside the cockpit.
My brows knit in confusion, and just as I open my mouth to tell my wife not to worry, the headlights of an approaching car catch our attention.
The tinted-window vehicle rolls to a stop in front of us, Stella jumping out the second it does. I loosen my hold on my wife as she charges toward her sister, both women falling into each other’s arms, both crying with happiness now that they’re finally reunited.
I stand rooted to the spot, watching the driver’s side door open and Kirill Petrov step out of the car. Instead of walking toward our wives, he heads straight for me, silently giving the girls a moment alone together.
There’s a pang in my chest. I recognize it immediately.
Disappointment.
I’m not sure why some foolish part of me expected Niccolò, or Raffaele, or maybe even my sweet mother to step out of that car too, but I can’t deny the disappointment that settles inside me when only Stella and Kirill came all this way to see us.
“Glad to see you two are still in one piece,” Kirill says with a small smile, extending his hand for me to shake.
I hold mine out on autopilot and shake his hand. Never in my wildest dreams did I think my saving grace would come in the form of an Outfit enforcer and her Bratva husband.
But here we are.
“An easy thing to accomplish when the whole world thinks you’re dead.”
Kirill’s smile slips from his face at my remark, and I kick myself for sounding so bitter.
In reality, I’m anything but. I’m beyond grateful. I guess not seeing my own family here tonight has put me in a foul disposition.
“That can’t have been easy on either of you. I know it’s not much, but you two aren’t the only ones hurting. Both your families miss you and suffer with your absence.”
“You’re right. It isn’t much.” In fact, it only tightens the ache in my chest.