"They'll come if they're called?" Lino asked.
"Every one of them," Don agreed, his eyes moving from man to man.
We all knew the costs of war.
Death. Destruction. Loss.
"So it begins," Matteo sighed, looking ominous as he stared at each of us.
Epilogue
Calla
Eight Months Later
Ines spun around in the poofiest pink dress I'd ever seen, looking like she belonged in a rose garden outside a castle.
To be fair, the Bellandi Estate wasn't exactly far off. She had a massive smile on her face as Sadie took her hand and helped her out of her shoes so they could go jump in the pink bounce house shaped like a castle that Uncle Matteo had surprised her with for her birthday. He didn't seem to care that only Axel and Ines were old enough to enjoy it alone.
Luna had squealed for joy when Aunt Sadie then snagged her from Matteo and brought her in to bounce with her lightly. I'd thought he might have a heart attack, like his precious fourteen-month-old Little Moon couldn't handle it. But he'd relented quickly when she screamed as he tried to pull her out.
It was obvious who ruled the Bellandi House, and it was no longer Matteo.
Ivory rolled her eyes, but her fingers strayed toward her stomach as she watched them interact. "How far along are you?" I asked, rubbing a hand over my own massive belly.
At eight months pregnant, it felt like I'd pop any day.
"I haven't even told Matteo yet," Ivory admitted, snapping her hand away from her belly. "It's very new."
"Obviously, if he hasn't wormed that information out of you yet," I laughed, and she turned her head to me to share in the giggle as tears filled her eyes.
"I worry with the timing," Ivory sniffled. "Everything is so uncertain right now."
"It is," I agreed, clasping her hand in mine as we stood side by side. But as I looked around the garden, filled with all our new family, I couldn't regret any of it. Dad and Don stood in the corner, drinking beer and getting trashed in a way I hadn't seen in years. Samara's mom, Hattie, lingered nearby, fretting over the two of them in that sweet, playful way only she could manage.
I hoped she'd break through, because she was the first woman I'd ever seen my father light up around. It gave me hope that maybe one day soon he wouldn't be alone, that they could find happiness in one another.
We were all proof that sometimes love came out of nowhere, that it could stomp all over us or put us back together all in one breath.
Lino strolled up to our sides, bouncing his son, Levi, on his hip as he spoke to him. Ryker and Axel came through the backyard from the gate at the side, and I heaved a breath of annoyance.
"Is that a fucking pony?" Lino roared with a laugh, and the sound of Ines screaming as she scrambled out of the bounce house and ran up to Ryker could probably be heard for miles.
"Daddy!" she screamed, and he caught her up in his arms to pick her up and swing her around. Even eight months after we'd shown the kids the adoption papers, it still made my heart melt to hear them call him Daddy. "You got me a pony!" she yelled, and even I winced from the high-pitched sound.
“I rented you a pony,” Ryker clarified, giving Ines that stern look that dared her to pout. She refrained for him. Only for him. “Mommy would murder me if we brought it home with us.”
He was absolutely right. That thing was not coming home with us. I didn't know the first thing about horses, but even I knew they were a ton of work.
The person handling the pony chuckled as Ryker set Ines in the saddle on the pony's back, and Ryker stayed right by her side as they walked around the yard. Axel approached my side, snuggling right into my arms as we watched Ryker make every one of the birthday girl dreams come true.
But then again, he did that every day.
For all of us.
"Love you, Cookie Monster," I told him, squatting down as best I could to boop his nose. He was already seven, and far too old for his age. He always had been, but after the day when he'd seen a man try to take me away, that only got worse. My little genius excelled in school at a whole new level, skipping a grade even in his school for the gifted. Ryker and I did everything we could to encourage him to just be a kid, but he seemed determined to rush through it. I knew he wanted to be a man who could protect his family, that seeing me hurt had shifted something inside him too young, too soon.
I dealt with the consequences of my choice every day.
“Love you too,” he whispered, smiling up at me as Ryker and Ines finally made their way to us. Ryker's face was thunderous as Axel helped me stand back up from my squat. "You should be sitting down," he ordered, taking my arm to guide me to one of the chairs on the patio. I looked over my shoulder, rolling my eyes at Ivory who giggled and went over to help Samara carry out the cake.
"I'm pregnant, not incapable of standing," I told him, but as I lowered into the chair, I realized just how much my feet hurt.
I'd be damned if I told him that though.
It didn't matter that I didn't say the words: he saw them in the way I sighed in contentment. I glared at him, daring him to say something, but he just chuckled. Even the wildest men learned to pick their battles, and with my ass sitting in a chair, he'd won the one that mattered to him.
He was smothering me slowly, and I was terrified to see what that meant for Royce once he came.
“You know, the pony made her ridiculously happy-” he started.
“Don’t you even think about it,” I warned. “We are not getting a pony.”
“You only like riding my meatballs,” he teased, earning a glare as I prepared a scathing response. I couldn’t voice it, couldn’t warn him that his meatballs wouldn’t see any action if he didn’t tread carefully.
Not when Luna ran awkwardly through the yard, stopping right in front of me and reaching up to touch her hand to my belly. She'd long since been obsessed with feeling Royce kick.
So was I.
She giggled, turning those blue eyes up to me. "He's saying hi, Lunabug," I whispered.
"Hi!" she smiled, pressing her ear to my belly.
"If you listen hard enough, you'll hear him saying 'let me out! '" Ryker teased her, picking her up and hauling her up onto his shoulders.
I thought Matteo might die when Ryker put her on the pony for a ride.
I watched, grinning at Ivory as she fiddled with the impossibly beautiful cake she'd made, and feeling Royce kick my belly.
Once, my life had been black and white.
Ryker lit it up in vibrant color. And I'd never go back.
These were the moments that made a home.
✽✽✽
The bath soothed my aching feet. The only trouble was that I couldn't get out on my own. That and the fact that Ryker was a stickler about making sure the water wasn't too hot, so it got cold too quickly. But by the time Ryker had tucked the kids in, I was ready to come out.
He stood in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest, and stared at me with nothing but love in his gaze. All the frustration, the anger that had once been there was gone. We had a good life with our kids, and even though life was difficult, and I knew it took its toll on his sanity, he did everything he could not to bring it home.
Even on the days when his soul looked battered, when I knew he was freshly showered and it had been a bloody day.
Stepping forward when I held out my arms, he lifted me from the tub gently and set me to my feet so he could towel me off.
I didn't remember being this horny with Axel and Ines, but that was probably in large part due to the marriage I was in. Ryker had always driven me crazy, always made me want him, but since getting pregnant it had been nonstop.
It was inconvenient, considering I'd stopped working at the studio five months ago and Ines stayed home with me during the day. Not that Ryker was around during the day anyway, and I didn't imagine he'd be easily available to stop home for a quickie while they waged war on Murphy.
When he guided me to t
he bedroom, he lay out on the bed like the meal he was and raised a brow at my scowl. "Oh, so you didn't want to ride me?" he chuckled. I pursed my lips, but refrained from answering as I climbed onto the bed and straddled his hips.
I both loved and hated riding him. The sight of my enormous belly hanging free and my boobs that were too fucking big made me feel insecure, but there was no mistaking that Ryker loved them. His hands ran over the tight skin of my stomach, touching where I swelled with his child. If my size was any indication, Royce would be as big as his father. But being in control meant I could find the sweet spot that seemed even more elusive and somehow even more sensitive.
I couldn't handle Ryker's mouth on my pussy, and it drove him crazy. It was too much, too intense.
Grinding my hips down on him, I let him slide against me. When I finally slid him inside me, it was to the feeling of his hands on my ass, guiding me into position as he growled beneath me. Even wet from the friction of him between my thighs, it took some time for me to work him most of the way inside before his hands shifted to my hips and he stilled me.
"Easy," he murmured, ever cautious with his pregnant wife. He wouldn't take me too hard, wouldn't give me everything out of fear of hurting the baby. I appreciated it on some levels.
But on others it made me murderous.
With every rock of my hips he prevented me from taking that last bit of him, but he gave in other ways. His eyes held mine, raging like a cold storm that communicated just how desperately he wanted me. The same way I wanted him.
So I rocked my hips over him, taking him in slow pulses I felt inside all of my body. And when I finally found my orgasm, Ryker flipped me to my back and took his with my legs spread wide and him staring down at me splayed out in front of him.
Our love was suffocating. It was too intense and too much, often, but it was also the kind of love where I could feel him wrapped around my heart, where he made me feel alive in a way I'd never had.
It was unbearable. It was perfect.
It was life in color.
I hope you loved Ryker & Calla's story! I enjoyed every second of writing it. Please consider taking the time to drop me a review. Hearing from my readers means the world to me.
Book Four of the Bellandi Crime Syndicate series is coming this fall with Enzo and Sadie finally exploding on the pages. My "Ride or Die" couple will get their story in Shielded Wrongs on October 26th.
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Can't get enough of Ryker & Calla? Download the Exclusive Extended Epilogue and get a glimpse into their future when they go on their first family vacation.
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If you've enjoyed Grieved Loss and want to know more about some of the characters mentioned here, start the series from the beginning with Bloodied Hands!
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Continue reading for a sneak peek into Shielded Wrongs, coming October 26th!
Please note: This is unedited and subject to change.
Shielded Wrongs Sneak Peek
Sadie
No air.
There was nearly no air in my lungs. No breath in my body. I flung my eyes open, fighting through the haze to see the figure looming above me.
My bedroom was dark. Not a light shining in through my curtains.
“Keep quiet, and I won’t need to hurt you. We’re just going for a ride.” I couldn’t see his face, could only barely make out the size of his body above mine and the pressure of his hands on my throat.
I could take him. I’d taken bigger men down, but there was something so distinctly different about the realness of being attacked in my bed while I slept.
The realness of thumbs crossed over the front of my throat like a vice. Of the way my lungs rattled in my chest as they fought for air.
I nodded my head, playing complacent as I considered my options. As I studied the lines of his body, the placement of his limbs and his weight.
As I took stock of every weak point I could exploit.
“Are you going to be a good girl?” he mumbled.
I nodded again, discreetly tucking my elbows into my sides. With his hips between my legs, I didn’t want to contemplate the fact that he’d somehow snuck into my house and gotten on top of me while I slept.
All that mattered in that moment was breaking every bone in his body.
I hooked my right hand around his left forearm, giving him the widest eyes I could, and shuddered out a whimper. “Please,” I rasped.
When a smirk dragged over his mouth, I knew that I had him right where I wanted him. Believing me weak, desperate.
“What will you give me, baby?” he asked, and I didn’t stop the way my face contorted into a grimace.
I thrust my left arm up, catching him around the right side of his neck. My left foot went to his hip, using it to pivot my body in the bed beneath him until I could kick my right leg into his armpit and hold him there with a locked knee.
I twisted my left leg over his head, wrapping his shoulder up as I crossed my legs around it. With my body twisted up beneath him, I ignored his squirming attempts to push off me. I grabbed his wrist with both hands, shoving my legs down until he rolled off me to thump onto the mattress next to me.
The position meant his arm was between my legs, with me gripping it tight. I held it tight to my body as I shoved my hips up into the air, feeling nothing but glee when his elbow snapped backward and the bone broke.
“Fucking bitch!” he roared, his arm going limp in my hands as I raised my foot from the bed and smashed it down onto his nose.
“Piece of shit,” I wheezed, rolling backwards and off the edge of the bed. I raced for the living room, leaving him to decide how he wanted to pick up the pieces of his pride.
I’d shatter what was left by the time I was done with him.
I scrambled for the bat tucked behind my couch, yanking it out from its hiding place. Spinning, I watched as he stumbled out of the bedroom. He grasped the doorway as he passed, leaving a red smear on the paint, and he grimaced at me with blood-stained teeth.
“You know, like you haven't pissed me off enough. Now I have to paint to cover up your nasty ass stain.” I sighed.
“I’m going to bring you back to Murphy black and blue,” he snarled.
I hefted my bat, holding my stance and staggering my legs for better traction. “I think it’s more likely that Ryker will paint the warehouse with your blood. It’s a much more welcome decor item there. You’ll fit right in.” I smiled, watching as he staggered forward another step.
I was too small to attack. Too small to sacrifice my balance and the strength that came from planting my weight.
He came closer.
Slowly.
Approaching a caged animal, he looked at me with rabid eyes. Men never saw that they were the animals. That they were the monsters. Women were just theirs to take and use.
Abuse.
I’d be fucking damned if I became a victim when I spent my time teaching women what to do when a man sought to hurt them.
So I waited. I itched to hit him. To make him bleed the way he would have done to me if I’d been anyone else. But he’d picked the wrong fucking woman to steal out of bed in the night.
Murphy could kiss my Filipina ass.
He raised his hand, blocking his face as he came closer.
One more step.
And I struck, swinging my bat not for his face, but for the broken elbow he kept hanging at his side like a limp dick. He roared, grabbing at it as pain exploded through his arm.
He dropped his block, and I raised a leg to my chest. Kicking down onto his kneecap, I felt it give beneath him as he collapsed to the other knee.
I swung again, catching him in the temple.
He fell to his face, staining the carpet too.
My landlord would not like me come morning.
It was a good thing he was my Dad.
I brought the bat with me as I went back to the bedroom. I didn’t
look at the bloodstained sheets as I snagged my phone off the nightstand.
Even in the middle of the night, she’d answer the phone. Matteo would want to kill me, but she’d answer.
“Sadie?” my best friend asked in a sleepy voice. I hated waking her up, but I had a feeling Matteo wouldn’t appreciate me calling the cops for this.
“Tell Matteo one of his friends needs to be picked up,” I sighed, stepping back into the living room. I watched the body on my carpet, counting every time his chest rose and fell. I wouldn’t get close enough for him to catch me off guard on the chance that he only pretended to be unconscious.
Not until I got my handcuffs from the bedroom.
“I’m fine, but tell him he’ll want Ryker to be ready and waiting.” I added, hanging up the phone.
Backing into my bedroom, I got my handcuffs.
At least they were being used for something.
✽✽✽
I tapped my fingers on my cheek and heaved out a sigh as I waited. Not wanting to take my eyes off the dude on my floor, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with myself.
I hated sitting still.
That was my enemy.
I stood, pacing back and forth in my living room, but keeping my distance. When the man groaned and struggled against his hands cuffed behind his back, I fought the temptation to hit him in the head again. Matteo would want him alive.
Temporarily.
His groans got louder as he came more aware with every second that passed. I didn’t have any neighbors in my apartment above the gym, thankfully. That didn’t mean his voice wasn’t annoying as fuck.
I went to my bedroom, grabbing a pair of Patrick’s boxers off the top of the open box of stuff sitting and waiting for him to take back.
Grieved Loss: A Dark Mafia Romance (Bellandi Crime Syndicate Book 3) Page 38