“Clean yourself up,” he ordered, throwing a handkerchief at me.
I wiped at my face, angry tears that I refused to let fall blinding me. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“You never had a weak stomach before,” he commented absently as he wiped his hands in disgust. I wished I had been sick directly on him.
I barely held back the snort of disdain at his assumption he’d ever known anything about me. “Just the effect you have on me, I guess.” I sneered.
He turned cold eyes to me. “Watch it, Francesca. My patience only stretches so far.”
“We’re nearly there, boss,” the driver announced as we drove past the commercial airport toward an executive airport.
“There’s a bed on the plane.” Bruno smiled lasciviously, forcing me to breathe through my nose so I wouldn’t vomit again.
It all felt like a nightmare, like I would wake up at any moment in Maddox’s arms and breathe a sigh of relief that it hadn’t been real.
“Let’s go.” Bruno yanked me across the back seat, holding my upper arm in a painful grip as he towed me toward the waiting jet.
“No,” I gasped, trying to break free, desperate now. I threw up a knee, trying anything to escape.
His gun appeared as if from nowhere, pressing discreetly at my belly.
I stared into his dead eyes, debating whether death might be better than the fate that awaited me. Then I thought of the lives inside me and I knew I had to fight.
Until the end, I would fight.
“Get on the fucking plane,” he ordered.
I turned and obeyed, nearly stumbling as he shoved me forward.
The plane was small with leather seats and a door toward the back that I assumed led to the bedroom Bruno had referred to. I shuddered at the thought.
“Sit.” He shoved me into a nearby seat, addressing the two suit-clad men onboard who I recognized as my uncle’s men. Or who used to be my uncle’s men.
A commotion outside drew their attention as I sat, shaking in my seat. On the few occasions I had when I was younger, I’d never liked flying, but this nightmare put that fear in a different stratosphere.
“Go,” Bruno ordered the men as the engine of the plane hummed to life. He stood tensely near the cockpit just as the sound of gunfire erupted directly outside the plane.
Hope swelled in my chest.
“Don’t you fucking move,” Bruno growled, his gun at his side.
The next few minutes felt like an eternity. Bruno grew more tense when it was obvious his men wouldn’t be returning.
He said something to the pilot that I couldn’t hear; whatever he was told made him cry out in fury. When his murderous expression landed on me, I recoiled. “The plane has been compromised. I will not let you leave alive, Francesca,” he hissed, pointing his gun toward me.
I closed my eyes, an image of Maddox in my mind as I prepared to die.
The sound of gunfire boomed through the air, but it wasn’t from Bruno’s gun. I opened my eyes to find Maddox standing in the doorway like an avenging angel, his expression fierce as he aimed his weapon at Bruno.
Bruno had fallen to his knees, a gaping wound in his neck sprouting blood. He weakly lifted his gun, aiming it at Maddox, but Maddox got another shot off, hitting him square in the chest.
He crossed the cabin and kicked Bruno to his back, leaning over him menacingly. “I want to put more bullets in you but I want you to die a slow, painful death more.” His voice was low and laced with fury. “I want to watch as the life fades out of you, knowing you will never touch my woman again. You lost, motherfucker. Enjoy hell.”
I’d never seen this side of Maddox, but instead of feeling afraid, I’d never felt safer in my life as I watched my man claim his vengeance and mine.
After Bruno took his last breath, Maddox’s gaze found mine, his jaw clenched, eyes glimmering with remaining fury. “Are you all right?” His tone was guttural, as though getting words past his lips was a challenge.
I nodded, watching in fascination as he took a deep breath, clearly trying to get a hold of himself. His hands were clenched at his sides, his chest heaving, eyes wild.
It was only when a suit-clad man stepped onto the plane, his dark eyes scanning the space and landing on Bruno with disdain, that Maddox seemed to shake himself out of it.
He stepped toward me, collapsing at my feet, burying his face in my lap. “I’m okay,” I assured him, raking my fingers through his hair.
He looked up at me, his expression tortured. “I swore to you he’d never touch you again.”
“You saved me,” I replied passionately. “You took a bullet for me, honey.” At that, my gaze swung to his blood-soaked shoulder. “Please tell me you saw a doctor,” I demanded in horror.
“Fuck no,” he clipped. “You think I was gonna waste time with that shit?”
“Babe,” I protested, worried now.
“We’ll go now,” he assured me. “I’m sure you want to get the fuck off this plane. And I want you and the babies looked at.”
I did in fact want to get the fuck off the plane.
He stood up, helping me to my feet. His thumb swept over my split lip, regret clear on his handsome face.
I took his hand in mine. “I’m okay. We’re okay,” I amended.
“We’re gonna go make sure.” He guided me toward the exit. “Carpino, club is in your debt.” He addressed the suit-clad man.
Carpino smiled. “It was my pleasure. I just wish you’d left me something to do.” He looked down at Bruno, clearly annoyed he hadn’t been able to contribute to his death.
“Told you he was mine,” Maddox clipped.
Carpino nodded good-naturedly. “Clearly.” His dark eyes turned to me, kind despite his predatory countenance. “Miss Rossi. I hope we meet again someday under better circumstances.”
I nodded absently, confused as to what was going on and shell-shocked by the day. Maddox towed me gently from the plane and to his waiting truck.
Axel and Gunner stood, feet planted, arms braced, watching raptly as we neared.
“I’m drivin’.” Axel declared, his eyes on his son, bright with worry.
“I’m fine,” Maddox gritted out.
Axel’s eyes swept between the two of us. “You want to risk passing out while you’re drivin’?”
“Please, Mad. He’s right,” I pressed quietly. Now that I’d gotten a better look at him, he looked pale. He’d likely lost a good amount of blood.
After a moment, he relented with a nod, guiding me into the cab of his truck.
I absently noted Bruno’s men’s bodies sprawled across the tarmac as we pulled away.
“It’s over.” I breathed in relief. That weight I’d carried for as long as I could remember—since my parents had been murdered—it was gone.
“It’s over,” Maddox agreed, wrapping his hand over mine.
****
“Me and the babies are fine,” I assured Maddox for what felt like the hundredth time as I sat next to his exam table at the hospital.
Neither of us had wanted to linger in Vegas, choosing instead to make the journey back home, Maddox’s wound wrapped in a make-shift tourniquet.
Nearly the entire club was in the waiting room despite it being well past midnight. Maddox had kept them at bay, knowing how exhausted I was, and though they were like family I was grateful for the space and to be alone with Maddox. Well, as alone as we could be while Emmie stitched him up.
Maddox had refused care until someone took my vitals and looked at the babies. As I’d promised him, aside from exhaustion and queasiness I was fine and so were the babies.
“I can’t believe you’re having twins.” Emmie grinned as she stitched the wound in Mad’s shoulder.
“Who’s having twins?” Sophie demanded, appearing in the doorway along with Scarlet and Wren.
“Could only hold her at bay so long.” Axel shrugged, appearing at her side.
Really, I was surprised he’d been success
ful for this long.
“We are,” Maddox shared with a grin.
Sophie’s eyes grew comically round a moment before she let out a shriek.
“Ma, please. Our ears,” Maddox griped without malice.
“You shut your mouth, Maddox Black. You just told me you’re having twins. I’m allowed to scream the place down,” she protested, her eyes brimming with tears as she pulled me into an embrace. “Oh my sweet girl. You are a dream come true, aren’t you?”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I simply let her hold me. It wasn’t a hardship. Sophie Black gave damn good hugs.
I glanced at Axel over her shoulder, finding an uncharacteristic grin on his face.
Sophie let me go, moving to her son, pressing her forehead to hers. “Congratulations. Love you, baby.”
“Love you too, Ma,” he rumbled.
“All right, Soph. What do you say we let these two have a little peace and quiet? They’ve had a day.” Axel spoke up.
That was putting it mildly.
“But we should drive you home,” Sophie protested, her worried eyes on Maddox. Her motherly worry warmed my heart. Despite Maddox being the baddest of the bad when he needed to be, he would always be his mother’s son.
I knew it would be the same with our own children. And I knew, if she were here, my mother would have been the same way. She would have loved the family I was making mine—there was some comfort in that.
“We’re good, Ma,” he assured her. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
She looked ready to protest when Axel spoke up again. “Baby, he’s been checked out. He’s all right. Let him take his woman home, yeah?” The soft tone and tender expression on his face had her visibly melting into his embrace as he kissed the top of her head.
“Okay,” she agreed, turning eyes to us. “But I’d better get that call.”
I had to laugh at her as Axel practically dragged her from the room.
“All right, you’re good,” Emmie announced. “Hopefully you’ll take better care of this than Gunner did,” she added scornfully.
Mad chuckled. “I’ll do my best.”
Somehow, I doubted that. He could be nearly as stubborn as Gunner and certainly just as headstrong.
Maddox stood from the table, holding a hand out to me. “Let’s get you home and to bed, baby.”
I nodded, exhaustion making my limbs heavy as I stood up slowly. I felt as though I could sleep for a week. He wrapped a protective arm around my shoulders, pulling me close and taking my weight despite his injury.
“You’re letting me drive, right?” I asked once we’d said goodbye to Emmie and were making our way to the parking lot.
He made a scoffing noise. “No, sweets. I’m drivin’.”
“But you were shot,” I protested.
He kissed my temple as we neared his truck. “Yeah and I only needed a few stitches,” he said, as though it was no big deal. He coaxed me into the passenger seat, helping me up and going so far as to put the seat belt on me. “Baby, you’ve had a hell of a fucking day. You were kidnapped, could have been killed, and you’ve got two babies you’re growing in there.” His large hand spanned my belly. “You’re exhausted. So I’m gonna take you home and hold you in my arms to convince myself you’re here and whole.” He swallowed hard as his hand cupped the side of my face, his thumb stroking my cheek. “Let me take care of you, baby. I need it.”
“Okay,” I agreed quietly. “But will you let me take care of you too?” My man was strong as hell, but I had no doubt today had shaken him. And whether or not he’d admit it, being shot had to have taken a physical toll on him.
“You can take care of me by letting me hold you, by forgiving me for being a bit overbearing until I try to get over what happened, and,” he leaned in close as my entire body lit up in response, “by letting me into that sweet as sin body of yours as soon as you’re up for it.”
I licked my lips, wanting to grant that particular wish as soon as possible. “I can do that.”
He kissed me tenderly. “Good. Now let’s get home.”
I stared out the window as we drove through the small town I loved so much. “That weight, I carried it so long,” I murmured thoughtfully. “My parents’ deaths. The weight of fear from my uncle and his men, of the bakery and it’s unavoidable failure. The utter loneliness I experienced nearly my entire life. I knew it all affected me. I just didn’t realize how heavy it was, how trapped I felt,” I admitted as his hand reached over the console to rest on my thigh. I looked over at him, and despite the traumatic day I’d had, the biggest smile spread across my face. “That weight, it’s gone. For the first time I feel free.”
Maddox glanced over at me, his expression tender before his eyes returned to the road.
“You gave me that, babe,” I continued, needing him to hear it, to know it. “For the first time in my life, I have a family and friends that accept me, that I can trust. But most of all, you gave me you. I feel like I can do anything, accomplish everything if you’re at my side.”
He squeezed my thigh. “Baby, I was just lucky enough to be along for the ride. You have a family and friends who accept and love you because of who you are. That has nothing to do with me. And you have me because of everything you are. You’re amazing, baby. I don’t know how I got so goddamned lucky, but I’m not going to question it. Instead, I’m going to love the shit outta you for the rest of our lives.”
I had to laugh at his utterly romantic sentiment colored with what was pure Maddox. “I’ll love the shit out of you too.” I promised with a grin.
He looked over at me, flashing his dimple. “I’m counting on it.”
Chapter 27
FRANCESCA
“Baby, would you calm down? Everything’s gonna be fine,” Maddox coaxed, watching as I paced circles around him.
It had been two weeks since my abduction and despite every protest from Maddox that I should be resting, I’d managed to convince him to keep the grand opening of the bakery on its original schedule.
Now, Francesca’s Sweets was an hour from opening and I was a nervous wreck.
I’d thought hard about the name of the bakery. In the end, I wanted to claim it as mine—using the name my parents had given me, the name Maddox had helped me to reclaim.
“What if they don’t like it? What if no one comes?” I demanded. “I think I’m going to be sick and it has nothing to do with the babies.” I groaned dramatically.
Maddox shoved off the counter, stepping into my space. “Baby, no one’s gonna be able to resist your recipes. The entire town will be knocking the door down,” he assured me. “Plus, there isn’t anyone within a one-hundred-mile radius that doesn’t know you’re opening today,” he reminded me.
It was true. The entire club had taken it upon themselves to help get the word out. That combined with Piper offering some solid marketing advice she’d used to promote her successful boutique, Dixie’s, had generated a lot of buzz.
I was still terrified.
“You need some help relaxing?” he murmured, his hand sliding in between my thighs.
I leaned into him, as always unable to control my body’s reaction to his touch. Maddox had done a lot of relaxing me in the past couple of weeks, and working me up and everything in between. In short, we’d been in bed a lot. It had been amazing.
The oven timer beeped and I groaned in disappointment.
“I have a surprise for you later, after closing,” he said.
I quirked a brow. “Oh yeah?”
He kissed me soundly, squeezing my behind. “Yeah. Something to look forward to after your first day.”
I grinned. “Does it involve you being naked?”
He chuckled. “Baby, you know that’s always on the table.”
My mind drifted to the literal image of him naked on a table. Maybe some whipped cream was involved.... My mind had been in the gutter with my pregnancy hormones.
“The timer, baby.” He broke through my fantasy wi
th a laugh.
I heaved a sigh. “Right.”
An hour later, the bakery was in fact packed. Many of the patrons were club members and their women, but there were a lot of new faces as well.
When it got busier than I could handle, Maddox stepped in to help, followed by Wren, and then Liv and Ginnie. If this kept up, it was obvious I’d need to hire full-time help.
“Whatever those lemon-ginger things were, they’re gone,” Ginnie reported.
I smiled, pleased; those scones had been one of my new recipes.
“We’re nearly sold out of everything,” Wren added.
“Told you,” Maddox murmured in my ear.
I looked around the busy bakery, marveling at the possibility that I could really do this—run my own bakery, with my name and my recipes. I could keep my family name alive but with my own style and dreams. Nonna would be so proud if she could see me now. The thought had me swallowing back emotion as I thought of her.
Maddox gave me a squeeze as though reading my mind before he went to fill a cupcake order.
I watched his delicious backside as he moved toward the display case, not bothered in the least by spending half his day serving up pastries. He’d worked to make my dream real. Hell, he was the reason I had one. He wouldn’t take credit for it, but I think I’d forgotten how to dream before I met him. Now, with my business starting and our babies in my belly, I could do nothing but. Damn, I was lucky.
Hours later, I’d just turned the sign to closed after a very productive first day. Maddox had taken off for a few hours, saying he had club business. I counted out the register, marveling at the amount of business I’d done.
I felt him before I saw him, leaning in the doorway, his arms crossed, watching me, appreciation clear in his gaze.
My cheeks heated as I blushed. “What are you looking at?”
“The most gorgeous fucking woman I’ve ever seen,” he replied without delay, shoving off from the doorway and stepping into the bakery. “You had a good day,” he murmured.
“I had a great day.” I smiled, shutting the register.
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