by Ella Miles
Enrico finally stops in front of an old cabin. I glance in the side mirror to see if there are any other cars behind us. There aren’t. There will be soon though. I have one shot.
My hands grab the door, and I jump out, running down the gravel road toward the street. A street we only passed one car during the entire ten plus miles we drove down it. The odds aren’t great that a car will pass when I reach the road, but it’s my only shot.
Enrico chases after me, and as much as I beg my legs to move faster, he catches me. He grabs my arms and jerks me backward, lifting my legs off the ground.
I try to beg through the duct tape, but it comes out mumbled. I can move my hands up enough to reach the duct tape, barely. So that’s what I do. I focus on getting the tape off. I can’t fight him physically, but I can fight with my words. I can hope that this man has a heart or soul in there somewhere. He might show some compassion if I could only speak to him.
He drags me away from the street and into the cabin, which isn’t much more than a fridge, couch, and bed. My eyes widen when I see the bed already set up with ropes to tie me down. He will not rape me. He might kill me, but he will not rape me. I won’t let him. I will fight to the death.
I finally rip the tape off my mouth.
“Please don’t do this,” I beg.
He tosses me to the ground, and I’m barely able to catch myself with my hands before hitting the floor.
“I’m pregnant!” I shout, pissed he just risked my baby’s life. Again.
He freezes, staring at me, finally seeing the small bump beneath my T-shirt.
“It’s Matteo’s. He’s going to be a father. You are going to be a grandfather. You can be in this child’s life. But you have to stop hurting your family. Stop. Ask for forgiveness and let’s move past this.”
He continues to stand over me, speechless, while I take several deep breaths, glancing around me for the nearest escape. There isn’t one. Unless breaking a window counts. The only door is the front door he carried me through.
He squats down to look me in the eye. This is it. My last shot.
I hold his gaze, trying to get him to see my humanity. He doesn’t need to hurt the baby or me. He can change.
If Matteo can change, so can he.
He cocks his head to the side and grins. “You’re not going to be pregnant for long. Not when you’re dead.”
I scramble to my feet to run, but he grabs my hair, jerking me backward.
He yanks me toward the bed, but I dig my feet in, making it as hard as possible for him.
He punches me hard in the stomach.
I see stars. I can’t feel anything. I’m dizzy, and sick, and pissed off. If he hurt my baby in any way, death will be his preferred option when I get through with him.
He grabs my hair again and starts dragging me to the bed. My eyes are barely open, but I see the shiny object sticking out of his shoe.
He’s not paying attention to me, so I quickly and quietly snatch the knife and hide it in my hands. I could stab him in the leg, but then he’d just shoot me. I have to wait for the right moment.
We get to the bed, and he scoops me up, tossing me to the bed.
His body crashes down on top of me. His weight feels like an elephant sitting on my chest. I can’t breathe. If I’m lucky, he might suffocate me before he has a chance to rape me.
His tongue licks my face, and I scream, “No.”
He pauses a second at my unexpected outburst. He laughs and does it again.
I scream again.
If he touches me, it won’t be enjoyable for him. I’m going to scream and yell and bite and fight. Do anything I can to try and stop him.
“I like fighters. This is going to be more enjoyable than I thought.” He sits back. “I’ll rape you here on this white bed. Then I’ll cut out your baby and let you bleed to death, before Matteo finally arrives, too late to save his one true love. It’s perfect.”
“You disgusting bastard! You won’t touch me.”
He licks my face again, simply to show his dominance. As his body presses in again, I remember the knife in my hand, the metal cutting into my grip. Somehow I must have grabbed the blade instead of the handle.
I need to turn the knife around. I need to stab him in the chest. Before he ties me to the bed.
I try to keep my pain focused on Enrico, as he continues to slobber all over my face, down my neck to my breasts. He rips my shirt open, giving him access, as his disgusting cock presses into my belly. I try to ignore him as I slowly turn the knife around, cutting my hands and side in the process.
“Your breasts are going to taste delicious in my mouth,” he says, lowering his mouth.
I jab the knife as hard as I can into his stomach. He cries out, but grabs my neck, tightening around me, trying to suck the oxygen out of me. I have limited mobility, but I jab the knife into his stomach again and again, until finally, he releases me.
I roll out from underneath him as he grasps his stomach, lying on his back, holding his wounds.
He thinks I’m done. That I will try to run off and his guards will capture me. But I can’t let him live.
Matteo and Arlo made that mistake before. Enrico threatened everyone I love: Matteo, Arlo, Nina, and even my baby. I gave him the chance to change, but he didn’t take it. He has to die.
I don’t think twice. I take the knife and jab it into his throat will all my might.
Blood spurts out and his body jerks. I pull out the knife and stab him again, blood spraying everywhere. I stab him one more time until the blood slowly stops pouring out and his body is lifeless. I stare at him a few minutes, ensuring there is no way he is still alive. Finally, I get off the bed and head to the door, still holding the knife with my bound hands.
I don’t have time to untie my hands. I need to get out of here.
I throw the door open, and I’m met with gunfire.
I know I should slam the door shut, run back inside, and wait for the winner to emerge, but then I see Matteo. He sees me, and I see the pain in his eyes. I can’t lose him. I can’t risk his death without telling him I love him and I trust him.
So instead, I stupidly run toward him. He runs toward me with a pissed off expression on his face.
I don’t see the bullets. I don’t see the men dying. Only Matteo.
He catches me in his arms, wrapping them around me tightly, and dives us down to the ground as he takes a bullet in the back.
“Oh my god! Matteo!” I cry, needing him to live.
He strokes my face, and I know he’s going to be okay.
“Are you hurt?” he looks down, seeing the blood covering my body. His hands start searching for my wounds, but other than the small ones on my hands and stomach, he’ll find none.
“I’m fine. But…” I pause, not sure how Matteo will take my news. He was trying to protect us all from Enrico, but he was still his father. I’m not sure if he would have killed Enrico if it came down to it. “I killed Enrico.”
Matteo’s eyes widen. “You’re sure?”
“I stabbed him three times in the neck and waited until blood stopped spewing out of his neck.”
Matteo grins. “That’s my baby,” he says, kissing me firmly on the lips.
“I’m so sorry. I should have trusted you. I love you. I want to spend forever with you,” I say.
He grins. “That’s my line. I’m sorry. I should have trusted you with the plan. I should have told you.”
I shake my head. “I don’t care. I just want you safe.”
Matteo kisses me as men continue to fight around us. We should move somewhere safer, but we can’t. So instead, we lie on the ground making out, tongues swirling together as we wait for it to be over.
“I think we need to get you two to the hospital,” Arlo says over us.
Matteo looks over his shoulder. “Nah, I’ll have you stitch it up, and Eden is fine.”
Matteo helps me up, and I hold my shirt closed, Matteo wrapping his arms around me.<
br />
“I just checked the cabin. Enrico’s dead. I made sure this time. He’s really gone,” Arlo says.
“Eden killed him.”
“Thank you,” Arlo says.
I smile.
“You’re safe!” Nina cries when she finally gets to me.
We throw our arms around each other, hugging tightly as tears stream down our cheeks.
“You’re pregnant! And happy?” she asks, eyeing Matteo behind me.
I glance behind me to Matteo with a grin. “Very happy. Or at least we will be.”
Matteo pulls me back to him. “We need to talk,” he says, pulling me away from Arlo and Nina.
“Okay,” I say, not liking his tone.
“We haven’t talked much about our future. Whether we will be together or separate. Whether I will get to be part of our child’s life or not. And how to keep our family safe, while still doing what we want.”
I nod. “I don’t know the answers to most of those except that I want us to be together.”
“I have answers for a few.”
I raise an eyebrow.
“I made a deal with Clive and Erick.”
“They are still alive?” I ask.
He nods. “I needed help to try and take out Enrico. Although, apparently, I just needed you.”
I smirk.
He holds me tighter against his body. “I gave up everything.”
“What?”
“I gave up everything. The house. My job. The weapons. I gave up being a monster.”
My eyes widen and my pulse freezes, not understanding. “But it was your whole life. You loved being a Carini, ruler of Italy, and weapons trader. What will you do if you don’t do that?”
He smiles. “I’ll love you, and I’ll love this baby. We can live in America, or in Italy. I don’t care. Although, you might have to work and I’ll be a stay home dad for a while, until I figure out what I’m good at, other than killing people.”
I laugh.
“I love you, Matteo, but you will always be a bit of a monster to me. The kind with a big heart.”
He kisses me. “A monster that gave up everything for love.”
27
Matteo
I gave it all up.
Everything.
The guns. The lifestyle. The mansion. My security team and employees. Everything.
It’s gone.
None of that mattered anyway. The only thing that mattered was Eden. I was addicted to her from the moment I took her. I thought I was obsessed with Nina, but it was nothing compared to what I feel now for Eden.
The only thing I kept is money, but Eden will hardly let me spend it. We moved into her condo in Los Angeles, which is beautiful, light, and airy, but it’s not very big. Not when we are about to bring another life into this world.
“Matteo?” she moans on all fours, her gorgeous ass in the air, begging me to enter her.
I grab her hips and press my cock to her entrance. Eden is due to have our baby any day. But she’s insatiable. I didn’t think we should, but Eden begged for my cock, and I’m always happy to oblige.
“I love you, baby,” I say, kissing down her back.
“That doesn’t sound like fucking,” she snaps back sassily.
I laugh as I begin to push my cock inside her.
“Wait…ow…” she moans.
I stop and move to her head.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“I think that was a contraction.”
I grin. Yes. Finally. I don’t think I can take much more of a pregnant Eden. I love her. I want to spend my life with her forever. But her mood swings are killing me.
I help her off the bed and put a T-shirt and sweats on so we can go to the hospital in a few hours, since her contractions just started.
“Matteo, I think we need to get to the hospital. Now,” she says, gripping my hand tightly at a contraction.
It shouldn’t be this painful this early, should it? I think.
“Um… are you sure?”
Her look tells me she will kill me if I don’t get her to the hospital ASAP.
“Okay,” I say, as I grab the bag she packed, and then take her hand and lead her out of the condo, with her stopping every few feet to rest as another contraction hits her.
It takes us twenty minutes to make it to the elevator, and our car is parked in a garage three blocks away. I’m afraid we won’t make it.
We step into the elevator, while I try to figure out how to call an Uber.
“The baby is coming!” she screams. “The baby is coming, now!”
Shit, shit, shit.
“Okay, stay calm.”
She lies down on the floor, and I see the baby’s head crowning.
“This baby’s coming!” I shout.
She half laughs, half screams.
“Breathe baby. You got this. You are a fighter. You have survived much worse. Push our baby out.”
I’ve never helped deliver a baby before, but I know enough. As long as nothing goes wrong, I just need to catch the baby and keep it warm. If nothing goes wrong.
This is us. Everything bad will go wrong. But we didn’t survive everything we’ve been through for Eden to die in childbirth. Not going to happen.
“Push, baby,” I say.
Eden pushes and our daughter lands in my arms. I wrap the baby in my shirt, and hold her up to Eden’s chest.
My heart stops until I hear her cry. It’s a magnificent sound.
Eden cries, as well, as she holds our daughter. I wrap my arms around both of them, knowing I need to call an ambulance soon, but right now I can’t. I just want to be happy with Eden.
“That was one of the scariest moments of my life,” I say.
Eden smiles. “Me too. But we’re fine. And we have a daughter.”
I stroke our daughter’s cheek.
“What should we name her?”
She thinks for a moment. “Nora.”
“It’s beautiful.”
I reach into my pocket, pull out my phone, and call an ambulance. Then I call Arlo to tell Nina and Gia to meet us at the hospital to meet their new niece.
Everyone is living in LA now. None of us have jobs at the moment, but we will figure all of that out soon enough. We have each other, and we are safe.
I look down at my daughter and the woman I love. They are safe. I ensured their safety by giving up my life as a criminal, and by making Clive and Erick happy, giving them my empire. I knew they would always be running after us if I didn’t. We would never be safe. This was the only way.
I did everything I could to protect my family and today was still the scariest day of my life. Because I realized that sometimes we can’t save people. Sometimes they die anyway.
Today we beat the odds. Eden lived. We get to keep being a family for another day.
I was afraid to love Eden because I knew what it meant. Especially after loving Nina. I loved her, and she was taken from me. Eden could be taken from me just as easily. But it is still worth it to love her.
I may live my life afraid of losing her, but that is what love is. Love is fear. But that fear can’t keep us from living.
Epilogue
Gia
“Yes, Matteo, I’ll be careful. I’m just in Paris to see friends for a few days. How much trouble could I get in?” I say, stepping off the plane.
“Don’t get upset with me for caring about you. I love you. I’m your big brother; I’m supposed to look out for you.”
“I know, I know,” I say, my heels clicking against the floor as I walk toward the exit of the airport to a taxi.
“When will you be back? Your niece, Nora, already misses you, and Nina is due any day now.”
“I’ll probably be gone a month,” I say, knowing he’s going to be upset.
“A month? Gia! You can’t be gone that long. Do you understand how much Nora will have grown in a month? And Eden needs your help.”
I laugh. “Eden does not need my help. She’s a
wonderful mother. And as much as I love her offer to work for her at the law firm, I need to find my own way.”
I hop into a cab and hand the driver the address.
Matteo pauses. “I understand.”
I raise my eyebrows. My brother never understands. Eden has really changed him.
“I love you. Don’t worry about me. I simply need some time to figure out what I do next, now that I don’t have to worry about the Carini enemies coming after me all the time.”
“Did you take security? It’s not completely safe. It won’t be for a while, but it is safer.”
“Of course, I brought security,” I lie.
“Good. Who did you bring? Because Dierk isn’t bad, but don’t even get me started on Paul,” Matteo rambles.
“Um…oh sorry. I have to go; I just got to the airport, and the girls are waiting. Kisses. Love you. Bye,” I say, ending the call before I have to lie anymore to my brother. Lying to him used to be easy. But now that he’s turned into a saint, I struggle lying to him.
I ignore the cab driver, who is looking at me with suspicion after hearing my lie about arriving at the airport.
The cab driver finally parks the car in front of the Carini mansion.
“Thank you,” I say, before stepping out. The cab driver gets my bags and then drives off leaving me alone in the only home I’ve ever known. It may have sucked at times growing up, but it was still home. It’s hard figuring out what my life might be without it.
I stare at my phone in my hand. I can’t keep it. Matteo or Arlo could be tracking it. They could find out exactly where I am and come after me.
I drop the phone to the gravel driveway and stomp on it as hard as I can with my high heel, watching the phone shatter.
I smile, and stomp off to the front door. I ring the doorbell, feeling strange ringing my own doorbell. But it’s not my doorbell anymore. This house isn’t mine anymore. I have to stop pretending otherwise.
I wait no more than a couple of seconds before the door opens, and Roman stands in the doorway.
My grin reaches my eyes, elated when I see him. He’s just as handsome as I remember. Tall, dark, and beautiful.