After we landed in Las Vegas, Nino immediately rushed Remo off to a hospital the Camorra worked with, and Savio stayed with me. I was exhausted and emotionally drained. “What happens with us now?” I asked tiredly.
Savio gave me a surprised look. “I will take you to the mansion. Remo will want to have you and his kids around when he returns.”
“You think he will survive?”
Savio nodded. “Remo won’t die.”
I followed Savio to a car and sank down on the backseat with my children.
When I jerked awake, we had arrived and Fabiano was staring through the window as if he was seeing a ghost. He opened the door. “What the fuck?”
“Remo’s got kids,” Savio explained.
“I see that,” Fabiano said.
Savio took Nevio again, and I got out with Greta, who had her face buried in my neck. Fabiano couldn’t stop staring at Nevio, then finally he met my gaze. “You saved Remo?”
I nodded. Fabiano searched my eyes, and I wasn’t sure what he was looking for. “It’s too cold for Nevio and Greta to stay outside. Can you get my bag from the trunk?”
Fabiano nodded and walked to the back of the car. I followed Savio inside the house, a strange sense of familiarity washing over me. This place didn’t feel like home. I’d only experienced it as a captive, and I wondered how things would be now that I had come here freely.
Could this become a home for me and my children?
Savio had said Remo would want me to live here with them, but I wasn’t sure. It felt surreal being here, but there was no going back now.
The realization sank in slowly, and for a moment I felt immobilized by the weight of it. Holding Greta seemed to ground me. “You can give Nevio to me,” I managed, offering my free arm.
Savio’s brows drew together, but he gave me my son without hesitation, and I hugged him to me. Savio and Fabiano watched me for a moment, as if they weren’t sure what to do with me.
“How is he?” Kiara asked, hurrying into the entrance hall. She jerked to a stop when she spotted me with the kids. Her eyes widened.
“Nino took him to hospital,” Savio said.
Kiara only stared at me. Her eyes darted down to Nevio and Greta, and she shook her head in disbelief. A girl with freckles and brown hair followed Kiara and also stopped in her tracks.
Kiara was the first to move. She came toward me, her eyes alight with warmth. “How did Remo react?”
Tears sprang into my eyes, and her smile fell.
“He passed out before he saw them,” I whispered.
“Nothing kills Remo,” Fabiano said firmly.
I nodded.
Greta began crying, and Nevio, too, was becoming increasingly cranky. “I need to feed them and change their diapers. Then they need a place to sleep.”
Savio glanced at Fabiano, who shrugged.
Kiara rolled her eyes. “Would it be okay if I took you to the bedroom you were in … last time? I don’t want to open the other rooms in Remo’s wing. Or would you prefer to stay in my and Nino’s wing?”
I choked out a laugh. “I’ll stay in Remo’s wing.”
The other girl smiled hesitantly.
“I’m Serafina. And this is Nevio and Greta.”
“Leona,” she said. “Nice to meet you.” Fabiano stepped up to her and put his hand on her waist in a possessive gesture. So she was his girl.
Kiara took my bag from Fabiano and led me upstairs into Remo’s wing. I knew the way by heart, but her company felt good. When we stepped into my old room, my breath caught in my throat at the rush of memories that overwhelmed me, but another loud wail from Greta snapped me out of it. I moved over to the bed and carefully lowered them down on it.
Kiara kept throwing glances at my twins, longing in her gaze. “How can I help you?”
I opened the bag and held out the baby formula. In the evening, they always needed the bottle to calm down. “Could you prepare two bottles?”
Kiara returned fifteen minutes later with the bottles and settled beside me on the bed. “Why don’t you feed Nevio while I take care of Greta,” I suggested.
Her eyes lit up. “Thank you.”
I laughed. “You’re helping me. I should thank you.”
She grinned as she took Nevio and settled him on her lap.
“I should warn you. He’s a bit of a wrestler.”
Kiara brought the bottle to Nevio’s mouth, and as expected his little hands reached for the bottle, trying to snatch it out of her hand. She laughed.
I blinked back tears as I focused on Greta, who was happily drinking, her big dark eyes peering up at me sleepily. Emotions painfully tightened in my chest.
Remo had to survive. I couldn’t believe fate would be so cruel to rip him from me before he could see his children. Maybe Remo deserved death, but I didn’t care. He needed to live for Greta and Nevio.
“He’ll love and protect them,” Kiara murmured.
Remo would protect them. Was he capable of love? I wasn’t sure.
After Kiara left, I lay down beside my babies, who were already asleep after their feeding. I didn’t have beds for them or anything else except for the few things I’d stuffed into the backpack.
I closed my eyes. The image of Remo in his blood flashed into my mind, and I shuddered.
I must have fallen asleep because Greta’s wail woke me shortly after. It was the first night without the help of Samuel or my mother, and a heavy weight settled in the pit of my stomach thinking about my family. I wasn’t sure how my future nights would be. Would I handle everything on my own?
I was up early the next morning and blinked against the soft light streaming in through the window. I had barely slept, and not just because of my twin’s erratic schedule. Worry for Remo had haunted my sleep. I got myself and my babies ready before I headed downstairs, carrying them on my hips.
Following the scent of coffee and bacon, I made my way into the kitchen but stopped in the doorway. Adamo, Savio, and Nino were sitting around the kitchen table while Kiara was stirring something in a big pot. All eyes turned to me, and I swayed on my feet. I’d always been the enemy, the captive, and now I was what? A guest? An intruder?
“Good morning,” I said then turned to Nino, fear clogging my throat. “How is he?”
“Stable. A few broken bones, bruises, rupture of the spleen. He’s upstairs, knocked out with pain meds.”
“He won’t like that one bit,” Savio said grinning. “You know he prefers pain to being helpless.”
I still hadn’t moved from the doorway.
“I’m preparing a pumpkin puree for the babies. I hope that’s okay?” Kiara chimed in.
I nodded. Nino grabbed a chair and pulled it back for me. With a small smile, I approached the table and sank down. Nevio knocked Nino’s glass over, spilling water over him.
“Sorry,” I said, leaning back so Nevio’s sneaky arms wouldn’t get into more trouble. He still made grabby motions.
Nino regarded him intently as he dried himself with a dishtowel that Kiara had handed him.
Adamo shook his head. His arm was bandaged and his face was swollen. “I can’t believe Remo’s got kids.”
“I bet the Outfit hated seeing them. I mean, there’s no way they couldn’t be Falcones,” Savio said with a grin.
I stiffened, pain slicing through me. I looked away, swallowing.
“Is that why you’re here?” Nino asked mildly. “To give them a chance?”
“I want them to be proud of who they are,” I said. I didn’t want to explain everything.
“They will be. They are Falcones,” Nino said.
I looked into his emotionless gray eyes. “Just like that? My family tortured Adamo and nearly killed Remo and I’m technically the enemy.”
“Just like that. You are Remo’s and they are his too. You are family.”
I frowned. “I’m not Remo’s.”
Nino gave me a twisted smile. “You are.”
Kiara put a plate piled with eggs and bacon and toast in front of me.
“Do you have a blanket?”
She hurried off and returned with one a few minutes later, spreading it on the ground. I put Greta and Nevio down on their backs so I could eat. I smiled when Nevio rolled onto his stomach and raised his head curiously.
“This is too weird,” Adamo said. I gave him a smile.
Savio shook his head. “I’m not going to change diapers. I don’t give a fuck if Remo gives the order or not. I’m not going anywhere near someone else’s shit, baby or not.”
I huffed. “I’m pretty sure you come into contact with more disgusting things on a daily basis.”
Adamo laughed. “He’s full of shit anyway.”
Savio punched Adamo’s unharmed arm.
Some of the weight I’d felt since yesterday lifted from my shoulders.
REMO
I felt like shit, cotton mouth and a full-body ache. Peeling my eyes open, I found Nino staring at me. “You asshole. You gave me pain meds and some kind of fucking sedative.”
“Your body needed it.”
I tried to sit up but my body was very averse to the idea. I struggled and shot Nino a death glare when he tried to help me. Eventually, I managed to sit against the headboard, every fucking inch of my body throbbing fiercely. Most of my upper body and arms were covered with bandages.
Nino sat on the edge of my bed. “You looked like shit when Serafina brought you to us.”
Serafina had saved my life. The woman I’d kidnapped, she’d saved my fucking life. “For a second I thought I dreamed up the whole shit, but the way my body screams with agony tells me it’s true,” I got out.
“They almost killed you, and they would have if Serafina hadn’t gotten you out.”
“Where is she?” I asked, ignoring the way my chest hollowed at the thought that she wasn’t in Las Vegas after all.
“Downstairs,” Nino said slowly, his eyes searching mine. “With your children.”
“My children,” I repeated, trying to make sense of the words, trying to fucking understand that I was a father. Greta and Nevio. “Fuck,” I breathed.
“It’s like looking at a baby version of you,” Nino said with a disbelieving look.
“Make sure they have everything they need. No matter what Serafina says she needs, you get it for her.”
Nino nodded. “She’s here to protect her children because the Outfit didn’t accept them. Not because of you.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t care why she’s here. All that matters is that she is. I told you before, I don’t have a fucking heart that can be broken, or have you forgotten?”
Nino touched my shoulder lightly. “I know you better than anyone else, Remo. Or have you forgotten?”
“That’s why you’re so good at pissing me off.”
“Do you want me to get her?”
I nodded. I didn’t think I’d ever wanted anything more. I would have gone through days of torture, through weeks of it, to see Serafina. That she saved me? Fuck, I’d never considered it an option.
After she’d told me she wouldn’t give me her forgiveness, I’d resigned myself to the fact that she wanted me dead, that she wanted to see me suffer. I deserved it. There was no fucking question about it. I knew what I was.
There wasn’t anything white about me, very little gray, and a ton of black. And yet she was here.
She was here with our children.
I tried to imagine them, but I couldn’t. I’d never wanted kids, because I was certain I’d never find a woman who wouldn’t prove to be the same fucking failure my mother had been. I’d been certain that I’d break any woman, but Serafina was strong. She’d proven me wrong, had twisted my game until I felt like the loser, like the one who’d been checkmated.
SERAFINA
Nino walked into the living room where Kiara and I were sitting on a blanket with Nevio and Greta. Kiara was a natural with kids, and it was obvious how much she loved them. She held Nevio in her lap as she showed him a picture book. Greta sat in my lap, her tiny hand wrapped around my thumb and looking down at the book in my free hand.
I looked up at Nino but his eyes were on Kiara, who was smiling down at my son, practically glowing with happiness.
Slowly, he dragged his gaze up. “Remo just woke up.”
Without thinking, I got up with Greta clinging to me. I didn’t want my kids there when I first talked to Remo after he’d woken. I felt like we needed a moment before I could allow that.
I untangled Greta gently and laid her down on the blanket, then hesitated. Kiara looked up with a smile. “Nino and I can watch them while you talk to Remo.”
Nino moved closer but I stayed where I was. I couldn’t help it. This would be the first time I let them out of sight since our arrival. “Each of us would lay our life down for these kids,” Nino said. “You brought them here. They are Falcones. They are Remo’s kids. He burned for us. We will burn for them.”
I gave a small nod and took a step back. Greta’s eyes followed me. “Kiara, can you take Greta. She’s very shy around people she doesn’t know, especially men.”
Nino lowered himself beside Kiara and took Nevio from her. I tensed when Kiara reached for my daughter, expecting a crying fit, but Greta’s face scrunched up only briefly then smoothed when Kiara sang softly. I took another step back. Kiara beamed at Nino as he put Nevio down on his lap and pointed at the picture book. Nino oozed calmness, which was perfect for my kids.
Nevio ignored the picture book that Nino held up and stared at the colorful tattoos on Nino’s arm, touching them with his small hands as if he thought they’d come alive under his fingertips. My heart swelled once more, and I turned quickly before I got too emotional.
I took a deep breath before I slipped into Remo’s bedroom. He was sitting back against the headboard, elevated by pillows. His upper body was naked, except for the many bandages covering his skin—the cuts my family had inflicted to avenge me.
He looked up from his iPad, and I took a hesitant step closer as I let the door shut.
His face pulled into a strange smile. “I’d never have thought that you would be the one to save me.”
I moved closer, half terrified, half excited, and stopped beside him. Remo’s dark eyes burned with emotions that set my heart aflame, but I shoved the sensations back. “I saved the father of my children so they would be safe.”
“My brothers would have protected them even if your family had killed me.”
I put a hand down beside him on the headboard, hovering over him. “Nobody will protect them like you will. You’ll go through fire for them.”
I didn’t ask. I knew it.
He raised his hand stiffly, most of his arm bandaged, and cupped the back of my head. I let him pull me down. “For them. For you,” he murmured, fiercely, harshly, angrily. His lips brushed mine, and my entire being melted. I fell as I had the first time he kissed. Shuddering, I drew back and straightened. This was too soon. I needed to figure things out between us.
He watched me with a bitter smile. For some reason, the sight tore at me. I leaned down and briefly brushed his lips with mine to show him that my withdrawal didn’t mean “never” only “later.”
I quickly stepped back and turned.
“Will you show them to me?” he asked quietly.
I looked over my shoulder. “Of course.”
I held Greta and Nevio tightly against my body as I nudged the door open. Then I stepped in. I was inexplicably nervous. My family had never looked at my children the way I regarded them, like they were something precious, a gift I wanted to cherish every single day. Remo’s eyes zeroed in on our babies as I moved closer, and he didn’t look away again, appearing almost stunned. I sat down beside him and carefully put Nevio down on his back next to Remo. Greta still clung to me tightly.
Remo’s expression held wonder, and when he raised his eyes to mine, they were softer than I’d ever seen them. He stretched out his bandaged arm and stroked his fingertip over Nevio’s chest reverently. Nevio being Nevio snatched up Remo’s finger and brought it to his mouth to chew on it with a toothless grin. Remo’s lips twitched. Then he raised his gaze to Greta, who’d turned her head to watch him curiously.
“She’s shy around most people,” I said. She’d always been like that, even when she was a tiny newborn.
I took his hand so she saw me doing it then brought it toward her. When she didn’t protest, I released Remo’s hand, and he caressed her back with his fingertips. He was so gentle and careful with her, I could feel a mix of happiness and wistfulness rise up in my throat. Greta watched him silently. Did she know he was her dad?
Tears ran down my cheeks. Remo stroking Greta’s back and having his finger chewed off by Nevio was the most beautiful sight I could imagine. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy,” I admitted, not caring that I was being emotional in front of Remo. This was no longer a battle of wills, a twisted game of chess. These stakes were too high.
Remo locked his gaze with mine. “I know I’ve never been happier.”
