“Yeah, buddy?”
“I’m glad you’re my dad.”
“Best job I’ve ever had,bambino,” Alessio’s voice catches slightly on the words.
Austin’s eyes drift closed, his breathing evening out into the deep rhythm of healing sleep. We stand there in the dim hospital room, watching our son’s chest rise and fall with perfect regularity.
When Alessio finally looks at me, something fundamental has shifted in his expression. Something that looks like forever.
“I love you, Nina.” His voice is rough with emotion.
I study this man who saved my son’s life, who cleared my name, who gave us both a future we never dared imagine. The mafia capo who makes me coffee in the morning and reads bedtime stories at night. The dangerous man who holds my broken pieces like they’re precious.
“I love you, too.” The words feel inadequate for everything he means to me. “You gave me back my ability to hope, to trust, to believe I deserve good things. You gave Austin a father who will never abandon him and me a partner who sees my strength instead of my scars. You saved us in every way that matters.”
He reaches across our sleeping son to take my other hand, his fingers warm and certain around mine. In the quiet of the hospital room, with Austin breathing steadily between us and machines beeping their reassuring rhythm, it feels like the beginning of something unbreakable.
I’ve always known some things are worth fighting for—Austin proved that to me every day. But I never believed I was worth someone else’s fight. Now I know better. Some people are worth trusting with your whole heart.
And sometimes, if you’re very lucky, they fight just as hard to keep you.
40
ALESSIO
I missedthe fun with the professor, but I can’t say I regret it.
While Luca and Matteo were busy extracting information from that piece of shit, I was doing something more important—taking care of my family.
The last few days have been a blur. Rescuing Nina and Austin, getting Austin through heart surgery, and now watching him bounce back like the tough little fighter he is.
Turns out we were right about the Bratva being behind Lightning. The professor cracked under Matteo’s persuasion and spilled everything. Where they’re making it, how they’re distributing it, the whole operation. Now the bastard’s dead, and Matteo’s at the old firehouse they’ve been using as a lab, ready to burn it to the ground.
Destroy the lab, destroy the product, and hit the Bratva in the wallet.
I wasn’t planning to be there for the barbecue. Watching things explode is always entertaining, but my priorities have shifted.Austin’s recovering, Nina needs me, and even hunting down that cockroach Richie has taken a backseat.
Apparently, the universe has a sense of humor.
I’m heading out to grab Austin’s favorite ice cream when something catches my eye. A black sedan parked down the block that doesn’t belong in this neighborhood. I’ve memorized every car on this street since Nina and Austin moved in with me.
Paranoia is a survival skill in my line of work, so instead of going to my car, I circle around behind the sedan. When I get close enough to see through the driver’s window, I nearly laugh out loud.
Richie fucking Newell.
Well, well.Christmas came early this year. Sitting there like he’s on some kind of amateur surveillance mission.
This moron actually thinks he can stake out my building after kidnapping my family? The balls on this guy are almost impressive. Almost.
I slip into the backseat before he knows what’s happening, pressing my Glock to his temple. His whole body goes rigid, and I can smell the fear-sweat immediately.
“Drive,” I say, my voice deadly calm.
“What the hell?—”
“Drive, or I redecorate your windshield with brain matter. Your choice.”
He drives. His hands shake on the steering wheel, and the stench of terror fills the car. Good. He should be scared. Austin wasscared too when this piece of shit dragged him into that cellar. My finger tightens on the trigger.
