“At least we have solid leadership now and Florida is a lot more settled,” Ben says, joining us.
Gallo is a good man, and he’s doing a fantastic job steadying the ship. Thesoldatirespect him, and his underboss andconsigliereappointments are solid. Gallo is working closely with us to safeguard the territory and prepare for battle. I’m traveling to Miami once a month to help lay the groundwork, and so far, we’re making good progress.
“Cat will bust my balls if she hears us discussing business at your wedding,” my best man says, handing me a fresh beer as I set my empty down on the table.
“She’s right,” Joshua says, frowning at something over my head. “This isn’t the place or time.”
Ben clinks his bottle against mine. “Marriage suits you, Maltese.”
“Valentina suits me,” I reply, waggling my brows. “It wouldn’t have worked with anyone else. She grounds me, completes me.”
A gagging sound at my back has me looking around in time to spot Sofia disappearing out the door of the ballroom with Rowan Mazzone’s arm around her shoulders. Seconds later, Tullia bursts into tears and flees out the other door.
Fuck me.
Rowanis the younger man Sofia’s been fucking? They’ve both kept that very quiet. I hope Sierra didn’t see what I just saw. I don’t think she’d be happy. Her eldest is a few months shy of twenty-one, and Sofia just turned twenty-nine. Not that she’ll care much about the age difference. Rowan is an adult, capable of making his own choices. Sierra won’t like it because Sofia has a love ’em and leave ’em reputation that is deserved. She won’t like her son tangled up with my commitment-phobesister. I make a move to go after my little sister, but Zumo claims my eyes from across the room, shaking his head and striding toward the door Tullia just escaped through.
“Super sperm.” Caleb’s words drag me back into the conversation in time to watch Joshua glower at his twin.
“Knock it off, or I’ll knock you out,” Joshua says through gritted teeth. “It wasn’t funny the first time you said it, and it’s not funny now.”
Gia and Joshua had a little girl, Chiara Natalia Accardi, while Elisa and Caleb had a boy, Niccolo Alessandro Accardi. Caleb hasn’t stopped winding his twin up about having super sperm because he produced an heir the first time.
“You need to educate yourself, Caleb,” Gia says, looping her arm through her husband’s as she joins him from the dance floor. The ladies have been dancing up a storm for the past hour. She wipes the back of her hand across her clammy brow before glaring at her brother-in-law. “Everyone knows women are the stronger sex, and it’s Joshua who has the super sperm. You’re just insulting yourself every time you spout that crap.”
We all chuckle, and you won’t find any of us disagreeing. No man here—Caleb included—believes women are the weaker sex. Not when our wives have each of us wrapped around their pinkies.
“Don Maltese, it’s time to cut the cake,” the wedding planner says, giving me a pointed look.
Handing my beer to Massimo, I waggle my brows and smirk. “Duty calls.”
EPILOGUE 2
VALENTINA
“Happy, kitten?” Fiero asks, holding my hand over the large cake knife positioned on top of the bottom tier of our cake while our guests gather in front of us ready to take photos.
“Unbelievably so.” Leaning back, I kiss him, and tons of flashes go off. “This is the best day of my life. I love you.”
“Love you too, baby. You’re so incredibly beautiful today. I can’t believe you’re mine.”
I kiss him again even as I spy the wedding planner scowling in the background. Poor woman has been frazzled all day. I’ll talk to Fiero about giving her a bonus because she’s done an amazing job, and it’s been a stress-free day for both of us.
We cut the cake to cheers from our friends and families, posing for a few more photos before accepting slices of the sumptuous lemon and vanilla cake Natalia insisted on making for our big day.
It’s been a long time coming, but I’m glad we waited. Fiero was patient even though he wanted to do this way sooner, but I needed to focus on therapy, to process all my feelings from the things Dominic, Cruz, and Cesco had done to me and to come to terms with losingmy baby. I needed time to grieve for my son and find a way to make peace with it.
For years, I compartmentalized my emotions. It was the only way I could cope. But they came crashing down around me in the aftermath of my kidnapping and assault, and I could no longer avoid dealing with them.
Fiero was so supportive. I couldn’t have gotten through it without him. He was literally my rock, and I thank God every day for bringing him into my life. I’m living the dream now, and it’s all thanks to the man with his arms around me, digging his hard-on into my back.
“Feel that, baby?” he purrs in my ear. “I need you.”
“We have guests, and you fucked me in the car on the way here. You can wait another couple of hours.” I say it, but he won’t accept it. When it comes to me or sex with me, he’s as unreasonable as he’s always been. He’ll get his way one way or another. I can’t find it in me to protest. I love my husband just the way he is. I wouldn’t want him to change a single thing. My sisters are all in love with him, hoping they find someone as amazing as Fiero when it’s their turn to marry.
Thinking of the drive from the cathedral to here raises a smile to my lips. Fiero requested the privacy screen in the limo and then shoved his hands under the layers of my voluminous dress, pushing my underwear aside to impale me on his hard cock. It was hard and rough and everything I was craving. My pussy pulses in remembrance, my walls instantly soaking with a fresh wave of need.
I’m so hot for him and grateful for my compartmentalization skills that enable me to separate the things done to me against my will from my sex life with my husband. I never enjoyed sex until Fiero, which helped to keep them completely apart and ensure the trauma didn’t affect my relationship with the man who is my everything.
