I’d lost Livia to a world that devoured innocence. I wouldn’t lose Sophie.
Not to fear. Not to the past. Not to the ghosts of who I used to be.
CHAPTER 14
Sophie
The morning light, soft and golden, spilled through the sheer curtains, casting warm stripes across the bed. I lay curled against Vittorio’s chest, my ear pressed to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. That sound—so constant, so strong—had become my anchor. A reminder that we were safe. ThatIwas safe.
For the first time since being dragged into this world of shadows and violence, I felt something unfamiliar settle in my chest.
Peace.
“It’s really over,” I whispered, barely daring to say it aloud. “He’s gone.”
Vittorio’s fingers traced slow, lazy circles along my spine. “Yes,” he murmured. “It’s done.”
We stayed like that for a while, wrapped in silence. The weight of Antonio’s presence was no longer suffocating me. No more watchingmy back. No more waiting for the next threat. The man who’d terrorized my life was gone—killed by the very hands I now rested against. Vittorio had ended it. For me.
I propped myself up on one elbow, my red hair tumbling over my shoulder as I looked down at him. The morning light softened his sharp features, making him look almost innocent. Almost. But it was his eyes—those piercing ice-blue eyes—that caught me. There was something raw in them. Vulnerable, even.
“What happens now?” I asked, my voice quiet, uncertain.
"Now we live," he said simply. "No more looking over our shoulders for Antonio's next move. No more wondering if today is the day everything falls apart." His hand found mine. "For the first time in years, we can actually plan a future instead of just surviving day to day. I want to be present for this pregnancy, for our child's birth, for their first steps. I want to be the kind of father I never had." His voice softened.
Our child.
The words were still surreal, even as I placed a hand on my stomach. There was no bump. No fluttering. Just the knowledge that something precious had taken root inside me. A secret promise growing in silence.
"Do you really think you can change it?" I asked, the doubt bleeding into every word. "Three generations of violence, of blood feuds and betrayals. Can you really transform all of that?”
Vittorio sat up slowly, graceful and unshakable, still wearing his rumpled suit from the night before.
He cupped my face, his hands warm, grounding. “I helped build this world,” he said, voice low. “I’m the don now. I can rebuild it—one where our child doesn’t have to live in fear.”
I swallowed hard, emotion rising like a tide. “Is that why you want me? Because of the baby?”
His grip tightened, just enough to make me meet his eyes. “No,” he said firmly. “The baby is a miracle I didn’t deserve. Butyou—you were always more than that. You walked into my life and refused to bow. You challenged me. You survived me. How could I not want a woman like that at my side?”
My heart slammed against my ribs, wild and aching. No one had ever looked at me like this. Like I was strong. Like I was worth keeping.
“I choose you,” I said, voice steady even as everything inside me quaked. “Not because you saved me. Not because you’re the father of my child. But because Iwantyou.”
Something dark and primal flashed in his eyes. He leaned in, brushing his lips over mine—tender and claiming all at once. I melted into the kiss, my fingers threading through his hair, tugging him closer as his tongue teased mine, slow and possessive.
He pulled back just far enough to speak, his breath hot on my lips. “Prove it.”
I didn’t hesitate.
I swung a leg over his waist, straddling him, my body flush with his. He was already hard beneath me, and I couldn't stop the gasp that escaped as I ground against him. His hands slid down my back and grabbed my hips, pulling me closer, dragging a moan from deep in my throat.
He rested his hand low on my abdomen without a word, the gesture possessive and tender all at once. A silent acknowledgment of the life growing inside me.
A surge of need rushed through me—sharp and undeniable. I reached up and traced the hard angles of his jaw, needing him closer.When I pulled him up, our lips collided in a kiss that was all hunger and heat—weeks of tension breaking loose in a single breathless moment.
He rolled us over, pinning me beneath him, his body grounding me even as it set me on fire.
"You're mine," he growled against my neck, his breath ragged. "Not just because of the child. Because I want you. All of you."
