The girls burst out laughing.
Nico looks into my eyes, impossibly soft and affectionate, and I know, in my heart, that I’ve never stopped loving him for a second, not for the whole seven years we were apart.
“Yes,mia regina,” he whispers into my ear as he presses a kiss to the side of my head. “Let’s go home. All of us.”
All of us.Him, me, and Noah.
Our family—finally whole.
The aftermath is handledthe way mafia aftermaths always are: discreetly enough that you start to wonder if you dreamed the whole thing.
The news never reports what happened at the docks. No investigations are opened. The bodies of the Pavlov men disappear overnight, and the fish look really smug and chubby come morning.
The Pavlov organization collapses so fast it’s like it never existed. Only one of them, Georg Pavlov, is still alive, but going by what Nico’s friend Giovanni says, that won’t last long. Apparently, he’s holding someone very dear to Amber hostage, and they have a plan to free her.
I have no doubt they will succeed.
And, as New York slowly goes back to normal, the message spreads through the city without anyone saying it out loud.
The Bronx Don does not forget.
And he sure as fuck does not forgive.
I recoverunder Nico’s roof.
Noah sleeps down the hall with two guards outside his door. I hate it at first. The idea of strangers standing watch over my child feels wrong in a hundred ways.
But the alternative is worse.
So, I learn to live with it.
Notte Bianca doesn’t survive the chaos. Too many bad reviews. Too many nights of terrible service while half the staff was otherwise occupied.
The place shuts down within weeks.
Everyone is sad in a way. But, we’re also not surprised.
“That place was horribly run,” I admit one afternoon while we’re all sitting in Nico’s living room.
Savannah laughs. “The Bernardi family was the worst.”
“I loved it, though,” I say quietly. “I wish I could have it back. Only without the awful bosses.”
Nico says nothing.
Which should have been my first clue.
The next evening,he blindfolds me.
“Not to be rude, but I think I’d like this better in the bedroom,” I say as he guides me out of the car.
“Do you trust me?”
My heart skips a beat. “Always,” I whisper.
His hand stays firmly at the small of my back as he leads me forward.
When he finally removes the blindfold?—
