"I know." I held him tighter. "And I'm choosing you too. Every day. Every moment. Whatever comes next."
We lay like that for a long time. The adrenaline from the club fading. The intensity of sex giving way to quiet intimacy.
Stefan's breathing gradually slowed. His body relaxed completely against mine.
"I never thought I'd feel safe with someone like you," he murmured, half-asleep already. "Someone dangerous. Someone who kidnapped me. Someone who's everything I should run from."
"And yet here you are."
"Here I am." His arms tightened around me. "Choosing the dangerous man. Choosing to be claimed. Choosing to stay even though it's probably insane."
"Probably," I agreed.
"I don't regret it though." His voice was barely a whisper now. "Any of it. Even the parts that scare me."
"Good. Because I'm not letting you go."
"I know. That should terrify me."
"But it doesn't?"
"No." He pressed his face against my chest. "It makes me feel wanted. And I've never felt that before. Not really. Not like this."
My chest felt tight.
Stefan had spent his whole life being used. Being treated like property. Being valued only for his appearance and utility to others.
And now he was with me—someone who'd literally kidnapped him. Someone possessive and obsessive and probably unhealthy in a dozen different ways.
But I'd also given him something no one else had. Choice. Agency. The ability to leave if he wanted to. And the certainty that if he stayed, I'd protect him with everything I had.
Maybe that made this less fucked up. Or maybe it just made it differently fucked up.
Either way, Stefan was mine. And I was his.
And we'd figure out the rest together.
I'd claimed Stefan Romano publicly. Made him mine in front of witnesses. Ensured that every family in New York would know by tomorrow that Giuseppe's son had chosen his enemies.
It would have consequences. Giuseppe would retaliate somehow. The other families would make judgments. The FBI might get interested in why Stefan had disappeared only to reappear with the Vitales.
But I didn't care.
Stefan was worth it. Worth the complications. Worth the wars. Worth every consequence that came from claiming him.
I pulled him closer and closed my eyes.
Tomorrow we'd deal with reality. With Giuseppe and the FBI and the trial and every other problem waiting for us.
But tonight, Stefan was safe in my arms. Sated and mine.
"Matteo?" His voice was quiet.
"Yeah?"
"Am I making a mistake? Letting you claim me like this? Letting you define who I am to the world?"
I was quiet for a moment. Choosing my words carefully.
