“I’m sorry.”
I pressed a hand to my mouth. I had never heard Santino apologize like that, raw, genuine.
“I did this to him,” Santino continued. “Sergio. I shot him in the face because I wanted her. I turned him into that broken thing. I’m sorry for what it cost you. For what it cost all of us.”
Leo was quiet for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was heavy.
“I killed your twin. I killed your father tonight. And now I’ve put a bullet in the man who stood at my side for years.” A tired sigh. “Sergio was a good soldier once. What he became… I’ll accept it. His tragic end. His sacrifice. If it means you and Aurora get to be happy. If it means my wife doesn’t lose her sister.”
I heard the sound of hands clasping, firm, respectful.
“For family,” Leo said.
“For family,” Santino echoed.
When Santino returned to the bedroom, I was waiting for him, standing in the middle of the room wrapped in his oversized robe. He saw me and stopped for a moment, his dark eyes softening in a way that still made my heart stutter.
He crossed the space between us in three strides and pulled me into his arms without a word. I held him tight, breathing him in, smoke, blood, and that familiar dark spice that was purely Santino.
“You apologized,” I whispered against his chest, still a little stunned.
He stroked my hair, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Some things needed to be said. The blood between us… it ends here. For you. For our child.”
I looked up at him, tears glistening in my eyes. “I love you. All of you. Even the parts that scare me.”
He kissed me softly at first, almost reverently, then deeper, pouring everything he couldn’t say into the press of his lips. When he pulled back, his forehead rested against mine.
“You’re mine, little troublemaker,” he murmured, voice rough with emotion. “And I’m yours. I’d burn the world down again if it meant keeping you safe. Both of you.”
We stayed like that for a long moment, just holding each other. Then Santino scooped me up and carried me back to bed. He laid me down gently, as if I were something precious, and stretched out beside me, pulling the covers over us both. His hand returned to my stomach, warm and protective, thumb tracing slow circles over the place where our baby grew.
The room was quiet except for the steady rhythm of our breathing. For the first time in what felt like forever, there was peace.
“I almost lost you,” he whispered into the darkness, his voice cracking slightly. “When I found you in that tub… I’ve never been so scared in my life. Not even when I lost Angelo.”
I turned toward him, cupping his face with both hands. “You didn’t lose me. I’m right here. And I’m not going anywhere.”
His eyes darkened with heat and something deeper, love, raw and all-consuming. He kissed me again, slow and lingering, his hands sliding under the robe to caress my skin. Every touch was worshipful, reverent, as if he was memorizing me all over again.
“You’re carrying my child,” he murmured against my lips, voice husky. “My beautiful, fierce wife. I don’t deserve you. But I’m going to spend every day trying to.”
His mouth moved lower, trailing kisses down my throat, across my collarbone, then lower still. He pushed the robe open, exposing my body to his hungry gaze. His hand splayed possessively over my stomach before moving lower, teasing between my thighs until I was gasping his name.
“Santino…”
“I’ve got you,” he whispered, settling between my legs. He entered me slowly, carefully, eyes locked on mine the entiretime. “Let me love you, Aurora. Let me show you how much you mean to me.”
The rhythm was slow and deep, filled with emotion rather than just raw need. Every thrust was accompanied by whispered promises, how he would protect me, how he would cherish our child, how he would never let the darkness of our world touch us again. I wrapped my legs around him, pulling him closer, losing myself in the feeling of being completely, utterly his.
We moved together in perfect sync, sweet and spicy and full of love. His hands explored every inch of me, gentle where I was still bruised, firm where I needed him most. When I came apart beneath him, crying out his name, he followed soon after, burying his face in my neck as he spilled inside me with a low, broken groan.
Afterward, he didn’t pull away. He stayed buried deep, holding me close as our heartbeats gradually slowed. His fingers traced lazy patterns on my skin while he pressed soft kisses to my shoulder, my jaw, my lips.
“I love you,” he said quietly, the words sounding almost foreign on his tongue but so very real. “Not just the obsession. Not just the possession. You, Aurora. The woman who challenged me in a devil mask. The woman who makes me want to be better. The mother of my child.”
Tears slipped down my cheeks again, but they were happy ones. I kissed him softly, pouring my heart into it.
“I love you too. My devil. My husband. My everything.”
