Something warm unfurls in my chest, a hope that I can’t stop. "Then why are you letting me? Why offer me freedom if you don't want me to take it?"
"Because I've hurt you. I failed to protect you when you needed me most. I sent you back to people who nearly killed you and our child. I don't deserve?—"
"Stop." I cut him off. "Don't tell me what you deserve or don't deserve. That's not your decision to make."
I sit up straighter, ignoring the pain that radiates through my body. "I'm tired of men deciding my fate for me. My father, my brother, even you—all of you thinking you know what's best without ever asking what I want."
“You told me what you want. You want to leave.”
“Only because you made it clear you can never trust me. That no matter what happens, you’ll look at me as a Vitale. Has that changed? Do you want things to be different between us?”
"Yes." The word seems to surprise him as much as me. "I want that more than I've wanted anything."
My heartbeat quickens. Maybe I am dreaming. "Then it's not too late. You haven't ruined anything that can't be repaired."
His expression remains guarded. "How can you say that after everything I've done? After I threw you out without even letting you explain?"
"Because I love you."
His breath hitches.
"I don't want to leave. I don't want our child growing up without knowing their father. But I can't stay if I'm just an obligation to you or someone you'll always suspect of betrayal the moment something goes wrong."
Alessandro brings my hand to his lips, kissing my palm. “You could never be just an obligation to me, Isabella." He takes a breath like he’s working up courage. "I love you. I've never said those words to any woman before. I’ve never felt them. But I feel them for you."
Right now, I’m glad for the pain because it tells me I’m alive, I’m awake. This is real.
"I was raised to see love as weakness, something that makes you vulnerable, something enemies can exploit. But seeing you like this, knowing how close I came to losing you forever, I realize the real weakness was my fear of trusting you."
"Alessandro.”
"I'm so sorry.” He leans forward, pressing his forehead against mine. "I swear I will never doubt you again. I will spend the rest of my life making this right." His hand moves to rest protectively over my stomach. "You and this baby are everything to me."
I press my lips to his. "I love you.”
His arms come around me, careful of my injuries. In his embrace, I finally feel what I've been searching for my entire life. Belonging. Home.
34
ALESSANDRO
I watch Isabella finally drift to sleep, one hand resting on her belly, already behaving like a mother.
The sight fills me with emotion I've never experienced before, a primal fear that makes every other threat I've faced pale in comparison. The terror of losing something more important than my life itself.
My father taught me to eliminate fear, to see it as weakness. But as I watch my wife sleep, our unborn child safely within her, I understand that this fear doesn't weaken me. It fuels a resolve to make sure she and the child have everything they want and need. Love. Safety. Happiness. Even if I have to give my life to achieve it.
I ease myself onto the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb her. I brush a strand of hair from her face. Her skin is still too pale, her wounds too red. I did this. Even if I live a hundred years, it won’t be enough time to make up for this.
Her eyes flutter open. “Are you leaving?”
I lean down, pressing my lips to her lips and then her stomach. "I'm going to make sure no one ever threatens you or our child again."
Her fingers thread through my hair, holding me there for a moment. "Alessandro, please be careful. If anything happened to you?—"
"Nothing will happen," I say with the certainty I've always projected, even when I didn't feel it. But this time, the conviction runs bone-deep. "I'm not leaving our child fatherless or you a widow." I cup her face in my hands. "Rest now. When you wake, this will all be over."
The kiss I place on her lips is my promise.
