Suddenly, I have all the strength in the world.
I pull her onto the bed, flush against my chest, and I capture her mouth with mine. The kiss is desperate and ravenous after days of thinking I would never taste her again. She kisses me back just as fiercely, her hands in my hair, her body pressing against mine like she’s trying to reassure herself that I’m alive.
When we break apart, we’re both gasping.
“Be mine.” The words spill out of me, urgent and demanding. “Marry me, Mina. The wedding we imagined. You in white lacein the garden. Me being Leon’s father. Let me wake up next to you every morning. Let me give you everything.”
Mina’s eyes search mine.
She’s still hesitating.
She’s going to say no.
“I need you to promise me something.” Her voice is steady despite the tears still wet on her cheeks. “You can’t ever do to Leon what you’ve done to me. No lies. No manipulation. You can’t lock him away or tie him up or frighten him. You will never beat him like your father beat you. I won’t let you hurt our baby.”
“I would never.” The words come out fiercely, my hands gripping her arms. “My craziness is just for you, Mina. It’s always been just for you. I’m going to be a good father to Leon. A better father than mine was to me. I want to give him everything I never had. Love. Safety. A father who doesn’t make him afraid.”
She searches my face, looking for the darkness that will betray my words.
“And you have to tell me things,” she continues. “The Lucanias. The Sokolis. You made those sacrifices for us, and I didn’t even know. If I’m going to be your wife, if Leon is going to be a Montoni, I need to know what that means. All of it.”
“I’ll tell you as much as you want to know. I’ll tell you everything. Mina, it would mean the world to me to share everything with you.”
Her face softens, but hardens again a moment later. “I’m warning you, Cristiano,” she threatens, and there’s steel in her voice now. A ferocity that only mothers have about their babies. “If you ever hurt Leon, if you ever frighten him and make him feel the way you made me feel in that wardrobe or tied up by your belt, I will kill you. I’ll ask Sofia to teach me one of the seven ways she knows to gut a man, and I will end you myself.”
A moan escapes me. Broken and relieved and so full of love I think it might kill me.
“Mina. My love. If I ever do such a terrible thing, I’ll hand you the knife.”
“I mean it.”
“I mean it too. Every word.”
Mina’s fierceness fades into hope and wonder. A beautiful golden softness. “You can forgive me after nearly killing you? We’re really doing this? You and me, after all this time?”
My lips seek hers, kissing her with urgency. “Yes.Yes. Mina, be mine. There’s nothing to forgive. Give me your heart, and I’ll give you my life.”
“You already have my heart.” Fresh tears spill down her cheeks, but she’s smiling. “You’ve had it since we were children. You’ve always had it, Cristiano.”
Triumph sings through my body. I roll her beneath me despite the protest of every muscle in my body. There’s an IV taped to my arm, and I rip it out without looking, ignoring the sharp sting and the warm trickle of blood.
“Cristiano!” Mina gasps. “You need that—”
“I need you.” I pin her wrists above her head with one hand. “I’ve needed you for days while I stood in the rain. For five years while I was gone. For my entire life, Mina. I need you more than anything.”
I kiss her throat, her collarbones, working my way down. She arches beneath me, her breath coming faster.
“I need to taste you.” I’m already pulling at her clothes, desperate to feel her skin against mine. “I need to be inside you. I need to claim every part of you.”
I strip her clothes away piece by piece, my hands moving with urgency. When she’s finally bare beneath me, I just stare at her.
Mine.
Finally, completely, undeniably mine.
I kiss her breasts, taking each nipple into my mouth and worrying it with my teeth until she’s gasping. Then lower, across the soft plane of her stomach, and lower still. She parts her legs for me.
“I want to worship you,” I murmur against her skin. “Let me show you what you mean to me.”
