“The baby is still very tiny,” Cristiano explains. “Smaller than my thumb. But in a few months, you’ll be able to feel them kick.”
“Kick?” Leon’s face lights up. “The baby’s going to kick Mama?”
“From the inside,” I say. “To say hello.”
“That’s so cool.” Leon looks at Cristiano. “Did I do that too?”
“You did.” I smile at the memory. “You kicked all the time. Especially at night.”
Leon grins and turns back to his trucks. “I’m going to teach the baby to play trucks. And dinosaurs. And we can share my T-rex sometimes, but not all the time because he’s my favorite.”
Cristiano reaches over and squeezes my hand. He’s smiling wider than I’ve ever seen, and there’s relief and happiness swirling in my heart. That went better than I expected. I still have to tell Mom and Rosa, and that’s going to be difficult seeing as I just fled from Cristiano yet again, but in time,I hope they can accept us as family. Then there are all the dangerous problems because of Cristiano’s profession. The Lucania Vendetta. The torched Diamond Grand. Those are not problems that can be easily solved.
But for now, I just let myself be happy. Truly happy for the first time in a very long time. Leon is calling CristianoPapa. We have another baby on the way, and all of us are together. It doesn’t get much better than this.
“Thank you,” he mouths silently.
I squeeze his hand back, tears wetting my lashes and hope in my heart.
We sit there on the floor with Leon between us, building a city out of trucks, and it feels like everything is the way it should be.
24
Cristiano
The Diamond Grand is gone. Where my casino once stood, there’s nothing but rubble and twisted metal. The demolition crew has been working for weeks, clearing away the fire-damaged structure piece by piece. The acrid smell of burned wood and melted plastic still lingers in the air despite the fresh breeze.
I stand at the edge of the construction site, hard hat on my head, watching the excavator’s massive claw tear into what remains of the south wall. Every crash of concrete sends a small cloud of dust into the air. It’s strange, but every piece that falls feels like watching my father’s empire crumble.
Good riddance. I’m making my own mark on Malus.
The architect, a middle-aged woman named Stevie with sharp eyes and sharper questions, spreads the blueprints across the hood of her car. The new hotel and casino will be bigger and better than before.
“The foundation work can start as soon as the site’s cleared,” she says, her finger tracing the proposed blueprint. “We’re looking at eighteen months to completion if weather cooperates. The design you approved incorporates…”
I’m listening, but my attention splits when a black car pulls up to the perimeter fence. Mina is in the back. Nico and Paulo are in the front. Wherever she goes now, they go.
The back seat door opens, and Mina steps out, talking at the phone she’s holding in front of her face, her other hand resting protectively on the small swell of her belly.
My chest tightens with something that feels dangerously close to contentment.
She’s wearing a cream-colored coat that makes her dark hair look even richer, and she’s laughing at something on the phone. I can see her lips moving as she makes her way toward me.
“Yes, Mom, I promise we’ll be home before dinner. No, he doesn’t need another snack, he just had lunch. Tell him Papa will read him three stories tonight if he’s good for Grandma.”
Leon. She’s talking about our son.
Ourson.
The word still sends a fierce surge of possession through me every time I think it.
“Mr. Montoni?” Stevie’s voice pulls me back. “Did you want to discuss the penthouse level now?”
“Give me a moment.” I don’t wait for her response before I collect another hard hat and cross the gravel to Mina.
She sees me coming and her face lights up in a way that makes my heart stutter.
“Hi.” She tilts her face up for a kiss, and I give it to her, tasting her gloss. Then she turns the phone to me, and I see my son on the screen, held in his grandmother’s arms. “Leon, say hello to Papa.”
