Page 573 of Reign

“I didn’t lose him.”

“No,” Rafael says, holding me upright. “You didn’t.”

Anything with the power to take you away from me does not get to exist without me standing between you and it.

Luciano stood between me and the crash.

Between me and those men.

Between me and every bullet meant to take me away from him.

Then, bleeding and unable to walk, he crawled back because he promised he would.

He came back.

Luciano always comes back.

Chapter 76

Epilogue

Six Months Later

Luciano

Elena presses another kiss to the scar on my upper arm.

The Florida sun has already warmed the courtyard, although it’s still early. Palm fronds move lazily beyond the garden walls, and the scent of salt reaches us whenever the breeze crosses the pool.

My wife kneels between my legs on the wide submerged ledge, the water moving around her hips.

She’s so fucking beautiful.

Elena is wearing a white bikini she designed and styled herself. An Elena Hope original, as she proudly informed me when she walked outside this morning.

Then she turned around.

Apparently, my wife decided a thong was the appropriate amount of fabric for a morning by the pool.

Every man assigned to the rear of the estate has since been relocated to the front gates or outer perimeter. No one is permitted beyond the house until Elena puts on something that covers more of her ass.

She believes I’m being unreasonable.

I believe the white against her skin may eventually kill me.

Elena kisses the scar again.

“Princesa.”

“What?”

Her mouth forms a small pout.

Elena Castillo rarely pouts. Her sharp eyes and sharper expressions usually warn everyone around her that she has already decided she’s right.

The pout softens all of it.

I fucking love when she does it.