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That look said everything. Thank you and I’m sorry were the biggest, and I had to drop my eyes to the cross near my pillow so I wouldn’t focus on her too much. If I thought too long about what she had to endure—a family who’d sold her to Miguel, and Miguel, who obviously didn’t love her and probably treated her like shit behind closed doors—I’d get too emotional.
Because she was like me, in a way.
“I’ll leave you be,” she whispered, and then she gave me a soft smile before shuffling out of the room.
My hand gripped the golden cross, and I moved it to my chest, cradling it against my bare skin. Father Charlie never would’ve wanted vengeance, but that’s where he and I were different. He could forgive, but while I might’ve been his daughter by blood, I was still raised as a mafia princess, and any wronged mafia princess would only settle for a pound of flesh. Tit for tat. The punishment needed to fit the crime.
I was not God. I did not forgive. I had the feeling, though, if God was real, he wanted nothing to do with Miguel.
I did not know how long I lay there, by myself, but it wasn’t too long before someone else came in the room. He crawled on the bed next to me and placed a kiss on my cheek.
Zander.
“How you holding up?” he asked.
“I’m okay.” And I was. I was okay now, and I’d be better tomorrow. I’d be even better once we got rid of Rocco Moretti and washed our hands of this whole thing. “Sorry you had to miss it.”
“Don’t be. I was glad to help out, even if I couldn’t see you kill the bastard.” He lay next to me on the bed, his head beside mine on the pillow. “Gianna’s taking this all pretty well. A lot better than I thought she would. Think we can trust her?”
My gut told me the affirmative, so I said, “Yeah, I think we can.”
“It’s probably good you took her place in the wedding. I think the stress of it all would’ve made her pop—”
“Who’s popping?” Another voice asked from the doorway. A quick glance told me it was Luca. He wandered over to us and joined us on the bed, though he took the space behind me.
Zander frowned. “Can you give us a moment, Luca? We’re kind of having a one-on-one here.” His displeasure at being interrupted by Luca was plain, and even though his jealousy usually annoyed me, this time it made me smile.
“Actually, I don’t think I will,” Luca chimed in. “Did you forget she’s still technically my wife?”
A deep voice spoke from the hall, “Is she, though, if she never signed the papers herself?”
Luca sat up a bit behind me, gesturing for the man in the hall to come in. “Cade, my man. Come join us—” When he said that, Zander groaned. “—and ignore Zander. Sorry, man, you’ll just have to have your one-on-one with her later.”
“And how the fuck am I supposed to join you?” Cade harrumphed, folding his arms over his chest as he walked into the bedroom and approached the bed. “There ain’t exactly lots of room with you three crowding the bed like that.”
“All the more room for me,” Damian said, appearing out of nowhere. He pushed around Cade, making the tall man scowl in the process, and crawled onto the bed with us. He cuddled right up against Zander’s back, much to the latter’s chagrin.
“Dude!” Zander hissed. “Get off!”
“What? Superman’s right. There ain’t much room. I think you’ll need to get one of those big beds, if you ever want to have a sleepover with all of us—” Damian started, sounding thoughtful. “You know what? Let’s look right now. You got the Santos fortune now, baby girl. That means whatever you want, you shall have.” He pulled out his phone to look… while still laying against Zander’s back.
From his position standing at the foot of the bed, Cade muttered, “Sounds like you want it more than her.”
“What?” Damian asked. “Is it too much to want us all to get along? I mean, if we’re going to be sharing our girl on a nightly basis, don’t you think we should have a roomier bed?”
Ezekiel, the last missing piece of the puzzle of my heart, strode into the room and stopped when he stood near Cade. “He is right,” he added his two cents. “A queen bed is awfully small for more than two people.”
“Ooh, is the priest gonna get freaky?” Damian asked, and though I couldn’t see him, I’d bet anything he was grinning. “I can’t wait to see that shit. I want a front row seat to that.”
“Whatever,” Zander huffed. “As long as I ain’t being spooned by anyone… like I am now.”
“Awe, being the little spoon ain’t so bad,” Damian mused. “Just close your eyes and give in.”
“I’m not giving in to anything—”
As the guys talked, as they joked, I couldn’t fight the smile that formed on my face as I listened to them. Zander, Luca, Damian, Cade, and Ezekiel. None of whom I should be with, none of whom I should’ve fallen for, but fate had other things in store for me.
To think, there used to be a time when I couldn’t stand the thought of a man’s touch, and now I was in love with not one, not two, but five different men. They really did complete me. I didn’t know what I’d do, where I’d be without them.
