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It's only been two days, but somehow, it feels like we already have a routine, and him breaking it is a betrayal.
I shake the crazy thought away and focus on Lucian, whose chestnut hair is almost falling into his eyes. I lean into his face and blow a raspberry at him. He does the same, and soon, we're giggling together.
"I'll change, and then we'll get on dinner. You go sit with Papi."
He wavers a minute between insisting on hanging with me before nodding and scrambling off the chair, his footsteps leading him outside to Daniel and my father.
I stand alone in the kitchen with my thoughts, then walk over to the window when I hear the ring of Lucian's laughter. He's back on the bike, his grandfather right beside him, egging him on.
I watch them, letting my tired shoulders drop. I want to hold onto this moment for a few more years to come. I want to watch my son from this window as he grows, but I know that's impossible already.
The engagement to Xander means sooner or later, Father won't be able to protect Lucian anymore on this expansive estate. I will someday need to move in with my husband, and my son will do it with me—our son, because there will be no doubt to anyone who knows Xander whose son he is.
"You look so fucking sad, Mel. I promise it's not all that bad."
I startle and turn back to the door. Daniel steps into the room and joins me at the window.
"Gianna called today. She'll be here before the week runs out. You'll have your fighter back," Daniel says.
I wince and then laugh aloud. Well, he's literally right. Gianna has been known to get into more than one scuffle, a few of them physical. I can definitely see her standing up to Xander.
I lift my hand to my hair, and the ring flashes in the late light of the setting sun. My heart constricts in my chest as though someone's taken a piece of string and gone to work on the organ.
"It's like a brand, like a possession. He knows I hate red. Why get it for me?" The words dance in the air and dissipate like mountain smoke up in the hills.
"You'll go crazy questioning how the man's mind works, Mel. And we need to talk."
8
XANDER
There’s nothing I hate more than working with guys who are shady as hell.
The one in front of me? The shadiest I’m willing to work with.
I know how it seems. Being the leader of an organized crime family myself, I’m not exactly one to talk. However, I have to say, there’s just something about a man who sticks to a moral code.
And, one who doesn’t.
The man I’m waiting for?
He wouldn’t know morals if they bit him in the ass.
Alec hitches his pants up and looks up at the cloudy sky. He rolls his eyes when a muffled clap of thunder rolls towards us. I tug my shirt away from my neck and wonder how long we'll need to stand around here before I lose my patience.
This is business, and I do not like to get involved with tawdry men.
"How much longer before you feel the need to hit something?" Alec grunts.
"Do not say a word to me, Alec."
Alec swivels towards me and drags his feet over to the fence. "Why do I have a feeling you're pissed about something entirely different?"
I puff out some air between my tight lips and keep my face turned up to the air that is slowly picking up. I feel it sift through my hair and bend my head gently forward so it sweeps across the back of my neck.
It doesn't offer me much of a relief.
I blink at the lack of space between us. "I have no idea what you mean, and take a step back Alec; you're not my fucking therapist."
