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I pick up the thick piece of paper and read the first line scribed across the front.
“I might have ruined your body for another man, but you’ve torn my heart from my chest.”
The sweet words make me smile though I wish he was telling them to me himself.
I don’t know what makes me flip the card over, but when I do I find another line that makes my heart swell with love for my mafia daddy.
“Keep my heart close and protect it with your love, my sweet Lili. You are its keeper now and forever.”
Tears well in my eyes. Sun glints off something shiny and it draws my eyes to my hand. Sitting on my ring finger is a diamond ring on top of a gold band. He must have slipped it on while I slept.
“Oh, Bastian. Where are you?”
“Right here, my sweet Lili.”
I gasp and lunge off the bed. I get halfway to him before I stumble to a stop.
I take in his disheveled look. The blood on his hands. The worn look in his eyes. Bullet holes catch light. One through the side of his pant leg and the other through his freaking collar.
I swallow. I don’t have to ask what happened.
“Con, James and Arthur?” I hold my breath. I can’t lose anymore people. Maddox will forever be missed. His brothers mean more to me than just friends. They are my family. My hands tremble. My heart…oh, God! It won’t stop racing. I shake my hands to force them to stop trembling but it’s not working.
“Alive, my Lili. Wounded and asking for you. But alive. And you are safe. The Accandis’ family rule is over. You are no longer in danger.”
Tears stream down my cheeks. I fall into Bastian’s open arms and give up a silent prayer of thanks.
“It’s over, Lili. It’s over.” Bastian rests his chin on the top of my head and his relief bleeds through his words and into me.
A million questions enter my mind but I know it’s better to leave all the death and destruction for level twelve. Here, in our home, is a safe place.
“I believe you, daddy. I trust you and from here on out I want only love and light for us.”
He takes my lips in a claiming kiss and I feel consumed by a man who thinks he ruined me, But in reality he completes me.
EPILOGUE ONE
LILI, ONE YEAR LATER
We’ve tried to get pregnant nearly every night for the last year. It hasn’t happened yet, but I know it will. I’ve been stressed over finishing law school so that has to be playing havoc with my system.
And frankly, daddy has been just as stressed. He’s dealing with a lot of restructuring inside his criminal empire, as I like to call it. And my mother? Though he divorced her long before we became romantic, she’s back to create chaos for both of us. If it’s not drug money she’s after, she needs bailed out of jail. I don’t know where she went wrong in life, but I hope she can find peace at some point. Like I’ve told Bastian, it’s no surprise she’s disgusted by our relationship, but it hurts all the same. I’ve come to terms with not having her in my life a long time ago. It was her choice and not mine, but we keep trying to get her help. It’s all we can do.
When I finally do become a mother, I’ll pass on the many wonderful life lessons she taught me. Before the drug habit kicked in. Everything else will be the truths I have to teach.
Life doesn’t give you love. Fight for it and take it with both hands. And once you have it, fight for it every day after that. I never saw myself engaged to a kingpin, yet here I am.
And to fight for yourself because no one else will. At first anyway.
But tonight we both get to put all that aside. For a few hours anyway. I stare at the new jewelry I picked out for daddy a couple of days ago. Gold catches on the light and so do the pretty heart-shaped diamonds.
I smile. He’s going to love them.
I graduated from law school yesterday and he’s taking me out to Club Genesis to meet all his partners. And then afterward we’re hitting up Club Sin for a show. That’s when I get to reveal his gift.
Okay, so it’s for me. But I know he’ll like it just as much.
I fix my strapless dress over my breasts to where my cleavage will tease him all night until the big reveal comes.
