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“It’s like looking at a baby version of you,” Nino said with a disbelieving look.
“Make sure they have everything they need. No matter what Serafina says she needs, you get it for her.”
Nino nodded. “She’s here to protect her children because the Outfit didn’t accept them. Not because of you.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I don’t care why she’s here. All that matters is that she is. I told you before, I don’t have a fucking heart that can be broken, or have you forgotten?”
Nino touched my shoulder lightly. “I know you better than anyone else, Remo. Or have you forgotten?”
“That’s why you’re so good at pissing me off.”
“Do you want me to get her?”
I nodded. I didn’t think I’d ever wanted anything more. I would have gone through days of torture, through weeks of it, to see Serafina. That she saved me? Fuck, I’d never considered it an option.
After she’d told me she wouldn’t give me her forgiveness, I’d resigned myself to the fact that she wanted me dead, that she wanted to see me suffer. I deserved it. There was no fucking question about it. I knew what I was.
There wasn’t anything white about me, very little gray, and a ton of black. And yet she was here.
She was here with our children.
I tried to imagine them, but I couldn’t. I’d never wanted kids, because I was certain I’d never find a woman who wouldn’t prove to be the same fucking failure my mother had been. I’d been certain that I’d break any woman, but Serafina was strong. She’d proven me wrong, had twisted my game until I felt like the loser, like the one who’d been checkmated.
SERAFINA
Nino walked into the living room where Kiara and I were sitting on a blanket with Nevio and Greta. Kiara was a natural with kids, and it was obvious how much she loved them. She held Nevio in her lap as she showed him a picture book. Greta sat in my lap, her tiny hand wrapped around my thumb and looking down at the book in my free hand.
I looked up at Nino but his eyes were on Kiara, who was smiling down at my son, practically glowing with happiness.
Slowly, he dragged his gaze up. “Remo just woke up.”
Without thinking, I got up with Greta clinging to me. I didn’t want my kids there when I first talked to Remo after he’d woken. I felt like we needed a moment before I could allow that.
I untangled Greta gently and laid her down on the blanket, then hesitated. Kiara looked up with a smile. “Nino and I can watch them while you talk to Remo.”
Nino moved closer but I stayed where I was. I couldn’t help it. This would be the first time I let them out of sight since our arrival. “Each of us would lay our life down for these kids,” Nino said. “You brought them here. They are Falcones. They are Remo’s kids. He burned for us. We will burn for them.”
I gave a small nod and took a step back. Greta’s eyes followed me. “Kiara, can you take Greta. She’s very shy around people she doesn’t know, especially men.”
Nino lowered himself beside Kiara and took Nevio from her. I tensed when Kiara reached for my daughter, expecting a crying fit, but Greta’s face scrunched up only briefly then smoothed when Kiara sang softly. I took another step back. Kiara beamed at Nino as he put Nevio down on his lap and pointed at the picture book. Nino oozed calmness, which was perfect for my kids.
Nevio ignored the picture book that Nino held up and stared at the colorful tattoos on Nino’s arm, touching them with his small hands as if he thought they’d come alive under his fingertips. My heart swelled once more, and I turned quickly before I got too emotional.
I took a deep breath before I slipped into Remo’s bedroom. He was sitting back against the headboard, elevated by pillows. His upper body was naked, except for the many bandages covering his skin—the cuts my family had inflicted to avenge me.
He looked up from his iPad, and I took a hesitant step closer as I let the door shut.
His face pulled into a strange smile. “I’d never have thought that you would be the one to save me.”
I moved closer, half terrified, half excited, and stopped beside him. Remo’s dark eyes burned with emotions that set my heart aflame, but I shoved the sensations back. “I saved the father of my children so they would be safe.”
“My brothers would have protected them even if your family had killed me.”
I put a hand down beside him on the headboard, hovering over him. “Nobody will protect them like you will. You’ll go through fire for them.”
I didn’t ask. I knew it.
