Gemma’s disgusted voice penetrated the thick cloud of lust surrounding us, and Enzo turned to his sister.
“Hey—” His eyes bulged when they landed on the bump at her midsection. “Holy shit, you’re huge! You sure there’s only one in there?”
With the back of my hand, I smacked his stomach. “Rude.”
Unfazed, Gemma waved off my hissed admonishment. “After thirty-six years, I’m used to my little brother’s lack of filter.”
Her casual statement revealed two pieces of personal information about my husband that I hadn’t known before. One, that Enzo was thirty-six. And two, that he was younger than his sister.
“You’re the baby, huh?” I teased my husband.
His head tilted from side to side. What I’d come to learn was his signature smirk tipped up one corner of his lips. “The four of us cousins were raised together, and I’m the second oldest, so I fall more into the shit-stirring middle child category.”
“You can say that again.” Matteo joined us, looping his arms around Summer’s waist. “Didn’t realize what a pain in the ass he was until I was forced to suffer through his presence on a daily basis as an adult.”
“You love me,” Enzo tossed back.
“Our shared genetics mean I’m stuck with you,” Matteo retorted. “There’s a big difference.”
Enzo returned his attention to his sister and her exceptionally large belly. “It’s gotta be a boy.”
Gemma’s back went ramrod straight, which I hadn’t thought possible in her condition. “If it is, this family’s not getting their hands on him.”
“Whoa, take it easy.” Enzo reared back, holding both hands in the air at his sister’s defensive tone. “Nobody’s coming for your kid, Gem.”
She pressed a palm to her forehead, shaking her head as if to clear it. “Sorry, I’m stressed out to the max being shadowed by guards 24/7. Throw in the pregnancy hormones and Sasha starting to travel with the team again on top of that, and I’m a mess.”
Guards? I knew why I had constant security, but what had Gemma done to require it?
Softening, my husband squeezed his sister’s free hand. “We’re gonna find him.”
Find who?
She blinked furiously, her voice wavering. “You’ve been saying that for the past ten months.”
Enzo tugged on the back of his neck. “I know.”
“I left Chicago to get away from all this shit, and it still followed me. Haven’t I been through enough? Is it too much to ask that I get to live the rest of my life in peace?”
“I’m doing everything in my power to make that possible for you, for Sasha, and for that baby. I swear I won’t rest until we make him pay for everything he’s done.”
My status as an interloper was never more apparent as I sat there completely clueless as to what they were talking about. From what I could surmise, something traumatic had happened to Gemma, her husband, orperhaps both of them, and the person responsible was still at large, which left my sister-in-law terrified.
Was that what I could expect from life now that I was Bellini bound? Having a target on my back simply by virtue of my last name? Would I forever be looking over my shoulder, on high alert, anticipating an attack?
Gemma excused herself to use the restroom, citing that the baby was using her bladder as a trampoline, but the red-rimmed eyes she sported upon her return gave away that she’d used the private moment to get in a good cry without an audience.
Even though I wasn’t privy to the situation that made her so upset, my heart went out to Gemma. Over the past few months, I’d become intimately acquainted with the feeling of having your life spiral out of control while you were powerless to stop it—almost like being strapped into a rollercoaster against your will and screaming at the top of your lungs for someone, anyone, to let you off—and I didn’t wish that on anyone.
When the second period began, Enzo elected to remain standing, his arms bracketing me from behind. He was tall enough to view the action over my head, even as I sat on the elevated stool-type seating.
But it became apparent he wasn’t very interested in watching the game when he began rubbing a thumb over the knuckles of my left hand. The rhythmic motion drew my attention to the massive diamond that now graced the fourth finger. I’d found it, along with the matching wedding band I also wore, on my nightstand the morning after Enzo’s possessive tantrum at Euphoria. Considering he’d also taken my virginity that night, thus consummating our marriage, it seemed only fitting that immediately afterward I would be gifted a—properly fitting—symbol that I belonged to him, legally and in every other way that mattered.
A rumble vibrated through his chest as his touch skated over the center stone. “I like this.”
My heart thrashed against my ribcage, and my reply came out breathless. “I should hope so, since I’m assuming you picked it out.”
“Not what I meant.” His lips brushed the shell of my ear with every word. “I like that there isn’t a single man in this room—fuck, this whole arena—who doesn’t know you’re mine.”
