Page 185 of Vexatious Queen

Donatella laughed, her smile warm. “Edmundo, it is so good to see you.”

Eddie held her hand as they kissed each other’s cheeks.

“It is wonderful to see you again. You’ve been very busy,” he said.

“I have to be to keep my best customers happy,” she said, and I made a note to look at what Genovese Enterprises purchased from the Saint Laurent fashion house. It had to be extensive for her to be willing to do this.

“You’ve already met Victoria, and this is Lilya.”

I shook the designer’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. You never disappoint, Edmundo. Your daughters are even more beautiful in person, and they will fit my theme perfectly. Come inside, we should get started so that you’re both ready for when the sun begins to set.”

Before Vicky could dart inside, I grabbed her, linking our fingers. She looked at me, but I didn’t say anything. I gave her a hopeful smile and squeezed my hand tighter, trying to get across what I was thinking and feeling. She hesitated, but then returned the gesture.

I didn’t want to take anything from Vicky. I never had. What I wanted was to stop shrinking myself so the world felt fairer to her. I wanted to stand fully as a Genovese without it seeming like a theft or cruelty.

Strength, I was learning, didn’t come from erasing someone else. It came from surviving the fire and choosing what to build with the ash.

My mother was gone, but I felt her everywhere in the way I kept going when it hurt, in the way I refused to rule through fear or bitterness. If she could see me now, I hoped she’d be proud. Not because I was powerful, but because I was still kind when it would have been easier not to be. Because I was learning how to carry a legacy without letting it hollow me out.

And maybe one day, when Vicky was ready, she’d see it too. Not as something taken from her, but as a path forward we could walk side by side—even if I had to reach that place first and wait for her to catch up.

MARCH 7 – SATURDAY 4:30 PM

Nash

“Fuck,” I growled against Ren’s neck as I came.

At this point, I could say I qualified for an unhealthy addiction to her.

We’d been up most of the night until she threatened to leave and sleep in another room. But the moment she’d walked out of the bathroom in that white shimmering dress that fit her like a second skin, I had to have her again.

Ren held me tight with her arms wrapped around my neck, her left leg hooked on my waist, and a sexy white heel on her dainty foot. My hand slid down her soft skin to her ankle, and I slowly lowered her to the floor.

“What’s gotten into you,” Ren asked, panting.

Her face flushed red, and her hair looked like what you’d expect after being fucked up against a wall. I kissed her swollen lips and breathed in the intoxicating fragrance that was all Ren. I’d come such a long way since the first day we met. She’d helped me grow whether she intended it or not, and now I was hopelessly in love with her.

Breaking the kiss, I touched our foreheads together.

“You. You’ve gotten into me.”

“Technically, I think it’s the other way around, considering…”

She looked down at my cock still firmly inside her body.

“True. Maybe we can skip this whole thing and stay locked up in here for the night.”

“This is the first birthday that I get to share with my dad. Besides, it will look rude if you don’t show. I know you don’t want that,” Ren said, and I sighed.

“Fine, but if I drag you out halfway through the night for a quickie in the closet, I don’t want any complaints or I’ll be walking around with a tent in my pants,” I said, pulling out and hating it.

“That sounds like a you problem, husband.”

I zipped my pants and leaned my hand against the wall beside Ren’s head.

“Trust me, I’ll make sure it’s a you problem all over the table.”