Page 70 of Sacred Blood

I sunk my ass to the floor and extended my torso putting my hands open-faced in supplication. My heart stopped clamoring in my chest as I released the controls for the first time in my life.

“Good girl. Now stand up and lay on the bed.”

I stood and lay on my back in the center of the bed, fully compliant.

Tano removed each shoe from my feet and kissed each toe. I kept my eyes open to watch as he made love to me and paid homage to my gift.

Massaging my feet and then my legs, he slowly moved up my body to my thighs. I kept myself from striving for his touch and just accepted what he gave me. Euphoric peace bloomed in my core and spread slowly through my being. I began to see what I couldn’t before, that to give myself and my troubles over to a man like Gaetano Vitale was not a sentence of obedience like I’d assumed. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Instead, it was an opportunity to fully immerse myself in being me and allowing him to lead us, both in and out of the bed.

The simple truth of our power dynamic was jarring. I’d fought for so long for what? To be right? To be in the driver’s seat? And to where was I heading all this time? The truth was, I had no idea, not until I met him. My future shifted in that exact moment that my perception shifted.

Parting my thighs, he ran his tongue along my seam, flicking the nub. I held still and allowed him to take me as he wanted with no interference. He clamped down on the nub suddenly and sent me spiraling.

I wasn’t sure if it was because I was no longer hyped up and being driven by my body’s needs or because I’d been horny for so long, but the orgasm I had set me adrift on a sea of powdery clouds. My body rose and crashed so many times I lost count, until finally, Gaby was gone and only a pile of quivering flesh was left.

Tano entered my tight sheath, slowly sinking his cock until he was fully seated deep inside of me, and he held still for a moment. That moment was cosmic as I fell into the deep sensations of our bodies mingling, intertwined into one. I opened myself up to his invasion, every cell of my being crying out, I’m yours.

Slowly, he made love to me, for the first time. This wasn’t sex or discipline or control. This was a master of his universe enveloping me into his sphere and taking me on the wildest journey of my life.

Never had I felt so much love from another human being. Tano had a huge heart and he was sharing every inch of it with me through his passionate love-making.

Our eyes locked and tears of gratitude stung mine.

“I love you, Gabriella. Be well and whole, my love.”

He kissed me deeply and we both fell apart. I milked him, not in my usual frenzy, but with a pulse that matched my heartbeat.

He rolled to my side and took me with him, tucking me safely into his arms. I sunk into his warmth and strength and knew I’d finally found home.

Epilogue

Gaetano

Gaby had been holed up with my mother and Vincent working on the wedding plans, and I’d barely seen her since our family dinner party. But I’d had much to do as well. I met with the board and stepped down as CEO, nominating my replacement. I kept a seat on the board as the hospital had been practically built and funded by my family and I felt a need to continue representing not only the Vitales but the hospital staff and patients as well.

I agreed to a six-month leave of absence from my work as a surgeon to give me time to think through my options. Gaby had agreed to finish her degree when we returned from Italy, and I intended to make sure nothing stood in her way this time.

Romeo had been the one to suggest the leave. After thoroughly reminding me that charging into an active operation with more confidence than recent experience had nearly gotten me killed, he’d asked a far more difficult question—what did I actually want?

For the first time, I answered honestly. I wasn’t sure I wanted to return to medicine in the same capacity. Surgery had defined me for years, but that no longer meant it had to define the rest of my life. I could step back, remain available when my skills were needed, and give myself time to decide what came next.

Romeo, surprisingly, didn’t push. He suggested I take Gabriella to Italy, disappear for a while, and make no decisions until I was certain. It was sound advice. I had always been a man who studied every angle before making a move, and lately life had given me very little opportunity to do that.

Then he offered something I hadn’t expected. He wanted me more involved in the family—not as muscle, but as a strategist. According to him, I saw patterns others missed, anticipated problems before they developed and knew exactly where to apply pressure to change an outcome.

For once, the idea of becoming more involved didn’t feel like surrendering one life for another. It felt like expanding the one I already had.

I left the meeting with a sense of purpose I hadn’t felt in years. The boundaries I’d drawn around myself since boyhood no longer seemed necessary, and for the first time, I could see a future that allowed me to be all of who I was.

It was all coming to a head with the wedding only hours away. I waited on the tarmac for our private jet. On board were Gaby’s two younger sisters and her parents. Despite my earlier misgivings about Don Calabretta, once Romeo and Massimo had flown to Ontario to speak with him, I’d formed a much higher opinion of the man. He’d known Dimitri Peskov was Gaby’s biological father, but he’d been completely unaware of Ivan Kiyanzev’s plans for her. It wasn’t until Knyazev approached him with a marriage proposal—one his superiors in the ‘Ndragheta wouldn't allow him to refuse—that he realized Gaby had become a pawn in something far bigger. In the end, Rego had been as trapped by Knyazev’s scheme as the rest of us. Romeo cleared the family to attend the wedding, but we kept it a secret from my wife-to-be as a wedding gift.

Now, the plane pulled into the hangar and the stairs descended. Don Calabretta descended the steps with his wife and two daughters in tow. Gaby was right, her sisters looked just like their father, but nothing like Gaby, who clearly took after her biological father. Although I’d not met the man before he was taken out by Ivan, I had seen pictures of him.

“Mr. Calabretta.” I shook his hand.

“Rego, please, we are family now. Let’s act like it. This is my wife, Rosa, and my daughters, Antoinette and Maria.”

“He is dead?” his wife asked impassively. I saw past the ice she presented to a scared woman beneath the surface, one afraid enough of her former lover to flee her country and find an Italian man to marry when she was already pregnant.