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I deny her.

I watch her unravel beneath me, begging, pleading, and promising me anything, and I savor every second of her punishment. Three times I bring her to the brink. Three times I pull back, leaving her trembling and desperate.

By the fourth time, she’s sobbing my name, her nails drawing blood on my back, her body shaking with need.

“Please,” she chokes out. “Please, I’ll do anything. I’ll never leave again. I swear. Just please, Dario, let me cum.”

I look down at her, at this beautiful, stubborn, terrified woman who owns me completely, and something inside me breaks. The anger dissolves. The punishment ends. All that’s left is love. Overwhelming, terrifying, all-consuming love.

“Come for me,” I whisper, my voice rough with emotion. “Come for me, tesoro. Let go.”

I thrust deep and hard, my thumb circling her clit, and she shatters. Her orgasm crashes through her with enough force that makes her scream. Her body clenches around my cock, her release flooding between us. I don’t stop.

I pound into her through it, extending her pleasure, drawing out every pulse until she’s limp and gasping and utterly destroyed. Then I follow her over the edge. My own release tears through me, hot and endless. I groan her name as I spill inside her, marking her, claiming her, filling her with everything I am.

For long moments, we lie there, our bodies locked together, our hearts hammering in sync. Then I carefully withdraw and gather her against my chest, wrapping my arms around her trembling body.

“I love you,” I murmur against her hair, pressing kisses to her temple. “I love you so fucking much, Katya. Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

She nods, her fingers tracing patterns on my chest. “I love you too. And I’m sorry I ran.”

I tilt her chin up and look into her eyes, my thumb brushing away her tears. “No more running. No more secrets. From now on, we face everything together. You, me, and our baby.”

She smiles, small and watery but genuine. “Together.”

I kiss her softly, tasting the salt of her tears and the sweetness of her surrender. “Forever, Bella. You’re stuck with me.”

“Good,” she whispers. “Because I don’t want to be anywhere else.”

Epilogue

Katya

One year later

Life has been bliss with Dario, except for a little hiccup at the beginning of our engagement. Contrary to what I thought, Alexei didn’t take offense to my relationship with Dario. He only wanted assurance that I was happy.

Apparently, Anya can be quite scary when she wants to be. As for Dario, it took Matteo Rossi vouching for Alexei before he could trust him. And now that the baby is coming, it’s only natural that Anya and my stepbrothers are out in the waiting room.

I have never been this scared in my life. And considering who my husband is and the family I was born into, that is saying something. “Fuck,” I breathe, squeezing Dario’s hand as another contraction rolls through me. “That one hurt.”

His jaw tightens as he looks at me, and if I didn’t know him so well, I might think he was angry. But I know Dario. I know every little change in his expression, and right now, the dangerous man who can make grown men shake with one look is scared shitless.

“You’re doing fine, tesoro mio,” he says, his voice rougher than usual.

I almost laugh because he looks anything but fine.

Our son has decided that waiting a few more weeks to make his grand entrance is beneath him. So here we are, in a hospital room in California with doctors and nurses moving around us while my husband looks like he is ready to declare war on childbirth itself.

“Dario.”

His dark eyes snap to mine. “What?”

“What are you worried about?”

“Nothing.”

I raise an eyebrow. He exhales sharply, looking away for a second before his eyes return to mine. “I don’t like seeing you in pain when I can’t do anything about it.”