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"You have?"
I nod, "I have created a framework that I can use to capitalize both the real-world operations and the virtual businesses."
"But won’t that counter the ground you have gained with the rival gangs? Surely, they are not going to be on board with that plan?"
I narrow my gaze on her. Beautiful and clever. This woman is more than capable of holding her own against my brothers, of going toe-to-toe with me, of partnering with me in the truest sense.
"Not if I show them that the legal businesses can be as lucrative as our illicit ones."
"Oh," she swallows, "you’d do that for me?"
"It won't be easy. And it will take some time to unravel the intricacies of our businesses, and a hell of a ton of paperwork to figure out the best way to legitimize them. But yeah," I nod, "I'd do it for us, for our children, for my brothers, so they have a chance to live life to the fullest. Without having to constantly protect themselves and their loved ones from the threat of danger."
"Mika," she whispers, "please don’t think that I am forcing you to do this. I know I left you, but I never meant for it to act as some kind of coercion to make you give up your way of life."
"I am merely changing lanes." I rub my thumb across her cheek. "I am smart enough to know when I need to adapt and change with the times. It’s something my father wasn’t good at, and look where that got him."
"I am sorry you had to…" she swallows, "that you had to…"
"Kill him?" I blow out a breath, "Me too. I am probably going to hell for it, but... I am going to hell anyway, so..." I raise a shoulder.
"It’s something you are going to have to come to terms with. He may have been responsible for so much evil, but he was still your flesh and blood."
"So was Xander." I firm my lips. "It’s because of my father that my mother died so early. He is the one who kidnapped the Seven when they were boys."
"That... I suspected."
"You did?"
She nods. "When Summer told me that I needed a bodyguard because the Mafia may be after me...? Well, initially, I thought it was because my father had betrayed you guys, but then I realized, there was more to it than that." She tips up her chin, "Then, I met your father and realized just how evil he was. That he was capable of doing things that were so morally wrong... The kinds of things you and your brothers wouldn't be involved in. I guessed, then, that there had to be more of a connection between the Mafia and the Seven. That, possibly, the Mafia was behind their kidnapping when they were children. I couldn’t reconcile you doing that. But your father? Now, he could be capable of anything."
"Including emotionally and physically abusing me and my brothers." I roll my shoulders, "It's because of him that we are so fucked up inside."
"You’re not…fucked up." She bites the inside of her cheek, "Well, not completely, anyway."
I chuckle, "Is that a compliment?"
"Would it be terrible if I admitted that your twisted-upness is what attracted me to you in the first place?"
"Is that right?" I can’t stop the smirk that curls my lips.
She glances away, "This doesn’t mean I have forgiven you for everything you did, or that I am returning to you."
"You are, though."
"I am?" She frowns.
"You bet." I slide my hand inside my pocket and withdraw her wedding ring. I slide it onto her left ring finger and we both stare at it. "Admit that you missed the weight of it on your finger, that you—" I lower her onto the grass, on her back, and push my body between her legs, "miss the weight of me between your thighs?"
Her pupils dilate as I push the evidence of my arousal—which has been stretching my crotch since I sat down next to her—into her center.
I grind into her and she moans. I begin to dry hump her and she shudders. I press my thumb in between her lips and thrust it inside her mouth in an action that mirrors what I want to do to her when I am finally inside her. Her entire body shudders. She sucks on my thumb and the blood rushes to my groin.
"Fuck," I growl. "F-u-c-k,Bellezza, what you do to me with your little cries, your moans, the way you wriggle your body against mine, in a sign that you are aroused."
"I am not aroused," she protests.
"Is that right?" I slide my finger down her waistband, inside her panties and thrust my finger inside her.
