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Standing at the door is Edwina’s son Hayden and his wife, Adelina. There’s no denying the woman is absolutely gorgeous. She’s beautiful. Hayden lucked out by being arranged to marry the Italian beauty, but he also showed everyone that he’d die for her. The man loves his wife, and he’s proved it time and time again. The moment Hayden found out his wife was pregnant, he went to kill her father—a man who had beaten her frequently. He also took out the entire family that had his sister sent to prison, who killed his uncle and sister-in-law, and who gave his wife the gnarly scar on her cheek. Hayden will kill anyone who harms her.
“I am,” Makenna replies uneasily.
Even with her aunt, Makenna is prickly to say the least. Over the past five years, the Gallagher family have lost a lot of family members. Seamus died first. The man was killed trying to protect his granddaughter—my sister-in-law—Holly. After Seamus came the death of his two youngest sons, Patrickand Cian. Those fuckers deserved a slow and painful death. They betrayed their sister and wanted to take over her job as boss of the Clann. Something that was never going to happen. In their stupidity, Patrick kidnapped Finn’s woman, Destiny. Their deaths spread like wildfire around not only the Clann but also the Famiglia—letting them know what’ll happen if you go against the family. Then, only months ago, they lost Killian, a man who was an integral part of the family.
Edwina lost both of her brothers. But the woman is standing tall and celebrating the life that’s about to happen with her son and daughter-in-law.
Edwina rushes toward Makenna and pulls her into her arms. I glance at my brother and watch as he fights his smile. Damn, Makenna hates being touched, something her aunt knows all too well. “Thank you,” she says softly. “For coming.”
This will be the first celebration since Killian and Ade’s sister, Vivanna, died.
She releases Makenna and then swiftly hugs Dante, before she turns her eyes on me. My smirk falls from my face as she wraps her small arms around me. I freeze as I look down at the small woman and wonder why she’s touching me.
“It’s been a while, Alessio,” she tells me as she beams at me. “I’m so thankful you’re here. Come on in, everyone else is already here.”
“Hay,” Makenna hisses. “Why is your mother being so…” she pauses as though to find the right word. “Nice.”
Hayden laughs as Adelina fights her smile. “Not everyone is a bitch, Kenna.” Thankfully, his wife stays at his side and hasn’t taken after her mother-in-law.
Makenna’s lips twitch. “True, but we also don’t have to be touchy feely.”
“She’s your auntie, Kenna. She loves you,” Denis chuckles as we enter the house. “Sometimes, people like to show their love by being affectionate.”
She flips him off. “That’s my affection,” she huffs, and I shake my head as everyone around us laughs. This is Makenna. She takes no shit from anyone, but she loves fiercely. Everyone under this roof is family to her, even Anna-Marie. She’ll do whatever the hell she can to protect them, and they would do the same for her.
A little while later, I hear arguing and follow the sound to the backyard, where Jade’s arguing with her grandmother. The two of them clash a lot, but their arguments are hilarious.
“Now that we’ve got the pleasantries out of the way, can my wife and I finally find out what the gender of our baby is?” Hayden says.
Laughter fills the air, and not for the first time since Dante married Makenna, I wonder what the hell our lives would have been like had our mother been alive, but just as quickly as those thoughts come, they vanish. My mother was weak. She let our father get away with whatever the fuck he wanted and let it happen. She knew what he was doing to me when I was a boy, how he’d beat and starve me, but she stood by and let it happen. Once she told me that if only I listened more, it wouldn’t happen.
A kid calls out while Adelina and Hayden cut through the cake, and my brows knit together. There are more kids? Cheers and cries fill the air as they pull the slice out and we see the pink frosting. They’re having a girl.
“Gabby?” Raylee screeches, and my gut clenches at her words. “Oh, Gabby,” she cries.
I turn and see the woman I have been searching for the past four years for. She’s even more beautiful than I remember. Her brown hair is shorter than I remember. She’s got a bright smile on her face, and my cock begins to tighten, but then she glancesaround the backyard, her eyes widening and her face paling when she sees me. “Alessio?”
Movement at her feet has me coming to a halt. It’s as though a bucket of ice-cold water has been thrown on me.
“You have a son?” I snarl at her. What the fuck? I can’t believe this shit.
Staring at the little boy, it’s like looking in the mirror. He’s my double.
“Myson?” I hiss.
Fuck. Why the hell did she keep him from me?
There’s no excusing what she’s done. Fuck. I could strangle her right now.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, reaching for the boy and pulling him into her arms before she rushes back into the house.
I don’t hesitate, I follow after her. There’s no way in hell I’ll let her leave with my son again.
I reach her just as she’s putting our son into her vehicle. My hand wraps around her wrist and I pull her to a stop. “You’re not fucking leaving,” I snap at her.
“Please, Alessio,” she breathes, her eyes filled with tears and fear. “Please, not here. Ade doesn’t deserve to have her baby shower ruined.”
I nod as I release her hand, and she deflates.
