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My arms wrap around her like a vice. “I fucking should have kept you with me. I’m so sorry, Annie, I am so sorry I let you down,” I grit out to her, keeping her with me with no space between us, where she should have been for these past few weeks. I run my hands up and down her back as she cries. I kiss the top of her head, breathing in her scent. My shirt is wet from her tears, and I hear her slowly quiet her crying and take a few deep breaths.
I grab her head with my hands and look at her, my beautiful broken woman, and I lean down, kissing her tears away. “I want you with me, always. I was such a fool to walk out on you like I did,” I say to her softly, peppering kisses all over her face, willing her to stop crying.
Pulling away from her again, I look down at her beautiful, big wet eyes. “I fucking love you, Annie. I have from the moment I first saw you, and I haven’t stopped. I am sorry for being an asshole, but I want you to come home. I want you to come home with me.” Desperation seeps into my voice, hoping that she still wants to be with me after everything that I have put her through.
She takes a big breath in, and I let her have a moment for my words to sink in. She reaches up to me, her soft hands running down the side of my face, her eyes glistening as she looks at me, taking me in. “I love you too, Dante. I couldn’t bear the thought of that man shooting you. I had to do it, I just had to,” she whispers quietly to me before she leans in and puts her lips to mine. Relief sweeps over me that she still loves me, and I wrap her in my arms again. We stay together, on the bed, not wanting to let each other go.
I hear sirens in the distance, so I pick her up and walk farther down the hall and out the back door, through the back patio, and down a laneway. We have our back-up team here now, so I step into the back of the waiting Escalade, keeping her on my lap, and Tony the driver takes off back to our compound. She sits on me, not unlike the day I met her, the car speeding through the streets, and deja vu washes over me. Our safe house is now crawling with police, and I want Annie as far away from it as possible. Sebastian will be handling them all, with Nico and Carter no doubt by his side, because Annie saved us all. While I may have had a clear shot, she had the better one, and she took it. That is twice now she has put herself on the line for me and my family.
As I keep her close to me, rubbing her back, I think back to the past weeks and months. How I found her at the shootout at Allure and then kept her at my place. How well she fits into my life and how much light and love she brings to it. The way she protected Leo from his mother and how she protected Nico and me just now. She is like a fierce mother lioness, protective of everyone, yet the sweetest and most loving person I have ever met.
The house hasn’t been the same without her in it. It is like all the color drained away and Leo, Maria, and I have been living in greyscale. No light, no color, no laughter. I want color again. I want her in my house, in my family, in my bed, all day, every day.
I trust her with my life. I trust her with my heart. She is my equal. My person. She was made for me, I am sure of it. She is my destiny.
40
Annie
I lie back on the bed, looking out the window, enjoying the warm sun as it creeps inside. I sigh as my body relaxes in Dante’s bed, the familiar soft sheets wrapping around me, his smell infiltrating my senses. It is the same bed I spent all my nights in, albeit, in a totally different room.
I haven’t been to the old house. From what Maria tells me, it is nothing but a cement shell now, Dante gutting it all immediately after the incident with Angelina. Not wanting any reminder to be present for Leo.
“Can you hold this?” Leo asks quietly, and I turn and smile at him, taking the small building block from his hand so he can put together a few other elements of what looks like a boat that he is building.
He hasn’t left my side since Dante brought me back here a few days ago. Everywhere I go, he is with me. It is sweet, but I also know we will need to work on his attachment in time. Maria is equally protective of me, now ensuring that I am fed regularly, resting, and not lifting a finger until I am fully recovered. Dante is the most protective of all, though. He won’t let me leave the bedroom, believing that my body has been through so much this past month, both physically and mentally that I need to just rest. I feel fine, but I have nightmares, and I don’t hide them from Dante. I don’t hide anything from him anymore.
“It looks like a lovely boat, Leo,” I comment, taking in the bright white blocks and the clever way he has curved the square ones into the shape he required. He is such an intelligent boy.
“It is our boat,” he says, as his tongue juts out of his mouth. He is in deep concentration.
“What do you mean, our boat?” I ask, intrigued now.
“This is our boat in Sicily. Dad said we are taking you there,” he says, not looking at me, still struggling with some pronunciation, but making good progress the more and more he uses his voice.
“Sicily?” I question as I sit up a little more. “What do you mean?”
“What he means is we are going on a family break together,” Dante says, walking into the bedroom, his footsteps still stealthy because I didn’t hear him enter at all.
I look up at him as he stands next to the bed, peering down at me.
“What?” I gape, in complete shock.
“I’m taking you to Sicily, Little Red. We are going at the end of the week.” He’s telling me the most exciting news like it is nothing more than a trip to the grocery store.
My eyes widen in surprise, and a smile takes over my face as pure joy radiates through me.
“Sicily? You are taking me to Sicily?” I ask again to be sure, as I sit up onto my knees in front of him.
“Yes. We are all going on a holiday,” he replies, my smile now a mile-wide and contagious, as one appears on his face as well.
“Dante!” I scream and jump into his arms, full of excitement.
“Ahh, stop it already. I’m outta here,” Leo says, grabbing his blocks and moving off the bed. Dante and I look at him in shock because that is the most words he has strung together in front of anyone. His cheeks flush, clearly embarrassed at our affection for each other, and we laugh at the situation. We now have a very talkative little boy on our hands.
“Maria has done some baking Leo. You might want to go grab something while it is still warm,” Dante offers to him as we both watch him speed-walk out of the room, and we again chuckle as he closes the door behind him.
Dante looks back at me, as I wrap my legs around his waist.
