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“I’m here, mama. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.” I leaned down, placing a soft kiss on her cheek. “I’m never letting you leave ever again. You’re stuck with me, forever.”
* * *
PEYTON
I could sense he was around me before I felt him clasping my hand. There was a peace in knowing that he was here. A sense of being whole for the first time since I’d been taken from the happy home I’d created when I ran away with my boys.
So much had happened in the last month, but the most important thing was me appreciating just how lucky I was to have found Raf. He may have been a decade younger than me, and a soldier in the Mafia, but to me, he was just Raf, the man who had listened to me, the man who had held me after my nightmares. The man who had fathered my child.
A lump formed in my throat, so big that I couldn’t open my eyes yet, not at the thought of what I already knew to be true. No one needed to tell me that I’d lost our baby, I could already feel it—the loss, the emptiness festering inside. The sadness overtook me, and I couldn’t help but squeeze his hand a little tighter, needing the connection to him now more than ever.
“Peyton?” he whispered, his tone gentle and low. “You awake?”
I nodded, not able to form words, but I opened my eyes instead, finally seeing him for the first time since Ace had carried me out of my house two days ago.
“I won’t be like the rest of them ever again,” he blurted out, standing so he could come even closer to me. I cringed, hating how those had been the last words I’d spoken to him. They were so far from the truth, but at the time, it was the thing I thought would have had most impact.
He sat on the edge of the bed, his one hand holding mine as his other cupped my cheek. I flinched at the move, but not because I thought he’d hurt me, but because I was sore all over, pain radiating from parts of me that I didn’t even know existed. “Fuck, mama. I won’t hurt you; I promise.” His tone was shattered, the sadness clear for me to hear.
“No,” I croaked out, feeling like I’d been swallowing rusty nails with how dry my throat was. “It hurts all over. It’s not you.”
Raf’s eyes widened and he reached for a bottle of water, then snapped the lid open and handed it to me. I didn’t want to let his hand go to have a drink, but I didn’t have a choice because the other one was in a cast, just one of the many injuries I’d sustained thanks to Travis. At least they’d decided against surgery for my shoulder. That was a positive I was clinging to. I’d only heard that in passing, not officially, but it had stuck in my mind in between naps I never seemed to be able to stop taking.
My breath stuttered out of me as I handed Raf the water back and asked, “Where’s Travis?” As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew I didn’t care about the answer to that, because there were two people more important. “Where are the boys? Are they okay?” My words came out rushed, not quite making sense.
Raf smiled down at me, stroking the side of my face. “Ace has them at his place with extra security.” He paused, something dark crossing over his eyes. “I’m going with Ace later to get them and take them home.”
“Home?” I asked, confused on what he meant.
“Yeah, mama. Home. Me, you, and our boys.”
“Our boys?” I choked out.
“Yeah. Ours.” His lips lifted into a small smile and my heart raced in my chest. Raf wasn’t just here for me, but he was there for my boys, the two most important people in my life. “And while I’m doing that, Dad and Romeo are going to escort you home.”
“They are?” I asked, frowning. Part of me wanted it to be Raf to take me home. I didn’t want to be away from him—not yet—but if it was a choice between him being with me or Kian and Reed, it would always be them. It had only been a couple of days. “Already?”
Raf nodded, leaning down so that he was centimeters from my face. “Yeah. You’re at risk being here, so we’re breaking you out.” He laughed, the sound so enticing I wanted to hear it over and over again. This was the Raf I needed.
“Breaking me out?” I couldn’t help but smile. It didn’t matter that my entire face ached at the move because I’d missed this. I’d missedhim.
“Yep.” He moved a little closer, his eyes focused on me, his lips turning down. “I’m so goddamn sorry.” His brows knitted, his eyes veering to what I knew were bruises around my throat. “I fucked up big-time. I let someone else get into my head. I allowed them to dictate what I should do.” He paused, his eyes shining with unshed tears, and it just about broke me. “It’s all my fault. You going back there. You not seeing the boys. You…” He rubbed his chest with his palm. “The baby…losing the baby. Losing our baby.”
My stomach bottomed out, him confirming what I already knew, but that didn’t make it any easier to process. “No,” I whispered, feeling a sob bubble up. “It’s not your fault. He…he knows how to manipulate people. It’s why I’d never told anyone.” I tried to sit up a little, and with Raf’s help, I managed it. “No one would have believed me, but you, Raf…you did.”
He shook his head. “Not when it mattered, I didn’t.” His face fell, his emotions plastered all over his features. “The time you needed me most, I was gone. I didn’t stop them taking you.”
I placed my casted hand on the side of his face, grinding my teeth at the pain. “It wouldn’t have worked. You know that.” I waited for him to look me in the eyes, and when he did, I continued, “You’re a soldier, Raf. You couldn’t have done anything without going against Lorenzo. I know how this works. I grew up in this life.”
“It doesn’t matter, I should have donesomething.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.” I leaned forward, pressing my forehead to his. “Because now there’s proof. Now Ace saw with his own two eyes.” I pulled back a little. “He’s on his blacklist.”
Raf raised a brow, knowing what that meant without me having to expand. “Not if I get to him first,” he growled. I didn’t know why his words had my stomach dipping—in a good way—but they did. Maybe it was because he was being protective, or maybe it was because I knew I’d never have to be trapped with my husband again if they both followed through.
It was all over. We were done. It was just a matter of time now until it could be official. And until then…
“Hold me?” I asked,
