Undressed By The Mafia God

Marco had ensured David was properly secured below. Properly meant chained. Massimo would not want to be that man when Luca began with him. No one truly knew everything that had happened in the warehouse, not yet, but from what Marco had described, the pregnancy news could not have come at a better time.

"Did you call Val already?" Carol asked Marco.

He shook his head. "I’ve barely had the time." Marco was exhausted too. They all were. But Valentina had been waiting in fear, carrying guilt she had not earned. "I’ll go ahead and call her," Marco said and left the room.

"Go on," Carol said, nudging Massimo towards the stairs. "Go see your son."

Massimo suddenly looked uncertain. Approaching Luca now required care. "Come with me?" he asked.

"I don’t think we should crowd the room," she said.

Massimo nodded once, then turned and walked upstairs towards the medical wing. He reached the door and pushed it open.

Veronica was awake. She turned her head towards him immediately, her face alert. One hand was bandaged, her thumb secured and supported. The other rested in Luca’s hair.

Before Massimo could speak, she lifted the bandaged hand carefully and pressed a finger to her lips.

Massimo followed her gaze. Luca was asleep, slumped in a chair, his head resting on the mattress near Veronica’s hip, one arm bandaged and held awkwardly against his side. His son looked exhausted, the boy Massimo had failed too many times.

Veronica’s fingers moved gently through Luca’s hair. Massimo looked back at her. She gave him a small, tired smile.

He returned it, then stepped back and closed the door quietly. Vee turned her attention back to Luca.

She would let him sleep. Aside from his stab wounds, she knew he would not have taken even one minute of rest since she was taken. He would have walked himself into hell without stopping long enough to breathe. That was the man she had married.

Reckless.

A man who held his life out for her every damned time. She refused to let her mind dwell on the events of the past few days.

There would be time for that later. But not now. Now, it helped no one. She was alive. Luca was alive.

Progress.

So Vee focused on the quiet. The steady rise and fall of Luca’s shoulders. The warmth of his head. His hair soft and messy, she stroked through it slowly, letting the motion soothe her as much as him.

It took about half an hour before he stirred. His fingers moved first, searching the sheets instinctively for hers. When he did not find them, tension immediately entered his body.

His eyes opened. He realised that the thing he was searching for was not gone. Her fingers were in his hair. He raised his head slowly.

Their eyes met. Vee smiled down at him. He had never seen anything so beautiful.

"Bambola?"

Her smile widened. "Hey, sleepy head."

Luca let out a quiet chuckle. "Blame that on the blood loss."

Vee’s gaze dropped to the bandage on his arm. "How are you feeling?"

"I’m fine."

Veronica lifted her casted thumb and stared at it. "How long is this going to be?" she asked. "It’s kind of inconvenient."

Luca looked at the cast. "You fractured it."

"Yes, thank you, Doctor Genovese. I gathered that from the prison attached to my hand."

His mouth twitched. "It is going to take a while." He had missed her fire so badly it hurt. He reached for her good hand and brought it to his lips. "the doctors have to wait for a bit before they can do anything about it."

Her brows pulled together. "Why?"

He looked at her. "Because..." He exhaled, and the fear in him softened just enough for wonder to break through. "We are going to have a baby."

"What?" Her hand tightened around his. "I... really?"

Luca nodded. Her eyes filled first. Then her mouth opened slightly, as if joy had stolen every thing she might have said. The glee that spread across her face was so pure it knocked the breath out of him.

"Are you sure?" she asked quickly. "I mean..."

"Yes," he said.

Her happiness was infectious. It reached into the dark, terrified place in his chest and lit something there. He had been afraid to feel it before she woke. Afraid to love the possibility too soon. "Luca..." she called, still searching his face, half-expecting him to yell bazinga or something.

"Yes baby!"

Veronica threw her arms around him. She almost flew clean off the bed. Luca caught her before she could tumble over the side, one arm locking around her waist. "We’re going to be parents!" she yelled, laughing and crying at the same time.

Fuck it.

He was happy. Terrified, yes. Frightened down to the bones, absolutely. His mind still knew every cruel thing that could go wrong, every way this life had stolen from them before, every grave they had already wept over. But none of that was strong enough to kill the look on her face. His wife was glowing.

Bruised and still somehow brighter than anything he had ever seen. So yes, he was fucking happy.

Luca pulled back just enough to look at her, then kissed her. He kissed her like he had finally reached the other side of hell and found her waiting there with their future held between them.

Veronica’s hand came to his face. "I missed you so much," she whispered against his lips. Her fingers traced his jaw, his cheek, the corner of his mouth. Her nose brushed his.

"I was frightened out of my mind," he admitted. "But I missed you. A lot. Nothing is the same without you." He pressed his forehead to hers. "I would have found you in any country. Any city. Any hole."

"David?"

"I’d invite you to watch his suffering," Luca said, "but we cannot traumatise the baby this early."

Veronica rolled her eyes. The gesture was so perfectly her that he had to kiss her again.

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