Page 136 of His Tesoro

“And wear a tracker,” Matteo said.

Mila frowned. “I don’t?—”

“Already done,” Nikolai said, coming to Mila’s side. She looked up at him with outrage.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Kolya?”

Nikolai smirked. “Don’t worry about it.”

Mila faced him, arms crossed, but before she could cuss him out, which was what I was sure she was on the verge of doing, Dimi interrupted.

“We need to get out of here and allow my crew to clean up.”

Pain gripped my heart. Dimi, Mila, and I had spent years having only each other as allies. Now, Dimitri stood strong as Pakhan with hundreds of men loyal to him, and as Nikolai put his arm around Mila, I realized she wasn’t alone anymore, either.

“Come on, tesoro,” Matteo murmured, brushing his hand down my arm. He looked as unsure as I’d ever seen him. There were so many words unspoken between us, so much hurt and fear. But he had come for me. I ran my finger down the locket he’d gifted me. I’d chosen to keep it on, knowing he would be able to track me, because deep down, I had hoped he would come. I’d hoped he would care enough about me to chase me.

I rested my hand on his shoulder, taller than him for the first time. “Let’s go home.”

His eyes softened, and I thought I caught a glimpse of a tear.

Ronan returned with the wheelchair we’d stolen from the hospital, and he and Romeo helped Matteo get in.

My husband grabbed my hand, and we headed back down the aisle for the second time.

Together.

74

MATTEO

We were leaving Chicago. This time, I wouldn’t allow any distance between my wife and me on the plane. We were in the bedroom at the back of the jet, curled up on the bed. Sofiya sat between my legs, bundled up in a blanket, and my arms were tight around her. Too tight, but I was scared of letting go. Terrified that at any moment, she would realize who was holding her and push me away.

Neither of us had said anything since getting on the plane, and our unspoken words weighed heavy between us.

“To be fair,” Sofiya said, finally breaking the silence, “at least our wedding was better than that one.”

It took me a beat to process her words, and then I broke out into a laugh that was fuller and brighter than I’d experienced in years. My entire body shook, and so did hers until tears streamed down her face.

“Fuck, tesoro. You are the best thing in the entire universe.”

The past few days had been the worst of my life, and the days ahead were filled with uncertainty, but nothing could destroy the rightness of having my wife in my arms. I stroked my hand down her hair. “Sofiya, I am so, so sorry. For not trusting you, for putting you in that cell, for scaring you, not protecting you. I don’t expect your forgiveness because I’m not worthy of it, but I need you to know I will work every single day to give you the life you deserve.”

My words weren’t good enough—I wasn’t good enough for her—but they were what I had to offer.

She let out a deep breath, and I forced myself to wait patiently for her to speak. “How do I know you won’t turn on me again? It was nothing to you to throw me in there.” Her voice was broken and painfully vulnerable.

I squeezed her closer, running my hand down her arms, her back, her hips. “I know it doesn’t make it any better, but it was torture to put you in there. I regretted it the moment we left. But I was raised to believe that being Don means never backing down. I thought that changing my mind, changing my order, would have made me weak.”

“And a Don can’t be weak.”

I swallowed hard. “You know my parents were murdered?”

Her eyes flicked to mine, brow furrowing slightly, and she nodded.

“The night they were killed, Sienna had roped me into watching a movie with her. We were in the den and the house phone rang. I picked it up. It was the guard at the gate asking if he could let my uncle in.” My breaths grew shallow as my chest tightened. It had been years since I’d spoken of this, since I’d let myself even think about it, at least in my waking hours.

Sofiya ran her fingers across my chest until she gripped the back of my neck. Her touch loosened the lump in my throat enough to keep going.

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