Page 70 of Sweet Temptation

Damien has his own decision to make. One that will define the rest of his daughter’s life and his place as Capo of the Famiglia. He has to choose his cards wisely, because if he doesn’t, our entire world will be flames and war.

A decision like his defines all of us, not just him. Will she be his pawn? Or will she be his queen?

Only time will tell.

THIRTY-NINE

Two Years Later

I knew her before the walls came up. and I know her with them. She’s always been my enemy; a woman I have grown up hating, loathing. And yet, here I am, standing on the front steps of her mother’s mansion in New York City.

Here I am, making a stupid decision when I’m supposed to be level-headed. I’m not soft like Damon, but I’m not a raging lunatic like Soren, either. I fit in the middle. Between them, where chaos and reason come together as wisdom.

Why would she mean a sliver of a thing? She was made to be a pawn in my game.

Mine to fuck with, mine to play games with, but mine, nonetheless. So why does it feel like I just got a knife to the gut when my fist pounded on the wooden door of her childhood home.

Everything lately has felt that way, ever since she left all the crumbs of what we are back in Princeton. Ever since she decided the thing between us wasn’t a fun game to play anymore.

I gave her two months, and now I’m here, standing outside her mother’s home like a pussy whipped idiot. But I never claimed to know what I was doing, and I never do when it comes to her.

Two things come first in my life. Nyx and the Famiglia. And I’ve been failing the latter since I started pursuing this nerdy little spitfire of a pixie. Since I chose someone I should never have laid eyes on in the first place.

I gave my brother shit for his entire relationship with Hanna. Crushed his fingers in my fist when she got pregnant. And here I am, a year and half later, trying to claim what was always mine.

The door finally cracks open and her head pops out. Dark hair, cinnamon eyes, and those red-painted lips that have driven me nuts since I first tasted them.

“Pixie,” I drawl, keeping my eyes on hers. Her frame looks delightful and her curves are my downfall. I put her through more than anyone I have ever played games with, yet none of them ever became a queen.

None of the women I played with were ever anything more than a pawn in my sick games. My pixie is different; she wasn’t born to be my pawn.

She was born to be my queen, and she’d better fix her crown because I plan on her being my queen, and my wife. She is mine. And my bleeding heart has been hers since the moment I looked at her.

Forbidden and beautiful. My fucking girl.

EPILOGUE

August 3rd

My insides burn. It feels as though I'm trying to push the insides out of my body. "We're driving as fast as we can," Damon whispers beside me as Sam slams on the petal. I thought I had been through pain before, but nothing compares to this.

Not an ounce of pain has ever come close to this.

"Well, fucking drive faster before I have this baby in the damn car!" I screech as another contraction hits me. Damon rubs his thumb across my cheek as I cry out again. He thinks his touch might keep me sane, but nothing is keeping me sane.

Not until this baby is born, and the pain is gone. I look up at Sam, his eyes glancing between me and the road every second. "I'm driving, Aussie," he whispers.

Yeah! You're bloody driving and I'm going to give birth in a fucking Jeep at this rate! Pain overtakes me once again as another contraction hits. Jesus. I didn't think it was going to be as painful as it is.

Tires screech as we come to a halt outside the hospital. Damon's legs vanish from beneath my head as he gently lifts me from the vehicle. "My girlfriend is having a baby!" Damon yells as paramedics swarm me. I never thought he would actually bring me to a hospital, but he told me I'd be safe.

I clutch my stomach again as the pain shoots through my body. Fuck! A hand grips my mine as we race through the hospital, and my eyes shoot up, locking with Damon's worried expression.

Everything goes black for a minute as another shot of pain goes through my body. My eyes flutter open, scanning the room. Damon's beside me, a doctor is in front of me. My pants are gone, and I know I'm bare to the eyes below me.

A nurse stands beside me as well, her eyes focused on the contraction machine. "Okay, Hanna. On three, I need you to push," the doctor says. Oh, my god… it's happening. I nod, letting him know I heard him. My body feels like it's falling apart.

I'm falling apart.

---