Page 110 of Wicked King

Oh. My. God.

“What are you doing?” I choke out.

“Something I should have done months ago.” An unsure smile lifts the corners of his lips. The hesitant look is so unlike my typically smirking husband it has my heart floundering. “I bought you this ring before the wedding, but I was too much of a coward to give it to you. I was terrified you’d deny me, and even more panicked that you’d actually accept.”

A smile sneaks across my face even as the tears begin to well.

“I may not deserve to be your husband, but I’m a lucky bastardo, and I get to be anyway. I swear I will spend the rest of my life trying my damnedest to make you happy and become the man worthy of you. I vow to love you to the fullest of my ability, protect you until my dying breath, and cater to your every whim and desire. I will be your partner, your best friend. The man you should have had beside you all along. I love you, Jia Guo-Rossi. Will you spend forever with me, for love this time?” He flips open the little Cartier box, revealing a gorgeous princess-cut diamond with shimmering baguettes along the band.

My head bounces up and down as tears blur my eyes. I leap into his arms as he stands, nearly knocking him over.

I’m barely aware of applause echoing around us, but it all blurs in the background over the desperate drumbeat of my heart. I crush my lips to his as he pins my legs around his waist. “I love you, Marco, so much. This is real and this is forever.”

EPILOGUE

Two Months Later

Marco

The familiar melody of the church organ hums in the background and, unlike last time, the sound doesn’t send panic racing through my veins or my feet wanting to sprint toward the door. I stand in the vestibule in a navy tux with my wife by my side, trailing my fingers down her bare arms. She’s a glorious sight in a sleeveless, shimmering ruby gown, her beauty so radiant no one has wasted a second on the faint scars crisscrossing her arms.

I’m so damned proud of her.

My half-brother, Luca, on the other hand looks as if he’s a second from spilling the contents of his stomach. Beads of sweat line his brow and his typically tan skin is a pale shade of olive. Dante wears a shit-eating grin, enjoying every moment of his brother’s torture. He slaps Luca on the back and whispers, “This is why I eloped.” But the loud, obnoxious Italian can’t whisper for shit, and I’m certain half the crowd has heard him.

“Just wait until Rose is in the delivery room, coglione,” Luca hisses back. “Then we’ll see who’s laughing.”

Jia glances at Dante’s wife, her swollen belly peeking beneath the layers of plum ruffles of her maid of honor gown. Something unreadable flashes across those dark spheres, but it vanishes as quickly as it appeared.

“Oh, quit it, you two. Don’t freak Rose out.” Maisy stands beside her best friend and gives her a squeeze. “You’ll be totally fine when the time comes.”

Rose shoots a glare at her husband. “Oh, I better be or there will be hell to pay. And I’ll never let your cock anywhere near me again.”

Maisy giggles, her cheeks burning a deep crimson as Dante scowls. Nico watches his fiancée like she’s the most amazing thing he’s ever seen, and the cute redhead probably is in his eyes. I get it now. Maisy finally let him propose about a month ago. My twin was mad about her from the start, but since she’d been recently divorced, she forced him to take things slow.

I can see the anticipation in my brother’s eyes, just waiting for the moment he can walk down the aisle with the love of his life. I never thought I’d see the day.

As I stand there in the huge church once again, I can’t believe how far I’ve come. How far all of us have come. In the span of a year, I met my half-brothers, nearly destroyed their business, bolstered my own, discovered my father hadn’t exactly been the bastard I thought he was, been forced into a business arrangement with the Four Seas and ended up falling in love with my wife.

It’s been a hell of a ride.

I’m still the CEO of Gemini Corp and now Co-CEO of CityZen, not to mention handling our back-alley businesses, the Geminis and the Four Seas. Jia has managed to successfully run both operations with little help from me. The Kings and Geminis are at peace, and the Chinese Triad is as close to peace as possible, and we’ve managed to keep the flagrant killing to a minimum. Squabbles inevitably arise but due to the Kings’ alliance with the Red Dragons and my wife as head of the Four Seas, we’ve reached a sort of status quo.

A temporary cease-fire.

With the next generation of Valentinos and Rossies in the making, one can never be too careful. Supremacy is one thing, but stability is far more valuable in the dark chaos of our world. Especially when there’s so much more to lose now.

“You okay?” Jia’s voice tears me from my thoughts.

“Yeah, just reminiscing about the last time we were here.”

“And how miserable you were?” She lifts a challenging brow.

“On the contrary, I remember it as the day my life really began.”

A smile settles across her delicate features, only making her more beautiful. “I’m glad to hear you say that because there’s something I have to tell you?—”

The wedding march blares, and Maisy appears between us, cutting Jia off. “Come on, we have to take our seats. I absolutely have to get a good picture of the bride as she walks down the aisle. That dress is just so fabulous, Jia!” As she continues rambling about Stella’s dress, created by my wife, of course, she shuffles the four of us toward the pews in the front.

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