Page 42 of Under His Embrace

Caught in his hug, his dick so deep inside me, I replayed the words I never thought I’d hear again.

I love you.

I loved him too. I never stopped loving him. But until I could come clean and tell him that we had a son, I feared he wouldn’t want to consider how deeply I’d feel for him.

19

FRANCO

By the time I caught my breath after coming so hard in Chloe, she was asleep. We lay there, tangled together in my bed, and she passed out.

“Long day?” I whispered aloud, amused that I’d literally fucked her so well that she passed out afterward. She was like that when we were younger, too, so into the act of making love that she became so sated and satisfied she drifted off afterward.

Proud that I could please her, I got up to clean off and then brought back a towel to clean her up too. She didn’t stir, and I climbed back into bed to hold her. Sleeping with her in my arms was becoming my norm. She grounded me, and I appreciated being able to reunite with her like this. I tried not to dwell on the fact that she hadn’t told me she loved me too. I said it in the heat of the moment, but I meant it. I would always mean it. Nothing she could do would prevent me from loving her.

Which worsened my concerns.

She’d been distracted, and I wanted to know why.

She’d been guarded earlier when I spoke about Dante, and I was eager to understand why.

Still, she kept things from me, and I was losing patience to get answers.

I closed my eyes, sighing as I breathed in a deep lungful of her scent. In the morning, I’d ask. Before anything else could get in the way, I would lie in bed with her and ask who she’d called that day. I wanted to be able to trust her. That if I asked, she’d reply. If I had to snoop and try to track her phone, it would be a clear sign of her being untrustworthy, which would hurt with how she already had my heart.

I woke up to the sound of my phone buzzing, though, and it seemed this morning wouldn’t be the opportune time to talk with her about anything.

I grabbed the device from my nightstand and with bleary eyes as I woke up more, I read the texts from Romeo.

Goddammit.

It was always something, always another situation popping up, another fire to put out.

I slipped out of bed without waking Chloe. Hurrying to get dressed, I watched her sleep and considered what we talked about before the wedding. Her comment about Dante having a work-and-family balance. Yes, it was taxing to work for the Constella Family. Our jobs never stopped. The danger never slept. Someone else was always out there waiting to try to take what was ours.

But it wasn’t any different from any other occupation. If Chloe and I had married years ago, she would’ve seen how I could fit her into my life, how she could’ve gone to school and had her own career if she wanted.

We were always busy. Sometimes, it felt more hectic than not, but we came together as a family and tackled this Mafia lifestyle together. If Chloe gave me—us—a chance, she’d see that. She already should be noticing how I could make her life better. With my love. With my protection. With my determination to remove the threat of her ex.

It was with that mindset that I headed into Dante’s office.

“First day of your ‘honeymoon’ and this is what you get?” I joked as I brought my coffee in with me. On the walk down here, I filed through all the reports that the capos sent me.

“How bad is it?” Dante asked. He yawned from his seat behind his desk, but he didn’t look too stressed. He didn’t reply to my tease, and if anything, he seemed ready to go right back to bed after we talked.

Only Romeo was in, also on his phone and following up with what the capos sent in. I was technically the head of security for the organization, but that was more of a managerial role, of delegating who went where. Dante, Romeo, and Liam were all given the same shared intel, and I knew they had likely already skimmed through what was popping up overnight.

“Not that itisbad—for us,” Dante added. “If Stefan Giovanni wants to hunt down and fight whoever else might have survived from the Domino Family, he can help himself to it.” He rolled his eyes, punctuating his opinion on his former friend who’d turned shady.

That was what the messages were about—reports of Stefan and his capos attacking a hideout where some of Donny Domino’s survivors were reported to be lurking and staying on the down-low. The Constella soldiers raised the alarm because of how close it happened to some of the capos’ homes.

“We don’t have a part in this,” Dante reiterated. “We don’t need to have a part in a single fucking thing Stefan wants to get up to.”

Romeo nodded. “If any Domino men survived the attack from the Devil’s Brothers, I vote for letting the Giovannis take them out.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “And then the Giovannis and Devil’s Brothers can cancel each other out next.”

“Oh.” Romeo looked up. “Did you hear that Gunner is the Prez now?”

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