Page 36 of The Devil's Demise

His brows furrow. “Well, duh.”

“Wiseass.” I shake my head on a deep chuckle.

My brothers love Robby. He even helps my brother and Raquel with their new baby. Carnelia is nine months old and already beginning to stand. They’ve got their hands full.

Dom has some too. Twins, only four months old. After seeing how tired he is, I definitely don’t want two at once. I can’t wait for Jade and I to have some more kids. I know Robby would love a sibling.

We finish making the sushi, then start on the seafood salad. I kinda lied to Jade about the baseball game. Robby and I wanted to surprise her with dinner. She’s going to like this, especially when she knows we both made it. Seeing her happy, both of them—it’s what I live for.

And that center she runs, helping all those people, I couldn’t be prouder. She’s a damn hero. My girl. Everything she went through, and to still have it in her to get up and rehash all those painful memories when others talk about their shit, it’s beautiful. She’s damn special and all mine.

We no longer have an enemy to fight, and I like this side of the world. I don’t miss it. But fuck with us and I’ll gladly pull out that savage, lying-dormant inside. He’s still in there, waiting. But I keep him contained. He’s my weapon when I need him.

“She should be home soon,” Robby says, washing the cutting board. “You think she’ll be happy?”

“You kidding? She’s gonna cry.”

“No she’s not.” He rolls his eyes.

“Oh, she will. Especially when she tastes those brownies we made.”

He scoffs.

“Okay, tough guy,” I tell him. “How about if I’m right, I get your dessert for the next two nights?”

“That’s not fair.” He grimaces.

“Fine. One night.”

His looks at me contemplative as he considers it for a moment before sticking his hand out to shake mine. “And if I win, I get yours,” he challenges.

“Deal.” I tip up my chin and shake his hand.

We start on setting up the table—white tablecloth, the gold-trimmed plates she insisted on buying for holidays, laid out on the table, along with some fancy-ass glasses, and a bottle of her favorite wine.

She’s purchased lots of things to make my home, ours. And I wanted her to. She should have everything she’s ever dreamed of, and I’ll always be the man to give it to her.

My damn heart aches whenever she walks into a room, and that feeling, it fills me up more than any of the liquor or the women I used to use to hide behind. I don’t hide anymore and neither does she. We embrace everything together.

Once we’re done, Robby and I get to the sofa in the den, clicking on the television, waiting for her, knowing she’ll be here any minute. She’s always on time. Some car show comes on and we get to watching for a few minutes, while my mind drifts to the day I proposed in Bora Bora, three months after we destroyed the Bianchis.

She had told me she wanted to go to the beach. A place where the water is so clear, you can see your feet in it. Her mom never had money for vacations, she explained, so I gave her the first one she ever had and I made it one to remember.

* * *

I help Robby get dressed, while Jade is in the bedroom getting ready for dinner on the beach. The air is warm as I button his shirt in the villa I had rented for our two-week trip to Bora Bora.

I want to take them everywhere, have them experience everything they missed out on, especially as mother and son. She never got to hold him as a baby. Never got that time with him she deserved. It broke my damn heart when she told me about the day that bastard snatched him away. Rage filled my veins, and I wished for Agnelo to be alive again just so I could get the pleasure of killing him. But knowing how he died, what Aida did to him, it’s a slice of satisfaction, even if it wasn’t my hands doing it.

“I wanted to ask you something,” I say to Robby. “Man-to-man.” He stares up with curious eyes.

I drag in a breath, more nervous than I realized. “I want to marry your mom and I wanted to get your okay.”

He instantly grins, like a full-on smile. “Really? You wanna marry Mommy? When? Now?” His gaze darts to the door, Jade behind it.

“Today. Now actually. I kind of have it all planned on the beach already. So, if you say no, it better be right now, ’cause, ugh, it’d be a little weird when they bring the ring out with our dinner. So, what do you say?”

“Yes!” he shouts, then gasps. “Oops,” he whispers, staring back at the door “I mean, yes.”

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