Page 121 of Fierce Hearts

I brushed a strand of hair from her face. "You were magnificent, you know. I've never seen anything more powerful than watching you bring our son into the world."

"I'm pretty sure I threatened to castrate you at one point."

"Several points, actually. The nurse was very impressed with your creativity."

“Must be a Passeri trait,” she said with a chuckle, making me recall how her own mother had threatened Leo the same way if he’d let her get hurt.

Definitely a family thing.

Sofia's smile faded into something more contemplative as she glanced toward the bassinet. "Did you ever imagine this? When you asked me to dance at Meredith's wedding?"

"Honestly? No. I thought you might be a beautiful distraction for a night or two." I lifted her hand to my lips. "I had no idea you'd become the center of my entire world."

"Such a charmer," she murmured, but her eyes softened.

I studied her face, marveling at the transformation I'd witnessed. The woman who had once been determined to escape her legacy now embraced it fully. She'd taken the darkness of her family history and reshaped it into something powerful but principled. Under her leadership, the Savoca operations had become more profitable and less bloody—a difficult balance few could maintain.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"You. How far you've come. How proud I am of you."

She rolled her eyes, but I could see the pleasure my words gave her. "I just did what needed to be done."

"You did what no one else could have done," I corrected. "You united two families that have been rivals for generations. You've changed the way an entire organization operates. You've created a future where our son won't have to choose between power and compassion."

"Our son," she repeated softly. "That still feels surreal to say."

From the bassinet came a tiny whimper, then a more insistent cry. Sofia started to rise, but I placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Let me," I said, crossing to lift our son. He settled against my chest, his cries softening to hiccuping breaths. "I think he just wanted to be part of the conversation."

Sofia watched us, her eyes filled with affection and tenderness. "You're a natural," she said. "I was worried, you know. That I wouldn't know how to be a mother after everything..."

"After everything your father taught you, made you do?" I finished when she trailed off.

She nodded. "How do you raise a child with love when you were raised with fear and blood on your hands? Sure, I had my mother as well, but…”

"The same way you transformed the Savoca family—by doing the opposite of what was done to you." I settled back in my chair, Marcello tucked securely in the crook of my arm. "Besides, you have me. And your mother. And Meredith, Leo, Canzio, Maria... our son has more family ready to love him than he'll know what to do with."

Sofia's smile returned, brighter this time. "You're right. And we'll figure it out together."

We ate in comfortable silence, passing Marcello between us when he fussed. This quiet domesticity felt like a miracle after everything we'd endured—the violence, the betrayals, the near-death experiences that had marked our journey.

As the evening light faded, casting long shadows across the nursery floor, I found myself overwhelmed with gratitude. For Sofia, who had fought her way back from the edge of despair to become a leader. For our son, whose tiny existence had already changed us in profound ways. For the family we'd built, not just through blood and marriage, but through choice and loyalty.

I leaned over to kiss Sofia's forehead. "Thank you," I whispered.

She looked up, puzzled. "What for?"

"Everything." I gestured to our sleeping son, to the home around us, to the life we'd created together. "For saying yes when I asked you to dance. For fighting for us when it seemed impossible. For saying yes to marrying me. For giving me a family I never thought I'd have."

Sofia reached up to touch my face, her fingers tracing the line of my jaw with tenderness. “I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

In that moment, with my son in my arms and my wife beside me, I knew this was everything I could ever want in life.

We had created something neither of us could have imagined—a legacy of strength tempered with compassion, of power guided by principle.

A legacy of blood, but also of love.

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