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I turned my head to watch him over my shoulder, slightly shocked at his offer. I remained staring at him with my mouth parted. Without waiting for my answer, Alessio unbuttoned his suit jacket and slid it off his broad shoulders, then discarded it against the bathroom counter.

He joined me on the marble tilted floor, his eyes zeroed on Kol.

“Hey, buddy,” Alessio greeted Kol softly. “Are you having a good time?”

Kol nodded, smiling wide. “We’ll have to build you a cool bedroom here,” Alessio said softly. “It’s been awhile since I made furniture. But maybe a bed in the shape of a car?” Alessio making furniture? Now that was something I had to see. Kol shook his head. “Okay, no car. How about a bed in the shape of a plane?”

Kol let out an excited squeal and started splashing water with both his hands and little legs.

“Okay then.” Alessio smiled and I stared at his face, mesmerized. I had never seen him so relaxed. Happy. “We’ll build you the best plane bed any boy has in this city.”

We sat there for a while longer, neither one of us talking while Kol kept babbling in baby talk. It was a perfect family moment and all the feelings I buried so deep inside me started to break free.

The wings fluttered. The love I convinced myself I didn’t feel broke through. But I couldn’t forgive him. Those words he spat at me cut deep.

“Okay, buddy,” I started, raising up to my full height. “It’s time to get out.”

Swiftly, Alessio rose up. “Let me,” he offered and took Kol out of the water, uncaring of the water dripping all over his expensive suit.

Together we dried him off, then put him into his pjs with little planes and trains all over it. Afterwards, we read him a story together. With each passing page, Kol demanded that Alessio read another page.

It’s that easy to get demoted by your son,I thought wryly to myself.

Kol’s eyes drooped, heavy with sleep.

“Okay, last page,” I whispered softly to Alessio. His eyes lowered to Kol, and for a moment, I thought I saw pride flicker in his gaze.

Pride and love. The kind that would make you sacrifice the world for a child.

My breath hitched in my lungs and I froze, waiting. For what, I didn’t know.

Alessio finally met my gaze. Something raw and vulnerable waged in his eyes. The look in his gaze no longer burned but it grabbed hold and hung on.

He leaned over our son’s small body and pulled me gently by the nape.

Soft kiss. Heavy heart. Dark as sin possession.

“I’m never letting you go.” A simple statement wrapped in so many layers of complication.

He left in a hurry, leaving me speechless and staring after him. Was I hurt he was leaving my first night back? He insisted we come tonight. Right away. No running away.

What. The. Fuck. Ever!

Chapter28

Alessio

The music played softly in the background as I walked down an aisle of the store. I had two men watching the penthouse to ensure Autumn and Kol were safe. And that she didn’t leave. I had to leave them - to get some space and more importantly to get everything we needed for my son.

Our son.

Ricardo insisted on coming along.

“You know one of the men could have done this,” he grumbled.

I didn’t care. Kol was mine and I’d get what we needed.

With a phone in one hand and an app open, I added things to my online cart, while at the same time I pushed a cart down the aisle. It was safe to say, I had never in my goddamn life pushed a shopping cart down a store aisle.