Page 72 of Fragile Union

Dante and Alessio talk in hushed tones as I turn to my wife. “Thank you.”

She rolls her eyes at me. “This is my family too, Rome, I hate to see it fractured.”

I kiss her head. “You ready to go home?”

She nods, a grin slowly forming on her face. “So ready.”

My cock starts to thicken. It’s been far too long since I’ve been inside my wife. Tonight, that changes.

Twenty-Six

HOLLY

I’ve been patient, I’ve waited and waited, hoping he’d come to me when he was ready. But he hasn’t and now I want answers.

I draw circles on his chest, we’re both naked, finally having given into the urge to be together. It had been over ten days since I had felt that closeness to him and I needed it. He did too, as soon as we kissed, he lost control and I was right there with him for the ride.

“So…” I begin, my finger still drawing circles on his chest. “We need to talk about what Ales said today about your parents and the way they treated you.” I keep my voice soft and even.

He sighs, but he doesn’t push me away or try to change the subject. “It’s not a pretty story, doll face.”

My heart breaks already and he hasn’t even told me anything. “I guessed that, but I want to know everything.”

He rolls over so his arms are around me and I’m tucked up into his chest. “I was eleven. Dante and our father were out, Matteo was grooming him to take over. He’d bring him along to meetings and shit. I was often left home alone and honestly it was the way I preferred it. But this night, our mother was home, she’d just put Alessio to bed and had made her way to her bedroom.”

He takes a deep breath, and pressing a kiss against my temple, he continues with his story. “I was downstairs playing video games when I heard voices. I didn’t know them and with Matteo gone, most of the men were with him.”

My hand stops drawing circles, I press my palm flat against his chest instead as I wait for him to carry on.

“Matteo had insisted I carry a knife with me always. So, this night, I unsheathed it and was ready, I had been taught how to defend myself at a young age. I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t excited. I was just…” he pauses as if he’s trying to find the right word. “Normal. I moved silently through the house, I could hear the men talking, they wanted to get to Mom and Alessio. They knew Matteo and Dante were out of the house.”

I tense, kind of knowing what’s coming next.

“I killed them. One by one, I slit their throats without a second thought.”

My heart breaks for him. He was eleven. No eleven-year-old should have to do that, but it’s the way of this life. The younger you are when you kill the more revered you are. It’s sadistic and yet, true. “Did you get hurt?” I whisper, as I press a kiss against him.

“No, baby, I wasn’t hurt. Mom heard the commotion and came running downstairs and when she saw what had happened, she went crazy, calling me a monster and I was worse than my father.” There's no emotion in his voice and I hate it. “She called Matteo telling him about the devil he had created.”

I gasp. That fucking bitch.

“Rome,” I whisper, unable to keep the pain and anger out of my voice. “I hate that bitch. God, if she were still alive, I’d kill her myself. You are not a monster; you aren’t the fucking devil. You’re Rome.”

His head leans against mine. “Only you see me that way, doll face.” His eyes wide as he stares at me in wonder. “I don’t know what I did in this life to deserve you, but fuck, I’m one lucky bastard.”

I shake my head. “I’m the lucky one.”

He closes his eyes as his arms tighten around me. “When Matteo arrived home, he saw the carnage I had wrought. From that day, he looked at me differently. I was no longer the boy he could pretend to ignore, not when his men had also seen what I did. They were warned to keep it under wraps, but they still spoke about it. Matteo could no longer deny I was stronger than him. So, he let me do whatever the hell I wanted.”

I swallow past the lump in my throat. “You make me feel safe, loved, and cherished. I don’t need anything else in this world. I only want you. You are not a monster; you aren’t a devil. You are so much more than what others see you as.”

“Doll face…”

“Your family didn’t deserve to have you. Your father feared your power. Probably knew he’d have to watch his back, that eventually you’d be the one to kill him.”

I know now it was Dante, but the point is still valid.

“Your mom, well, I have no fucking idea what was going through her mind. She didn’t deserve to be called a mother.”

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