Dirty Addiction (Dirty 2)

Eden pushes and our daughter lands in my arms. I wrap the baby in my shirt, and hold her up to Eden’s chest.

My heart stops until I hear her cry. It’s a magnificent sound.

Eden cries, as well, as she holds our daughter. I wrap my arms around both of them, knowing I need to call an ambulance soon, but right now I can’t. I just want to be happy with Eden.

“That was one of the scariest moments of my life,” I say.

Eden smiles. “Me too. But we’re fine. And we have a daughter.”

I stroke our daughter’s cheek.

“What should we name her?”

She thinks for a moment. “Nora.”

“It’s beautiful.”

I reach into my pocket, pull out my phone, and call an ambulance. Then I call Arlo to tell Nina and Gia to meet us at the hospital to meet their new niece.

Everyone is living in LA now. None of us have jobs at the moment, but we will figure all of that out soon enough. We have each other, and we are safe.

I look down at my daughter and the woman I love. They are safe. I ensured their safety by giving up my life as a criminal, and by making Clive and Erick happy, giving them my empire. I knew they would always be running after us if I didn’t. We would never be safe. This was the only way.

I did everything I could to protect my family and today was still the scariest day of my life. Because I realized that sometimes we can’t save people. Sometimes they die anyway.

Today we beat the odds. Eden lived. We get to keep being a family for another day.

I was afraid to love Eden because I knew what it meant. Especially after loving Nina. I loved her, and she was taken from me. Eden could be taken from me just as easily. But it is still worth it to love her.

I may live my life afraid of losing her, but that is what love is. Love is fear. But that fear can’t keep us from living.

Epilogue

Gia

“Yes, Matteo, I’ll be careful. I’m just in Paris to see friends for a few days. How much trouble could I get in?” I say, stepping off the plane.

“Don’t get upset with me for caring about you. I love you. I’m your big brother; I’m supposed to look out for you.”

“I know, I know,” I say, my heels clicking against the floor as I walk toward the exit of the airport to a taxi.

“When will you be back? Your niece, Nora, already misses you, and Nina is due any day now.”

“I’ll probably be gone a month,” I say, knowing he’s going to be upset.

“A month? Gia! You can’t be gone that long. Do you understand how much Nora will have grown in a month? And Eden needs your help.”

I laugh. “Eden does not need my help. She’s a

wonderful mother. And as much as I love her offer to work for her at the law firm, I need to find my own way.”

I hop into a cab and hand the driver the address.

Matteo pauses. “I understand.”

I raise my eyebrows. My brother never understands. Eden has really changed him.

“I love you. Don’t worry about me. I simply need some time to figure out what I do next, now that I don’t have to worry about the Carini enemies coming after me all the time.”