Matteo nodded, glancing at me like he thought I might lose my shit.
A few years ago, I might have paid her a visit and warned her. But now I had Calla and the kids to worry about, and I had to keep them safe over everything else.
Even if it broke a piece of me.
"Sandro?" Matteo called, and one of Matteo's guys stepped in the door. He was young, working his way up the ranks, but had already proven himself trustworthy. "Monitor him overnight. We'll see if he has anything else to say in the morning. Wrap up his arm so he doesn't bleed out."
"Yes, Boss," Sandro grunted, moving to grab a cloth out of the corner. It was filthy, but it didn't matter.
The guy would be dead long before infection could set in.
???
Why Matteo had ridden with me that day, I couldn't fathom. "So?" he asked when I didn't seem ready to be chatty.
Apparently marriage had turned Matteo into the king of gossip.
"So?" I grunted back, shifting the gears in my Maserati. Simon followed with Matteo's Aston behind us, and the way he smiled behind the steering wheel made him look like a kid th
at had been given the keys to the kingdom.
"How is she? What you hoped?" he asked.
"Been two days," I muttered.
His grin faded. "Right." A look crossed over his face, and I knew he probably reflected on Ivory's first two days after he'd forced her to move into his home.
"She's not the moping kind. I have to worry more that she'll kill me while I sleep," I said. That brought the dark grin back to his face.
"Scar says you barely sleep, so that might prove challenging." I turned the corner to the driveway, breathing out a sigh of relief when the Estate came into view. Still standing strong, and none of the guards looked panicked like I might have expected had my woman somehow escaped.
I glanced at him out of the side of my eye, feeling my lips tip up in a smile that made him jerk his head back in shock. "I didn't say she'd be successful."
He barked a brief laugh, furrowing his brow at me as he tried to understand who I was. When the gate opened up, I drove through, and Matteo didn't stand a chance in getting out of the car before me. I threw it in park, jumping out and storming into the house.
I needed my woman. Needed to know that she hadn't left me or been hurt. I knew she couldn't logically. Nobody got in or out of Matteo's house without him knowing. But old habits were hard to break, old hurts hard to shake.
When my eyes landed on her entire body shaking as she giggled on the stool of the island, and sipped what looked to be her fourth mimosa if her swaying body was any sign, my chest sagged in relief. It fled the next moment when she pitched to the side, jarred out of her stool by Sadie's playful shove. "You're such a lightweight!" Sadie giggled, and Samara reached over to stabilize Calla but missed.
I closed the distance between us, scooping my Sunshine up before she could hit the ground. "You're drunk, Tesoro," I whispered, when she chuckled against me.
There was zero chance of me getting inside her that night. Not with the way alcohol gave her headaches if she drank and didn't go right to bed.
"You ready to go get Ines?" I asked her, and she squirmed in my arms. Like she'd be able to walk on her own. "How much did she drink?"
"Three mimosas," Ivory answered when Matteo came up behind her and tugged her into his arms for a kiss. It was the kind of kiss Calla would have thought indecent, but she'd get over that when the time came.
I'd claim her in front of anyone and everyone as soon as she was ready. Whether she liked it or not.
After he'd sufficiently kissed his wife into a stupor, he moved to Don and snatched his daughter out of his arms. "Hey, Little Moon," he whispered, and I watched Calla's eyes drift over to the interaction with longing.
She'd always wanted three kids.
She'd have them soon enough.
I carried her over to the more stable chairs in the dining area where she could still peek in on the kitchen and watch Matteo with Luna. I wasn't against encouraging that desire for another baby. Matteo grinned at me as I settled her, walking over with a calmer gait than the man usually accomplished.
Normally he didn’t give a rat’s ass who he terrified, but apparently he could take the time to be slightly understanding of Calla’s position.