I collapsed onto my back, breathing shallow, gasping breaths.
Sam came to me there. She pressed her hands against the wound and kissed my lips. “Matteo, oh, fuck, stay with me.”
I squeezed her hands, smiling. “I love you. I love that baby. I can’t lose you, you know?”
“You won’t,” she said. “I love you too.” Tears streamed down her cheeks.
One of the Valentino guys appeared. His name was Tony, a rough-looking man with a scraggly beard. “You got hit real good, but we’re going to take care of you, all right, Matteo? You stay with us.”
“Sam,” I whispered, looking into her beautiful face.
“Stay with me,” she said.
Pain made me gasp as they lifted me up and got me out of there with Shaun and Sam in tow. They weren’t gentle about shoving me in the back of a van, but then we were off, speeding away as sirens sounded in the distance. The ride was a blur of darkness and Sam as I drifted in and out of consciousness, but eventually we arrived at a nearby Valentino safehouse.
“Doctor’s almost here,” Tony said. “Hang on, Matteo.” They got me inside and put me down on a couch. Shaun paced around, talking to the other guys, but all I could do was keeping looking at Sam. Some part of me wanted to let go and fall asleep, let the darkness that was creeping into my vision finally take hold, but the thought of leaving her and the baby kept me going, kept my heart beating. I didn’t want my boy to grow up without a daddy, and I didn’t want Sam to have a life without me. There was so much more I wanted to give her, so much more I wanted to experience with her.
I wasn’t ready to let go, not yet at least.
The doctor arrived not long later. He knelt down next to the couch and looked at the wound. “This is going to hurt,” he said as he started to do something.
Pain lanced through my shoulder, arcing down into my chest, and I finally passed out.
19
Sam
Two Years Later
“Mommy!” Baby Allie ran at me like a hurricane. She tripped on a toy and nearly went sprawling but I caught her before her head could slam against the floor. She laughed, totally delighted like we were playing some game, and she squirmed around in my arms. The girl was a little terror, tearing through the townhouse like she owned the place—which she pretty much did.
“Careful, sweetie,” I said, as she teetered around on her own, walking with absolutely zero fear of falling, even though she fell constantly
“Daddy?” she asked, looking back at me.
I frowned a little bit. “He’s not here,” I said.
“Daddy,” she said. “Daddy!”
“Did someone call for me?” Matteo appeared in the door, grinning.
“There he is,” I said, swooping her up. She reached for him and he laughed as he wrapped his arms around her and held her high in the air. She squirmed until he held her normally, hanging off his hip like an extension of him.
“Hey, babe,” he said and kissed me.
“Hey, yourself. How’s the Don?”
“Oh, you know, hanging in there.” He kissed Allie on the cheek. “How are my girls?”
“Doing great, right, sweetie?” I tickled her side and she laughed. She looked just like her father, with that same dark hair, but I thought I could see myself around her eyes and chin. “She’s seriously going to start walking soon.”
“That’s great.” He hugged her then put her down. She tried to take a step, toppled instantly, then crawled away.
Matteo kissed me gently then pulled me against him. “There’s my girl,” he whispered.
I grinned and kissed his neck. “Seriously, Nessa says you’ve been busy.”
“Yeah, well, now that the families are getting along, there’s a lot of work to do getting shit integrated. The Don’s been spearheading that and he’s got me running things on the ground.”
“Busy man.”
“Making money.” He let me go and chased after Allie. I watched him scoop her up then fall with her onto the couch and she squealed with delight.
For two weeks, I thought I was going to lose him. The doctor said the bullet nearly pierced his lung and that he lost a lot of blood. Then there were complications, an infection, and he hovered on the line between life and death. But I never left his side, and he pulled through for me.
I think because he was desperate to meet his baby, his little Allie girl.
I never imagined how he’d take to being a father. I knew he wanted it, but I never thought for a second that he’d be so active and involved, getting Allie up from all her naps, putting her down every night, feeding her bottles, going without sleep in those awful early days, singing to her, reading to her, doting on her needs. He cooked, he cleaned, and he cracked skulls out on the street, and he treated me like a goddess, and Allie like a princess.