When Villains Rise (Anti-Heroes in Love 2)

I moved the tray of food off my lap and fitted my arms beneath her pits to draw her up between Dante and I, her thighs straddling each of our laps.

“I wanted to be a mother all my life,” I told her softly, tracing the line of her nose and her soft cheek, the curve of her eyebrow and the corner of her jaw. Every inch of her was as dear to me as every inch of Dante was. “It was my biggest dream in life to have a family. It might not be possible for Dante and I to make a baby together, but do you know what? That doesn’t matter because even though I never ever would have wished what happened to Bambi and Jacopo to happen, my dreams came true when you came into our home. You just made them even more real giving me this.” I shook the papers in my other hand. “How many people do you know whose dreams really came true?”

She pursed her lips adorably. “Zio always says his dreams came true when he met you.”

My gaze shot up to Dante who was smiling at us both like her couldn’t believe his luck.

“Yeah, okay,” I allowed, swallowing the emotions clogged in my throat. “Both your zio and I had our dreams come true and you are a massive part of that. I hope you never doubt how much we love you.”

“Siamo con te,” Dante told her, leaning forward to kiss the top of her head. “anche quando non lo siamo.”

We are with you, even when we are not.

“That’s like what you always tell Elena,” she murmured, eyes wide.

“Yeah, because I love you two most of all,” he whispered. “But don’t tell nonno Tore.”

She laughed in a way that said she was totally going to tell Tore.

Dante smiled at me over her head and leaned into kiss me softly. “Happy birthday,” he repeated. “And happily-ever-after. Let’s enjoy the peace while it lasts.”

I laughed and Rora laughed with me because she loved to hear our mirth tangled together like a song. Then Dante joined in and my heart almost burst in my chest with joy.

There was no ice left in me.

No walls.

Because I had a mafioso to protect my heart better than I ever could.

Epilogue

Elena

I was thirty-three when it happened.

Older than I’d thought I would be as a girl before everything happened.

Now, my age didn’t matter.

Miracles existed outside of time and that’s what this was.

A miracle.

I took a test.

Then two more from different brands.

But that wasn’t enough.

I’d learned a long time ago that hope was a fickle bitch.

So, I made an appointment with Monica just to confirm.

If I was going to tell Dante, it had to be true. Feeding him a false dream would be worse than swallowing it down myself.

For once, I wanted to give the man who had gifted me his world something worthy of his love.

When she confirmed it was true, I almost panicked because I wanted to give him the news like the gift it was.

Like a treasure.

So, I waited two weeks and told him on his fortieth birthday.

“Svegliati, cuore mio,” I murmured as I got back into bed that morning, straddling his prone hips so I could press kiss to his face. “Wake up, my love.”

“Mmm, I’m an old man now,” he grumbled without opening his eyes. “I need my rest.”

I laughed against his stubbled cheek. “Too old to open presents?”

Immediately, those olive black eyes I adored snapped open. “I could wake up for presents.”

I rolled my eyes as if I wasn’t almost jumping out of my skin with excitement. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Well, where is it, lottatrice? Or…” he waggled his brows and sat up to push his face into the valley between my breasts. “Are you my present?”

I screeched with laughter as he held my breasts together and motorboated me. “Okay, enough! I’m going to have to sit over there if you can’t take control yourself.”

“That might be best,” he admitted, eyes sparkling like an entire universe built just for me.

I scooted over to the other side of the bed and retrieved the small box I’d wrapped. He took it eagerly, making love bubble up in my chest. He was a killer, a mafia Don, the scariest man I’d ever known. But to me, he was just this, boyish and charming and so handsome it hurt.

He frowned when he opened it to reveal a key.

“Grazie?” he asked.

Thank you?

“It opens something in the house,” I told him, getting out of bed and grabbing my robe in case Rora was already awake. “I wonder if you can find it.”

His eyes lit with the challenge and he took my hand to practically drag me out of the room. I laughed as he searched, trying to open drawers in the office and the kitchen.

When he got to the second floor, my stomach erupted with butterflies.