Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
“I’m not ready for this,” she said.
Adriano put his hand to the rounded swell of his wife’s stomach. “I know, but she’s ready to say hello, Lissa. She wants to meet the world. See her mom. Be held by her dad.”
Alessa smiled at him. “You would see it that way.”
Only because his wife taught him how to.
Alessa was all the light in Adriano’s dark life.
But he supposed his life was about to get a little brighter.
*
Swaddled in pink, sucking on her thumb, and topped off with a too-large, fuzzy pink hat, Corrine Mia Conti slept happily in the plastic bassinet.
So unaware, Adriano thought.
So unknowing, he knew.
The baby girl—his baby girl—didn’t have the first clue of the hell that had ensued during her mother’s pregnancy. She didn’t know how volatile her family had been, how scary the world around them was, and how close she had come to not even existing.
But none of that mattered as Adriano stared at his little girl.
None of those things were important.
Just Corrine.
Ten little bitty fingers.
Ten tiny toes.
She was blue-eyed, but that could change to his green, he knew. She had tufts of dark hair that peeked out from under her pink hat. Her nose sloped like her mothers, but she had his mouth and cheekbones.
Innocence, entirely.
Pure love.
Adriano smiled, scared to move or touch Corrine for fear she might wake up.
If she woke up, then he would have her in his arms again and he wouldn’t let her go. As it was, the nurses had needed to pry her from him hours ago for her first bath and her hearing test.
“She’s beautiful,” Abriella said softly.
Adriano’s smile grew bigger. “Yeah, she is.”
“Quiet,” Tommas said.
“For now,” Abriella joked.
“How’s Alessa doing?” Evelina asked.
Adriano straightened, and turned to his sister. “Really good, but tired. She was having a shower, so I didn’t think she would miss the baby if I brought her out to see you all.”
Evelina tugged on Theo’s hand, bringing her husband closer to the baby. Adriano stepped back from his child, and watched as four people leaned over the sleeping baby in the bassinet, and fell in love at first sight.
Babies had that effect on people.
Corrine was something special, though.
Something really special.
Adriano knew it.
His daughter was the first principessa of the next generation of their families to be born. She had come into the world just days after the war between all their families had finally come to an end. Corrine was just one little string that added to the strong bonds between the four families.
She helped to make it grow.
That was important.
“We have to do a party,” Abriella told Tommas.
“A meet and greet, maybe.”
“Yes, I like that,” Evelina said.
“What about Lily and Damian?” Theo asked.
Tommas nodded. “We’ll have one for their baby boy, too.”
Adriano smiled, amused at how no one was thinking to ask him or Alessa what they wanted. “Can we wait a couple of weeks?”
“I guess,” Abriella mused, “but you know I’m going to be over there a lot anyway.”
Yeah, he knew.
And he was grateful.
“Me, too,” Evelina added.
“Thanks,” Adriano said. “I’m sure we’ll need it.”
“You’ll do fine,” Tommas said, eying the young Capo from the side like he knew Adriano’s worries just by looking at him. “Don’t fret the small things, Adriano.”
He would try not to.
*
“Adriano?”
“Hmm?” he asked, never looking up from Corrine’s tiny, sweet features.
“Come here,” Alessa demanded.
Adriano strolled across the hospital room, rocking and shushing the baby at the same time. It was the middle of the night—their third night in the hospital. Tomorrow, Alessa and Corrine would be released to go home.
He was scared.
Just a little bit.
He was excited, too.
Sitting down on the edge of the small couch, he leaned over and touched his nose to Alessa. Her smile was wide, honest, and beautiful.
Just like her life.
They were young and stupid.
They’d been so reckless.
For years, really.
But goddamn, it was worth it.
“Love you like crazy,” Adriano told Alessa.
His wife smiled bigger, brighter.
“Love you, Adriano.”
He glanced down at sleeping Corrine.
“Are you ready for this little girl here?” he asked.
Alessa laughed. “I got through the birth, didn’t I?”
She had.
She cried, begged, and screamed more, but she had.
And damn, he was proud of her.
Adriano couldn’t have done what Alessa did.
“We can do this, right?” Adriano asked.
Because they were still young.
Still crazy.
Still together.
Alessa nodded, and stroked her daughter’s cheek. “Yeah, Adriano. We can do this.”
Ends and Beginnings
“Wait,” Abriella said, her gaze narrowing. “You invited her here?”
“Why not?” Alessa asked.
Abriella looked to Tommas for something—Alessa didn’t know what. Tommas only shrugged in response. Abriella sighed when she found no help from her fiancé, and turned back to Alessa with a scowl.
“It’s not like she’s family or something,” Abriella said quietly. “I know this was an Outfit gathering to meet and greet Corrine, but she didn’t have to be a part of that, Lissa. Just because she was fucking our brother, and playing his little whore—”