“I won’t say no,” I told him with a coy little smile as I looked up at him through my lashes.
His dark eyes brightened. “You mean that?”
“Ask and find out,” I challenged.
He dropped to his knees right there in the middle of our bedroom, in front of Mila and Maverick and Lyric. My breath caught in my throat, and tears blurred my vision as I looked down at him. “Monroe Masterson, you are my heart, my soul, the very air I breathe. I can’t survive this cold and dark world without your sunshine to give me a taste of the light. I know I don’t deserve you, but I’m a selfish bastard. I need you. Please, my love, will you marry me?”
“Holy fuck,” the other three muttered at the same time, but I ignored them.
Tears streaming down my face, all I could do was nod. “Yes,” I choked out eventually. “Yes. Please, Gian. I’ll marry you today, tomorrow. Whenever you want. I want to be yours. I always have.”
I watched his throat work, and then he blinked and a single tear spilled over his lashes. “Precious,” he choked out, his arms wrapping around my middle as he buried his face in my abdomen.
We got lost in the moment, both of us so happy, we completely forgot we weren’t alone in our bedroom.
Until Maverick cleared his throat sheepishly and pushed a phone into my hands. “Dad,” he mouthed with a grimace.
I swallowed a groan and lifted the phone to my ear. “You are not getting married without me and your mother!” he roared when I said a hesitant hello. “Bring your ass back home, and you and Mila can have a double wedding.”
“Maybe I want to get married here,” I argued.
I heard him inhale sharply. “Do you?” he asked after a few seconds had passed.
“No,” I said after thinking it over for a moment. “I kind of always saw myself getting married at the compound and then having the reception at Hannigans’.” I looked at Gian, asking with my eyes if that would be okay.
“Whatever you want, precious,” he said without hesitation.
“Okay, Daddy,” I said into the phone. “But Mila and I have to make a stop on the way back.”
My sister met my gaze and grinned. “Hey, we’re already on this side of the globe,” she said and turned to Lyric. “Babe, could we stop in Paris?”
He blew out a mock sigh. “I’m still spanking that ass when we get home,” he warned. “But yeah, sure. A few days in Paris sounds like fun, baby.”
Chapter 22
Gian
While Monroe and her sister went dress shopping in Paris, I made a few phone calls. It didn’t take long before I was looking at the DNA test results on my phone.
After thinking Enzo Fontana was my father my entire life, it was hard to comprehend that he wasn’t. I had so many more questions than answers, but more than anything, the relief I felt at knowing I didn’t share a single gene with the bastard who was responsible for so much evil in the world was hard to grasp.
I didn’t share DNA with the man who’d killed my mother. I wasn’t related in any way, shape, or form to the man who’d had hurt my precious Monroe’s beloved cousin.
Monroe had already spoken to Lexa on the phone. A tear-filled conversation that had me tugging on my hair because I couldn’t stand to see my precious girl crying for any reason, even if they were happy tears. But Lexa had apologized for making Monroe choose between me and their relationship, and then told my precious girl to bring me home so she could meet me.
That her family seemed to be welcoming me, instead of pushing me out of her life—that I could have her and give her the family she loved so much—was enough to make me not give a fuck who my real father was. I didn’t need to know, didn’t want to know, if I was being honest with myself.
All that I needed was already mine. Monroe and our babies were everything I had ever wanted, and she was going to marry me.
Lyric and Maverick stayed behind with Mila when the others left, and we stopped over in Paris for a few days on our way back to the States. Dr. Khan, of course, came with us, because if I was paying the man a total of six million dollars, he was fucking going to accompany us everywhere.
Maverick went with Ugo to watch over his sisters while they tried on wedding dresses. I wanted to go with them, but Monroe said there was no way I was seeing her in her dress until she was walking down the aisle. As always, I gave my precious girl what she wanted, even if it did drive me crazy the few hours she was out of my sight.
A few alterations had to be made to each dress once they picked the ones they wanted, which took a few extra days.
Once we got to Creswell Springs, the preparations for the double wedding were heavily underway. I didn’t know a wedding could be planned or put into action in just over a week, yet by the time we walked into the Masterson house, all that was left to do was actually have a wedding.
“Mom.” Monroe stood beside me, holding on to my arm as she looked up at me with her entire heart in her eyes. My breath caught in my chest at the love I saw reflected in those gray depths, and I couldn’t stop myself from kissing her. When I lifted my head, she sighed happily and looked back at her mother. “Mom, this is Gian.”