His face softens with love, but then he says, “You never do that again. Even if they have me, you don’t come. They’ll make me watch you die and then kill me. There is no way you can save me.”
“I had to try,” I squeeze the words out, all the emotions from the day flooding me.
Lucian shakes his head hard. “Never again, Elena.”
Hearing my name from his lips, I know this is not negotiable. “Who will save you then?”
His mouth curves up again. “I will. No matter the circumstances, I’ll always find a way to come back to you.”
Lifting my right arm, I place my palm against his jaw. “Promise?”
“I swear this, amore mio,” he says, and then he presses a tender kiss to my lips. Pulling back, he asks, “How do you feel?”
I move a little, and even though there’s a sharp ache in my left shoulder, I reply, “I’m okay.” I can’t feel the cut on my arm, so at least there’s that.
Lucian didn’t show pain when he got shot, so I won’t. I have to become stronger. For him. For our love.
“It was a clean wound,” Demitri says. “It should heal quickly.”
“Thank you,” I reply to Demitri.
Then Lucian’s face turns to stone again. “What was Eva talking about? What did my father have to do with all of this?”
My eyes close for a moment at the sharp ache it causes to know my mother was the cause of Lucian’s grief.
I begin to tell him everything I know. About her love for his father and how she felt betrayed when he chose Lucian’s mother over mine. How she suffered at my father’s hands and swore revenge on the Mafia.
Lucian processes the information, nodding here and there, and then he asks, “Did she say anything about Nick Cabello?”
“Just that she killed him.”
Lucian nods again. “Anything about who else she might’ve worked with?” he asks.
I shake my head. “Just Zeus. I don’t know what happened to him.”
“The Greek guy?” Lucian asks. When I nod, he says, “He’s dead.”
“Is it over?” I ask, hopeful we can find some peace in our lives.
Lucian gives me a tender smile, and then he leans into me and presses a kiss on my forehead. “It’s over, amore mio.”
When he pulls back, our eyes meet, and for a moment, we just stare, soaking in the fact that we both survived the attack.
All because of Lucian’s strength.
“You need to rest,” Lucian says.
I shake my head. “I’m fine.” I’ve had worse, and never wanting to be in that position again, I ask, “Will you teach me how to fight and fire a gun?”
Lucian nods. “As soon as your shoulder has healed.”
I lean against Lucian’s chest. “Thank you.”
For changing my life. For loving me. For saving me.
Lifting my head, I press my mouth to his, and I pour everything I feel into the kiss. I don’t care that Alexei, Demitri, and the guards are moving around us. I just need to feel my husband’s lips on mine.
Eventually, Lucian pulls back and asks, “What was that for?”
“For saving me from suffering the same fate as my mother.”
Her death brings me only relief. She’s finally free from the demons that haunted her. It’s weird. I can’t completely hate her, knowing the hell she must’ve gone through.
Some monsters are made, and she was one of them.
Lucian’s fingers brush over my cheek. “I would’ve saved you sooner had I known you existed.”
God, this man.
Can I love him any more than I already do?
“I would’ve run to you,” I admit.
“Instead of running from me like I was some monster?” he teases me.
I nod. “I was right though, it takes a bigger monster to keep the others at bay. But you’re my monster.”
He’s a killer. A bad man to the bone. But that’s what it took to survive the hell that followed me.
My avenging angel.
“Ti amo,” I whisper, fusing our mouths together again.
I thank the heavens for hearing my prayers and sending Lucian to me.
Epilogue
LUCIAN
(Two weeks later…)
Standing at the VIP bar with Alexei, Demitri, Franco, and Leo, we all enjoy a drink while music fills the air.
We’re having a celebratory party at Vizioso.
The Mafia did not fall. I came face to face with my enemies, and their deaths have sent out the message to not fuck with me and mine.
Out of the blood bath, I’ve raised a new empire. One, entirely under my control.
My eyes move between Franco and Leo, then I say, “Franco.”
His attention focuses on me. “Boss?”
“You’re being promoted. I need a man I can trust to take charge of Cabello’s arms and customers. What do you say?”
Franco stares at me, first with surprise, and then a huge-ass smile spreads over his face. “I’d be honored to work alongside you.”
“Good. It wasn’t actually negotiable,” I joke with him.
He lets out a bark of laughter.