“Baby,” he says, “I love you. I love you so much.” There are tears in his eyes as he opens the box, and inside sits a ring. It’s white and it glints in the fading sunlight through the window. A large square diamond sits in the center, with smaller diamonds sparkling to either side along the top of the band. “Please, will you be my wife? I’ll do everything to make you happy, to keep you safe. You, me, Pip and…” He places a hand on my belly. “Maybe, one day?”
I laugh, tears pricking my eyes, barely able to speak as I nod. “Yes, Val. Yes. Please, yes. I want to marry you.”
He breathes what sounds like a sigh of relief as he pulls the ring from the box and slips it onto my finger.
“I can’t believe how lucky I am,” I say, but he shakes his head.
“I’m the lucky one. I never could have dreamed I’d have someone like you in my life. And I’m going to spend the rest of my life striving to deserve you.”
With that, he leans forward, caging me with his arms, and places his lips against mine. I feel the hardening ridge of his cock against my mound and I grin, breaking the kiss and meeting his eyes. “Ready for another round already, Valiant?”
“Always ready for you,” he says, and I gasp as he softly enters me.
Epílogos
Four people died.
Four.
One of them I knew personally, the other three were simply enjoying the hospitality of the casino, enjoying themselves. Were they inveterate gamblers? I don’t know. Perhaps. Did they buy drugs from my family? It’s possible. Were they saints? Doubtful.
Did they deserve to die?
It’s an odd question and one I don’t often ponder. The business I conduct is a dangerous one. People die a lot more often than outsiders might imagine. If I sat and wondered about their deaths every time, as I’m doing now, staring into the amber liquid in the bottom of my glass, I would never be able to do business at all. People rarely deserve to die, but it’s rare that they’re so innocent that such a death is a tragedy.
But these people, they weren’t a part of our world. Innocent bystanders are not, as a rule, legitimate targets. Certainly, they might sometimes fall foul of a stray bullet, or get in the way and be dealt with accordingly, but sanctioned murder without remorse? Capricious ending of life?
Strange times indeed.
My son, Ody, clears his throat. “Papa.”
I look up and frown. Ody is my third child, youngest son. Around the same age now as I was when I took over the family business from my father. In his day, open warfare was not uncommon, but now it’s shaken us all. Odysseus, loyal as he is, looks to me still for his strength. He’s a soldier at heart. Orders make him comfortable.
“I think…” I begin, but lose my train of thought, closing my mouth and picking up my glass, but unwilling to drink from it.
It’s been three days since the attack, and so far I’ve had no news of who was behind it or why they should try to remove me rather than simply look to divide territory. I don’t like being in the dark like this, but what can I do? The cleanup has begun already. Roman has taken it on himself, as I expected he would. But he’s distracted. Something is going on between him and his mother. I’ve seen her hanging around him and I don’t like it. She’s a snake, a cobra, intelligent and unpredictable, beautiful and poisonous.
There’s a rumble from the driveway and I start, drawn out of my thoughts and find Ody still standing by the door.
“Camilo,” I say, breathing a sigh. “Go welcome him back, Odysseus. Make sure he has everything he needs.”
“Yes, Papa. I’m glad to have him back.”
“So am I.”
I am more relived that he survived the attack than even I expected. I’m fond of him, and proud of the way he handled himself. The FBI, of course, wanted their piece of flesh, questioned him for hours, but in this he was innocent. They found nothing to link him to the violence because there was nothing, and in the end they had no choice but to let him go.
Their investigation is revealed now and they must know it. They’ll back off, look for another way in. We will have to be careful about vetting new recruits. That would be how I would approach it in their position. Someone they can place on the inside. Someone who will seem too good to be true, helping the organization at just the opportune moment. An angel sent to deliver us.
I close the lid of my laptop and push it away. Business can wait. For this evening, I will listen to music and relax and thank God that I was spared.