It’s driven me crazy. I’ve wanted nothing more than to escape their hold and get my ass out here, but they haven’t made it easy. They wanted this to be a surprise, and now that I’m here staring up at the stunning home, I’m so glad they did.
“Holy shit,” I breathe as Marcus’ thumb trails over my knuckles, running back and forth. It looks exactly like the drawing. Roman’s team got it just right. “It’s beautiful.”
We stand at the top of the property as I look on in awe. Every single inch of land has been beautifully landscaped—including a long, curved driveway with trees lining either side leading to the big circle before the mansion. Not to mention, the most stunning water feature directly in the center that draws your eye up to the home. Gardens surround the property, all beautifully designed to complement the home, but I wouldn’t expect anything else from a perfectionist like Roman.
It’s huge. There’s no other way to describe it. Simply huge.
The house is modern with a flare of the boys’ gothic style, while also including that elegance I love about the home that Gia built … not that I’m thrilled about admitting to liking anything Gia did, but there’s no denying the bitch had style.
Every light in the house is on, including the lights that line the driveway, and as the sun sinks low in the sky, the entire property glows. I don't doubt that the boys picked this exact moment to show off the home because there’s no denying that this is as good as it’s going to get.
“This is really our home?” I ask, inwardly scolding myself for the tears that threaten to fill my eyes. I’m supposed to be at the top of the Moretti empire. I can’t cry about this shit, but damn it, the tears are coming.
“Yep,” Roman says, pressing his hand to my lower back and leading me toward the big house. “We each have our own wing—a private residence within our home, filled with everything we could need. Three ballrooms, meeting rooms for family business, fully equipped training areas—one underground, plus another up on the rooftop. Fully stocked armory, garage big enough to fit both of our fleets, and of course, prison cells—one for people who mildly piss us off and another for those who will die at our hands.”
“And what about a new and improved playground?” Roman’s eyes sparkle and I don’t need an answer to know that he went all out on it, probably the space he spent the most attention on with his brothers nit-picking over every little detail. “Shit, you didn’t hold back.”
“You deserve the best,” Levi tells me. “The fucker even remembered my drums. At least, everywhere throughout my wing, plus a handful in our more common areas.”
My pussy throbs to find and christen every last one of them, and judging by the look in Levi’s eyes, he’s thinking about the exact same thing. Fuck, there’s nothing quite like drum sex. You know, apart from bar sex, and chain sex, rooftop sex, and being fucked with the handle of a knife sex.
The boys lead me toward the grand entrance, and I gaze up at the home that sits at the top of the stairs. There must be at least fifty steps leading just to the front door, and I gape at its beauty. I’m going to get a workout making my way up and down these stairs every day, but at least I can be certain that I won’t get any random people knocking on my door trying to sell me shit.
Reaching the top step, I find myself thinking about just how much we’ve managed to achieve. Our lives haven’t exactly been stress free. Claiming our titles within our families is one thing … but maintaining them and reaching expectations is another. I never realized how much politics were included in all of this. I figured I told people what I expected of them and then they killed themselves to make it happen … apparently there’s a little more to it than that.
Not to mention the uproar when I suggested merging our two families to create the world’s most unstoppable, lethal force. Some were down, others may have pulled guns and tried to make their disapproval a little too obvious. I was quick to make an example out of them and since then, we’ve slowly started the merge.
It’s not going well. The Moretti and DeAngelis men are pig-headed. They’re assholes and don’t like to share. Who would have known, right? We’re getting there though, and when we do, we’ll be unstoppable.
I haven’t seen Zeke—Agent Davidson—since before the war that saved our baby boy, but every now and then, I hear whispers about the FBI trying to move in on us, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s Agent Davidson sending me a message. I like to believe it. I like to think that after all of this, he still has my back, but I wouldn’t blame him if he were to leave me to face the firing squad. He deserves to wash his hands of this shit and never look back. All those years standing at Gia’s side and taking on tasks that went against everything he believes in … yeah, that couldn’t have been easy.
Roman opens the floor-to-ceiling double doors and I gasp as I take in the unbelievable entrance. “Oh, my God,” I breathe, stepping through to the circular foyer and taking it all in. There's a beautiful pattern in the marble tiles and stunning pillars framing the room and accentuating the high ceilings. A big double staircase curves around the edges of the foyer leading up to an open loft with stunning wrought-iron railings that I can’t wait to explore, but for now, I move straight ahead, slowly scanning over every fine detail, and wondering who the hell the boys had to threaten to get this completed so quickly.
We walk straight ahead, leading under the stairs and into a formal living area where I assume our guests will wait to be blessed with our presence. The space is open and light, big windows in every possible space, such a stark contrast to the darkness of the castle that it breaks my heart. The boys were locked up tight in there, deprived of the simplest things that life has to offer—like sunlight. But not here. In our home, they will have everything they never knew they needed.
Pillars surround the room, and I follow them through to their adjoining spaces, scanning over the meeting rooms and wandering down to one of the many ballrooms, unable to stop imagining the parties we can hold.
The grand tour takes nearly an hour, and by the time I’ve seen everything and drooled over our pool, my thighs are beginning to burn. Our home is perfect, and so much more than I could have ever imagined despite having agonized over every last inch of the blueprints and designs. But it’s becoming startlingly clear that the design plans I was offered weren’t exactly the ones they were looking at. This here before me is a million times better, a million times bigger, and a million times more perfect.
They were holding out on me, but I’m really not surprised.
We’re up in my private suite—something that I feel isn’t actually going to be as private as we’d intended—looking out over the property, the soft breeze brushing through my hair. We stand out on my balcony, my suite directly in the center, allowing me the most stunning views of both the front and back of the property. “Come on,” Marcus says, his eyes sparkling with whatever the big secret is that I know they’ve been hiding from me for the past ten months. “There’s something we want to show you.”
My brows furrow as I let Marcus take my hand and lead me through my wing, bypassing my private theater room, stocked to the brim with bean bags, cushions, and blankets to snuggle into, even in the hottest summers. I try to go over the blueprints in my head, trying to figure out what room we haven’t visited yet, but I’m positive that I’ve already seen it all. “Where are we going?”
“Fuck, you suck at accepting surprises,” Levi murmurs, his eyes sparkling with laughter. “Would you just let us show you instead of trying to figure it out?”
I roll my eyes and zip my lips, allowing Marcus to lead me along the main hallway in my suite. He walks right to the end of an empty hallway, and for a moment, I think he’s fucking insane, that is until he presses his hand against the wall and the whole thing shifts back and opens. “What is this?” I breathe, my eyes bugging out of my head.
Marcus glances back at me, his eyes shimmering with desire. “Why don’t you come on in and see.”
The challenge in his tone has me striding straight past him and into the darkened room. There are no windows in here and it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust. There’s a big bed in the center of the room, a bar and small seating area with only enough chairs for the four of us, not including the long, narrow couch across the room. My brows furrow, wondering what the hell this is, but as I take in the finer details, the strategically placed pieces of furniture, the full frame around the bed, the metal hooks and harnesses, it finally clicks.
“Holy fuck,” I gasp. “What in the fifty shades of kinky-fuckery is this? You made us a sex room?”
Roman laughs, his wide grin confirmation enough. “Would you expect anything less?” he questions before pointing out some things in the room. “We’re directly in the center of the mansion, each of our own private suites connecting to this very room.” He walks around, pointing out all the separate doors which no doubt have secret entrances. “We wanted a place where we could come together, the four of us to do whatever the fuck it is that we need to do. Don’t get me wrong, if we happen to be out by the pool and the moment strikes, then so be it. I just thought with so many people coming in and out of our home, guards, and family members, plus Sebastian running around, we needed somewhere we could slip away without anyone barging in on us.”
I nod, totally getting it. “I’m assuming that each of your entrances also have super-secret hidden doors?”