I slip on my panties after hooking the front closure of my bra when hands surround me. Theo’s pressing a kiss to the side of my neck.
“Love you, Snowflake.” Nipping my ear, he spins me around, and I’m not surprised he’s still only in his towel.
I smile at him, slide my hands up his chest and around his neck. “I love you too, baby.”
Tilting his head forward, he gives me a kiss that makes my toes curl before releasing me. “We gotta get down to breakfast before Christian comes up here demanding your attention. Plus, Blue and Tink are sure to be mad. I kicked them out of the room this morning.”
I giggle at the exasperated sigh he releases. Tink and Blue, our dogs, are our babies. Well, Blue is mine but technically was Theo’s first since she’s one of Tink’s puppies. He’d given her to my brother, who gave Blue to me as a gift. I didn’t know at the time that it was from Theo’s dog. Shoot, I didn’t even know anything about my brother’s life because he’d kept everything a secret. Then again, I’d been completely oblivious to everything around me and all but lived in my head.
“Guess you gotta let me go then, huh?” I whisper, sobering but still smiling.
“Never,” he grumbles and tightens his grasp around my waist. “I’m never fuckin’ letting you go, Snowflake. I’ll die before that happens.”
My heart skips a beat and then another. Theo isn’t one for really showing his emotions. Well, that is unless it’s me. He’s known as being frozen and not giving a damn about anyone or anything around him except for his family.
And me.
I stare at him bring my hands up to cup either side of his face and whisper, “Please don’t talk about dying or anything. I don’t want anything to ever happen to you. It’ll kill me.”
Before he can respond, our door is thrown open, and our dogs come bounding into the room.
“Aww fuckin’ hell, why couldn’t you be dressed already,” Christian complains, turning away. “I think I’m going to be blind now.
“It’s what you get for not knocking,” I snap, stepping away from Theo as he chuckles and smacks my ass before going in the closet—closing the door slightly behind him. Grabbing my jeans, I quickly slip them on while I glare at my brother’s back. “What are you doing bursting in here anyway?”
“What? I can’t see my little sister first thing in the morning on her birthday?” he snorts. “I mean, it’s been only how long since I’ve been able to give you a hug on your day.”
I roll my eyes, shaking my head while reaching for my shirt.
What is up with everyone and my damn birthday. I hate the day, and I do not want to celebrate it. My parents made sure of that a long time ago, and I don’t intend to start doing it again.
Or at least I’m going to try.
ChapterTwo
THEO
If it weren’t hilarious Christian busting into mine and Blake’s room, I’d have knocked the shit out of him. It’s Blake’s birthday, and I know how she feels about the day. She’s told me before about not wanting to celebrate it, but her brother is determined.
Shit. He’s even gotten Mia to help him in putting together the whole damn day for her. I might not be one for all the festivities—when it comes to my woman—I want to give her the world. She deserves it. Blake’s life was turned upside-down because of her family and their connection with the Gheata family. If I could, I’d kill them all without blinking. Unfortunately, we’ve got to play it smart with them.
Leo, Christian, and I have been working for a while now, trying to figure out what to do about them. We can’t simply take them out, not without repercussions. We’re already in a silent war with them as it is for what they did over a year ago to Mia and then them wanting to kidnap Blake. None of us are about to let them get away with it. Instead, we’re working at taking business with our friends across seas from them, and it seems from the last conversation we had with them, they’re more than happy to switch for business productivity. The drugs and guns are always flowing.
Our family has a rule, though, and it seems our new friends approve of it—those who work selling our shit don’t sell to minors or around kids. The last time one of them did, they ended up gutted.
We also have several businesses we launder our money through. So, some of them are truly legit. Others are fronts to what’s really going on behind the scenes. Leo’s taken our family’s legacy and turned it into something even more. He’s made alliances with several families, including the Jurics.
Fucked up part of it all is Leo’s illegitimate sister, Orabella, is with a member of the Juric family. At first, Leo forbade Bella to be with him. She wasn’t supposed to, but after what happened to her, he told Josip he’d allow it, but Orabella doesn’t hold any of the De Luca power anymore. Not that she really had any in the first place. All of us had a somewhat strained relationship with her after her mother tried to trap my uncle, Andrea—Leo’s father. But though it’s strained, Leo still had a soft spot for his little sister, the same as he does for Mia. He doesn’t want to see any of them hurt.
Andrea De Luca, however, could give a rat’s ass about Orabella. If not for the blood running through her veins and Celia, my uncle’s wife, intervening. After my uncle’s first wife, Bianca, died, he became a hardened bastard. I guess you can say it runs in our veins to be ruthless. The man had already lost his oldest brother and had to take over the family, but before Romano was killed, their little sister was kidnapped years ago. No one knew what had happened to her.
Well, until recently, when he found out from Leo’s little brothers, Salvatore and Savino, some information. The twin brothers are also known as Shock and Steel from the Inferno’s Clutch MC. They wanted something different than to work for the family, and they’d gotten Leo’s blessing as well as their old man’s. The two of them are still a part of the De Luca family and are there to help us if we ask them about it. Andrea didn’t have an issue with this because he had Leo at the helm. In the beginning, my uncle became cautious with him and slightly protective over my father, Demetrio, and my mother, Clara. The feeling is mutual, however. Leo and I grew up seeing the way our fathers were with each other. Always watching out for the other. I can understand it because of how much the two of them lost already.
“You seem deep in thought.” I blink down at the woman who wraps herself around my waist and smile.
“Just thinking of you, Snowflake, and how I wish my parents were here. They did tell me to let you know when they get back from their trip, we’ll be celebrating,” I murmur—hopefully for something else as well.
My parents love Blake. Mother claims she’s the daughter she was never blessed with. My father agrees with her, but unlike my mother, he knows what she’s been through in life. So he cherishes her like his own. Blake’s smile brightens at the mention of my parents. It’s obvious she adores them as well.