by Via Mari
I watch my bride walk down the aisle toward me in a long white gown fashioned by one of the most famous men in the world, ordered in Paris just for the occasion. She is surrounded not only by our family and her very close friends, but by all of her friends this time. All flown to Vegas to witness the wedding in The Larussio chapel by our family priest.
When her brother guides her to stand by me this time, there is a genuine smile on his face, unlike the first time. I catch her glimpse over the audience and the misting of her eyes as she sees her brother’s wives and children, her close friends, and many of her previous coworkers sitting in the pews to witness our marriage.
Nonna blows a kiss. She is again sitting by my great-uncle, but this time his arm is around the back of her chair, ensuring her protection and care, as he has done since the first time we married. The wedding is one of the largest the city of Vegas has ever seen and the very first to happen in The Larussio Resort chapel, and as I look at Carlos, I see the shine of emotion in his eyes as he holds the hand of his wife sitting next to him.
Chase is holding one of their newborn twins, and his father is holding the other, just barely two weeks old to the day. One boy born approximately three minutes before his baby sister. Katarina’s parents are sitting next to Chase, with Brian Carrington and Jenny and Gaby at their side. Carlos could not look any prouder of his great-nephew and his new bride. Jay and Sasha, Matt and Marenah, and the rest of the security team are dispersed throughout the chapel, all invited as guests but ever diligent in their efforts to safeguard the family. Sal and Katarina are standing as best man and maid of honor, not a few feet away from us.
When the priest pronounces us husband and wife and I take Serena into my arms, all the weight of the world—the Family needs coming first, the need to protect everyone else first and foremost—ceases to exist. While we have not announced it publicly in our circles, I have discussed it with Great-Uncle and have asked Salvatore to take over as don when he passes. The life of the crime Family has never fully been for me, but I have done my best to ensure that the traditions I do believe in were safeguarded while following my own destiny, and will continue to work with Salvatore to ensure the legitimate sides of the Family’s best interests are managed well into the future.
I crush Serena to me, capturing her lips with my own, before walking down the long aisle past family, friends, and newscasters who are broadcasting our wedding to the entire world. We spend the next hour with photographers, first alone, and then with our wedding party and close family and friends. When the newscasters are allowed into the hall, I provide them with a brief interview, with Serena tucked closely to my side.
The bride-and-groom dance is announced, and I take Serena into my arms, swaying her softly to the music, and whisper into her ear. “Now all the world knows you are mine, Tesoro!” I say, caressing the soft shell of her ear with my lips.
She shivers and my body responds to her the way it always does, hardening against her softness. I lower my hand to her low back, pressing her against me even firmer, feeling her belly, slightly rounded with our child, pressed against my body. “Mine, always,” I whisper as she nuzzles deeper into my chest.
The father-and-daughter dance commences, and although we discussed this and she knew it could be left out, that instead we could create the wedding dances of our choice, she opted to share this dance with my Great-Uncle. I can’t make out what he is saying as he spins my wife across the dance floor, but I see the emotion in his eyes, and her own moisten in response.
I inhale deeply. It has been a long road bringing our two families together. At long last, the trust that Serena and I have for each other has spilled to all of our family. I am contemplating this when Salvatore approaches, clapping me on the back.
“Congratulations, cousin. You are beyond blessed,” Salvatore says, watching as our great-uncle swirls Serena in his arms to a popular ballad.
“There was a time I would have told you that you were crazy if blessed meant settling for one woman, but Serena has changed all that. Somehow, I knew it from the very first time I held her in my arms. She was destined to be mine,” I say, letting my mind wander to the day we met.
He nods. “You will protect her and my godchild and manage all of our world resorts and other investments, and I will protect our other Family interests.”
I smile at him, confident in my decision to turn reign of the Larussio Family and those activities over to Salvatore. I follow his gaze as he turns toward the woman in scrubs who has just walked through the door. Katarina’s and Serena’s physician. The one that took care of both Serena and Sasha the night they were taken and lives in one of the penthouses at the resort.
“Guess who just walked in,” I say, but I needn’t have bothered. Salvatore’s intense eyes haven’t missed a move she’s made since she walked through that door.
“Excuse me,” Salvatore says, stalking toward the pretty, petite blonde with her signature ponytail and crumpled red-and-white Larussio scrubs, who is currently accepting a piece of our wedding cake from a gentleman who seems all too eager to please.
I turn back to Great-Uncle, who is leading Serena off the dance floor and towards me. “I couldn’t be happier for the two of you and our family. Now, dance with your wife,” Great-Uncle says, leaving us as he weaves his way into the crowd until he comes to stand by Nonna’s wheelchair and her grandsons and their families who are surrounding her. Serena’s entire family have accepted the Larussios, and that’s not something I ever thought I would live to see.
Katarina and Chase congratulate us, each holding one of the twins and looking so in love and elated over their children. Don Prestian, Chase’s father and his new wife, Emily, make their way over to us, along with Carlos and Karissa, Katarina’s parents. The men both extend a hand, one, then another, before pulling Serena in for a congratulatory embrace.
After all the years, all of the discord, and everything else in between, the Family has come full circle and created a new and more diverse family. One in which all of the Family factions will now work as one, coming together for the greater good, not only locally but even better, the Larussio Family shall reign globally with Salvatore Larussio at its helm.
I pull Serena into my arms, and push a strand of her long dark hair back from her face. She is still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, and now she is my wife, swollen with our child, and the fear of our enemies ever causing her harm has been put to rest. “I love you, Tesoro. You have made me the happiest man in the world. You are mine.”
Her eyes shine with emotion as she sinks into me. “Always, Giovanni, always my love.”
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Books by Via Mari
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The Prestian Series
Degrees of Innocence
Degrees of Acceptance
Degrees of Control
Degrees of
Power
The Torzial Affair
Shattered
Bound
Claimed
The Billionaire Bodyguards
Wayward
Undercover
Masquerade (fall 2020)
The Larussio Legacy
Rule
Rise
Reign
About Via Mari
Via Mari is a contemporary romantic suspense author who likes to keep her readers on the edge of their seats one minute and fanning themselves as the heat rises in the next. Her book series featuring the most handsome alpha billionaires, elite bodyguards, and powerful mafiosi exemplify extreme romance, with dominant males who will stop at nothing to protect and capture the hearts of the woman they love.
Via likes to push boundaries, and so do her alphas! She likes to write about relationships with power exchanges—exploring the differences, similarities, and extreme levels of trust individuals in Dominant/submissive relationships must have—and the deep desires that drive these relationships.
Via was raised in both the United States and United Kingdom, and she enjoys exploring new places. Since childhood, she has always enjoyed reading books that carry you away. In fact, you can still find her in the early hours of the morning curled up in an overstuffed chair by a crackling wood fire, reading a page-turning novel, especially during the harsh winters of the Midwestern United States.
When not writing, Via spends her days with her husband and family, including an adorable fur-baby. She enjoys gardening, shopping at the local farmers market, and walking for exercise in town or around a big city. And she loves traveling to research her next novel.
Most of all, Via loves to spend time interacting with you, her readers, so feel free to connect with her on the following social media sites!
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