Izzie kissed every inch of me from my forehead to my chin before I rested her head on my shoulder. “You missed Christmas,” she whispered in my ear. “Ma’s been waiting for you to open your presents.”
I loved that she’d started to refer to her as Ma. Only people my mother liked, those who were close to our family, were allowed to call her that.
I smiled against her cheek. “The only present I want to unwrap right now is you.”
As I set Izzie back on the ground, Ma took me in her loving arms for a hug that lasted what felt like hours. My father was nowhere in sight, which wasn’t at all shocking. My brothers were at the end of the hall, playing their usual games in the living room. Mario punched Anthony in the bicep, and a scuffled ensued. Anthony staggered back into a window draped with gold-and-white curtains.
“You two, stop it!” Ma’s voice rippled through the open room that had a high ceiling, like the rest of the house. “Your brother’s home. Come show him some respect.”
My brothers looked over at me with wide grins on their faces.
Mario jabbed me in the arm, typical meathead greeting, and patted me hard on the back. “Welcome to the family, bro,” he said, his tone serious.
In the past, both of my brothers had served time for short periods. It was almost as if being arrested was a Marchese rite of passage. But Izzie hadn’t made a trade so that I could become one of them.
Anthony pulled me against his chest, echoing the same sentiment as Mario, and released me.
In front of the fireplace, I found a stack of presents with my name on them. Izzie sat on the floor next to me, tugging at the ribbon, as I peeled back the paper.
By the time I unwrapped my third present, my father had joined us, sitting next to Ma on the couch, like we were a normal family and he didn’t have a goomar on the side.
“This is nice, Luca,” Izzie beamed with excitement, taking my hand in hers. “By far, it’s the best Christmas I’ve ever had.”
I glanced at her sideways. “You’re joking, right?”
She shook her head. “This is the first Christmas I’ve had with family. Grandfather was always working, my mom stopped showing up for holidays when I was twelve, and I haven’t seen my dad in years. Granted, the FBI held you for bail over the holiday, but this has still been the best few days of my life.”
The sounds of chatter in the room drowned out our conversation.
I lowered my voice to a whisper as I said, “I know what you did, babe. Frank told me. You didn’t have to do that. I’m sure there were other ways.”
“Luca”—she tightened her grip on my hand—“I don’t care what I have to do to protect the person I love. You are my family now. I’ve never felt like I was part of something, other than a company, until I met you. You are my everything. Without you, none of this matters to me. And I don’t care what laws I have to break or oaths I have to take to make sure you’re right here with me, where you belong.”
“You pledged yourself to my father, didn’t you?” The thought made me sick even though I knew that was how it worked. Her grandfathers had done the same years before to the acting bosses.
She nodded. “I did what I had to do, Luca. My life was never supposed to be simple. I’m a Rinaldi, and this is what we do. This is who we are. We’re no different from your family. We have fancy offices and celebrities attending our charity galas, but my family is just as immoral as yours. You didn’t corrupt me.”
“No?” I said, brushing a curl from her forehead, staring into her bright blue eyes that made me feel at home.
“Nope, not even a little bit.” She smiled, and I made room for her between my legs. She leaned her head against my chest and looked up at me. “You gave me this, Luca.” She held her hand out, motioning around the room. Couches full of close friends and family were gathered in the expanse of the room. “You gave me something I never had before…a family.”
I kissed her forehead, tightly holding her. “How about we make that official?”
She giggled into the crook of my arm. “We have to finish school first, and then you’re going to law school. That’s something Ma and I both agreed on, and it’s nonnegotiable. Your dad wasn’t happy about it, but I found a way to persuade him.”
“No law school in the country will want me after I’ve served time.”
She snuggled up against me, pulling my hand over her stomach. “That’s the beauty of knowing things you’re not supposed to know. As the head of my family and CEO of Rinaldi Holdings, I’m a very powerful woman now. Your legal matters will resolve themselves, and it will all go away, just in time for you to start law school in the fall. Promise me, you’ll never put yourself at risk again. No more gambling. You’re not even allowed to go to Atlantic City.”
I leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her lips. “I don’t know what you did to make this happen, and I’m not sure I want to know, but I swear, I’m done. I won’t even jaywalk.” I held my hand over my heart. “I promise, amore mia.”
She slipped her fingers between mine, the corners of her mouth turning up into a sweet smile. “Then, I promise you forever.”
Epilogue
Three Years Later
IZZIE
“Babe, have you seen my tie?” Luca paced around our bedroom with beads of sweat across his brow from the orgasmic sex we’d just had. “I thought I threw it over there.” He pointed to the armchair in the corner by the wall of windows that lined the apartment his father had given us.
Once Luca had started his first year of law school, Don Marchese had signed the deed to the apartment where we first made love over to Luca along with his trust fund. We lived in unwed bliss in his apartment that overlooked the Delaware River. I had to stay closer to the office, and after Luca had decided to attend Strickland University’s law school over Princeton, his original choice, living in the city made sense.
“You’re going to be late,” I sighed, scanning the room for the remainder of his clothes, “and we can’t have you showing up for the biggest day of your life with your hair a mess and no tie.”
He stood next to me, his breath on my neck sending chills down my spine. Even after all these years, he still had that effect on me. “What can I say? I had to have you.” Luca held me at arm’s length, his gaze shifting over my breasts that were popping out of a navy-and-white-striped sundress. “You’re more beautiful now than ever. Just look at you. You’re practically glowing.”
A wicked smirk touched my lips. “I think I’m doing more showing than glowing.”
I leaned over, my hand cupping my stomach, and I lifted the black necktie from the foot of the bed, dangling it from my fingers.
Luca’s denim eyes flashed with a hint of relief that matched his features. He stood in front of me, a big smile on his face, as I slipped the piece of silk around his neck. Over the past few years, I’d made a habit of doing this for him even though he was capable of knotting his own tie.
“There,” I said when I was finished. I tugged at his collar and smoothed a hand down the front of his white oxford. “I’m so proud of you, Luca.”
He buttoned his suit jacket, a gray Armani number I had sent over from Saks Fifth Avenue for the occasion. Luca looked nothing short of stunning. With a quick glance in the mirror, he had his dark waves molded back in place, his olive skin tan from the trip we’d taken over the weekend.
“None of this would’ve been possible without you. What you’ve sacrificed for me…” He shook his head, taking my hand in his to rub his callous thumb across my skin.
“I don’t regret the choices I’ve made. Everything I did for you, for me, for our families was worth it. And I wouldn’t change that.” I stepped into my heels, holding on to him for support. “C’mon, I don’t want my graduate to be late for his big day.”
“You’ll always be the don of our family.” His voice was soft.
I laughed, as I had every time he called me that, and he dropped to his knees on the floor, holding on to my hips.
<
br /> He leaned his head against my stomach and kissed my belly over my dress. After feeling a slight kick, Luca looked up at me. “See, Mommy? Even our boys agree.”
I watched with pride as Luca walked up the stairs and onto the platform to receive his diploma, the moment I’d traded my soul to the devil for. That Christmas Eve in the wine cellar of the Marchese house was when I’d become one of them. And I never regretted my decision.
There was no denying that I was a Rinaldi through and through. But Luca wasn’t like his father. He wasn’t like me either, which was why I had fallen so hard for him and why I fought to protect him.
Luca shook the Dean’s hand and held his diploma high. He walked across the stage toward my section and yelled, “This is for you, Izzie. I love you!”
He looked adorable in a black graduation hat and robe, his honors sash draped around his neck. I smiled back at him, my heart melting at his public declaration.
Grandfather sat in the chair next to me with Ma on my right, each of them holding my hand through the ceremony. He’d spent six months in a country-club prison with his own cell and special accommodations before the Federal Bureau of Prisons had claimed overcrowding. But I knew the real reason. I had information in my ledger and a lot more than what I had on the FBI director.
Ma squeezed my hand tighter and whispered in my ear, “Thank you for this. You made this happen. He’s the first Marchese to graduate from college and now law school. This is the happiest day of my life.”
I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “Mine, too.”
Luca graduated with the highest honors, passed the Pennsylvania bar exam with flying colors, and had a few job offers lined up, all of which he’d gotten on his own without intervention from his father or me.
When the ceremony ended, Luca turned around in his chair to wink at me as he flipped the tassel on his graduation cap, and pride swelled in my chest.
I followed Luca’s family, walking hand in hand with Grandfather, from the auditorium to the quad. We gathered on the lawn where Luca and I’d first met.
I sat on the ledge of the Liberty Bell fountain, water trickling down from the cracked bell. I was seven months pregnant with two healthy baby boys who liked to kick, and I was exhausted.
Silvia and Hunter strolled across the lawn toward us with Mark and his girlfriend, Olivia, a pretty blonde who reminded me of Tinker Bell. We barely managed to secure enough tickets for all of Luca’s family members. So, Hunter, Silvia, Mark, and Olivia had been stuck in the nosebleed section of the auditorium.
“Oh my God, Izzie Bear, look at you!” Silvia screamed over the chatter. I attempted to stand, but she motioned her hand toward the ground. “Don’t get up, babe. You look like you’re ready to pop.” She placed her hand on my stomach, something I would never get used to, and held it there for a few seconds. The giant diamond on her ring finger looked even bigger in person. “I still can’t believe you’re preggers. But you look beautiful, as always. Motherhood suits you well.”
I touched her hand, a smile scrolling across my face. “Thank you. You have no idea how much I missed you, Sil.”
“Yeah, I bet. You’ll never find a secretary as good as me.” She tilted her head back and chuckled. “I missed you, too. California is not the same without you. It’s been so lonely out there with Hunter always at practice or away games. San Francisco is incredible though. You have to come out after the babies are born.”
Hunter had lost weight and cleaned up his act, and right after his graduation, the San Francisco 49ers had selected him in the second round of the NFL draft. Silvia had already accepted a slot for a master’s program at Berkeley, so it’d all worked out.
“Of course. What kind of maid of honor would I be if I didn’t come out and visit?”
Before she could respond, Luca cut through the crowd, his graduation gown open, exposing a fitted gray Armani suit, with his cap in his hand. His brothers, Mario and Anthony, patted him on the back, while his family echoed their congratulations.
Once his eyes found mine, Luca sauntered over to me. With our family and close friends huddled around, he slipped out of his gown and placed it on the ground at my feet.
Mark stood behind him with a robin’s-egg-blue box in his hand. He removed a smaller black box from it and handed it to Luca, causing my heart rate to speed up.
“Thanks, bro.” Luca smacked him on the shoulder and smiled before sinking down on one knee in front of me.
My smile widened as he opened the box and took my hand, revealing a gorgeous rock from Tiffany’s, a princess cut at least five carats in size.
“You told me I couldn’t make it official until after I finished law school,” Luca said, resolute. “Now, here we are, over three years later, at the place where we first met. Do you remember the first thing you said to me?” He chuckled into the crook of his arm.
I nodded, a playful smile tugging at my lips, as I thought of our first encounter. “I told you, I don’t owe you shit.”
Our family and friends were standing behind him, smiling and laughing.
“That’s right. I’m the one who owes you, forever and always.” Luca pulled my hand up to his mouth and planted a soft kiss on my skin, a rush of warmth spreading through my body. “You’ve stuck by me through the worst times and made sacrifices that I will never forget, and you’ve given me a future. I didn’t have one before I met you. Knowing you would be my wife at the end of all this kept me going, especially when my classes were so hard that I thought I’d fail out. But you never let me give up.”
Overcome with emotion, tears spilled from my eyes and down my cheeks. Luca wiped them away with his thumb.
“I love you,” I whispered.
“I love you, too, baby.”
We shared an intense moment, our eyes locked and fingers intertwined, before Luca looked over his shoulder at Grandfather. The nod of approval my grandfather gave him and the excited looks on everyone’s faces made this moment so much more real.
Luca removed the ring from the box and set it aside, holding the diamond in front of me. “Isabella Rinaldi, you rocked my world the day you ran into me on this lawn. I’ve loved you since I kissed you in the wine cellar all those years ago, and I love you more with each day that passes. So, what do you say? Do you want to make it official and be my wife?”
I reached out and touched his arm, pulling his hand onto my stomach. Over the past month, I’d gotten so big that Luca would have to help me into bed on some nights. I felt a kick and then another.
Luca looked up at me with a smile that matched mine.
“They like the sound of your voice,” I told him.
Luca pressed his lips to my belly, and I watched as our friends and family snapped more pictures of our engagement.
“What do you say, boys?” His voice was smooth and low, almost sensual. “Can I marry your mommy?”
They really did love his voice. They kicked me like they were about to claw their way out of the womb. I smiled so wide that my jaw hurt, and I held out my hand for Luca to slip the ring onto my finger.
“Looks like you have their stamps of approval, Daddy,” I said.
Luca took my face between his big hands and kissed me.
In the end, Luca had given me a family, something I’d longed for my entire life. Despite what I’d had to do to get here, Luca and our baby boys were my forever.
City of Sinners Series
If you like professor-student romances, keep reading for a free excerpt of TEACH, the first book in the City of Sinners Series.
TEACH is available now!
Read TEACH for FREE with Kindle Unlimited.
Mark Montgomery cares about two things—getting laid and getting paid. He's cocky, confident, sexy-as-sin, and counting down the last few months of college before he can begin his professional baseball career. But there are things Mark must do to survive until his big payday, questionable activities that could get him killed.
He doesn't want to rope anyone into h
is mess, especially not Olivia Ford, the woman he takes home from the club, a sexy lawyer who turns out to be his Law and Ethics professor. Their new relationship changes everything. But Mark won’t take no for an answer. Olivia can fight him all she wants, but Mark is the one who will be teaching her a lesson. In her classroom. Bent over her office desk. On the hood of his car.
Mark is more than a dirty talker who’s good in bed and can throw a ball, but what he does on the side is the one thing that could tear them apart and expose their forbidden relationship to the world.
Teach Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
OLIVIA
“You can do this,” I mutter. I suck in a deep breath, trying to psych myself up so that I can make it through one more night of work. Except it’s not just one more night. I have repeated the same mantra to myself for months now, and this job never gets easier.
Staring into the mirror, I hate the person I see—a woman with long fake lashes, too much makeup caked on her face, and a short black wig that itches her head, forcing her to scratch so hard that she looks like a dog who has fleas. None of it is mine; all of it is a facade to lure customers into the club. I hate that I have to work at Club Rave, offering my body to men, shaking my ass for a few dollars. But I’ve chosen this lifestyle as a temporary means to make money.
The bass thumps through the club, and even in the dressing room, the music vibrates beneath my five-inch heels. Each girl has their own vanity that they use to get ready, but tonight, the boss called in a few extras to entertain a private party, and now, we’re forced to share. On nights like these, the claws come out, and the girls have been known to fight over something as stupid as using the last of the hair spray.
Corrupt Me Page 22
