by Lewis, Anna
“I will, I will, don’t worry,” I grinned at them both and kissed Maddy again.
“So am I having a little brother mommy?” he asked her curiously, the sleep inching back into his voice.
“I’m not sure yet honey, it could be a boy or a girl,” she said pointedly and he considered that.
“I could have a sister too…” he said, making me chuckle again. “You guys don’t have to sleep in here, I have a night light.”
“No Gio, it’s okay. You can sleep in our bed tonight,” Maddy told him, squeezing his shoulder.
“It’s okay Mommy…I can sleep on my own. I’m six now.”
Maddy giggled and gave him about a thousand kisses. I got up and helped her up while we watched Gio climb into his bed.
“Goodnight Gio, love you,” Maddy reached up to poke him in the side playfully. He leaned over and looked at the both of us.
“Love you Mommy, love you Dad.” Gio laid back and pulled up the covers before I could recover from my heart pausing in my chest. Then Maddy had my hand in hers and was pulling me towards the door.
“He said—he said ‘love you dad,’ did you hear that?” I said excitedly as soon as we got to the hallway.
“Yes I heard,” Maddy giggled and I wrapped my arm around her waist.
“See…told you we’d be okay,” I gave her a huge smile and a small smirk touched her lips.
Chapter 8
Maddy
I got into bed, mostly unscathed, Joshua climbed under the covers beside me, Gio was asleep in his bed, and Aunt Aida…in a guest bedroom. I couldn’t believe we’d actually made it. More than that, I couldn’t believe Giovanni was…dead.
“Do you think his father will come after us?” the question left my lips as soon as the thought barreled into my mind. Josh looked at me and blinked a few times.
“No,” was all he said before he pulled me down next to him. “We’re not worrying about any of that anymore. It’s done and over with,” he said.
“But…Josh I just really want to—” He shut me up with a hard kiss. It hurt my already split lip, but I didn’t complain. His hands were already grasping at my hips and pushing my shirt over my head. My body heated and hummed with lust in under five seconds. He pushed the blankets away and palmed both of my breasts, his lips circling around one nipple. I cried out, unprepared for the bolt of pleasure that speared through me and settled into a persistent ache in between my legs. He pinched and rolled my nipple in between his fingers just as he bit down on the other. The orgasm hit me in a rush and took me by surprise. Josh pressed his hand against the small of my back, pushing his pelvis flush against mine.
He didn’t waste any time, his movements urgent, he pulled off my pants, my underwear going with them. His own clothes disappearing as fast as I’ve ever seen before. He pulled my leg around his hip and slid into me in one stroke. I gripped his arms tight and simply held on. I knew what he needed and I needed it too. I wanted him to make me forget about everything that happened. I wanted to have him imprinted under my skin. We were lost in each other until I could barely move.
“Is it weird to feel dizzy even though I’m lying down?” I asked him, my voice sounded like I was drunk.
“I think so…do you want something to drink? A snack?” he asked me almost urgently. I opened my eyes and had to try hard to focus on him.
“Water…and some cookies please,” I smiled and rubbed his arm. “I’m okay, don’t worry.” He nodded, his eyes worried, but he smiled and leaned down to give me a kiss.
“I’ll be right back.” Josh practically jumped out of bed to head to the door, but then realized he had no pants on and hurried back to pull them on before actually leaving. He came back only a few minutes later with three of the huge chocolate chip cookies Aunt Aida made earlier out of restlessness, and a tall glass of water.
“Thank you,” I sat up slowly as he handed me the glass and got into bed.
“I was thinking…we need a vacation,” Josh said as he handed me a cookie.
“That’s a good idea…after Thanksgiving?”
“How about during Thanksgiving…I need a break, so do you, not to mention Gio…we can go someplace warm.”
“Are we allowed to leave the state…?”
“Yeah, we gave our statements. Plus, Donovan has my number if he needs anything. Anyways he and Arby are more interested in Kane and Jackson’s guys since they have the most information…”
“So where do you want to go?” He gave me a slow smile and tapped his chin thoughtfully.
“I heard Florida is gorgeous in the fall and winter, has Gio ever been to Orlando?”
“Nope, he’d love that,” I sighed, already imagining a great vacation spent at Disney World.
“Tomorrow…my mom wants to come over with the family.” I looked over at him with wide eyes and he sighed. “I told her what was going on with us, but I didn’t give her all the gory details. Just that you and Gio left his father and he was harassing us for a while, but it’s been taken care of…”
“What does she think of us now?” I almost pouted.
“Are you kidding? She still loves you, so does my dad. They’re just a little worried about us now is all. She wants to make sure we’re okay,” he said. I sighed and then took a deep breath and sighed again. “Maddy it’s fine, she doesn’t think less of you,” he tried to assure me, but I felt…well I felt bad.
“Josh, because of me you killed a man,” I said, airing out what was really bothering me.
“Maddy, I killed a deranged criminal who would have killed you and our unborn child. Not to mention he was having Gio kidnapped. You know firsthand how much of a monster that man was, but even so, you don’t know the half of his sins. He’s killed and maimed and…tortured…he was evil.” Josh glanced down to take a breath and his gaze slowly met mine once more.
“I just feel like…I mean; how do you feel about that?” I asked him, really needing to know.
“Honestly it might be a while for me to get his face after he died out of my head. But the thought of you and Gio and our baby, the thought of our family getting to be together without his dark cloud over our heads any longer, it makes me beyond happy and that’s helping me heal more than anything.”
“Are you sure?” I asked him, searching his eyes. He was tired, but sincere.
“I’m sure Maddy,” he kissed me, his lips tender, then turned on the TV. We ate cookies and snuggled for a while. Until I couldn’t hold my eyes open any longer.
* * *
I woke up in slow degrees and immediately smelled bacon as well as sticky buns.
“Good morning Mommy.” Gio was standing by the bed with a tray of breakfast for me. I glanced around and saw it was only him.
“Morning honey…” I smiled at him as I slowly sat up, then I realized I had one of Josh’s t-shirts on so I was fine.
“I made you breakfast. Well I helped Aunt Aida and dad’s mom make it,” he placed the tray on the bed and I leaned forward to put it on my lap.
“This looks and smells delicious…thank you sweetie,” I leaned over and kissed him on the head. “So Josh’s parents are here already?” Gio climbed into bed with me and nodded.
“You slept a long time,” he smiled and took a piece of my bacon.
“Well I guess I was tired,” I chuckled.
“Mommy…is daddy in jail now?” I blinked at Gio in shock, not knowing what to say.
“N—no baby…Giovanni died,” I said slowly, holding his hand and keeping eye contact. Gio’s eyes widened a fraction and he took a deep breath.
“Are we gonna have a funeral for him?”
“His family might have one for him…” I said, still speaking slowly. I was trying to get into Gio’s head to see what he was thinking.
“Oh, okay. We don’t have to go right?” I almost smiled, but shook my head instead.
“Not if you don’t want to…?” Gio shook his head, his gaze drifting to the side as he stared off into space.
“No.”
“Alright then, we don’t have to worry about Giovanni anymore,” I kissed him on the head once more before digging into my huge sticky bun. “Do you want some? This is really good.”
“I already had three,” he giggled.
“What! Three whole sticky buns?” Gio laughed again and I continued to tease him. I needed our little moments like this, where it was just us being silly. It was normal, and thanks to Josh we’d have a whole lot more normal to come.
Chapter 9
Joshua
“Yeah, I’ll be unreachable for an entire week, getting back next Wednesday,” I gave my assistant the details of our Disney trip. The last thing I had to do before leaving was pick out a ring…and make a quick trip to Chicago. That, I wasn’t quite looking forward to.
“Dad can we go outside on the balcony to play with the race cars?” Gio ran over to me with one of the little race track cars. My cousins were over as well as my little brother, of course my mother couldn’t quite keep her mouth shut about things. So the entire family was here to make sure we all were okay and congratulate Maddy on the baby.
“Sure, but don’t throw anything over the balcony, because then it’ll be gone forever,” I told him, making him smile.
“Okay!” He ran over to the rest of the boys who were trying to figure out the best way to assemble the track. They all went out to the balcony in a hurry. I wasn’t worried because the glass enclosure was both tall and thick. They could look out at the city without getting into any sort of predicament. I got back to my call and wrapped things up.
“There she is!” Marge was almost full steam ahead as soon as Maddy came down the stairs.
“Mom, relax…” I said and she rolled her eyes at me before taking Maddy into a huge hug.
“Oh…everyone’s here,” Maddy said with wide eyes, her gaze searching for me.
“Yeah…there was nothing I could do to stop it,” I went up to her apologetically and gave her a small kiss on the mouth. I could tell she wanted to go back upstairs. Her hand kept coming up to try and hide the bruise on her face, her split lip.
“That’s the thing about family…we’re nosy and we meddle, but it’s only because we love you,” my mom piped in and took Maddy’s hand so she’d stop fidgeting.
“No, I think that’s just the thing about my family,” I said, making Maddy giggle. Everyone stayed over for dinner and dessert. Gio’s new cousins were bummed he wouldn’t spend Thanksgiving with them, but I promised we’d all travel to Georgia for Christmas. When they were gone Gio got excited about packing his own ‘Disney’ clothes and shot straight to his room.
“I think we’ll have to check his fashion sense,” I told Maddy as she cleaned up a few cups, chuckling.
“You’d be surprised, he’s actually pretty coordinated,” she said, her voice upbeat. The family really cheered everyone up, including Aunt Aida who deemed it okay to head back home for the evening. We had only one more day in the city then we were on the first flight out. Thankfully when I called Donovan to double check things, he pulled some strings so that we could actually leave the state.
“So…I have to talk to you about something,” I stepped into the kitchen and she stopped what she was doing. Maddy’s gaze was both curious and wary. “I’m going to Chicago…”
“What? Why?” she asked, her tone panicky, though she kept her voice low.
“To meet with Giovanni’s father. Like you said, I need to make sure things are actually done here.” Maddy stared at me for a long, long time. But she took a deep breath and then nodded her head.
“I understand…thank you for telling me,” she added, a small smirk on her lips. Though she wasn’t meeting my eyes.
“Hey, everything is going to be fine alright?” I tilted her chin up and she locked her gaze with mine.
“How do you know that?”
“Kane set everything up. I won’t be with Jackson’s guys, but the meeting will be airtight. No one is laying a finger on anyone else.”
“Will Kane be there with you?”
“He can’t leave the city just yet, but he’s sending me with trusted men…these guys were with us when we rescued you, they’re no joke.” Maddy took several deep breaths, her hand settling on her belly. I put mine over hers and it visibly took her a lot to get her words out.
“Okay…just come back in one piece or tell Kane I’ll have it out for his balls.” Her comment surprised me, as did the vehemence in which she said it, I had to hold in my laugh though, because she was serious.
“I will get him that message…” I said instead.
“When are you going? Aren’t we leaving for Orlando early tomorrow afternoon?” she said, just realizing the timeline.
“I’m leaving tonight…in an hour actually,” Maddy’s eyes widened and I held up a finger before she could say anything. “I’ll be back by the time you wake up in the morning,” I promised her. “Maybe even before then.”
“I don’t know Josh, this makes me nervous,” she admitted. I leaned forward and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.
“There’s nothing to be worried about. I love you.”
She let out a deep exhale and nodded her head.
“I love you too…”
I went upstairs to grab my essentials and soon was on my way to the airport. I still used Jackson’s security service of course. He insisted I at least continue to use a couple of his drivers who would also act as security and whatnot. Getting to the airport was uneventful, Kane’s four guys were waiting for me just outside a rented private jet. Kane wanted to be untraceable just in case, so we didn’t use the one my company recently procured.
“So did Kane fill you in? We got a response from Ennio, Giovanni’s father, he’ll meet us at the location Kane set up and it’ll be a one on one between you and him,” Devon, one of the men who was right in the thick of things taking out Giovanni’s guys, filled me in.
“So…what will you guys do?”
“We’re all rolling up to the restaurant, but we’ll make sure we wait outside with whomever Ennio brings.” I nodded my head, just imagining what it would be like. I’ve seen pictures of what Ennio looks like, funnily enough he has an odd resemblance to Robert DeNiro. Kane chose a popular restaurant in North Side. It wasn’t necessarily Ennio’s territory, and it was a heavy foot traffic area so no one was getting shoved into any SUV’s or killed out on the street.
The flight was smooth, boring really. I couldn’t stop thinking about what I wanted to say to the man. I hoped like hell he’d agree to leave Maddy, Gio, and I well enough alone.
“Let’s go, car’s waiting,” Devon got everyone into motion as soon as the pilot deemed it safe to get up. Outside on the tarmac was one Mercedes SUV and one sedan of the same make. We went right from the plane to the cars and were on the way. My phone rang, it was Kane.
“Hey look, uh, I don’t have to tell you to be careful with how you come across because I’m sure you know. But…be careful in how you come across. Ennio doesn’t have to kill you on the spot. Unlike his son, he’s very methodical.”
“I’m just going to talk to him like a man, father to father really.” I said, stifling a sigh.
“Alright…well good luck,” he said and ended the call. The car ride seemed to last forever as we drove from the airport to the restaurant. The place was huge as we pulled up to it. As soon as I got out of the car we were approached by two normal looking men in light jackets and jeans. Completely unassuming. Devon and the driver were right there to stop them from getting too close.
“You’re Joshua Aberdeen right?” the one on the right asked me and I nodded. “We need to do a wire check before you go any further.” Devon took the detector that the man offered and waved it all around me until the guy was happy. “Ennio’s inside, tell the hostess you’re going to table three,” he said.
Devon gave me a nod and he walked me to the entrance. The restaurant had a tavern like feel to it and it was packed for the time of night.
; “I’m gonna go spread out with the rest of them, you know what to do if you’re in trouble.” I had a small panic button in a watch Devon lent me for the occasion. I gave him a nod and went ahead to tell the hostess what table I needed.
Chapter 10
“Here you are sir, enjoy.” The woman gave me a kind smile before she hurried back to her post juggling tables and customers. She really needed some help up there.
“I take it you are Joshua Aberdeen. The man who killed my son.” I looked down at Ennio, he was dressed in a simple grey sweater and slacks. His eyes were a sharp dark brown and his manner was as if he owned the entire planet and no one knew it. I had to say I was intimidated, but I didn’t show it. He gestured for me to have a seat and I did.
“I have to say…I never thought I’d be meeting with you,” I admitted and Ennio chuckled.
“True…I never thought that my son’s ridiculous pursuit of a woman who left him for good reason would land me in this scenario either.”
“If you don’t mind me being blunt…”
“I require it actually,” he conceded with a small incline of his head.
“You let him do it,” I finished.
“When he told me his ex-fiancée had left him and taken his son I felt for the boy. Giovanni was taken from me when he was only two. The difference is I didn’t drive my wife away. She cheated on me and decided to start another family with someone flashier at the time. She came back years later when Giovanni and his half sibling were pretty much grown and in college. All in all, I didn’t want history to repeat itself. So I gave him some resources and sent him on his way,” Ennio told the story as if it were some fond tall tale.
“Surely you had to know that he was unstable?”
“I did know this. Ever since I approached him with an offer to join the family business and he saw firsthand what it all entailed…something changed in him. I didn’t know the extent of his change until I was notified that he had some of ours go to New York to scare the woman instead of simply take his son back. I knew then that unless he followed what I told him, he’d be lost. Either in madness, incarceration, or death. He didn’t listen to me.” Ennio sat back in the booth and only then did I realize that not one server had come to our table all that time.
