I need Luca. I need him to come home and kill every one of those men surrounding our compound.
He should have been back hours ago. Where is he?
38
Luca Rossini
Almost home. Almost back to Emilia. Almost lying next to my wife in bed.
“The heater in this truck is shit.” Stephan briskly rubs his hands together. “I hope Gemma is ready to warm up her man.”
I know for a fact that he hasn’t had her yet. “You fucking wish.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Mom will have your ass if you step foot in Gemma’s bedroom.”
“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”
“You better be careful pulling that kind of shit. Mom’s a sharp lady.”
“Oh, come on, Luca. You banged your wife before marriage. You even got her pregnant before you put a wedding ring on her finger.”
We haven’t talked about it, but I suppose Stephan is smart enough to do the math.
“I banged my wife before marriage at my house. Not at our parents’. Big difference.”
“I’ve got money. I can buy a house if I want.”
“You’re getting married. You should do that, Steph. Because let me tell you something. I lived in my own home with my wife for months, and now we’re living under the same roof as all you fuckers. And I hate it.”
I blame the Gasparis. When the opportunity comes, I’m going to fuck them up good.
“Maybe a house could be my wedding gift to Gemma.”
“I think she would really like that.”
I survey the perimeter of the compound as we approach the front gate. “Stop the truck, Sal.”
Stephan sits taller. “What is it?”
“Something is off.” Very off.
“There was fresh snowfall while we were gone so why are there tracks all in the snow?”
He sees what I see.
“That’s an excellent question.”
“Guys, looks like we may get to try out our new hardware. Start loading.”
“Luca—”
“Fuck.” I see the garage door, or at least what’s left of it, at the same moment Stephan says my name. “The motherfuckers attacked while we were gone.”
“How did they know we’d be gone?”
“That’s a very good question. One that we will find the answer to after we kill these fuckers.”
“What’s the plan, boss?”
Think. Think. Think, Luca. “Okay. They’re surrounding the compound. We have soldiers who can fire on them from inside. When we approach from the outside, they’ll be trapped between us with nowhere to go.”
“It’s a great plan, bro.” Stephan slaps my back. “This is going to work.”
“Yeah.” It has to.
* * *
One Rossini man lost. Two more wounded. I have no idea how many Gaspari men we took out, and I don’t care. I left the scene of the fight before it could be determined because I have to get to Emilia.
Please let her be safe.
Dashing up the stairs, I take them two at a time. Maybe three. Hell, I might have even sprouted wings and flew.
“Emilia!”
Gemma comes out of our bedroom, meeting me in the hallway. “Thank God you’re here.”
“What is happening?”
“She went into labor a couple hours after you left.”
“Fuck.” She told me she wasn’t at ease about this trip. She asked me to stay, and I went anyway. I left her here, vulnerable to the Gasparis.
Gemma steps aside. “Go to her. She needs you.”
I step into our bedroom, and Emilia is crouched on the floor, her forehead covered in sweat, and her normally delicate features distorted by a grimace. She’s surrounded by every woman who lives under this roof, Rossini and otherwise.
“Ahhh!” she screams.
“You have to push harder,” Zee Zee tells her.
She’s pushing? What the fuck?
“Luca,” my mother says. “I’ve never been so happy to see you.”
“Luca,” Emilia says, her voice cracking and weak. “Luca.”
I go to her and she collapses in my arms.
“I’m here.”
“I’m dying, Luca. I feel it happening.”
“No, love. You are not dying. You’re bringing our baby into the world.”
“I am dying. I see it in Zee Zee’s eyes. The baby is too big for me to have. I’ve been trying to push him out for such a long time, but he’s not coming. I’ve tried so hard.”
“Why hasn’t someone called for an ambulance?”
My mother wipes Emilia’s face with a cloth. “We tried, but they cut the phone lines. And they fired on us when we tried to take her to the hospital. We had no choice. It was safer to keep her here.”
Sons of bitches. I hope they’re all dead.
Zee Zee rises from a crouching position. “Help Emilia onto the bed. She can rest while you and I talk about things.”
Lifting Emilia in my arms, I feel her grip my shirt. “Don’t leave me, Luca. Please.”
“I’m not leaving you. I will never leave you.” I lower her to the bed and kiss her drenched forehead. “Close your eyes and rest a moment while I talk to Zee Zee. Okay?”
Her only response is a weak nod.
“I’ll be right back.”
I follow my grandmother into the hallway, knowing that there’s a reason she doesn’t want to talk in front of Emilia.
“She’s suffering, Zee.”
“That’s what childbirth is, Luca. Suffering. Then there’s joy and the suffering is forgotten.”
“Are she and the baby in danger?”
“She’s been pushing for a long time. The baby needs to be born as soon as possible.”
“I love her. I can’t lose her. We need to send for help.”
“And we will now that we’re able. But until help arrives, she can’t stop. I know she’s tired, and I’m sure the baby is too, but the safest thing at this point is to get the baby out.”
“What can I do?”
“Encourage her. Tell her to push your son out. If she’s going to do it for anyone, it’s you.”
“She’s so small. Are you sure it’s possible?”
“I’ve only been part of one birth like this where the mother pushed for hours, and the baby didn’t come.”
“What happened to her?”
My grandmother shakes her head and says nothing.
“No! That’s not going to happen to Emilia.”
It can’t. We’ve only just found happiness together. It can’t be taken away from us.
“She needs you to stay and help her through it.”
Our men don’t stay during childbirth. It’s not the way. But I don’t care about the way. I’ll do anything for Emilia and our child.
“Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”
Returning to Emilia, I kneel next to her at the bedside. Taking her hand in mine, I kiss the top. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too.”
“You’re doing a wonderful job, and I know you’re tired, but you can do this, love.”
“I’m so weak.”
“You are this baby’s mother, and you can’t quit. I need you to keep going. He needs you to keep going.”
“I don’t want to quit, but all of my strength is gone.”
“Do it for me, love. Push him out.”
Emilia opens her eyes and looks at me, nodding. “I’ll do my best.”
“That’s my good girl.”
“We’re going to try something a little different this time,” Zee Zee says.
I help Emilia up, and Zee Zee points at the side of the bed. “Luca, you’re going to sit there, and Emilia is going to squat between your legs. She’ll use your thighs to steady herself while you loop your arms through hers and support her weight with your arms.
“Yes, that’s it. When your next contraction comes, give it everything you have and
be done with this, girl.”
I kiss the back of Emilia’s head. “You are so strong, and you can do this. I believe in you.”
She nods. “Okay. Okay. A contraction is coming.”
Emilia grips my thighs and squeezes as she groans and bears down.
“Don’t stop, Emilia. Keep going,” my mother says.
She stops and leans back against me. “Ahhh! It’s so much pressure down there.”
“That’s because the baby is moving down. Don’t stop.”
“Ohh, it’s burning. It’s burning. It’s burning.”
“Push through the pain, Emilia, and he’ll be here.”
My mouth hovers over her ear. “He’s coming, baby. Don’t stop. Keep going.”
She grips my thighs, squeezing again, and the agonizing scream that leaves her mouth rips my heart in two.
“Towels,” Zee Zee says.
I hear a gush of fluid and then nothing. No cry.
Emilia’s upper body collapses against me, and I hold her up with my arms.
Stretching my neck, I kiss the side of her face. “You did it, baby. You did it.”
Emilia breathes deeply. “I did it.”
We wait a moment for the first cry, but it doesn’t come.
“Why isn’t he crying?” Emilia’s voice is weak, barely audible.
No one answers her.
“Zee? What’s happening?”
“Hold on, Luca. Just a minute.”
I see her wiping our baby with a towel, and nothing is happening. He’s blue and flaccid in her arms.
“Come on, baby. Breathe. Breathe for Zee Zee.”
“You have to do something, Zee. Please.”
My grandmother shakes her head and then grips our child by the ankles, turns him or her upside down, and slaps its butt.
And then a piercing cry fills the room. Not Emilia’s. Our child’s first cry.
My grandmother chuckles. “Oh, he’s a fat one. It’s no wonder he gave you so much trouble about coming out.”
“It’s a boy?” Emilia asks.
“Yes. A beautiful Rossini boy.”
“Show me. I want to see him.”
Zee Zee lifts our son, and Emilia reaches out, touching his cheek.
“A son,” she whispers. “We have a son, Luca.”
I’m a father. I can hardly believe it. I thought this day would never come.
I reach out and upon contact, my son grips my finger inside his tiny hand. “Alessandro.”
Emilia holds out her arms. “I want to hold him.”
After his lifeline to his mother is severed, Zee Zee wraps a clean towel around him, giving him to Emilia. She pulls him close and studies his face. “He is beautiful and perfect and everything I dreamed he would be.”
I love the way she looks at our son, as though he’s her greatest accomplishment.
“Thank you for giving me this precious gift, Emilia.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
39
Emilia Rossini
Nonna, Micaela, and Isabella greet me at the front door, throwing their arms around me. All of our I’ve-missed-yous and I-love-yous and I’m-so-happy-to-see-yous overlap at once, and it’s hard to make out anything we’re actually saying to each other.
Nonna leans over, looking at Alessio in my arms. “He’s beautiful, Em. Can I hold him?”
“Of course, you can hold him.”
I place my son in my grandmother’s arms. “His name is Alessandro, but we’re going to call him Alessio.”
“You are named Alessandro after a great man, little one,” she says, studying his face. “It is my greatest hope that he will be the boy who brings peace between the Bellinis and Rossinis.”
Isabella leans over, looking at him. “I want to hold him.”
I see that not much has changed with my impatient baby sister. “Don’t worry, Issy. You’ll get to hold him.”
I want my sisters to love their nephew.
I want my grandmother to love her great-grandson.
And I want my mother to love her grandson.
“Sofia’s waiting for you in the living room.”
I had hoped Mamma would be eager to see me and might greet me at the front door. But no.
Nonna holds out Alessio and I take him from her arms. “She won’t let on, but your mother is eager to meet this boy.”
I’m relieved to hear that. It gives me hope that today might go well.
Mamma is sitting in her chair and doesn’t rise when I come into the living room. She’s being cold and formal.
This is me, Mamma. Your eldest daughter. The girl you raised for twenty-one years.
“Thank you for seeing me.”
“I’ve missed you, Emilia.”
My heart rejoices. “I’ve missed you, too.”
Her attention shifts to my son in my arms. “I hear that I have a grandson?”
“Yes. This is Alessandro. Alessio for short.”
“I’m thrilled you named him after your father.”
“It was Luca’s idea.”
“Yes, I remember the announcement he made about it.”
“Do you want to hold him?”
“Yes, I would love to hold my grandson.”
I place him in my mother’s arms. She studies his face for a moment, smiling, and rocking from side to side. “I knew you were a boy the whole time, Alessio.”
I watch my mother with him, and I see it—I see her falling in love with him. But how can she not when he’s so precious?
“I see Rossini in him, but there’s something about him that reminds me of the Bellinis. Maybe his lips.”
“I don’t know. I only see Luca when I look at him.” Their baby pictures look like twins.
“Either way, you have a handsome son.”
“Yes, he is my perfect boy.”
My mother rocks from side to side just as she did with my younger siblings. “Hold him close, Emilia, for as long as they’ll let you.”
She believes the Rossinis will take my son, but she’s wrong. “Alessio is Luca’s son, but he is also mine. No one is going to take him from me.”
“Don’t fool yourself. This boy belongs to the Rossinis. You were merely the vessel who carried him and brought him into the world.”
“It isn’t like that with Luca, Mamma. He and I love each other.”
“Well, I see that your opinion about your husband hasn’t changed.”
“It hasn’t, but other things have changed since we last spoke.”
“Yes, I’m sure this little one has brought many changes into your life.”
“Alessio’s not the change I’m referring to. I’m talking about your allies.”
My mother shakes her head. “I chose a weak family to align with. That was my mistake.”
“And now all of your Gaspari allies are dead.”
“Yes. Your husband has managed to annihilate the entire male line of a second family. He’s becoming very good at that.”
“He’s become known as ‘the annihilator’ by the five families. Did you know that?” I haven’t decided how I feel about my husband being called that name.
My mother looks up at me. “Yes, I’ve heard that name being tossed around.”
“The Rossinis have made a name for themselves. Not one of the five families would dare to rise against us now.”
“Us. You truly do consider yourself one of them, don’t you?”
“I do. Nothing has been as I expected it to be. They’ve been good to me, Mamma. And Luca loves Alessio and me with all of his heart. He would die to protect us.”
“Congratulations, daughter. You are on the winning side. You chose wisely this time.”
“I don’t want there to be a winning or losing side. And I know that deep down you don’t want that either.”
“No, I never wanted any of this. But I wasn’t the one who started this war, was I?”
“In the end, it doesn’t matter who’s to blame because I
’ve lost too many people. I don’t want to not have you and Nonna and Micaela and Isabella in my life. I need my family.”
“You’re a traitor to us. How do I forgive you and move beyond that?”
“You and your allies nearly killed Alessio and me. How do I move beyond that?” Her eyes widen. “I have to make a conscious decision to forgive you and move forward. That’s how it must be.”
“How did my allies and I nearly kill you and Alessio?”
“I went into labor the night the Gasparis attacked us. They fired at us when we tried to go to the hospital. It was a miracle that I escaped being shot.”
“You delivered this baby at home?”
“Yes. Luca’s grandmother delivered him in our bedroom.”
“Zorah?”
“Yes, with Viviana’s and Luca’s help.”
“Luca was with you when you gave birth?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t believe he stayed. Men don’t do that.”
“It was a difficult birth. I pushed for hours, and Alessio wouldn’t come out. I believed with all of my heart that I was going to die because they couldn’t get help for us.”
My mother looks up at me, and I see the deep regret on her face. “I didn’t know.”
“Zee Zee and Viviana were wonderful, but I always thought I would have you to help me through that.”
“I’m so terribly sorry that happened to you and that I wasn’t there when you needed me.”
I smile at my son when he coos. “Alessio is here and he’s perfect. That’s all that matters now.”
“Luca must be proud to have a son?”
“You can’t imagine. He loves this boy so much.”
“I’m sure he does.”
“Luca came with me today. He’s waiting in the car. He wants to talk to you.”
My mother shakes her head. “No. I can’t talk to that man.”
“That man is your daughter’s husband and the father of your grandson. You can talk to him.”
“I don’t want to hear anything he has to say.”
“Yes, Mamma. You’ll want to hear this.”
“What could he possibly say that I would want to hear?”
“A lot, actually.”
She says nothing, looking down at my son. And I know I’m taking advantage of what she’s feeling at the moment, but I don’t care. “If you won’t do it for me, do it for Alessio.”
Waiting for my Queen: A Dark Mafia Romance Page 25
