Hannah was out of her mind with exhaustion. She’d tried to lie down and sleep, but instead kept flipping through the channels, watching the TV for hours to see if there was any hint of trouble on the streets. A mass killing would surely get immediate media coverage. When it hit, she didn’t want to miss a moment of it. What if they showed or mentioned Anton? It might let her know if he was okay. Or if he wasn’t.

As the hours dragged on, the ache in her heart grew stronger. He wasn’t going to call. Too much time had passed. He should have called by now.

The bottle of wine was empty, and she felt slightly tipsy. Not enough to numb the pain or stop the horrible thoughts running through her mind.

The worst thought was this. If she knew that Anton was responsible for killing a bunch of people tonight, even if that meant he was okay and made it through unharmed, she didn’t know if she could forgive him for that. If she could live with knowing that the father of her daughter had ruined all those lives.

Was he truly that heartless? If he was capable of that, was else was he capable of? Maybe they were safe having him around since he could hire bodyguards and had weapons, but if he could murder multiple people and still sleep at night, maybe they weren’t safe being with all the time. What if he grew angry with Hannah or Melody? Would he be able to keep whatever was in him that allowed him to kill ruthlessly squashed down when it came to his everyday emotions?

When she thought of life without him, though, it sent a shot of pain through her heart that was strong enough to bring tears to her eyes. She loved him. Melody loved him. She wanted him to be part of their lives. To be there for his daughter. To have a family. How in the world would both things exist at once? How could she sleep at night beside a killer, yet still want him more than anyone she’d ever wanted before? The back and forth, twisted, tangled thoughts and emotions were more than she could take.

Hannah picked up her phone and tapped the screen. No missed calls. There was no reason to think her phone had rang and she’d missed it—it hadn’t been out of her sight all night—but she checked anyway, wanting desperately for this night to be over.

She sat down to flip through the channels again. There was a knock at the door and she turned to look at it, wide eyed. He’d said he would call. Call, not come over. And if he knew she was waiting for him, and there had been strange cars at her home and work, then why would he just show up without telling her first if he knew it would scare her? He wouldn’t. This had to be someone else.

Hannah gulped and walked slowly to the door, her heart racing and tears forming in her eyes. When she looked through the peephole, she couldn’t see anyone.

“Who’s there?” she called through the door.

“Open up,” a gruff voice said.

“Who sent you?”

“Anton.”

She stood tall and sucked in a breath. So he’d sent someone to her apartment to tell her in person. It must be bad. Good news would not be delivered like this.

She pulled open the door. There in front of her was Anton. He was on one knee, looking up at her.

She sucked in a breath. “You’re—you’re—”

The tears broke free and ran down her face. The sobs racked her chest. He was here, and he was alive.

“I wanted to ask you something,” he said.

She wiped at the tears flowing down her cheeks. “I—I—”

She couldn’t stop crying. The long night, the wine, the hours and hours of worrying. It was all breaking free now, crashing down on her. He was alive.

He stood and took her into his arms. “Come on inside.”

He led her in and sat her on the couch, rubbing her back. He handed her a tissue.

“I just can’t believe it,” she said, starting to calm down. “I thought you were dead. You said you’d call and I thought if someone came—” One more sob escaped her lips.

“I’m here.” He took her hands and looked intently into her eyes.

Now that she could breathe again, something else filled her mind. Was he about to propose? He had been down on one knee. Was he asking her to marry him? She had to know the truth first. She couldn’t marry someone who thought nothing of killing people.

“How many people died?” she asked.

A smile took over his face. “That’s the best part. Not a single one.”

The answer shocked her. She blinked at him. “No one died?”

He shook his head, still smiling. “I never understood how my grandfather was okay with killing people or ordering them to be killed. It’s bad enough to commit crimes for a living. Smuggling illegal guns doesn’t really hurt anyone.”

She thought she could make an argument against that statement, but this wasn’t the time.

“Anyone who angered him or did him wrong,” he continued, “he would put a bullet in them and not think twice. One of the last things my grandfather told me was that I had to become more ruthless, like him. That if I couldn’t order hits when needed, I’d never make it. And you know something, he was right. The killing bothered me, and that means I can’t be a good mob boss. People tried to kill me. The same people who killed my grandfather, yet I can’t bring myself to want to shoot them back.”

“Really?” She couldn’t believe he was saying this.

“I tried. I tried to justify it. They killed our people, so it was only fair to kill theirs. They did us wrong, so we do them wrong back. The problem is, it never ends. If I killed the man who tried to kill me, they’d kill another of my guys to make up for it. Then I’d have to kill another of their guys. It’s a horrible cycle of death that never ends. I can’t do it.”

“So… What does that mean?”

“I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t know if my plan would work. But it did. DeCalvo Shipping is officially legit.”

“Legit?”

“No more illegal business. No more killing. No more mafia.”

Okay, now he was sounding crazy. “People don’t just leave the mafia.”

“When you’re the boss of a big family, you can. When you hand over business to your rival in exchange for them leaving you alone, you can. When you reach the point that you’d rather turn yourself and everyone else in to the FBI than to keep killing people, you can.”

“You’d really rather do that?” she asked.

“How can I face you and Melody knowing that I ordered my man to put a bullet in some other father’s head? In some other husband, causing his wife to become a widow? It’s not worth it. And it meant I would always be in danger, too. I had to do something drastic. Something that would keep you safe, that would mean I wouldn’t have to kill people. And, luckily, I learned the important things from my grandfather. For all the bad he did, he was good at one thing. Running a business. He taught me a lot. Turns out, there’s plenty of legal business in the shipping industry. We might not make as much money or as easily, but it’ll pay the bills. As long as you’re okay with our lifestyle becoming a little less…”

She threw her arms around his neck and kissed all over his face. “I love you! I don’t care if we’re broke. If it means you’re safe, and you’re here with us, and you’re not killing people, I’ll work four jobs to pay the bills if I have to.”

“Oh no.” He laughed. “Nothing like that. It’ll take some time to get things really running well. Money will be tight for a short time. But once we get everything switched over and cut ties with the illegal stuff, we’ll be in good shape. If you can give a few months, you’ll be able to quit your job and become a stay-at-home mom if that’s what you want. That is, assuming you’ll say yes…”

He slid off the couch and knelt in front of her. This time, he pulled a ring box from his pocket and opened it. “There is nothing I want more in this life than to be a husband to you and a father to Melody. To take care of you both and give you the best life I can. Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed and fell into his arms.

“Mommy?” They both turned at the sound of the small voice. Melody rubbed her eyes, her hair tousled and her expression confused. “Daddy!”

She ran for them and they enveloped her into the hug.

“Melody, I have something for you.” Anton took out another box. This one was a longer box, thinner. He opened it to reveal a gold bracelet with a charm. The charm was a heart with Melody’s birthstone and engraved was the word, “DeCalvo.”

“I’ve just asked your mother to marry me,” he said. “And now I ask you. Melody, will you let be your father forever, living with you and Mommy to have a real family, all of us taking the DeCalvo name?”

Melody looked wide eyed at her mother, then nodded her head enthusiastically. Anton slipped the bracelet onto her wrist.

“This night has turned out to be everything I could have dreamed of,” he said, pulling them close again. “I will never let go of you two again.”