This strong heart of mine has held up through beatings, gunfights I never thought I’d survive, and being baptized in fire. All the while, it’s been steady, fierce, and unstoppable. It’s a heart that refused to stop beating, all for the sake of Serena.

And the sight of my Serena shakes it like never before.

I rush forward to her, the love of my life, as her eyes go wider than I’ve ever seen them. I worry that she’s about to pass out, so before she can even start to scramble to her feet, I stoop down and wrap my arms around her, cradling her as gently as the most precious treasure on the earth. On pure instinct, her arms go around the rippling muscles of my neck, and she melts into me, hot tears wetting my shoulders as her whole body shakes with her sobs.

We say nothing more to each other for what feels like an eternity. It’s been so long, so painfully long since I’ve felt her touch, held her in my arms, enjoyed the very warmth of her body on my skin. I savor it, and I feel my own tear roll down my stony face as I breathe in the scent of her hair that I’ve missed so badly.

“Bruno?” she manages through sobs at last, and the sound of her voice melts my heart.

I can hear so much pain in her.

“I’m here,” my deep voice rumbles, holding back my own tears as I feel her body—delicate yet strong as steel all at once—trembling in my arms. My hand moves up to the back of her head, and I stroke her hair gently, kneeling down to sit down fully beside her.

It feels like we’ve been together for hours already, just riding out another of life’s storms together, emotion flowing freely between us. I feel her heart beating against mine as I hold her, and I turn my face to kiss her on the head as her whole body shakes again with her sobs.

Finally, I feel her gently pushing back, and I realize how tightly I’ve been holding her. I let her look up at me, and I see her face swollen and red with sobbing. Her eyes are bloodshot, and she’s looking at me as if she doesn’t believe what she’s seeing, like this is some kind of dream that she’ll wake up from soon.

My face can’t help but comfort her with a smile, and I brush some of her stray locks out of the way to see her better. When I broke out of prison a lifetime ago, I felt like the sight of her again was sweeter than anything I’d ever experience again.

The sight of her now proves me wrong.

“Bruno,” her thick voice manages. “You’re...I...oh my god, you’re alive!”

“Did you think a little thing like death could keep me from you?”

That earns me a smile from that gorgeous face of hers, ever so faint, still so tired, and she shakes her head, unable to hold back a laugh before she lets her forehead rest against my chest.

“Oh my god, Bruno, this is...you’re real, aren’t you?”

“Real as you,” I say, a few happy tears rolling down my face now as well. I let my arms go down to her arms, and I give her a gentle squeeze. “But it’s sweeter than any dream I’ve ever had.”

She sniffs and looks back up at me with shining eyes and a smile that’s tired, so very tired, yet so happy. But then my smile drops and gives way to a look of concern. I take a step back, still holding her arms, and I look her up and down.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt? Did those stronzi lay a finger on you?” My blood is suddenly boiling all over again at the thought as my eyes rove over Serena for signs of wounds. The thought of any of those fucking monsters so much as looking at the love of my life, of them harming my child.

On instinct, my hand goes to her stomach to feel her, and I look up at Serena to meet her eyes as she lays one of her small, soft hands over my big one.

“I...I think I’m okay,” she says with a soft nod. “We’re okay, I mean,” she adds, giving the hand over her belly a light squeeze to mean the baby.

“What happened at the shelter?” I ask, my tone soft yet serious. I need to know what the situation is with us right here, right now. I’m prepared to run immediately if we need to. Anything to keep Serena safe. “Were you followed?”

It takes her a moment to think about what I asked her, her eyes fluttering as she gives her head a little shake of confusion.

“We...we were attacked,” she says, “I’m not sure what happened. The guy who was helping us out, he took me into some side room and told me to come here. I mean, I think it was here—it’s dark, and I was scared and confused, and I-I-” she starts stammering, so I simply nod, running my hands through her hair with an understanding face.

“It’s okay, you’re safe now,” I say as I hug her tight to me again. I can feel her fighting sobs as the recent memories come back to the surface.

“I don’t think I was followed,” she says into my shoulder, and I nod. “Oh my god, I the other women there, I…”

“They can handle things,” I say. “This old ruin isn’t the only contingency plan they have. That shelter has been here for a long time. Some punk-ass kids from the Bronx aren’t going to shake them, but those punks couldn’t be allowed to know exactly where you are or get a shot at harming you.”

“So they were after me,” she says, pulling back and looking up at my face. “This was all because of me?” She gives her head a little shake and asks, “For that matter, how on earth did you find me? How do you even know all this?”

“I have many skills,” I say with a cocky smile, and her near-tears break down into a laugh as she slaps my chest.

“Jesus, it really is you,” she says before sniffing. “But seriously.”

God, it feels good to laugh with her again.

“A lot of people helped you get here,” I say simply. “Many of them are my friends—and I might have been dead, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t keep an ear out when I needed to,” I say with a wink. She doesn’t look satisfied, but I give her a squeeze. “I’ll explain more, but first, I think your nerves need a break. I can’t imagine how much you’ve been through today.” I glance around the room we’re standing in. “How long have you been here?”

“I…” she starts, following my gaze. “Not long. I just staggered in here and kind of...collapsed,” she says with a blushing face. I nod.

“That’s fine, I wouldn’t expect any more from anyone in your place.” I give her a reassuring smile. “This place is a shit-hole, but there’s a little more to it than meets the eye. Come on,” I say, and before she can say anything, I stoop down and scoop her up off her feet, cradling her gently in my arms.

“Woah!” she says, surprised, but she laughs the next moment, putting her arms around my neck again. It’s good to hold her again. “If you’re sure,” she says, swallowing. “What is this place, anyway?”

I start walking her toward a small set of stairs leading up. They’ve seen better days, and there’s dust everywhere, but it’ll do in a pinch.

“In New York, we have proper safehouses buried in the urban jungle,” I explain. “This is Puglia—Apulia, as they call it in English—we don’t have that kind of luxury. This is the next best thing to a safehouse.”

“Hiding out in ruined villas in the countryside?”

“More or less. This part of the country has seen better days. There are ruins like this all over the place, and you have to be a local to know where most of them are—they don’t show up on internet maps.”

“So...we’re really safe here?”

I frown. “Depends on whether the local mafia is working with the men hunting us. I don’t plan on staying here long, but we can take a moment to breathe.”

“Sounds about right,” she says, and I smile at her.

“In any case, this place isn’t exactly a vacation home, but it does have a few amenities you’ll appreciate.”

A few minutes later, we’re standing in a roomy bathroom with black and white tiled floors. The tub looks antique, but it’s in good enough shape to use.

“Don’t worry, there is hot water,” I say as I turn the shower on to start running water. Serena is standing behind me, and I can feel her gaze on me. I would bet I know what she’s thinking, too.

So, as steam starts to rise from the water, I turn around and smile at her before lifting my tight shirt off my body. “I know you have questions. But we should get a little more comfortable while we talk about it, don’t you think?”

Her eyes go up and down my hardened body, and I can almost see the tension melting from her as she looks at the familiar scars, the familiar contours of my form...everything she remembers. It’s as if she weren’t really sure it were me until she saw the roadmap of wounds left on me.

She smiles.

“I’d like that.”

I step forward and take her hand gently, putting it to one of the scars on my side and letting her feel it. I want her to know that I’m here, for it to really sink in—and I know that isn’t going to happen immediately.

“I...I’m sorry,” she says, laughing at herself a little as she shakes her head. “I know it’s silly, I just...I can’t believe you’re really here. I saw you get-”

I gently lift her chin up to look at my still face before I lean in and press my lips to hers. Instantly, my cock twitches and swells at the familiar warmth that I’ve craved so badly. It feels so right. Every second, every single moment the two of us are touching, it feels like we were made for each other. I can hear her breath get quick for a moment before she lets out a soft moan into the kiss.

When the kiss finally ends, I nod.

“I know. Let me help you with this,” I say, putting my hands to her shirt. She moves her arms to let me lift it up and over her head. I toss it to the floor while my eyes fixate on her belly. She’s showing, and she looks more beautiful than I could have dreamed of—and I did dream of her. Every single night, I dreamed of her.

My hand strokes her stomach, and a wide smile spreads across my face. “I can’t believe it,” I whisper.

“Me neither,” she admits, looking down at the bump with me.

“I should have been with you,” I say, an edge to my voice as I think about all the time I’ve spent away from my girl, away from my child. My hands reach around her back to undo her bra, and soon, it falls to the ground too. The sight of her whole bare torso, breasts and belly exposed, kindles something new in me.

There’s a kind of beauty to my pregnant Serena that I can’t explain. I feel the same desire for her, fanned stronger and hotter than ever, but there’s a primal attraction to the sight of her that reaches some deep part of me I’ve never glimpsed before. It’s intoxicating and fresh all at once.

“I’ve missed you so badly, Bruno,” she says as I unbutton her pants and let them slide down her legs, leaving her completely bare once she steps out of them. It doesn’t take me long to get the rest of my clothes off, revealing the thick shaft between my legs, hanging half-swollen for her already.

I help her into the bathtub, and she sighs softly as the hot water runs down her body, washing away the whole painful day.

“We don’t have any soap,” I say, stepping close to her as she turns and looks up at me, “but water will do for now.”

“I’m okay with that,” she says softly as mist starts to hang in the room like a cloud. I smile, and my hands go to her shoulders, feeling the water pattering against our skin as I turn Serena around and run my hands down her sides.

My cock rests between her asscheeks as I explore her form, helping the water do its work as she leans back into me, resting her head against my chest.

“What happened back there, Bruno?” she asks, and I know it’s time to give her an explanation.

“I only remember patches of the night itself,” I confess, my mind flashing back to it all. “I went to the car with one of the men. Fabio. He caught up with me and told me he’s dinged my car a little when he was parking next to me—the poor man was a nervous wreck about telling me. But we’d both come in company cars, and he said he’d just had new speakers put into the one he drove, so he offered to swap cars so he could take mine to the shop to get touched up.”

Serena puts her hands over mine, which have stopped at her hips. I stare at the wet tile walls as I remember that hellish night.

“Fabio was parked on the left of my car. We both went to our doors, and...it’s patchy after that. Some car bombs go off when you open the door. That must have been what happened, because the next thing I remember, I was on the ground, my ears were ringing, and everything stung bitterly. I had glass and metal in me. The pain was so intense I felt myself slipping in and out from the very start. The bullets flying overhead sounded dull, I was so deafened. Our cars are reinforced to resist bullets—if there hadn’t been that armored car between us…”

I pause for a moment. I had remembered enough to look over to where Fabio had been standing. He had just...ceased to exist.

“How did you get out of there?” she asks.

“The Cleaners weren’t expecting resistance,” I say. “My men were on me in a few seconds. I remember seeing a friendly face. It might have been Nico, but I can’t remember. The last thing I said was to get you out of there, far, far away. Whoever I said that to knew what I meant.”

“You had me sent here,” she says. I give her a light squeeze and kiss her neck softly.

“America wasn’t safe for you, Serena,” I say. “This is the only place I know far enough away that it would at least buy me time.”

“I thought you were dead... all these months,” she says with a pain straining her throat.

“If I’d had a say in it, I would have been with you the whole time,” I say, and it’s the truth. I bring her hand to my scars again…the new ones as well as the old. “I woke up with one of the family’s surgeons. He had me medicated while he treated me for...I don’t know how long. Too long. I must have had more shrapnel in me than I realized. Broken ribs. All I could do was dream of you.”

“Bruno…”

“The first time I was fully conscious, I woke up to more stitches in me than I’d ever had before. But the Cleaners must have caught up to my trail by then, because that same day, one of their men showed up. Killed the doctor before I could get the IVs out of me and tear him apart.” I look to some of the fresher wounds on my upper arm. “I knew it was going to be a rough recovery, but I couldn’t stay there any longer. I got in touch with Raf and headed off to catch up with you. I still know the layout out here, and the contingency plans like this villa. I had to be careful to look for you quietly, but I couldn’t leave you alone.”

Serena turns around and looks up at me with big eyes. The water starts dousing her hair, getting it soaking wet and letting it hang on her shoulders like vines. I put my hands around her face, running my thumb over her lower lip as water patters off her and onto my face.

“The whole time I thought you were gone, I didn’t know how I was going to keep going,” she says, but her hand goes to her stomach as she looks down briefly. “Having some of you with me helped.” She smiles as she looks down at what’s going to be our child, looking absolutely radiant. “The baby is going to be as strong as you, Bruno. I know it.”

I put my forehead to hers, my heart swelling with pride.

“Si, passerotta mia, but it will get its strength from you.”

She looks up at me and locks her lips with mine, and I feel myself swell so stiff that my cock touches her, pressing in, desperate to feel her warmth again. She draws in a sharp breath at the mere feeling of it, and I can tell that her body craves me every bit as much.

“I have a lot of time to make up for,” I say as my hands go to her breasts, thumbs stroking over her hardening nipples. Water runs between us softly, warming us to each other even more.

“Yes you do,” she practically purrs, pressing herself up against me. “Fuck, I’ve wanted you so badly, Bruno.”

“You’ve been through a lot,” my voice rumbles, but even as I say so, we walk backward until she’s pressed against the cool tile. “I can hardly keep my hands off you, but if you need to rest-”

I feel Serena’s hand grip my cock firmly, and the mere feeling of her hand running up its length to the crown and lingering on my tip makes it rock-hard, desperate for her, the pressure in my groin so full and ready for her that it’s almost painful.

Those playful eyes of hers are alive again with the very red-hot energy I fell in love with so long ago, lidded by long lashes.

“The only thing I need right now, Bruno,” she whispers, putting a hand on my chest and running her fingernails down it, “is you. Inside me. Now.”