Three days ago, Sabato Efisto walked into the room I have been caged in for a fucking week. I wanted to kill him. However, he stayed just out of reach from the new restraints—leg shackles and chains that allowed me to move about.

Now he’s back, sitting in a chair a safe distance away from me.

“So … how are they treating you?” He smiles.

“You son of a bitch, I’m going to kill you.”

He laughs again. “Is that so? From what I hear, you’re dead already. And unlike you, I will not walk this earth fearing a dead man.”

“I fear nothing, you motherfucker—”

“That I am.” He continues laughing at me. “I have to ask you a question though. How is it that you impregnate a woman who waits for you for years, who spoke of you in god-like terms to everyone she loved and who loved her, and yet you didn’t even give her just the tip?”

“You don’t get to know what she got. You don’t get to speak about her as if you know a damn thing about her!”

“Au contraire, I do. The mother I fuck doesn’t have a problem with unwarranted jealousy. The mother I fuck trusts in what we have. And the mother I fuck gave the person you called a low-life piece of shit, mob-murdering bastard a chance to have it all, including the respect and trust to be friends with a woman I nailed ten years ago.”

“Shut the fuck up! You shut your filthy mouth!”

He stands then steps closer to me. “So yes, Franco, I can speak about my close friend any way I choose to see fit.”

“You’re nothing to her!” I lunge at him but fall short.

“Yet, she asks my wife to make sure a man who would have ripped me apart if given the opportunity, a man who killed for her then lost his fucking balls, was looked after while she raised his goddamned children!” he yells as he lunges toward me.

My fist connects with his stomach, and his connects with my face. Blow after blow is exchanged until several men rush in the room and tear us apart.

“I told you to leave him the fuck alone!” the one holding Sabato by his collar yells in his face.

He puts his hands in the air. “My apologies, brother.”

“We had a fucking agreement. Keep him here while the fucking decoy tries to draw out anyone waiting for him,” the man says, pushing him against the wall.

“We also had an agreement that none of your women would be allowed access!” Sabato yells back in his face.

“It was a mistake. They fucked up. He had no contact with them after the first night!”

“And what am I supposed to tell Mel, huh? Well, my fucking brother’s women fucked your friend’s man, who used to be all into that type of shit, my bad?”

“She’s a smart woman, she’ll figure it out.” The man releases him and steps back.

“Are you the man who has kept me here against my fucking will!” I yell at his back.

When he turns and looks at me, I am shocked.

“You!”

“Franco, as soon as you calm down and we exchange some information, you’re free to go,” Detective Archangello says sternly.

* * *

I spent twenty-four hours with the detective, Sabato’s half-brother and polar opposite. He assured me that the decoy had no issue, and that they would continue keeping tabs on Benito’s associates. I finally felt she—they—would be safe.

I then spent two days with my parents, discovering that Valentina has fostered a relationship with them, and them with my children—mine—making me realize that the woman I love will undoubtedly never stop putting family before the dangers that may or may not be lurking around the next corner. I am ready—no, not just ready, but eager—to talk to Valentina, to see if she will be willing to give me a third chance to be a part of her life, our children’s lives.

I turn from the mirror as Sabato pushes himself off the wall.

I hate what I am about to do, but it’s warranted and deserving.

“I want to thank you.”

He nods, smiling.

“It doesn’t mean we will be friends. It just means thank you for what you have done for her and for me.”

He reaches toward me and fixes my tie. “My work here is done.” He steps back. “The scene is set for seduction, Franco I-.”

“Sabato, shut the fuck up.”

He laughs as he opens the door.

As I walk past him, he whispers, “Now go fuck that mother.”

I momentarily stall, considering if I should drop him or ignore him. I choose to ignore him. After all, we share a secret and have made a pact.

I won’t tell Valentina where I have been and about those women, who I never touched. He swears he never has either. I believe him. In return, he won’t tell Mel that I was, as he put it, “being a pussy” and he set me straight, but he did.

Now I will forever be grateful for a man who I have loathed for ten years.

After I walk up the stairs and into the private room of a restaurant with a secret I have promised not to reveal, I wait for her nervously.

When she steps onto the top step and looks around, the fact that she hasn’t aged again floors me. In fact, she appears even more stunning than she ever has.

When she sees me, she lets out a slow breath.

“You look beautiful, Valentina,” I say loud enough for her to hear me from across the room.

Her lower lip quivers.

“I’m sorry for what I have done to you. If you give me the chance—”

Her eyes light up, and she takes a few steps toward me.

“No, fuck that. There is no if. You will give me a chance. You will because you love me, goddammit, and I love you.”

She covers her face with both hands as her shoulders shake.

I hurry toward her, telling her, “I’m so sorry, but I’m not going to fuck this up.” I grab her hands and pull them away from her face. “We can take it slow if you need to, but I’m done running from a dead man. I am ready to be yours, to love and protect you. To love our beautiful fucking daughters.” I pull her closer. “I’m sorry, but I will not let go of you again.”

She nods against my chest.

“I missed you every fucking day for all those years. I just didn’t want to be the reason you weren’t safe. Now I know you are. And I am so fucking proud of you. So proud.”

She wraps her arms around me.

“I’m also so fucking hard that …” I stop when she runs her hand over my erection then begins to kneel. “No,” I tell her, cupping her ass in my hands and lifting her. “I don’t want you on your knees. I want inside you.”

“Do you have a condom?” she asks, reaching between us.

“No, and I don’t need one.” I reach beneath her dress and snap the string of her panties.

“I can’t do it alone again. I can’t!” she cries.

“You won’t have to, not ever again.” Holding her up, I walk to the dark corner of the room and lay her on the table.

I spread her legs and unbutton my pants. Gripping my cock, I rub it against her pussy.

“Already wet for me.”

“Always,” she pants.

“Do you want me to fuck you, Valentina?”

“More than I want my next breath,” she whispers.

I crash fully into her, stilling as I bend down and take her mouth with mine. Then I start thrusting in and out of her wet and needy cunt. It doesn’t take long before I am coming with her.

Leaning over her body, I kiss her tits, her neck, her face, her fucking lips.

“My cock is hard again,” I pant out.

“Good,” she pants back. “Now fuck me again.”