Carmine

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Ten months later

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I’m seated on the balconied second floor of Club 7, draped with white fabric and decorated with purple and white flowers, while Mary and Henry stand in the center of the dance floor with tons of guests surrounding them and cut their wedding cake. Most of my family treads downstairs to join the happy couple, yet I stay behind to finish my drink, watching the woman who stole my heart amid my parents and Adriano and Cam, enjoying herself in a tight, long red dress.

It’s been exactly one year since Eva barreled into my well organized life by stealing my watch. And I fell for her feistiness, but I adore her strength. How she never gave up, how she coped with her brother’s death, how she made my life so much more entertaining with her peculiar ways and incorrect expressions.

All of a sudden, my thoughts are diverted by the bundle I’m holding, who weighs nothing, and a soft kick to my new silver watch.

Smiling down, I look at the one person I cherish just as much as I do his mother. “Are you trying to steal my watch, Brandon?”

His cherub face lights up when he recognizes my voice, and he stretches his one-month-old body while I stroke his hair that’s as black as Eva’s. Our boy wasn’t planned, but he’s treasured nonetheless. All he does is eat and sleep and poop, and I’ve never loved anything as instantaneously as I did Brandon.

Ever since the day Eva moved in, I haven’t looked back, nor have I regretted trusting her. So when we discovered she was expecting only two months after we started dating, I was ecstatic, knowing my child would grow up with lots of cousins. And Brandon gives Eva a purpose. Thank god, she didn’t pursue finding a job, but chose to stay home with our son full-time, and she’s the sweetest mother to our boy, who’s a beautiful mix of both of us with whiskey eyes and black hair.

Then tiny Amalia, who’s perched on Luca’s lap, climbs onto me when she sees Brandon is stirring and she gently strokes his tummy. I wrap my other arm around her back to keep her steady.

“Bandon, kissy?” she asks me in a cute, girly tone; she talks so much now that she’s a year-and-a-half.

“You can kiss him, sweetheart,” I tell her, and her button nose wrinkles in delight as she smacks a wet kiss on his cheek while I hold her.

When she sits back, I hug her to me as she fidgets in her ivory flower girl dress.

“Uncle Carmine!” Adam skips toward us, holding hands with Eva. “Come down with us.”

They stop in front of us as Eva beckons Luca and me to stand up and follow her downstairs for the countdown into the new year. So Luca hoists up Amalia before we all walk down the staircase toward the dance floor where the crowd parts until we’re in the circle with the bride and groom. Caterers are handing out champagne glasses as Luca and Adriano switch kids. Luca and Fallon each take one of the twins, who are now three months old. Luca holds his son, who’s in a blue romper, and Fallon their daughter, who’s in a pink one.

Eva takes Brandon from me as we accept a glass, and I fold my arm around my girl’s waist, pulling her in front of me and whispering into her ear, “Are you enjoying yourself?”

“I am. But my next dance is for you,” she returns huskily, glancing up while my son has dozed off again. “Last year, we were fighting upstairs at midnight.”

I laugh because that’s been running through my mind too. Life works in mysterious ways, and I’m damn glad that I got her fired and that she chose to steal my watch that night. Because, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I’d do it all over again to protect my little thief, to have this family I wanted but never knew, to dispel my isolation within a family of couples.

I tell her around a growl, “This year, I’m going to fuck you.”

A mischievous grin curls her lips. “Right here?”

Just like that, she throws the words that I said to her so long ago at Roman’s mansion back at me.

“Let’s not traumatize our son. I’ll take you home first.” I press a kiss to her forehead, inhaling her coconut shampoo that calms me.

Everyone gathers around Henry and Mary, and when Adam yanks her wide, white skirt, Rosalia scolds him. Chuckling, Logan scoops him up to stand next to my parents, Adriano, and Cam, who has her hand entwined with Amalia’s while she hops on the floor.

At that moment, the speakers boom, “Three, two, one. Happy New Year!”

Unexpectedly, white rose petals float down from the high ceiling as we all raise our glasses and ring in another new year.

“Salute, little thief,” I mutter to Eva, clinking our glasses before crashing my mouth to hers.

“Happy New Year,” she cheers, completely content and carefree, acceptant of the life we’ve built around violence, which I keep outside the home.

Then I raise my glass to Adriano, Luca, Logan, and Henry – the high ranking members of the largest drug Syndicate in Illinois.

Together, we are untouchable.

Because we are fearless. Because we are killers.

And I’ll always remember these years when we lived like gods in the heart of Chicago’s underworld where murder and mayhem reign supreme.

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The end.

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Chicago Syndicate series

The love story of Luca and Fallon

The love story of Adriano and Camilla

Although part of the Chicago Syndicate world, the following novels are standalones and can be enjoyed either with or without reading the rest of the series.

The love story of Logan and Rosalia (STANDALONE)

The love story of Henry and Mary (STANDALONE)

The love story of Carmine and Eva (STANDALONE)