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Tears burn the backs of my eyes, but I blink them away.

He turns and drops heavily onto the end of the unmade bed we’ve all slept in together for the past few weeks. Then he lowers his elbows to his knees and his shoulders hunch forward as though the news is too much to carry.

I get the feeling. It had taken everything in me not to burst into tears or let the rage overtake any form of rational thought.

Well, until I’d been presented with my gift in the form of retribution.

More like justice.

“Fuck, E,” he says so softly I barely hear him.

But I see the muscle jumping in his cheek and the way he’s blinking rapidly, as though he’s trying to hold back his own tears.

Why the hell hadn’t I even thought about the fact that me not being able to carry a child would affect them as strongly? They lost their son or daughter, too. And now, our chance at having a family together might be completely off the table.

I dress in silence, glancing at him periodically when he simply continues to sit like a statue and stare at the floor like he doesn’t really see it.

I’m just pulling a sweater over my head and jump hard when he shoots to his feet and declares, “We’ll just adopt. We’ll adopt ten kids. Babies. Toddlers. Even teenagers. Kids like me and Brix. Except we’ll be good to them.”

He’s still in the towel, but at least his boner seems to have gone down a bit. Might have made this conversation a little…awkward.

“Teenagers?” I say when I can finally find my voice. Those damn tears are back only this time for a whole different reason.

“Sure. Why not? We’ve got plenty of room. Guards are on the property, so it’s not like they can sneak out and do crazy shit. We’ll adopt…ten kids. Maybe more.”

A watery smile breaks free, and I begin to giggle softly. I’m both sad that this is a conversation we have to have instead of simply deciding it’s something we want but elated that Maddox would see any child as his, regardless of his or her bloodline.

Suppose that shouldn’t surprise me, considering that the three of them always said they had no desire to have a DNA test on any child we brought into the world.

Tears stream down my face, and I don’t bother stopping them.

He drops back on the bed, his eyes unfocused as though already making plans in his head.

Instead, I step closer to Madd and wait for him to lift his head and move a bit so I can stand between his knees. Taking his face in my hands, I lower and press a kiss to his lips, then say, “We’ll adopt as many as you want. Babies, toddlers, teenagers, even sibling groups, and we’ll love them and spoil them and give them the best life ever.”

Definitely a better life than any of us had.

We’ll shield them from the darker parts of my husbands’ work, keep them safe, even hire a whole new group of guards specifically for each child who comes into our lives.

And just like that, the anger I’d felt over them not telling me about the removal of my birth control implant is all but gone.

We have a life to build together. And that life has no room for grudges. At least not against each other.

No. The four of us are a united front and will cut down any and every single person who’d attempted to destroy us.

Chapter 40

Kato

“She was…fuck. It was unbelievably hot and terrifying,” Brix says after filling me in on exactly what went down in the basement.

I’m still not super happy she was so close to that piece of shit, but I imagine the experience was cathartic. She’d been able to expel some pent-up hate and rage while getting revenge on one of the people who’d hurt her so badly.

Maybe I should have joined the three of them down there, but I’d had work to do.

And now that there’s a possible location for Dima Sidorov, I’ll have even more before I can quit for the day.

Who am I kidding? I no longer get days off work since taking over the Antoniou syndicate.