Page 82 of Beautiful Torment (Empire of Kings #1)

ABELLA

T he afternoon sun bathes me in golden warmth as I sprawl across my husband’s bare chest. It’s a perfect encapsulation of a moment in time, and there isn’t a thing that could ruin it. Not even when a shadow falls over us, and I open my eyes to find Mariella holding our crying daughter in her arms.

“She has her father’s temper.” Mariella hands Antonella off to Angelo and shakes her head before she leaves us.

He doesn’t even look the slightest bit sorry about that as he cradles the back of Antonella’s head and tucks her into the safety of his arm. On cue, she lets out one last little huff and settles in, exactly where she wants to be.

He smirks at me, and I roll my eyes. “She does the same thing with me when you’re not around.”

“Sure she does.”

Truthfully, nobody can calm her the way Angelo can. But I get it. He’s our safe space—our refuge from the world. Antonella is a daddy’s girl through and through, but when I see them together, I can’t even be sad about it.

Angelo was intense throughout my entire pregnancy—ensuring I ate, slept, and rested as needed.

But now that our daughter has arrived, he’s absolutely unhinged when it comes to protecting the two of us.

I already pity whichever poor soul falls in love with Antonella when she’s older, because they won’t stand a chance.

True to his nature, my husband is terrifying in his devotion. What we have is sacred and untouchable, and he makes it clear every day that nothing and nobody will ever come between us again.

To everyone else, he’s Il Diavolo —the man who sends shivers down spines when he walks into a room. His life is filled with darkness, sin, violence, and bloodshed. He’s dangerous, but not to us. When he holds our daughter, he handles her with a gentleness nobody else will ever know from him.

Unlike my father, there isn’t a thing Angelo wouldn’t do to protect his child.

Every time I’m reminded of that, it heals a little bit of that pain deep inside me.

He’s everything I could ever want for the father of my children.

And someday, I have no doubt we’ll have the huge family we’ve talked about.

But for right now, I’m more than content with our perfect little Nella—the entire center of our universe.

I’ve taken a long maternity leave, and after this trip, I plan to return to work half-time until Nella is older. Angelo is still perpetually busy with Mafia business and the Vitale empire. But without fail, he comes home to us every night.

I settle deeper into his arm, releasing a happy little sigh as my fingers coast over the fresh ink on his ribcage.

Abella and Antonella.

“You like seeing your claim on me?” he asks.

“What do you think?” I press my lips against his warm skin.

He grazes my hip with his palm and squeezes. “I think if you keep doing that, I’ll come up with some other ways for you to leave your mark on me.”

“We have a baby to take care of,” I remind him.

“And at least fifteen babysitters on board,” he says dryly.

I can’t help but laugh because it’s true. The entire family loves watching Antonella, so we’re never without help when we need it. But right now, all of my friends and Angelo’s brothers are currently swimming off the deck while Nonna’s in the galley putting the chef out of a job.

Regardless, if we really wanted to sneak off, they’d all drop what they’re doing in a second to babysit.

Technically, this is our second honeymoon, even though we have a small army aboard the yacht with us.

It was Angelo’s idea to go on this trip, insisting I needed some time to relax before returning to work.

But honestly, I think both of us just wanted a do-over of the first time, and I have no complaints.

I’d happily honeymoon with him every year for the rest of our lives.

“Hey, am I interrupting?”

I glance up to see Gabi in her princess-pink bathing suit, uncertainty flickering across her face.

She twists her fingers together as she glances between Angelo and me, and I can tell she’s questioning if she’s bothering us right now.

We haven’t yet reached the point where Gabi feels like she can unmask around Angelo.

She’s known him for as long as I have, but not as well, and she’s still figuring out how to navigate these new changes in my life.

I want her to know she can always come to me, no matter what, regardless of how much has changed. Something has been off with her lately, and admittedly, I’ve been a little worried about her.

Angelo kisses the top of my head, recognizing that this is a conversation better left between Gabi and me. “I think Uncle Romeo could use a little Antonella time.”

As Angelo extracts himself from me, I follow his gaze to the brother in question. Romeo is sitting on the other side of the sun deck, scowling at Gabi’s bathing suit like its very existence annoys him on a bone-deep level.

There has never been a man who looks more out of place on a Mediterranean vacation. Skulking around in his all-black clothes, tossing around dark looks like it’s his full-time job. While everyone else relaxes, he broods. That’s just Romeo.

I’m surprised he even came, if I’m being honest. But I know Angelo has been keeping tabs on him. I’m not sure why. I suspect it has something to do with Romeo leaving the island more frequently.

Gabi seems to sense his eyes on her, and when she glances back at him and sees the expression on his face, it makes her stand up a little straighter. It feels like his glare has just confirmed something for her, and I think I’m about to find out what it is.

“Come, sit.” I pat the space beside me.

She glances at the lounge and wrinkles her nose. “You two didn’t have sex here, did you?”

“Not today.” I smile sweetly.

Gabi shakes her head. “I’ll just pretend I don’t know.”

She pulls the tote bag off her shoulder and takes Beppe out, tucking him in her arm as she plops down beside me. When she steals a glance at the swim deck, I suspect she knows the girls will probably be up here soon. It looks like she wants some privacy for this conversation.

“What’s up?” I ask her.

“My father signed the marriage contract with Riccardo Venturi,” she says solemnly.

“Oh, Gabi.” I frown, absolutely hating this for her. “There has to be something I can do. I’ll talk to Angelo.”

“That isn’t why I’m telling you.” She stares down at Beppe, stroking his fur as she speaks. “If it’s not him, it will be someone just like him.”

I search her face, distraught by the pain she tries to hide so well. She’s carried it for so long, blaming herself for circumstances outside of her control. And now she’s resigned herself to the idea of being unhappy—as if that’s what she deserves.

“Gabs,” I plead. “Let me try to help. You can’t just give up.”

“I’m not.” She squares her shoulders. “I still have some time. It won’t happen until after graduation. So I was thinking…”

Her words drift off.

“You were thinking what?” I press her.

She worries her lip between her teeth for a minute before she blurts it out. “I can’t change my fate, but I’ve decided I want to have agency over my life while I still can.”

“Alright,” I draw out the word. “How so?”

“I want to have sex,” she announces. “I don’t want to save myself for some guy who won’t even care about me.”

I release a long breath as I consider her decision. What she’s telling me makes perfect sense, and I understand it completely. But I also know that it can be dangerous, and I worry about what might happen if her father or future husband ever finds out.

“Do you have someone in mind?” I ask.

“Sort of.” She offers me a nervous smile. “There’s someone I’ve been talking to.”

She looks reluctantly hopeful, and it makes me nervous for her.

Gabi is a romantic at heart, and I’m not sure she’ll be able to detach her feelings so easily.

But I get where she’s coming from. Her parents have a tendency to treat her like she’s not capable of making her own decisions, and she’s never had much control of her life.

So I’m not going to be another negative voice telling her she can’t do something, because I know she’s beyond capable of choosing for herself.

“If this is what you want, then I support you,” I tell her. “But please, just be careful.”

“I will,” she promises. “And I’m glad you’re on board, because I’ll need someone to talk to when it finally happens.”

“Talk about what?” Val asks, her shadow falling over us.

“Nothing,” Gabi says quickly.

Val narrows her eyes at her and plops down. “Are you keeping secrets?”

“Maybe just one.” Gabi shrugs innocently.

“What did we miss?” Chantel joins us a second later.

Natalia, Lucia, and Mariella trail behind her, and all of them plop down on the lounge beside us in their bathing suits.

“God, I think my ovaries just imploded.” Chantel peers across the deck at all the Vitale men gathered around Antonella—half of them bare-chested and glistening from the water. It only gets worse when Alessio joins them, one arm wrapped around his little girl and the other holding Nino’s hand.

“Yep.” Lucia fans herself. “Life is so unfair.”

Natalia and I shoot each other a look and smile.

“Wait,” Val protests. “Gabi was just about to tell us a secret.”

Gabi steals a glance at me, and I nod, letting her know my lips are sealed. Still, she decides to throw the girls a bone.

“I was just telling Abella that I’ve…sort of met someone.”

“You’ve been holding out on us?” Val frowns.

“Who is he?” Chantel asks.

“That’s the thing.” Gabi lowers her voice, a shiver moving over her. “I’m not really sure.”

The End