Page 89 of His Playground

“You think you’re going to get away with killing me?” Joey laughs. “I’m a Don. You can’t kill me.”

“Actually, I think I can.” I pull the trigger and his body hits the floor with athud. “Oh, look, I just did.” I kick at his motionless torso. Then I crouch down, fish around in his pocket, and retrieve the disk.

“Let’s move out.” Emmanuel taps a hand on my shoulder.

I nod and walk out of the restaurant, without looking back. Taking a life has never felt so fucking good.

By the time I get to the car, I find Sammie holding an icepack against Antonia’s cheek. I sit next to her and pull the cold compress away from her skin. Cursing when I see the mark that fucker left on my wife’s face. “Fucking hell, I want to kill him again.”

“It’s fine. It’s over now. Right?” Antonia asks me.

“Yeah, it’s over now.” I lean forward and kiss her forehead.

“Good, let’s go get our kid out of Emmanuel’s house and take her home.”

Our kid.She saidour kid. I didn’t know how much I needed to hear that, to know she accepted Jazzy as her own, until now.I know Antonia’s not her mother, and I don’t want to replace Wendy. But I do want us to be a family, a real fucking family.

“Let’s go get our kid.” I nod. “I fucking love you.”

“I love you too.” Antonia grabs my jacket, pulls me closer, and presses her lips to mine. “Carlo?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“Will you marry me?” she asks.

“Ah, we are married.”

Fuck, did she hit her head when she fell? I need to find a new fucking doctor to do house calls.

“I know, but will you marry me again? A wedding of our own choosing this time?” she clarifies.

“I’ll marry you every day for the rest of our lives, Antonia Bianchi. You might not have chosen me, but I never had a single doubt about choosing you,” I tell her. “Let’s plan the wedding of your dreams. I want you to have everything you ever wanted.”

“I want to do it in our backyard. Just you, me, Jazzy, and our friends,” she says. “That’s everything I want.”

“I can make that happen.” I capture her lips in mine, pulling her over so she’s sitting on my lap, and hold her against me.

I have everything I ever wanted too.

Epilogue

Two weeks later

Iwake up to little hands brushing the hair away from my face. “Antonia, it’s my first day of school,” Jazzy’s sweet little voice whispers into my ear.

I snake my arms up and around her, pulling her into me for a hug. “It sure is, sweetheart.”

“Daddy’s making special pancakes,” she says.

“What’s in a special pancake?” I ask her, pushing myself upright in bed.

“I don’t know.” Jazzy shrugs. “Can you do my hair? Daddy tried but it’s not very good,” she whispers to me like she’s worried he might hear.

My gaze drops to the lopsided ponytail that looks like it’s already losing its scrunchie. “I can. What kind of style are we going for?”

“Um, can you do two ponytails?” she asks.

“Sure can. Let’s go to your bathroom. We’ll add some glitter spray too,” I tell her.