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Chapter twenty-five

Hunter's Residence, London

Christmas Day, 2023

Hunter

“Do you think you’re pregnant yet?” I whisper to Isabella. She’s still half asleep as I curl in behind her, wrapping my arms around her stomach. She doesn’t respond, so I flex my hips, pushing my cock between her butt cheeks. A small groan slips from her lips, but once again she doesn’t open her eyes, much to my annoyance.

I lean over and kiss her cheek softly. This time, her eyes flutter open. She blinks sleepily, as if only realizing she isn’t still asleep. My mood immediately lifts on having her attention.

“Morning,” she mutters, her voice a little hoarse. “What were you asking?”

“Do you think there is a baby in there?” My fingers brush her stomach, where I hope our child will soon lie, and she giggles.

“We’ve only just started trying,” she scolds, but I don’t care. When I want something, I will do everything in my power to make it happen. I want her pregnant by the new year, however ridiculous the notion sounds. This has to happen.

“When can you take a test?”

This time, her eyes pop open wide, and she pulls her pillow from beneath her head. It bounces off my face before I can put my hands up to stop it. Her head disappears below the duvet, and all I can see is bright red fingernails against the white. Tugging it downward, her grip tightens. If she thinks some cotton and feathers will keep me from talking to her, she’s mistaken.

“Bella,” I whisper, ducking below the sheets so we are both within a makeshift tent. “I want to know.”

“You’re fucking never-ending. You don’t just decide to have a baby and one is put in there. This isn’t an embryo ordering service.” My fingers skim over her naked body to between her legs—she’s still swollen from our love-making during the night. Her knees drop open on cue, and my cock hardens immediately. So well trained already even though she doesn’t realize it.

“I’ll keep trying until there is one.” I push two fingers inside her, and she opens beautifully on command. “Still wet for me, you’re such a good girl. My perfect wife.”

Wide, dark eyes hold mine as I pump inside her, preparing her pussy for me again. Last night had been incredible. We spent hours enjoying one another, her wrapped around my cock as I filled her full, wanting to implant myself within her and watch our baby grow.

“Hunter, I don’t want this baby fixation to be only that,” she says, quietly. She snaps me out of my recollections of the previous night. The uncertainty in her tone knocking my confidence.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we’ve only just reconnected after years apart. This is meant to be temporary. Do you not think this is all a bit…”

“A bit what?” I snap, a little too sharply. She scowls, annoyed by my outburst. Her attitude can change as quick as my own. Together we can be explosive in both good and bad ways.

“Fast, Hunter. Do you not think this is all a bit fast?” Her words tumble out, her tone somewhere between frustrated and upset. I throw back the duvet exposing us both. She visibly shivers as the cool winter air hits her skin.

“No, Bella.” I sit up, and she rises to join me. Her breasts hang free, dark curls fallen forward hiding them. “I’ve waited twenty years to live with you by my side. I want to give you everything you want. I know a child is one of those desires.” Her gaze flits away then back. She bites her lips nervously. “I want you, Bella. I want our life to be together as a family. I’m taking this time to prove I can be the husband you need.”

“There is a difference between needing and wanting,” she mutters. “We can want someone who is not good for us. Needing someone is different.”

My confidence in us wavers for a moment. I’m confused about where her concerns have stemmed from. Sure, this current situation we are in is new. Our time together is divided by decades, but how can she dispute how I feel for her? I’ve put my heart on the line since she walked back into my life.

“My love for you has never been up for debate, Bella. You read my letters. You know it has always been you. Do you doubt your love for me?” I ask the question before considering whether I want to hear the answer. She stares at me for a few moments then smiles.

“You look cute when you’re nervous,” she says with a giggle. “Almost normal.”

I laugh at that. In all my life, no one has ever called me normal. If anyone else did, I would be offended, but from her, I would take any description as long as it wasn’t hatred. Her love for me is my most cherished asset, one I am never willing to give up. I’ll fight until my last dying breath to make this work.

“Do you know what we’ve forgotten?” She cocks her head to one side, surveying me, as if trying to read what I’m thinking in my eyes. “It’s Christmas day.”

“I hadn’t forgotten. I just don’t normally celebrate because I’m on my own.”

“Me neither, but this year is different.” I scramble out of bed and walk over to my closet to retrieve her gift. The sensation of her focus on my skin never leaves. I collect the small pink bag, and return to the bed, placing it between us. “Merry Christmas.”

Her eyes light up with excitement as she finds the black box hidden beneath the pink tissue paper. There’s nothing obvious about either the bag or the box to hint at what is inside. For a moment, I am nervous about whether I’ve gone too far with this gift, but I wanted her to have no doubt as to my intentions.

Our agreement in the beginning was for a year, but it’s quickly become so much more. I couldn’t imagine letting her go after the short time we’ve spent together. Years yearning for her, and my dream has finally come true. It’s now up to me to ensure she never leaves.

The lid creaks a little as she opens it. Her eyes bug as she takes in the contents.

“Hunter,” she stammers. “This is…” Perfectly painted fingernails cover her mouth, but her eyes never leave the jewels my gift contains.

“Is what, Bella?”

“Too much,” she squeals. “It’s our first Christmas and you give me this.”

“No, we’ve had too many Christmases apart. This is me making up for lost time. Will you wear them?” The hope that was bubbling in my chest expands to full blown prayer she agrees. “I want you to wear them with pride, as you should have been for all these years.”

She plucks the engagement ring from its resting place. On either side are a matching wedding band and eternity ring. When worn together, they meld as one piece filled with diamonds. The large ten-carat, almond-cut diamond takes center stage in the engagement ring.

“They’re beautiful,” she says, a tear slipping down her cheek.

“As are you. May I put them on you, my wife?”

She nods, her emotion clearly caught in her throat. I take the box from her and remove the wedding ring first. She offers me her hand and I slide it into place, followed by the engagement ring, then the eternity to finish the set. They look perfect. She lifts her hand, and it sparkles under the morning winter light.

“Thank you,” she chokes out, leaning in to kiss me softly. “I only got you…”

I grab her fingers, pulling them to my chest. We face each other, then lay our foreheads against the other.

“Bella, you have given me everything I could ever want by being here. Your presence is the best gift I could ever ask for. You are a gift. I am forever grateful.”

“I love you,” she whispers.

“And I love you. This is it, Bella. We are us.”

Our day continues somewhere between heaven and perfection. We spend most of the morning in bed. Bella gave me some funny socks decorated with a cartoon mafia boss wielding his gun. It made me laugh out loud when I saw them. Her cheeks flushed as if embarrassed by the unique gift. I have every intention of wearing them.

It is not until we have sat down to our Christmas meal in the late afternoon that our day goes wrong. Having wanted to have Bella to myself, I gave all staff except the exterior security the day off to have with their families. It isn’t something I normally do, but my attitude has been changing when I look at the men under my command. I see now that there’s more to them than men who carry out tasks on my behalf. Most of them have a lot to lose if things were to go wrong.

My phone ringing had not been a good sign. It was even worse when my sister was screaming down the phone that her daughter had yet again stood against our family. My niece, Tilly, absconded from the family home with a group of friends. They had no idea where she was headed.

Bella watched my discussion with interest, clearly attempting to make sense of the one-sided conversation. The twisted smile on her lips told me she had heard enough to know who it was concerning and what was happening. Since our disagreement at the Level, we haven’t discussed her open hostility on hearing my plan. I fully expected her to bring it up, and when she didn’t, it felt like I had dodged a bullet. The look on her face tells me she’s just been waiting for the opportunity to discuss it.

“Who was that?” she says casually as I place my phone on the table.

“My sister.”

“Family issues?” The words are simple, but the depth of insincerity is mind-blowing. She’s enjoying this.

“My niece has taken leave without permission.”

“The girl you’re marrying off to a man old enough to be her grandfather?” That brings me up short. She’s being doing research. I both admire and detest that quality. But I should have known this wouldn’t be laid to rest with me telling her to leave it. Bella wouldn’t go so quietly.

“I need to make a call,” I say, not responding to her question. She knows damn fine that’s who I’m talking about. Bizarrely, her open challenge makes me love her even more. The last thing I need in my life is another person willing to say yes to anything and everything I suggest.

“I’m sure you do.” She grins then, and I narrow my eyes. “I like Tilly already.”

“How the fuck would you know?”

“Because she sounds just like me. She isn’t willing to let some jumped-up man dictate her life.” I’m just pushing myself up to stand as the sentence leaves her lips. My mouth drops open before I can stop it, and it only makes her smile wider. “I hope she gives whoever you’re phoning the run-around for a while.”

“Her marriage is…”

Bella shakes her head and lifts her hand.

“I’m not interested in the positive business impacts her marriage will have, Hunter. She is a woman and a free one. She deserves to live her life as she sees fit, not to better the position of the family. Those concepts are old and outdated, and you need to change with the times.”

“I’m a modern man,” I snap back, my ego bruised.

“In some ways, maybe. You are far kinder than any of the men I met growing up. It’s clear you care about those close to you, but what about the wider net? What about those under your guidance whom you don’t truly know?”

“Tilly is and always will be a problem.” As much pride I have in Bella for standing by what she believes, it’s now becoming annoying. I have a runaway niece to find. “She needs to be back in London for New Year’s Eve.”

“Why?”

“That’s when her engagement will be officially announced at my New Year’s Eve gala. The Lombardi family are attending, and Domenico will meet his wife.”

“If you find her,” Bella says with a chuckle.

“I’ll find her. No one can disappear off grid forever.”

“From what you’ve told me, she’ll make a damn good try of it.”

I pick up my phone and leave the table. I need to call the only man I have that I know can find anyone, anywhere. Greyson is back from assignment in God knows where, and I already have a task for him. Bring Tilly home and ensure her marriage to Lombardi goes ahead. There’s too much to lose if it doesn’t.