Page 120 of Ruthless Lord

“But I will be.”

“Does that bother you?”

I shake my head slowly. “Not even a little.”

“Are you happy? I honestly can’t tell.”

“I’m very, very happy.”

“How happy?”

“So happy I’m going to buy you a pony.”

She makes a face. “God, please don’t. I hate horses.”

“Then I’m going to burn a barn full of ponies to the ground.”

“Stefano! I don’t hate them that much.”

“Make up your mind.”

She laughs and kisses me. We stay like that in my office for a while, and I was thinking we couldn’t find a way to make this marriage any better, except now we did. And that’s pretty fucking great.

Epilogue: Charlie

One Year Later

“Hellooooo?”My voice bounces around through the empty room. “Hellooooooo? Echoooooooo.” Milly squirms in my arms and starts to wake up. “Oh, crap, sorry, little pea. You go back to sleep. Mommy won’t yell anymore.”

But too late. She yowls like a little cat and opens her eyes, blinking up at me. Startling blue. I’m told they usually change, but I have a feeling she’ll always be this way. Just like her father.

I make myself comfortable against the wall and let her feed. There’s stomping downstairs and frustrated grunting. I consider helping, but nah. I’ve got a baby on my boob. That’s about all I can do anyway.

Stefano appears in the doorway, sweat rolling down his face. He looks in at me and wipes it from his forehead, grinning. “How’s she doing?”

“Eating. She’s happy.”

“Let me know when she’s done. I’ll change her.”

“That’s my man. How’s the move coming?”

“Slowly.” His face hardens. “I should’ve hired people. My fucking knees feel like cracked lightbulbs.”

“I told you.”

“That’s your favorite phrase in the world, isn’t it?”

“Only because it comes up so often.”

He grunts and comes over, slowly sinking down beside me. He holds onto Milly’s tiny foot as she keeps drinking, and I swear, it makes her go faster. Like she can’t wait to be with her daddy.

“Luca, Adriano, and the girls are coming over later to see the new place. Just a heads-up.”

“They’re always welcome. It’ll be good to see them. Packing with an infant hasn’t been fun at all.”

“True, but now we’re in the heart of Marino territory. And the house is twice as big.”

“Thanks to my father’s generosity.” I roll my eyes. He basically held us over a barrel when we expressed interest in buying this property from his holding company.