Page 43 of Scorned Beauty (Scorned Fate #5)

Not that I didn’t deserve it. Women were never a problem to me until they tried to pin a paternity suit on me. But the grief I felt when I found out Sloane had lost our baby sent me into profound reflection.

She was the one I wanted to be the mother of my children.

I wasn’t even looking, but fate had a cruel way of opening the blinders I’d had on all my life. The blinders I’d hid behind.

It only took staring into Sloane’s beloved green eyes for me to realize how much I wanted her to be mine and mine alone.

“Okay, this is hard to watch.” Sera’s embarrassed laugh broke through my series of epiphanies. I had reached the back of the café and forgotten everyone else was around.

But Sloane held my gaze captive, and I replied without looking at Sera. “I got it from here.”

“We’re her ride,” Bianca interjected.

“I’ll order one,” Sloane said, and then raised the black card in her hand, “or order that SUV I wanted.”

“I can take you to the dealership,” I said. “Or test drive?”

“Or you can continue to be my driver,” Sloane returned sassily.

I nodded, finally reaching their booth. “Or continue to be your driver.”

“In this traffic?” Bianca cut in again. “Don’t you have boss things to do?”

If only they knew where I’d been this morning. I glared at my two cousins. “Don’t you two have someplace to be?”

Sera glanced at her watch. “Actually, Matteo said I need to take Gio because he has a board meeting.”

Bianca stared at her phone. “Divina said Tommy is looking for you, Sandro, and asking why you’re not answering texts.”

“Because I told him multiple times I hate texting and he should just call me.”

“Get out of here, the lot of you,” I ordered.

Renz appeared beside us and handed me an espresso. I slid into the space my cousins vacated.

“Another cappuccino, Sloane?” Renz asked.

“Oh God, no I’ve had enough.”

While I consumed my espresso, the girls said goodbye. They exchanged hugs, and an ache tugged in my chest.

Sloane belonged with my family. I just didn’t know how to bring her in and become mine. Remembering what Margo had told me made me realize the mountain of Sloane’s past trauma I had to climb. If only the matchmaker would give me a name.

The security to her network was top-notch. When Trevor tried to hack into their system and was repelled, Margo sent me a warning text. Of course I didn’t admit it was us, and I wasn’t desperate enough to ask Natalya for help because I had no doubt she would succeed.

After Sloane slid back into the booth in front of me, she said, “You don’t have to deny you had a hand in orchestrating this Delphine project.”

“I’m not gonna deny it, but it was a team effort,” I replied. “We identified a problem shared across our crime families and saw an opportunity to address it.”

She grinned. “I heard Luca was skeptical.”

“That’s his nature. He doesn’t know you, and he wanted to make sure that emotions did not influence us, but logic.”

“Are you certain that?—”

“It’s not guilt,” I said firmly. “Not with this.”

“My acceptance of this project doesn’t mean I’m open to a relationship with you.”

It took an effort to hold her gaze when her words deflated the hope in my chest. Funny how I didn’t have a problem watching the light fade from a vermin’s eyes, but knowing that I struggled to do that with Sloane proved I was not lost to the vicious side of my nature. “I understand.”

She gave a series of nods and rolled her lips. Those luscious lips that I hadn’t kissed in weeks.

An awkward silence blanketed the space between us, but I wasn’t simply going to tuck tail and not be the man she knew me to be. “I understand,” I repeated. “But also understand that I’m not a man who gives up easily.”

Her eyes flared.

Yeah, she liked that.

“Weeks, months, years—I’m going to wait.”

“Years?” She raised a brow. “That’s a long time to wait.”

“I’m a De Lucci and a Moretti.” I shrugged. “Once we’ve decided on the woman we want, we don’t back down.”

She grabbed the folder and started flipping through the pages. As for me, I was contented just staring at her. I was the dumbass who let this beautiful woman slip through my fingers because I was a coward. In a way, I didn’t want to share her with others in my circle. But this? This was a start.

She stared at my espresso cup. “I’m ready to head back to the penthouse. It’s been a long…strange day.” Sloane gave a light laugh. That husky laugh. Fuck. My dick chose that time to wake up. I was glad I was in a suit so I could hide my erection.

“I’m ready.”

After we picked up Ginger from Renz’s apartment, we spent the drive back to the penthouse in silence.

Sloane was busy flicking through the project proposal, while I was busy sneaking glances at her.

The penthouse wasn’t that far away, less than a ten-minute drive in normal Manhattan traffic.

And for the first time in my life, I wished it would take me thirty minutes to get there just so I could spend more time with her.

Although…I could be opportunistic.

So when the building came up and I had to make the choice between turning to the garage and the building’s entrance, I said, “I’m coming up with you.”

“Dom, you can just drop me off in the front.”

“I need a couple of items from my room.”

She blew out a breath in a way that told me she didn’t believe me, but was resigned. “Okay.”

After I parked, we walked to the elevators designated for the upper floors.

“You should just move back in,” she said. “I can rent an apartment somewhere. Maybe in New Jersey.”

I swiped my card and leaned against the wall while the car zoomed up. “I want you in Manhattan.”

“Why? Delphine is in New Jersey. It makes more sense for me to live there. Are there still threats?”

“Not from the Zahkarov bratva.” Although one could never tell with Kirill in charge.

“Grigori and his crew, then. I’m a witness to their crime.”

Kirill made it clear that Grigori was theirs to deal with and I told him, not if we found him first. Well, we found Boris first. Now we need to find the rest of his crew, especially Anton.

The doors to the elevators opened to the foyer leading to my penthouse.

The initial design of the entrance hall opened straight to the dedicated upper-floor elevators, but it didn’t sit well with me for obvious reasons despite the security to its programming.

Anything could be hacked. As don, I had enemies who wanted to kill me.

Tastefully designed curved steps led to a bulletproof double door. With Sloane living here, I wished I’d had it built for fucking explosives.

But I wasn’t prepared for the grenade waiting for us inside the penthouse.

My mother.