Page 41 of Single Mom’s Mafia Daddies (The Forbidden Reverse Harem Collection #22)

LILA

W e’d won this battle, but according to Alessio, the war was just beginning. Did I have the guts to follow through and live in this world with the men I loved?

The man who captured my heart all those years ago took a step back from the railing. His heel caught in the carpet and he leaned into me, his weight pushing me down until Renzo grabbed his shoulder and pulled him upright.

“You’re wounded.” Anger laced his tone, and the constant tick of the muscle in his jaw said he hadn’t calmed down yet.

“It’s nothing.” Alessio tried to wave off Renzo’s concern.

I ducked around in front of him and scoured his body until I spotted blood covering his ribs.

His suit jacket had hidden the severity of it.

I hissed through my teeth when I pulled the jacket away and the splotch of blood became an enormous patch that stretched from just beneath his armpit to his waist. “What happened?”

“No idea.” He shrugged. “Can’t feel it yet, and I have no memory of pain to tell me when it happened.” A grin flashed and he tapped Renzo’s arm. “Looks like you got shot.”

Renzo flexed and turned his arm for a quick look. “Just a graze.”

Dammit, those wounds were going to hurt like hell when the adrenaline and shock wore off.

“Let’s go.” I led the way toward our suite of rooms down the hall.

Leo’s hand tightened in mine. I considered sending him with Bruce to avoid the sight of blood and the cost of the battle we’d fought.

I doubted he’d go willingly, and it might be good for him to see the men were going to be okay with his own eyes.

Matteo strode ahead of us and opened the door to Renzo’s rooms. “He has the bigger medical supplies stash,” was his response to my silent question.

“Fair enough.” I helped Alessio into the nearest chair, which ended up being a comfortable looking recliner. “Leo, can you go with Matteo to get bandages?”

Leo nodded without speaking and released me to follow Matteo into the back room. Metal banged, the sound of a locker door opening and crashing into another.

I expected to hear Matteo crack a joke or break into a song and dance routine to help ease the storm of tension enveloping the room.

He did neither. When he walked out with his arms laden with bandages, I recognized the haunted look in his eyes. He handed most of the bandages to me then turned and held out a roll of gauze to Renzo. “You should wash that out before you wrap it.”

Renzo gave him a calculating look. No doubt he knew the proper protocol for tending wounds, but he didn’t snap at Matteo. Instead, he took the gauze and slowly began removing the weapons that bristled from his body like porcupine quills. The bulletproof vest followed, then his black tactical shirt.

When he stood in nothing but his tactical pants and a plain white tank top, he crooked a finger at Leo. “You want to help?”

“Sure.” Leo hopped over and ran his finger around the edges of the wound, his eyes wide with curiosity. “Will you have a scar?”

“Probably.”

I tuned out the conversation and concentrated on Alessio.

He’d worked his jacket off and laid it aside.

The gold cufflinks clinked when he unbuttoned them and dropped them onto the narrow sofa table that ran the length of the wall.

I swatted his hands away and undid the shirt buttons for him, then helped him lean forward to slide the bloodied material off his body.

Matteo held out a hand and took the shirt from me. “I’ll dispose of it.”

He was the only one still wearing his full menagerie of weapons.

The rifle slung across his back rattled against the pistol in his belt when he walked, and I spotted another pistol and two knives tucked in various places across his legs.

His stride faltered when he reached the bathroom and a shudder rippled across his shoulders.

He shoved a hand through his hair and took several slow, deep breaths.

“He’ll be okay,” Alessio whispered.

I turned back to him and dragged one of the cleaning gauzes across the blood on his ribs, careful when he sucked in deeply through his teeth. “How do you know?”

“We’ve all been there.” He jerked his chin toward Matteo. “We’ll help. Matteo’s strong, and he always finds a way to come through this. We all will.” He took the gauze from me and scrubbed it hard on his skin. “We’re going to be okay, Lila.”

I didn’t know how badly I’d needed to hear those words until he said them. My aching heart shattered then knitted itself back together. I climbed into the chair on his good side. “I was so worried.”

“I know. And I’m sorry.” He finished cleaning the wound. “Can you help me with this?” He held out a package of sterile gauze and some ointment. “Rub the ointment on the gauze, then place it over the wound. We’ll cover it with a dry layer, then tape it into place.”

I reached around him when he sat forward, and between the two of us, we tended the long, jagged tear that ran several inches down his side. “Do you need a doctor?”

“No. If it needs stitching, Renzo can do it.” His back tensed when I pressed a hand to the wound to hold the gauze in place. “I can’t risk anyone seeing us like this.”

I didn’t have to ask why. Today’s massacre showed me how depraved this world could be. Alessio hesitated to let anyone see them as weak in any capacity. The syndicates needed to think they’d walked away unscathed.

I’d known what they were for a while now, but I’d blocked it from my mind. I couldn’t afford to do that anymore. If I was going to be part of this family, I had to accept what they were…what they did.

Leo and Renzo carried on a lingering conversation about scars and battles until Leo talked himself out and crashed on the loveseat behind Renzo.

The room was different from what I’d seen in the other house.

That one had been utilitarian, the colors stark and the walls bare.

This one had more depth and warmth with its leather recliner and loveseat.

Even the bed looked different, the gun-metal gray sheets and covers draping pleasingly across a wooden sleigh bed.

Three paintings graced the walls, each one a brilliant scene of natural landscapes done in vivid colors that ranged from mountains to beach and a beautiful desert.

Renzo caught me looking. “Do you like them?”

“They’re beautiful.” I drew my feet beneath me and rested my elbow on the arm of the recliner.

Alessio shifted closer and draped an arm over my stomach.

Renzo leaned forward and planted his elbows on his knees. “They remind me of you. It’s why I bought them. Mountains for your sharp wit and dangerous edges. Beach for your beauty. Desert for your unending passion.”

“I knew it.” Matteo smacked Renzo’s good arm with the back of his hand. “Either I’ve rubbed off on you, or you’ve been hiding a poet’s heart under all that bluff and bluster this whole time.”

“You’ll never know which it is,” Renzo fired back.

His eyes crinkled when he smiled, and he backhanded Matteo off the arm of the chair where he’d sat after putting Leo on the loveseat.

He’d finally removed his weapons, and he fell backward onto the floor with a loud guffaw, his overexaggeration lightening the mood and giving me courage.

“I have something I need to say.” I scooted off the recliner and stood to my full but unimpressive height.

“I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to avoid my feelings.

Today proved once and for all that I can’t keep doing that.

I refuse to let another day pass without telling you how much you mean to me.

” I squeezed Alessio’s hand. “You all have been essential in protecting me and proving that I have what it takes to be part of this family.”

Matteo righted himself in the chair and kicked his legs out straight in front of him, crossing his ankles.

“Lila, I’ve been in love with you so deeply I can’t remember a time I didn’t want your happiness above everything else.

” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Renzo.

“This man bought paintings because they reminded him of you. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is. ”

“I can answer for myself.” Renzo sounded annoyed, but when he looked at me, it all melted away.

The power of his eyes took me away from the hell we’d endured and brought me back to the light of love and happiness.

“My world revolves around you, Lila. There was nothing before but darkness, anger, and regret. You’ve given me back a piece of my heart that I never expected. ”

I blinked away the tears, needing to see their faces. “You are all essential to my life. If we stand together, there’s nothing that can tear us apart.”

Alessio kissed the back of my hand. “I have been obsessed with you since the first day of a certain literature class. I may have screwed it up along the way, but I won’t do that again.

I’m here to stay, Lila. We will fight for each other any time it is necessary.

” He shifted in the chair and sat forward.

“And that might come sooner than we hoped. Luca revealed that the Russo syndicate was behind the intel they received.”

“Your family?” I sank onto the arm of the chair, exhaustion and worry eating at the warmth of their love.

Matteo shook his head in a quick jerk. “Not my family in any way that matters.” He cursed under his breath, stopping when Leo rolled over with a rustle of leather. “My own past brings the risk of future danger to our doorstep.”

“Whatever happens, we face it together.” I held out a hand to him, linking myself to Alessio and Matteo.

Matteo joined hands with Renzo, who grabbed Alessio until we’d created a circle.

“We are one. Nothing can break us unless we allow it, and I refuse to allow anything to come between us ever again.” I was bound to them, heart and soul.

“I’ll drink to that.” Matteo released our hands and wiggled his eyebrows. “I know where Renzo hides the whiskey. Nothing better to toast a success than a good dose of whiskey.”

“None for me.” I rubbed my stomach. “I’d love some water.”

“Coming right up.” Matteo snapped his fingers and returned to the side room. A short bang from the lockers, and he came back with glasses, a decanter, and a bottle of water. He handed the water to me and poured three generous glasses of whiskey for them.

I lifted my water in a toast. “To life, love, and happily ever after, even if we have to pry it from death’s cold grasp.”

“Here, here.” Matteo clinked his glass against my water, then the other men’s glasses.

A smile spread as I watched them enjoy the moment.

They were alive, even if in pain. The relief of winning warred with the potential threats coming down the line.

I would not live my life in fear, but it would take time to truly understand what I’d gotten myself into by falling in love with my mafia men.

A knock sounded on the door.

Renzo stood and blocked us with his body. “What?”

“Sir, it’s Bruce. I have something.”

Renzo yanked the door open and dragged Bruce through.

The soldier barely blinked at the rough treatment or the sight of us together. He handed Alessio a phone. “I took this myself. We went out to dispose of the bodies as our orders instructed.”

Alessio took the phone and frowned at the screen. “What the fuck happened?”

“We don’t know, sir.” Bruce maintained his military precision with a stiff spine. “Both bodies are missing.”

“Check all the cameras. One of their men must have retrieved them.” He shoved the phone toward Renzo. “Or we have another rat in our midst who thought taking Luca’s and Vincenzo’s bodies back to the Verducci compound would cause us trouble.”

“Either way, it means our rivals are not entirely defeated.” Renzo handed the phone back to Bruce. “Find them.”