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BONUS #1

ROMIRO

It’s been a year since I proposed to the woman I love, and time really does fly when you’re happy. Although, right now, I am getting the biggest fucking migraine from Dominico’s nervous energy. He paces the room and runs his hand through his hair for the fifth time in two minutes.

“If you need to shit, you know the bathroom is right there.” I point behind me with my thumb. Dom stops his pacing to throw me a glare.

“Fuck off, Romiro. I don’t have the fucking time for your stupid jokes.” He narrows his eyes and throws himself on the couch opposite me. I lean back into the leather chair.

“What’s gotten you all worked up? You look like there’s a stick up your ass.” Dominico gives me a glowering look before running a hand down his face.

“You’re a fucking idiot. I still can’t believe the Capo actually went back into Outfit territory for a woman.” His lips curl in disgust, and protectiveness swells in my chest.

“Watch you’re fucking tone, asshole. That woman is going to be the Capo’s wife in a couple of hours, and she’s the woman who dictates what mood he’ll be in.”

He rolls his eyes, muttering, “Fucking great.”

I stand up, straighten my suit out, and run a hand through my hair.

“You’re such a hypocrite. Thalia had all the control in your relationship, and you know it,” I say. Dominico grinds his teeth together, his jaw clenched as he stalks toward me.

“You little fucker. You think you’re funny bringing up my dead wife?” Dom’s voice is barely restrained. Ignoring him, I flick a lone lint piece off my suit before giving him a blank stare.

“No, I don’t think it’s funny. But I think it’s quite pathetic the way you can’t even handle her name being mentioned,” I finally answer. He lunges at me, grabbing me by my throat, and I grab his collar.

“You fucking bastard. You don’t even deserve to have her name in your fucking mouth.” I give him a sardonic smirk, our faces inches from each other.

“You, little fucker, forget that I was the one to save her when she nearly drowned.” His hands loosen a bit, and I take the chance to knee him in the balls. Dominico lets me go with a groan as he rolls on the white marble floors.

“What is going on?” Alessia storms into the room, the door flinging open with a bang. My breath gets stuck in my throat as I take her in. Her red fiery hair is in loose waves around her face, soft makeup light enough so it doesn’t hide the galaxy of freckles over the bridge of her nose. She’s wearing her bridesmaid dress, a floor-length, flowy sage-green one. Her forest-colored eyes find mine, softening slightly before they harden again. My eyes land on that lone freckle near her plump lips; it's shaped like a star. That godforsaken freckle had been the bane of my existence since I was twelve.

“What happened?” she asks, and I give her a grin before looking at Dom, who has finally managed to get off the floor.

“Nothing,” I reply. Her eyes narrow into slits before she steps toward Dom.

“Dom? you okay?” she asks. I take my chance to get away and head for the door.

“Rom?” she calls out. I pause, turning to look at Alessia.

“What’s up?” I ask. She turns her head, looking back at me.

“Stop fucking around, I won’t allow either of you to ruin this day for Val or Eli. They have gone through enough, they deserve for their wedding to go smoothly.” I give her a grin. My best friend is about to be married and have other priorities, which means that our friendship might go on the back burner. But I’ve got Alessia.

“I’m serious, Romiro. Please don’t provoke anyone.” She turns back to Dom, who’s giving me the stink eye.

The hallway is practically buzzing with life. I spot Mara, Lucio, and Matteo at the end of the corridor. Lucio is leaning on the wall with a cigarette between his lips. I snatch it out of his mouth once I reach them and put it out with the sole of my shoes.

“What the fuck, Rom?” he complains. I flick his forehead with my free hand.

“You little shit! If you smell like cigs and if Eli smells it on you, he’ll gut us both.”

Lucio swats my hand away, muttering under his breath, “Yeah, yeah, just say you want to be a buzzkill.”

I turn to Matteo. “I thought you would have at least attempted to stop him,” I say to him. Matteo’s resting bitch face remains in place.

“You know how he reacts when I try to tell him how cigarettes aren’t the best for his health,” he replies as Lucio wraps one of his arms around his shoulders with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“We should all go to the strip club after this,” Lucio says before winking. Mara scrunches up her nose and gives him a shove.

“You’re gross.” She turns to look at me and says, “I’m going to go and check on Val, wanna come along?”

I ruffle her blonde hair, “You go ahead. I’ll be right behind you.”

Mara slaps my hand away. “Why would you do that? You’ve ruined my hair.” She huffs a frustrated breath before stomping down the hallway toward Valentina’s and Emiliano’s room.

“Have you found out who’s been killing those girls?” Matteo asks. I run my hand over my stubbled jaw. We’ve been looking for the past three years and nothing. Girls have been dropping dead around New York, and we can’t figure out who’s behind it.

“No. Costa thinks it’s some dude who wants to threaten you.” Weak. That’s such a fucking weak excuse, and I wince as soon as I say it.

“That’s such fucking bullshit, and you know it, too,” Lucio says, and I shrug my shoulders.

“Let’s not talk about this today—not when the place is full of our associates, soldiers, and allies,” I say. His lips curl into a snarl, but Matteo shakes his head at him.

“Lucio, he’s right. If someone catches a whiff of your involvement, we could have a problem on our hands.”

Lucio huffs out a frustrated groan as he runs both hands through his black hair. “Fuck, fine but you guys need to stop keeping me in the dark,” he says, finally relenting. I tap his shoulder as I walk past him to go see Val.

“Talk to your brother, he’s the one to call the shots,” I tell him.

The wall leading to Eli’s and Val’s room is filled with pictures from when they visited Italy and Greece. Most of them are clearly of Valentina, since Emiliano loves to take pictures of her.

Discarding the thought at the door, I fling it open for my grand entrance. My chest constricts when I see Val, she’s in a long flowy dress. Her long black hair is in a low, loose bun with a small gold headband. Her eyes light up once she spots me, and she pushes her way through the crowd of the women to make her way toward me.

“Romiro, I’ve missed you.” She wraps her arms around me, and I laugh into her hair.

“I missed you too, piccolo rosa. How was Rome?” I ask. Valentina pulls back a little and steps out of my personal space.

“It was great. The museums were amazing, we got to go to so many libraries and the food. Oh, my God! Romiro, you would have loved the food. I literally became a glutton to the point some of my clothes didn’t fit. You and Allie should go there soon.” Her laugh is like a melody as she explains how much she loved Rome. I’m glad she’s happy, I’m glad both of them are happy. A twinge of longing to have something similar with Alessia curls its way into my chest.

Mariana, who’s wearing the same dress as Mara and Alessia, makes her way toward us with a soft smile.

“Hey, Aunt Mari.” I give her a kiss on both cheeks once she comes to a stop next to me.

“Hello Romiro. Hope everything is running smoothly over on the men's side of the house,” she says. My lips pull into a shit-eating grin, which she returns with a raised brow. She speaks up again when I don’t say anything. “Please, make sure that nothing gets out of hand. We have the entire family here. Some came all the way from Italy.”

Val loops an arm through mine before she says, “I trust Romiro to keep things flowing.” Wrapping my arm around Val’s shoulder, I give her a grateful smile.

“Well, you might want to take that back, because I walked in on him kicking Dominico between the legs before he came here.” Val and Mariana both raise their brows at me as Alessia whispers enough for only the four of us to hear.

“Of course you’d walk in as I’m defending myself,” I say. Alessia narrows her eyes at me, a teasing smile on her lips.

“Romiro, both you and I know that you don’t have to lay a finger on him for you to defend yourself,” she counters. I give her a wink, and as I’m about to speak up, something grabs both Val and Mariana’s attention.

“I have to go, please be on your best behavior, Rom. For me,” Valentina pleads before heading off to her wedding planner, Mariana hot on her heels.

“Is there a problem between us that I don’t know about?” I ask, and Alessia’s eyes widen when I step close to her, toe to toe, with our chests barely two inches apart.

“No, why would you think that?” Her brows furrow as if she’s confused.

“Oh, nothing. Just the fact that you’re trying to get me in trouble, Red,” I say and her lips twist as she tries to stop her smile. My eyes flicker to them, I remember the way they wrapped around my dick yesterday. Fuck, I feel my cock press against the front of my pants. I take a step back.

“You know that nickname has raised some questions, right?” she asks with a little smirk. Hiding my smile with the palm of my hand, I slip the other in my suit pants.

Looking around the room, I ask her, “And what kind of questions have been raised?” When she doesn’t answer, I turn my head, searching her eyes. She bites her lips in contemplation.

“Als?” I ask. Her eyes flicker around the room, but I put two fingers under her chin, bringing her attention back to me.

“It’s the way you say it,” she says, shaking her head.

“And how do I say it?” I ask, leaning down, pressing my thumb against her small chin.

She lowers her voice to a whisper, “It sounds very sexual. You need to tone it down.”

“It’s not my fault that the Italian women in this family are perverted.” I shrug, then laugh when she swats at my shoulders. “How’s your hand?” I ask her, and she looks down at it before looking back up.

“It’s fine now,” she says as I go to grab it. She’d burned it two months ago. Our cat, Mr. Marvin, had jumped on the counter, near the stove, and nearly burned his tail. When she tried to save him, she poured boiling water on herself. My eyes trace the scar running from the middle of her hand to her wrist; goosebumps snake their way up her arm when I run my thumb over the scar.

“Does it hurt? If it does, I can go grab some medicine for you.”

She shakes her head, tugging her hand out of my hold, “No, no, it’s fine. Thanks, Rom.”

“Come on, guys. I need you all to be downstairs. Now.” The wedding planner slaps her hand on the clipboard she’s holding as she tries to get people moving. She stops next to us.

“Romiro, you’ll walk Val down the aisle. Please remember the rhythm of the walk we planned.” I give her a nod, not wanting to argue. The stupid rhythm of the walk —even Val had snorted when the planner had suggested it. But we still went ahead with it, because the entire Camorra will be present, and so will all our allies.

“Right, come on. Let’s go Alessia.” Alessia opens her mouth, as if to say something, but the planner drags her outside after everyone piles out the doors. I hear them make their way through the house, and then the door is slammed shut and the whole house is finally silent.

Val is standing at the mirror, looking at herself. A wide smile on her lips, her eyes bright. I slip my hands into my pockets as I stop behind her.

“Excited?” I ask, and her lips purse as she holds back a smile.

“That would put it mildly.” My eyes narrow when she runs her hand down her stomach and pauses. She looks at her reflection before she looks back at me. My brows raise as the realization sinks in.

“Are you….are you what I think you are?” She huffs out a laugh before nodding.

“I’m pregnant, Rom.” Her face glows in a way I have never seen, and my breath is stuck in my throat in disbelief.

“Oh, my God! Get over here, you little shit. Does Eli know? What am I even saying, of course he knows.” I tug her into a bear hug and she laughs into my shoulder. Pulling back, my eyes search her face.

“Who else knows? I better be the second person to know.”

“Of courseEli knows, and you’re the fourth person to find out. The only people who know are the doctor, Mariana, and Emiliano.” She reaches her hand and wipes my suit.

“Look what happened! You got foundation on your suit.” Valentina loops her arm through mine, practically dragging me to the doors.

“Come on, let's get me married,” she says with a big smile.

I still can’t believe Valentina asked me to walk her down the aisle. It’s an honor I don’t take lightly. We silently make our way down the grand staircase, Val’s hand in mine.

The End…