40. Stephano

40

STEPHANO

By the time we walk into Matteo's apartment, my brothers are all here, sitting in the lounge. Guns are all over the coffee table, and the boys are drinking some fine-ass whiskey. Fuckers. As if shit didn't almost go down tonight.

"Quite an afterparty you're having here."

"Yep. We started without you," Matteo says as he gives us the once-over.

Tasha already has Gigi by the hand and leads her upstairs. Carla stands by the second-floor railing, wide-eyed. We've all agreed that the less the women know, the better.

"Fuck," I mutter as I indicate we should move to Matteo's office. As we make our way, I squeeze Luca's shoulder. "Thanks for that. I owe you."

"All good. Any time."

Yeah. That's been us for ages. All good. Any time. Luca isn't half as fucked-up as I am. He never woke up at night when noises came from our parents' bedroom and investigated, but for years, he's looked out for me.

Once the office door closes behind us, I strip off my jacket and tie, then ditch the holster and my gun. Matteo hands me a whiskey, and I turn to my brothers.

"Who the fuck was in on it?"

"We have four guys locked up, Steph," Dominic says. "We ran the plates from your dash and rear cams. Vincenzo bought friends in the new Ukrainian faction that's trying to set up shop here. Bratva wannabees."

"Nice. Bet they didn't know who they're fucking with." I take a deep sip of whiskey. We all smirk, but it was a close call.

"They'll be eliminated," Matteo says.

"Vincenzo?" I ask.

"He's got zero balls on him," Matteo says.

Whether he means that figuratively or literally, I'm not sure. "Well, that was fast."

"Caved within minutes," Dominic says. "They don't make them like they used to anymore."

"Fucker's not going to live," Matteo says with a shrug. "But now, he knows where he stands."

"And?"

"Franco wants Gigi at all costs," he says. "He'll come for her himself if he can't count on Vincenzo."

"Good." My palms twitch. My hands fist. I smell his blood on me already. The flip Gigi talks about is rearing its ugly head. "What about Don Trapani?"

"Apparently, he's fine. Forced to sit it out in Lake Como. He's respected, and it's the only reason why he isn't dead yet."

There's a man who won't see his piece-of-shit son again. "What happened tonight can't happen again."

I hate to say it, but we were cocky and caught off guard.

"It won't," Benedict says. "Vincenzo's talking. We can manipulate everything else. He'll report that he saw Gigi and then we'll see what Franco's next moves are."

"This can't go wrong." I stand and slam my whiskey glass on the desk. "Fuck!"

The others still and stare at me as I take a desperate turn around the room.

"Cool down, Steph," Luca warns. "You can go there on Vincenzo, not here."

I strangle my hair between my fingers, taking a few deep breaths. This is what Vincenzo unleashed in me. Touching my wife. Threatening her.

"In any case, what the fuck, bro?" Luca asks. "We've already gone above and beyond for these women?—"

"My wife ," I say, my voice dangerously soft, "isn't just any woman."

Another beat of heavy silence as they all stare at me, then at each other. Matteo's gaze rests heaviest on me. He's been here, and I recall the exact moment I realized he'd fallen in love with Tasha. Now he's seeing straight through me. I sink back on the sofa and drop my head to my hands, the urge to beat something to a pulp making my hands tremble.

"Oh, boy," Matteo says. "Welcome to the husbands-only club, Fanny. Are you staying?"

"Fuck off, Matty."

This isn't what I signed up for. Divorce is Gigi's ticket out of here, and I've agreed to it—it's a term of this arrangement—but I've changed my mind. I'm not letting her go.

A knock on the door cracks the tension in the room. I look up, and when Gigi peeks around the door, I swallow hard. The idea of losing her has taken hold of me now, twisting my stomach into a knot. As I take her in, every wave of uncontrollable fury seems to retreat, leaving me holding my breath.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," she says as she steps inside, hesitant. "I want— I— Just a word…with Steph."

"Here, angel," I say, and watch as she pads over to me.

With every step she comes closer, the anger in me dies. This woman is my anchor. I reel with the sudden knowledge that I will never flip on her. Unlike for Don Scalera, my wife isn't a trigger. She's my sanity.

She's stripped off her gown and is wearing a white towel robe she must have borrowed from Tasha. My brothers' eyes are on her too, but I can feel how their gazes drop away one by one as Gigi stops in front of me.

"I—"

I reach for her hand, needing to touch her. "What?"

It's as if we both think the same thing at the same time. I pull her closer, and she sits down and curls up on my lap. I inhale her scent, and it's calming me like nothing else.

"You know I can't sleep without you," she whispers in my ear as I wrap my arms around her.

"Leave us," I say to the others without breaking eye contact with her. "I need to take care of my wife."

Gigi burrows her face into my neck, shy, and for once, all the Scalera boys file out of the room, without a word. They shoot me glances, though, and Luca holds my gaze. A mere minute ago, I was about to rip into someone if the right man presented himself. Why would they even trust me alone with her? Luca's eyes say it all. I see how much you care for her. And we've always known you wouldn't hurt a woman. See? It isn't in your blood.

The door clicks closed, and we're alone. I turn my cheek to rest against hers, holding on for a minute as I try to steady my head and heart.

"Steph? Are you okay?" she whispers eventually.

For the first time in my life, I might actually be okay.

"Yes, angel. How're you feeling?" I ask as I press my lips to her temple.

"Rattled." Her hand slides up my chest to play with my shirt's collar.

"It's going to be okay."

I tug the bow keeping the robe closed. As it starts to unknot, I groan. It's way past midnight, and after everything that's happened, this should be the last thing on my mind. I'm already hard for her, and we both need this now. Something to get our minds off everything that happened; something to remind her she's mine. Something to show her I can't let go.

Gigi unbuttons my shirt, but as soon as her robe is untied, I guide her hand to rest on her hip.

"I want to unwrap you like the gift you are, angel."

The universe has given me this woman to love and to protect, at a time I needed it the most. I slip my hand underneath the robe and ease it off her shoulder, slowly revealing her breast. Her nipple pebbles, and she shakes the sleeve off, leaving her one side bare.

I skim my hand over her skin, from her shoulder to her hip, then all the way to her ankle.

"You're so soft…so beautiful," I murmur as I trail my fingers up to her hip again.

She shivers with a sigh and cups my cheek. "I'm all yours. Only yours, Steph."

Her lips are on my jaw, pressing kisses ever higher until our mouths connect and I swipe hers open with a languid brush of my tongue.

We kiss for a long time, this being a novelty in this game we've been playing. I inch my hand between her legs, and she moans as she weaves her fingers into my hair.

"Open up for me, Gigi. Let me feel how wet you are."

She complies, and as I touch her, she rocks into my hand. My cock pulses against her thigh, and there's too much fabric between us. I make her sit so her robe falls away. She's naked in my arms, and in the library's soft light, she looks like a real angel. When she peels my shirt off, I sit forward, and she shifts, pushing the robe to the floor. She straddles my lap, and I ease back. As she works my belt and zipper, I circle her sensitive nipples with my thumbs.

Her breathing becomes strained as she arches into my touch, and we both drag in ragged breaths when she slides her hand into my underwear and wraps her hand around my cock. I shift deeper into the seat and cup her ass as pre-cum drips from the tip. She teases her thumb over it, readying me for her tight little pussy.

"Steph," she murmurs.

"Take what you want, angel. Take what you need." Let her break her vows first, and then, I'll show her how it's done.

Gigi lifts, her hands on my shoulders, and I rub the tip up and down her slit before positioning it at her entrance. As she lowers down on me, she gasps, and I grunt. Fuck. I knew she was going to be perfect, so fucking perfect and tight. I grip her ass and lift her up an inch, then ease her down again, each time going deeper until I'm completely sheathed and her inner walls grip me tight.

For a moment, we stare at each other, her gaze hazed in arousal, my heart in my throat.

"Just for the record, this isn't sex," she whispers.

"No, angel, this isn't sex." I want to plunder her body, claim her as mine, but she's rolling her hips in a slow, seductive rhythm, in no rush to find release. This is it. I can stay like this forever. " This , angel, is making love."