If I tell her the plan, she’ll ruin it—not knowingly, but she will.
I tell her what I can, leaving out major details. “The man who killed Raul, Maxim Nikulin, my sources have located him. I’m going to deliver him to your father.”
“Julius,” Alejandra frowns, “that’s not enough. My father will do whatever it takes to secure his alliance with Vito.” Her hand squeezes mine. “And Vito wants me.” I lift my face, and she runs her fingers down my cheek. “You can’t stop what’s coming. I’ve committed the insult of insults. Vito will have justice for his son.”
Sitting up tall, I reach out to grip her hips in my hands and pull her toward me. She knows what I want and rolls her eyes at me as she climbs onto my lap, facing me, her thighs draped over the sides of mine. Her arms come around my neck, and she leans in to press her chest to mine, virtually nose to nose. “I’m beginning to think this lap thing is a thing of yours.”
“Whenever you’re near me, I want you as close as possible, and this is getting you as close as possible without being inside of you. So yeah.” I kiss her full bottom lip, gently nipping it, my arms tightening around her back. “You can call it a thing of mine. Get used to it. You’re going to spend a lot of time right here.”
Her lips pucker to accept my closed-mouth kisses as I continue to assault her lips in gentle slowness. Against my lips, she whispers, “I’m scared, Julius.” When I pull back to look into her eyes, she confesses, “I don’t want to die. Not the way Gio will deliver. He’ll take his time. Make it slow.”
“You said Vito will want justice for his son. What about your father’s justice for you? I’m thinking your pops isn’t going to take too kindly to knowing the things Vito’s boy was doing to his girl.”
But she’s already shaking her head. “No. Even if I had proof of what was going on, my father has always taught me that we have to make sacrifices for the greater good. If he knew, he would just tell himself that being married to Dino was my sacrifice to make in this life. Besides, I don’t have any evidence to back up my claim.”
My anger spikes at her cool detachment. “Your entire fucking body is evidence, Ana.”
Her expression is still. “You don’t know my dad. He’ll care, but he’s a businessman. He won’t care enough.”
My father-in-law sounds like a stand-up guy. If someone ever dares to put their hands on my child, God help them. After I’m done with them, they’ll be begging for death, and because I’m a merciful guy, I’ll give them what they wish.
“Fuck your father. We’ll work something out.” I hold her tighter, moving to rest my cheek against her chest, eyes closed in pleasure. She works her fingers through the hair at my nape, resting her cheek on top of my head and, caught up in drowsy bliss, I barely hear her when she starts, “So, husband of mine.” I pull up and catch her awkward, wide-eyed expression. “Exactly how old are you?”
I blink at her a moment before I tilt my head back and let out a rumbling laugh. When she leans down to kiss my lips, I chuckle into her smiling mouth.
Unexpectedly, marriage doesn’t seem so bad.
Not when it’s to this pretty little sparrow.
My sister answers the door, and when she spots my hand clutched in Alejandra’s tiny one, her mouth parts while suspicion enters her eyes. “Uh,” Tonya starts, leaning her hip onto the wooden doorframe and admitting with a tilt of her head, “I did not see this coming.”
I grin. “You gonna let us in or what?”
She straightens with a jolt. “Yes, of course.” Smiling at Alejandra, she moves to the side waving us in. As she leads the way down the hall, she picks up shoes, a school bag, and random items of clothing, before stating, “Please excuse my daughter’s belongings. Teenage girls are messy, but they don’t mean to be.” Her nose bunches in sincere affection. “They’re just too busy to remember where things are meant to go. I swear if that girl didn’t have her head screwed on…” She chuckles to herself. “Well, you get what I mean.”
Alejandra smiles at my sister and admits, “I do. When I was living at home, my sisters, Veronica, Carmen, and Patricia, were all teenagers, and I was constantly picking up after them. My youngest sister, Rosa, is thirteen now”—her eyes widen comically—“and the attitude on that one is something to be reckoned with.”
Tonya laughs softly. “Oh my, yes. Thirteen is an awful age. All those hormones cut loose, and one second they’re yelling, the next they’re crying, and whether they’ll admit it or not, sometimes they just need a hug and to be told everything will be all right.”
The sheer admiration in Alejandra’s eyes is something known to me. I feel it every time I watch my sister be a mother to her daughter.
“Speaking of teenagers,” I begin. “Where’s my girl?”
Tonya rolls her eyes. “In the cave she calls a room. I’ll go get her. She’ll be so happy to see her Uncle Jay and meet his…” Unsure what to call her, she looks to Alejandra and flushes slightly. “I’ll just go get Keera.”
We sit down at the dining table in the kitchen, and I look down at my wife. “You okay?”
I’m not prepared for her smiling response. She places her small hand on my knee and squeezes. “I’m with you, aren’t I?”
Fuck.
How is it this little woman’s high opinion of me makes me feel like a better person? And what sort of idiot am I to have given her that power?
Without blinking, I mutter a rough, “Yeah, baby.”
I may as well have just told her I’m hers.
Her smile widens beautifully, her full lips stretched happily. “Then, yes, I’m okay.”
Goddamn.
Fuck it.
I am hers. She just made it so.
When I hear the running footsteps coming down the hall, I move to stand, placing my hand on Alejandra’s shoulder in reassurance. The young woman’s beaming face appears around the open doorway, and a light shriek escapes her. Faster than a speeding bullet, Keera is in my arms, and I hold her as tightly as she grips me, rocking her side to side.
She grabs my shirtfront and shakes me, her expression one of mock anger. “You never visit anymore.”
“Work, baby girl,” I explain.
She shakes me some more, her big brown eyes wide, her long wavy hair swaying as she does. “You care more about work than you do your family, Uncle Jay?”
Tonya lets out a throaty chuckle from behind us, and she peers around Keera to look over at Alejandra. “Never underestimate the guilt a sixteen-year-old can place on her uncle.”
Alejandra smiles openly at the young woman. I gently extract Keera’s fingers from my shirt and pull her into my side, hugging her to me. “You know I love you, but a man’s got to make money.”
Keera pouts. “You have plenty of money already. You don’t need any more damn money.”
“Language,” I warn her with a raised brow. I melt when she flushes.
I can’t deny it. She’s a good girl.
“Keke, I want you to meet someone,” I tell her as I pull her closer to Alejandra, who moves to stand.
Keera eyes Alejandra carefully, then speculates out loud, “Mom told me you brought a woman here. Said she was pretty. I wondered if she was your girlfriend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend. This is Alejandra,” I explain, before adding cautiously, with a watchful glance at my sister, “my wife.”
Both women still, Keera stuck in a moment of stunned disbelief, whereas my sister reaches up to clutch at her heart, an expression of desolate confusion crossing her.
Tonya’s voice can’t hide her pain. “You got married…” Her brown eyes shine brightly. “…and you didn’t invite us?”
“Tonya, sweetheart,” I begin, not sure of what I can do or say to make the feeling of betrayal any better.
Keera steps back, blinking up at me, her eyes cold. “You didn’t want us there, Uncle Jay?” The words are spoken in deceptive calm.
“No, that’s not how it went,” I tell them both, my mild annoyance
unconcealed.
My sister shakes her head, her face pained, unsure what to say to me.
But Alejandra clears her throat and speaks, and when she does, she lies charmingly, “Actually, it was my idea to do a courthouse wedding.” She says easily, “You see, I’ve been married once before, and that marriage was…” She takes her time, looking for the right word. “Horrible. I did the big wedding the first time around and it was awful, stressful.” She comes forward, placing her hand in mine in a silent show of support then smiles ruefully up at me. “I didn’t want to put Julius through that. It didn’t seem like that would appeal to him, so I made a suggestion.” She looks over at Tonya, and then at Keera. “We’d do a courthouse marriage then come straight here and celebrate.” She smiles, then adds, “You’re the first people we’ve told. I knew Julius would want to share this with you, his family.”
Tonya’s sadness has lifted, but only slightly, while Keera crosses her arms over her chest and glares at Alejandra. “And what about your family, Alejandra?”
I utter through gritted teeth, “I’m her family,” at the very same time Alejandra states, “Julius is my family.”
We pause to look at each other at our perfectly timed declarations.
My sister, ever the romantic, sighs at this, smiling softly at the two of us. “Well, look at us, being selfish and all, when I should be offering the both of you my congratulations and welcoming my new sister to the family.” Tonya steps closer to Alejandra and holds out her hands. Alejandra takes them graciously, as Tonya clarifies kindly, “We’re not much of a family, and I’m sorry for that, but we’re all we’ve got.”
“Thank you so much. I’m glad to be part of it,” my little sparrow chirps.
I look from Tonya to Keera.
She’s confused and hurt.
“Keera,” Tonya mutters, frowning at her daughter. “You’re being rude.”
But ignoring her mother’s unspoken warning, Keera looks Alejandra up and down. “I don’t even know you.”
Unblinking, Alejandra offers a firm, “You’ll get to know me,” not backing down to the sixteen-year-old.
Alejandra’s polite show of power has Keera’s brows rising, almost impressed. She side-eyes me. “And she makes you happy?”
I raise my hand to scratch at my brow and fight a grin. “Unbelievable, I know.”
“Hey.” Alejandra elbows me in the ribs, and I wheeze out a long breath at the unexpected move as Tonya laughs and Keera’s lips twitch.
It’s then I know everything is going to be okay.
I didn’t even realize I was looking for the reassurance.
Not until I found it.
The drive home is uneventful, and I’m thankful for it. After spending time with Tonya and Keera, I made every effort for the young woman to warm up to me. All I got in return was that stoic stare. She did, however, give me an inch at the end of the night when she stood to hug Julius good-bye. I didn’t expect much, so when she looked me up and down and pursed her lips, before reluctantly muttering, “Welcome, fam,” I let out a stunned little laugh.
And now, as we drive on in silence, I have to get something off my chest, something I’m not sure how to broach.
I turn to face the man I will protect with my life, and proceed with caution. “She’s your sister, isn’t she?”
Julius glances at me momentarily, his brows low in confusion, before turning his eyes back to the road. “Uh, yeah. I told you that already.” He frowns, misunderstanding me. “You feeling all right?”
I shake my head. “Not Tonya,” I mutter gently. “I meant Keera.”
When his face shutters and his hands tighten around the steering wheel, I add softly, “Ling told me you killed your father, because he was raping your sister. I’m beginning to think that Tonya fell pregnant as a result.” But he ignores me, feigning concentration on the road. I blink at his curious reaction. “It’s okay, Julius. It’s nobody’s business, and I’m not going to tell anyone. I just wanted to let you know that I know, is all.” When he disregards me, it hurts, but I understand this fact must be painful for him, so I mend the rift by reaching over and squeezing his thigh, saying, “Hey. I’m sorry for bringing it up. If you want to talk about it, about anything, I’m right here.”
Five minutes pass, and as they do, soundless mayhem wreaks chaos in my mind.
What have I done?
When, finally, he speaks. But he does this without feeling. “She knows,” he utters roughly. “Told her when she was fourteen.” He huffs out a breath, and it’s almost as if all his energy is spent with it. He looks so tired, so lost. “She cried, called herself a freak, told us she felt dirty. It was a miracle she came out perfect as she was.” His expression turns lax as he thinks out loud, “I remember the epiphany she had. She was fourteen, and not only had she found out she was, for all intents and purposes, an abomination, but she also found out that her mom was raped by her own daddy.”
My eyes close at the heavyhearted words that spill from him. I calmly wonder how long he’s kept this all to himself.
“Oh, baby.” The whispered endearment is wrenched from my tight throat, thick with emotion.
“Deserves the world, that girl,” he allows. “They both do.”
“I’m sure they do,” I concede courteously, and a particularly heavy pain slices through me knowing I will always come third in this man’s life. But I accept the fact and move forward.
“I swore I’d give it to them, no matter the cost.”
Ah.
It begins to make sense. I have found what drives him to do what he does and I’m not at all surprised. Not even a little bit.
Admiration sweeps through me, but as quickly as it comes, it goes, and in its place festers the pain of uncertainty. I, too, had a champion at home.
My heart squeezes sorely.
What has become of my brother and sisters?
“Julius,” I approach warily. His eyes briefly glance mine and my heart aches, as I all but beg, “I really would like to speak to my brother.” He turns back to the road, and I quickly rush out, “Just one last time and I-I promise to never ask again.” Slumping in my chair, my eyes close and I reach up to cover my face with my hands. I speak through them, but it’s muffled. “Before you tell me they’re not my family anymore, I need you to know that you risk upsetting me, and when I get upset—” I remove my hands from my face and pose my futile, under-delivered threat. “—I am less than cooperative.”
Unfortunately, it’s the only threat I have to use right now.
Luckily for me, Julius’s lip twitches, and I catch the sight of his shoulders moving in silent laughter, and my uptight posture eases. After a moment of composure, he humors me and does it in perfect seriousness. “Can’t have an uncooperative wife now, can I?”
I nod and return in complete sobriety, “I’m sure you’ve heard the saying.” I turn to catch his curious look and realize he has no idea about the saying. I take pity on him and fill him in. “Happy wife, happy life.”
His shoulders bounce some more as mirth takes hold, and I smile to myself at the light teasing.
Julius reaches over and takes my hand, entwining our fingers then pulling them to his mouth, where he presses soft kisses to my knuckles. And my stomach swirls with solid waves of tenderness.
I barely hear him when he mutters a hushed, “Damn fool of a man.” Another kiss. “Burnin’ in hell.” A soft peck. “Worth her weight.”
But, and here’s the important thing…
I do hear him.
The house greets us in silence, and as I walk past him, Julius catches me around the waist and pulls me to him, his front flush against my back. He leans down to place his stubbled cheek to mine, and I lean into it, regardless of how it scratches the delicate skin on my face.
For a strange yet exhilarating moment, I wonder if this is what normal feels like.
If it is, I never want to lose what little normal Julius provides.
“Nice night,” I reveal q
uietly, into the darkness of the hall.
“Yeah,” he drawls at my nape, and the heat of his breath has me breaking out in gooseflesh.
How on earth was a woman meant to keep her mind about her when in his presence?
At the moment, I don’t really care about my sanity. I spin in his hold and hook my fingers into the pockets of his jeans, standing on my tiptoes, wanting desperately for him to take my mouth in a deep, earth-shattering kiss. “Bedtime?”
His gorgeous eyes hood, and it’s so goddamn sexy that my core contracts. “Mmmm,” is his only response, the approving sound vibrating through his chest to mine.
I don’t hear her step out of the shadows.
Ling speaks softly, her voice unusually tentative. “You’re back.”
I want to yell at her for interrupting and plan on doing so, but when I turn around to deliver, her appearance has me backing off.
Dressed in a short kimono-style robe, her legs bare, with no makeup on, her hair wound up into a ball at the top of her head, she avoids my gaze when she announces, “We got a delivery this afternoon. It was an envelope. I forgot about it till about twenty minutes ago. I didn’t—” She swallows hard and bites the inside of her cheek. “I didn’t think it was important.”
Julius steps out from behind me and makes his way over to her; his cautionary stance tells me this is a rare display from Ling. “Ling Ling,” he says guardedly. “What is it?”
Holding the robe together tightly, she starts, “I only started watching it when you came in. I would’ve called, but—”
Watching it?
“It’s a video?” Julius enquires.
It’s so strange seeing her without her perfect red lips, her perfectly straight hair, her perfect composure. Part of me wants to cheer at the discovery that she is like any other woman, but it’s so alarming that, instead, it gives me chills.
She’s well and truly shaken up.
“A video from Gio,” she confirms. My body turns rigid. Then, finally, she looks up at me, eye to eye, but what she says next has me wishing she didn’t. “And it’s addressed to Alejandra.”