Page 116 of Angelo

He nodded, grinning. "Indeed, wife."

Elyse had assumed as much when Alessandro returned home, unannounced, and appeared so suddenly in her arms tonight. Her husband wouldn't have left London if the merger was still in limbo, after all, but to hear his triumph confirmed aloud left her feeling both stunned and elated from the inside out.

Happiness wet her eyes. "Alessio, that's amazing news!"

"Yes, it is amazing," he agreed quietly, "our happy ending has been a long time coming, but your husband can, at last, give you and our children the boring, normal life you always dreamed of."

Elyse rolled her hips against him wantonly. She cooed, "Life with you could never be boring."

His cock instantly jerked in response. "Are you sure, wife?"

"I don't know," Elyse sighed, rubbing herself against him as she readied herself for round two, "remind me again why I married a boring bastard like you?"

Alessandro chuckled darkly as he reached down to give her clit a light slap and hard pinch, "I do not think you need a reminder,cuore mio. I think you need to be punished."

She begged in Spanish,"Castigame entonces." Punish me, then.

He growled back, low and hoarse, in Italian,"Con piacere." With pleasure.

They made love, again and again, wickedly, madly, until exhaustion finally defeated their insatiable need for one another. Husband and wife slept soundly in each other's arms. The dark of the night enshrouded them still, but they weren't afraid of such darkness. The merger was set. Their future was set as well. At last, their world felt safe and right and true.

As the sun rose the next morning, Elyse and Alessandro were awakened by the stomping of small feet and the loud, joyous giggles of Nicco flying full force into hispapà'sarms.

Laughingly, Alessandro drew Nicco to his lap and enveloped their son in agreat big bear hug, "How I have missed mypaperotto!Did you behave whilePapàwas away?"

Nicco puffed out his chest with pride. "Sì, I pwotectMammawhenPapànot home!"

Alessandro laughed again and praised him, "What a bravepaperotto!"

Elyse felt as though her heart might burst with love for her husband and her son. This very moment meant everything to her. Their little family of three,soon to befour, was whole again. Elyse exhaled a soft sigh as she reflected on the trying journey that had brought them to this very moment.

That first, fateful bullet she'd plucked from his stomach in Queens.

The very same bullet he'd fused into their rings.

Their years-long struggle to escape hell.

The new paradise they'd created together.

Their small but growing family.

None of these milestones, save for the last one, fell within the confines of the boring, normal life that Elyse once dreamed of living. Yet, somehow, as Elyse gazed upon her husband and her son with her heart in her eyes, she knew in her bones,this, all of this was everything she ever wanted, and she'd gladly endure every single one of the dangerous, heartbreaking, soul-crushing burdens, over and over and over again, in exchange for this very moment.

Her life might never be perfectly boring and normal with a husband like Alessandro Vitale, but she now considered this fate to be a blessing of the highest order. They'd fought their way through hell to earn this little bit of paradise, and Elyse felt more than ready to live out the rest of her days at this beautiful bastard's side until their love burned brighter than the shine they'd awakened in each other's souls.