Page 82 of Stay Little Fighter

“Do you want to be the leader of the Lombardi family?”

“No,” he answers immediately.

King sighs. “Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear, Damon. I want the truth. None of us are going to judge you if you want to take over the family. It’s what you worked your entire life for, it’s the reason you gave up on Chloe despite how desperately you wanted her. But we need to know what the plan is once Salvatore is dead. I need to know if we need to move Hawk’s home base to Miami so we can all be together.”

He opens his mouth to reply before snapping it shut again. “You would do that?”

“I would do anything to make Chloe happy, and I know her well enough to know that she will not be happy if we’re not together. Giving our girl the life she deserves is my number one priority, and that won’t always be the easiest option. But we’ll pivot and we’ll make it work.”

Damon looks to his brother. “What are you going to do when this is over?”

He shrugs. “I’m not sure. This is the first time in my life that my future hasn’t been chosen for me, and I figured I would take some time to decide what I want to do. Maybe I’ll choose to be a stay-at-home husband and spend my days making sure our girl has everything she could possibly want and need.”

“That was my plan,” Ryker says.

“You want to retire?” King asks incredulously.

“Maybe not completely, but I don’t want to be away for long periods of time anymore. Everyone in this room knows how short life can be. I don’t want to spend it away from the woman I love.”

Tears fill my eyes with each word out of their mouths. They’re each making choices for their futures based on me. What will make me comfortable. What will make me happy. What gives them the most time with me. And I can hardly breathe through the love bursting in my chest.

I gave up believing that everything happens for a reason a long time ago. When you’ve lived through watching your parents be murdered in front of you before running for your life with nothing and no one, it becomes difficult to imagine how there could be a reason for the shitty things that happen.

But now I get it.

I had to wait a long time. So fucking long that I gave up hope, but I can’t say I wouldn’t do it all again to end up here with my guys.

Every second of pain, every broken heart and tear I’ve cried, brought me to this moment, and I’ll never take a second of this life for granted.

Ronan reaches forward and brushes a tear from my cheek. “Happy tears?”

“The happiest.”

I glance over at Damon and find him watching me.

“What do you think, Duchess?”

“Me?” I frown.

“Yeah, you. If you were me, what would you do about the Lombardi empire?”

I nibble at my bottom lip, unsure how honest I should be. I don’t want to lie to him, but my answer is biased by the horrors I’ve lived through on that property.

Sucking in a deep breath, I give his hand another squeeze. “If it were me, I would burn the whole thing to the fucking ground.”

Ryker chokes on a laugh while Kingston’s body vibrates with amusement beneath me.

“Fuck, Mama. I think I like it when you’re a little ruthless.”

But I can’t drag my attention off Damon. The conflict that was there moments ago disappears, and peace takes its place.

“You heard the lady, let’s burn it all to the ground. I don’t want a legacy that’s brought my family nothing but pain.”

This time when tears spring to my eyes, I don’t try to stop them from falling, because he’s talking about us, and I really fucking love the idea of being part of this family.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

CHLOE