Chapter 19

Giovanni and Luca have become the family I’ve always wanted. Giovanni was the father I never had. Luca, he was the uncle always there to comfort me. A month after I started working at Giovanni’s club, I started to really live. I’m no longer the frail, broken girl. Now, I’m stronger. Colder.
The Ice Queen.
So many nights before I had Kade, I spent them locked inside my room. I know that the entire estate heard my heartbreaking tears. All I thought about was, he left me. Kade, the man I loved, left me when I needed him the most.

*“Darling, you have the most beautiful eyes. Have I ever told you that?” The man told me, grinning as he scanned my body.
Yeah right.
My eyes are up here, asshole.
“Thank you.” I held the urge to scratch his eyeballs out.
“Your legs are inviting too, doll face.” The man reached over and placed his hand on my thigh. “What time do they open?”
“Fuck you…”
“Listen here, little girl, I come here and pay good money to do as I please. Now, be a…”
“Is there a fucking problem here?” Luca stood at the edge of the table, slamming his fists down.
“Of course not, this little whore was just about to take me back to the VIP room and show me why they call her Honey.”
“Let go.” I whispered. “If you know what’s good for you, you will walk away.”
“You little bitch! I’ll…”
Luca reached over and grabbed him by the hair and slammed the side of his face onto the table. He leaned down and hissed in his ear. “You will never step foot in here again. I’ll make sure you never step foot in another club again. You have no idea how badly you just fucked up.”
“She’s j-just a whore.” He choked out.
“She’s not a fucking whore. This woman is royalty. You may as well just touched Giovanni’s daughter. Now apologize to her and I’ll refrain myself from killing you right her and now.”
“I-I’m sorry!” He breathed out, his eyes twisted in fear.
“It’s okay, he didn’t know.” I murmured.
“Lucien, Alec!” Luca snapped. “Escort Mr. Van Giordo out and take his card. He’s no longer welcome here.”
I watched in horror as Lucien and Alec grabbed each one of his arms and drug him out. Luca took a seat across from me and softened his gaze. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”
“You didn’t have to do that, I can handle myself.”
He sighed. “I know, but you are family and no one fucks with that.”
“Thank you, I don’t know what I’d do without you… without Giovanni. I’ve never thanked you for taking me in that day. If you hadn’t, I’d probably be dead.”
“Come on, let me take you home.”
I glanced across the club and then smiled, shaking my head. “I think I’m gonna hang around for a while. It’s been a long week.”
“Ok, but make sure you let Lucien and Alec escort you back home. Giovanni would kill me if anything happened to you. Hell, I’d fucking put a bullet in my own head if anything happened to you. Be safe, darling.”
“Thanks, Uncle Luca.”*
I smiled at the memory as I took a drink of my whiskey. Well, not my whiskey, but still, it’s in my glass so it makes it mine. Kade wrapped his arm around my shoulders and whispered seductively in my ear. “You look so sexy, babe.”
I eyed him. “Yeah?”
“Yeah, let’s get out of here and let me show you just how sexy you are.”
“But…”
“Just go with it, babe. Let me make up for everything.”
God, it feels like we’re back in high school. Back when everything wasn’t complicated. Before I had my son. Before I knew the mafia did exist. Right now, it’s just me and him. Two love sick fools who didn’t know corruption and betrayal existed.
Kade gathered my hair in his fist and smashed his lips against my mouth in a hungry kiss. I matched his thirst and clenched his shirt in my fist. Our tongues clashed as he backed me into the wall. I ached for more. Needing. Wanting. Craving the badboy I fell in love with when I was just a girl. All the years of hating him for leaving me was long forgotten. I needed him in my life. I needed him to be the man Kaden needed him to be. A father. He may be a bad man with ties to Giovanni Lucchese, mafia boss, but he’s still the same man deep within. And if I guess correctly, if he doesn’t step up and be a father to our son, Giovanni and Luca might make him regret it.
“Stop thinking like that, I’m never leaving you again. I swear on my life if I ever leave you again, I’ll hand you the knife and let you cut out my heart.”
“You better not leave me. Not ever, because I won’t just kill you, I’ll make sure you suffer long and hard before I end your life.”
“You don’t have to ever worry about that. You are mine. You and our son are mine. You, Selina, the one woman that brings me to my knees is stuck with me till I stop breathing. I know it’s late for this, but I loved you back then and I still love you now. You and our son. What I’m really trying to say is I want us to be a family. Officially.”
“You mean…”
“Marry me, Selina. Let me be the man I was always supposed to be.”
“Yes, Kade.” I whispered. “I’ll marry you, but only on one condition.”
“Anything.”
“That you love me like you’ve never loved anyone before.”
“Babe, there’s never been anyone else. Only you. There’s only been one girl who stole my heart.”
“Fuck me, right now!” I growled.
“With pleasure, babe.” He matched my frustrated tone.
The next few weeks, it’s as if Kade and I were never split apart. I quit working at Giovanni’s club and did nothing but take care of little Kaden. Kade still works but as one of Giovanni’s bodyguards. I don’t regret running away from my family. If it weren’t for me doing that, I wouldn’t have met Giovanni or Luca. Kade steps into the room, loosening his tie and shrugging out of his suit jacket. He shoots me a smile and makes his way towards me. I throw my arms around his neck and plant a kiss to his lips.
“Long day?” I asked.
“You have no idea, babe.” He replied.
“So, I was thinking…”
Kade throws me a smirk. “Oh no, not that. Was your ears smoking?”
I shoot him a glare playfully. “Fucking ass.”
“Ok, so what were you thinking?”
“That we haven’t told anyone we’re engaged. I think it’s time we told everyone.”
“Ok, so it’s a party?”
“Yes, I think we need to properly make the announcement.”
Kade covers my lips and it does nothing but make me fall more in love with him. He pulls away and whispers. “I have a surprise of my own, babe. I may have your father in Giovanni’s basement. I know you might not know this, but babe, he’s not your real father.”
I already knew that.
Even though I called him Dad, doesn’t mean he was blood.
“But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” I whispered.
My mother was my biological mother, but I knew her husband wasn’t my Dad. I could care less what happened to him. Giovanni could slit his throat for all I cared. The only thing I cared about was that I had the love of my life in my arms again. That’s all that mattered. That I had my son’s father in my life again.
“I love you, babe. I’m never leaving you behind again. I was a fucking idiot for doing it the first time. Never again, babe. I’m never letting you leave my sight again. You don’t know how many times I’ve regretted leaving you behind. I should’ve taken you with me. Should’ve made you my wife years ago.”