Breathless & Bloodstained (The Chicago War #4) (41 page)

“Are you going to
miss the house at all, boss?” Adriano asked.

Tommas leaned back
in the seat, considering the young Capo’s words. “No.”

“Why not?”

“It was never
really home.”

Damian caught
Tommas’ gaze in the mirror, a knowing glint burning behind the man’s eyes. No,
the house had never felt like home, but Tommas did have one that was. His
apartment across town where he had spent years hiding his relationship with
Abriella had become his safe haven, the protector of his secret love and
truths.

No matter what,
Tommas would keep the apartment. He could live in the Trentini mansion with
Abriella for their entire lives, until the day he was dead and gone, but that
apartment would still be there for the weekends his girl wanted to get away, or
for the dinner dates that ended early and home just … wasn’t close enough.

“Darryl left the
door unlocked, right?” Tommas asked when the detective knocked again.

“Yep,” Damian
said.

“I told the fools
to just come on in if I didn’t answer. I said I might be down in basement or
something.”

Theo laughed. “Do
you think they told anyone that they were going to meet up with you?”

“Nope,” Tommas
replied, sure of that fact. “I made it clear I wanted to talk, but I wasn’t
going to do it on the record or in an official capacity right away. They’re
desperate, and they’ve done desperate things already, so they bit at the chance
to get me to turn rat.”

“Good riddance,”
Damian said in the front seat.

Yes, good fucking
riddance, indeed.

Tommas might have
let the detectives live had they not caused him as many issues as they had. He
might have turned his cheek to their badgering and trailing him, but he
couldn’t. Because if he was watched, then his Outfit was also being watched.

He had a duty as
these men’s boss.

Protecting his
Outfit was the most important thing.

“Here we go,”
Tommas said as one of the detectives pushed open the front door of the home.

The men in the
small hatchback car, watching the scene unfold a few houses down, felt the
blast rock their tiny vehicle to and fro with pressure. The ball of flames that
rushed out of the front of the house was spectacular in nature, and any chance
of survival was unlikely.

“That’s that,”
Damian noted.

“Easy cleanup,”
Theo said.

 “You should
probably get out of town for a week or two,” Adriano added.

Tommas watched,
silent and uncaring, as his house quickly began to burn and the flames ate away
at a part of his past. “I think I’m good right where I am. D?”

“Yes, boss?”
Damian asked.

Pulling the velvet
box from the inside of his suit jacket, Tommas popped open the top and looked
over the ring resting inside. The princess cut diamond was nestled in a crown
of smaller diamonds and set on top of a white gold band would fit Abriella’s
hand perfectly. He’d known it when he walked past a storefront window two years
ago, and the glittering piece caught his eye. The three carat diamond was big and
appropriate enough to be worn on the hand of a boss’s wife, but small enough
that his girl would still like the style.

Tommas didn’t
wonder if Abriella would say yes.

He knew she would.

After all their
wasted years hiding and sneaking around, Tommas refused to wait one more
goddamn minute for what had always been his.

“Take me to dinner,”
Tommas said, still looking at the ring. “It’s time for a surprise.”

Two months later …

Nervousness
slipped through Tommas’ veins, making him restless and agitated at the same
time. The quiet cry of a newborn drew his attention to Damian as the man
strolled down the aisle with his baby boy swaddled in white. Lily followed at
her husband’s side, talking sweetly to the fussy infant.

“He’s not happy at
all,” Damian grumbled.

“He’s only been
outside of his mother for a few days,” Tommas said. “Give the kid some credit.
He’s still trying to figure this life thing out.”

Lily smiled
brilliantly. “See, that’s what I told him.”

Damian glanced
down at his son with tender eyes and a small smile. “I worry, that’s all. I
want him to be happy all the time.”

“He’s a baby. All
he knows how to do is cry, eat, and shit, man.”

“He knows more
than that.”

Tommas sighed.
“Okay, Damian. Give him to your wife now. We have important business here.”

Lily took the baby
from her husband’s outstretched arms. “Ten minutes, Tommas. You look good.
Smile a little more.”

Tommas did as his soon-to-be
wife’s bridesmaid demanded. Once Lily was gone back down the aisle to hide
behind the closed oak doors where Abriella was waiting in her wedding gown and
with her party, his nervousness returned.

Fidgeting on the
spot, Tommas took note of the priest coming out.

“What is wrong
with you?” Damian asked.

Tommas shrugged.
“Big day.”

“Where’s Adriano?”

“Feeding Corrine
because Alessa was helping Abriella,” Tommas explained.

Adriano and
Alessa’s baby girl finally made her way into the world eleven days past her due
date. It had been a two day labor that Tommas and Abriella waited out in the
family waiting room in the Labor and Delivery ward. The baby girl was healthy,
happy, and big. She took after her mother in appearance, but she had her
father’s happy, sweet-natured attitude. Tommas adored his little niece.

Well, and his new
nephew, too. Damian’s son wasn’t actually his nephew, but a cousin, but Tommas
didn’t see the boy that way.

“Are you ready,
Tommas?” the priest asked, coming to stand behind him.

Tommas nodded.

More than ready.

“I’ve been ready
for years,” Tommas confessed.

“Never would have
guessed it,” the priest joked. “And, Damian, your baby boy is having his
baptism today, yes?”

“He is,” Damian
said.

“A wedding and a
baptism.” The priest smiled widely. “Seems fitting for a Sunday morning.”

Soon after, Theo
joined Damian and Tommas on the altar. Adriano made his way not long before the
ceremony was to begin. Thankfully, the priest had allowed them to change up a
few things, despite the church being so strict on the tradition of marriage.

Mostly, Tommas was
just happy to have his best men surrounding him on the most important day of
his life. Damian, his underboss, best friend, and cousin. Theo, his new front
boss and friend. And Adriano, a damn good Capo, a new father, and a part of
Tommas’ family.

It was a whole new
generation of men for the Outfit.

Better
men.

Honorable men.

When their backs
were turned to the priest, and they waited for the doors at the back to open,
Damian whispered, “Are you ready for the Wednesday meeting in New York with the
Commission?”

Tommas didn’t
answer his cousin as the back doors of the church opened, revealing a line of
women in pastel pinks, waiting to walk down the aisle. At the very back, he
could see Abriella, her sheer veil, and the off-white color of her lace wedding
dress.

When something as
beautiful as Abriella walked in, she was the most important thing in the room.
Nothing else mattered to Tommas.

He pushed aside
his restlessness, his worries, and the nervousness that had been eating at him
all day. He forgot about his upcoming meeting with the Commission, the one that
would essentially decide if the Chicago Outfit still had a seat at the table
with the rest of the crime syndicates.

None of that
mattered.

Alessa walked down
first with Corrine in hand, followed by Evelina, and then Lily holding her son,
Joseph. Other than the babies, no children had been included in the wedding
party.

Well … not in the
way that anyone knew.

Tommas realized he
was smiling like a damned fool when Abriella stepped up to the doors. The lace
dress she wore hugged her curves and fell with a regal grace to sweep the
floor. The veil covering her face also trailed down her back to the floor, and
had a train that was at least a few feet long behind her.

So beautiful.

His heart ached,
but it was goddamn
good
.

“Go,” the priest
said from behind him.

Tommas laughed,
remembering his job in that moment. He took the altar steps two at a time,
ignoring the chuckles echoing throughout the church from the parishioners and
the wedding guests. He practically jogged down the aisle to meet his soon-to-be
wife at the end.

Abriella didn’t
have to walk alone.

Tommas promised
her that.

There was no one
to give her away, but she’d already handed herself over to him a long,
long
time ago.

At the end of the
aisle, Abriella’s smile bloomed when Tommas came to a stop in front of his
lover. He held his hand out, palm up. Hers slid into his without question as
the red camber of her lips deepened.

She’d woken him up
with a similar smile that morning, kissing down his chest to the hardness of
his cock hiding beneath their soft sheets that smelled like them. She’d
whispered promises against his skin, wishes in his ear, and rode him into
oblivion with morning sunlight streaking across their bed.

Nothing could be
better than that.

Right?

Wrong
.

The best thing was
hearing his lover tell him that two little pink lines had shown up on a
pregnancy test that morning. No one else knew. They would keep it to themselves
for a little while.

Best wedding gift
ever
.

“Tommas?” Abriella
asked.

He still hadn’t
moved, or turned to start them back down the aisle. Tommas was far too caught
up in taking the beauty of Abriella in, and the life they were finally
beginning to have together.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“I’m ready,” she
whispered.

Tommas glanced up
at the large cross hanging above the opened doors.

God knew
…

God knew Tommas
had been ready for this day forever.

Without a word,
Tommas interweaved their fingers, moved to Abriella’s side, and faced the
waiting church. No, his girl didn’t have to walk alone.

He had her.

He would always
have her.

Dante Marcello
stepped forward, breaking from the line of the three men who were standing side
by side. “Tommas, we weren’t sure if the Outfit would be joining the meeting
this year.”

“Neither were we,”
Tommas said, a hint of a joke in his tone.

Dante passed a
quiet Damian a look behind Tommas. “I’m happy to see the fighting come to an
end, and of course, see who came out on top.”