Page 26 of His Wicked Obsession
Lifting a hand, she traces my jaw with a finger, moving all over my face. Over the lines in my forehead, around my eyes, down my crooked nose, and across my lips until I suck the digit in my mouth.
“We’re safe?” she asks instead.
“Unequivocally.”
“I hate them.” Plump tears drop from her eyes as she sobs into my chest. Holding her close, I try to soothe her, but nothing will ever cure the heartache she and Bria must be feeling over their parents’ betrayal.
“Ah, cara mia, I hate it when you cry.” I drag the blankets over our bodies and wrap myself around her once again, surrounding her with my touch and scent. “Bella.” I pepper kisses along her forehead, down her cheeks, and over as much of her as I can reach until her breathing has evened out and she’s fallen asleep again.
For months—since Bria moved home with Maso—Bella has been suffering. Even before then. She blamed herself for the things Bria went through, and guilt has been her primary emotion for most of her life. How she still functions is beyond me because I know for damn sure I wouldn’t be able to. No man would.
But women, they’re built differently. Tougher. More resilient. We may have the muscle, but women are the backbone of every strong man in the universe, and I’m so fucking lucky I get to hold Bella up as my own.
I just need to convince her that she’s free to live the life she wants now, so long as it also includes me. Because there is no way in hell I can ever be separated from her again. Not now that I know what she tastes like, what she feels like. How she sounds when she comes apart for me. No, as soon as I can convince her, I’m putting a ring on her finger, and I’ll forever be her Daddy—the only man who will provide for her until my dying breath.
Bella
Sometime during the night, I woke up and stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours but might have been minutes. Donato is so attuned to me that I wasn’t alone in my wakeful state for long. After we talked some more—not about my parents because I didn’t want to think about them further, and I’d decided they were no longer a concern of mine—we made love until the morning birds began singing their love songs.
Today is a new day in a new home with the man I love. I’m not delusional enough to believe that just because I have some answers, I’m magically fixed. I haven’t healed from the trauma of the church or the belief that I’m not losing my mind and hearing voices. But at least I feel an optimism I haven’t in so long that I don’t remember when I ever actually did.
“You’re smiling,” Dr. Rose points out. “It appears genuine. Might I dare say peaceful, even.”
My eyes meet hers as I nod. “Today is a good day.”
“One day at a time. I like that.” Her approval shouldn’t comfort me, but it helps me realize that I don’t have to be reliant on the people around me, nice as it is; I have instincts, too, and it’s okay to trust them. “What else have you been discovering about yourself?”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were a mind reader.” I laugh, but she only gives me a half smile, making me really wonder. “My marriage to Lude was successfully annulled.” I think that’s the thing that makes me happiest.
“Congratulations. What does that mean for you and Donato?” I open my mouth to answer and realize I don’t have one.
“I don’t know yet.” I try not to let it dampen my mood.
“What do you want it to mean?” she asks instead.
My answer is easy. “I want it to mean everything he promised me. Marriage, babies, the whole nine yards.” Even as we speak, I know I could be carrying his child. Placing my hands over my stomach, my lips widen in a satisfied smile.
Donato has made promises since the day we met. Before I’d barely spoken five words to him, he was watching me like he owned me. If not for his obsession, I’m not sure I would be where I am right now.
“I think, Bella, you’ll have a lot of that very soon.” Dr. Rose had no idea how true her prediction would become.
Neither did I.
And I couldn’t be happier for it.
Epilogue One
BELLA
Two Years Later.
“Clara, she’s coming!” I shout as I feel a strong set of arms wrap around me from behind. “She’s growing up too fast,” I whisper, hiding the tears in my eyes.
“Mmm, we could always make another.” I feel my husband’s grin against my neck as he kisses me. “Or two or three.” He’s always wanting more.
“We already have,” I confess to him. I’m just shy of three months along now. I’d found out just this morning before taking the girls for breakfast with Bria. My twin has been struggling with pregnancy, and to help ease her anxiety some, Maso is taking her back to the Indonesian islands she loves so much this evening.
Spinning me around to face him just as I hear our daughter squeal, likely because Clara has picked her up and spun her around, Donato lifts me into his arms. “Say that again, cara mia.” I love his demands.