Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 406(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
This would be the time to bring a De Luca to his knees. She could take everything from him.
He loved her.
A true Russo would do this.
She opened her mouth and then closed it.
Alicia was a Russo. She had fallen in love with Valentino De Luca, and she never got the chance to see her baby born or to marry the man she loved. She had died long before her time. Killed by the hands of her family.
Valentino had lived the remainder of his life to torture the men responsible for taking his love away.
This cycle had to end.
She was never a malicious person. Her hatred of her father was very fucking real.
She wasn’t going to allow him or his greedy life to impose on her any longer. The Russo and De Luca feud would end here.
All it took was one person to finally put an end to it.
She pulled her hands away from De Luca’s, and he fought her, but she climbed off the bed. Then she shoved him against it and turned to straddle him as he sat on the floor. She cupped his face, tilting his head back to look him in the eye. His gaze was so cold it took her breath away.
“I love you, Damon De Luca. We’re going to get married. So I’m going to need that ring back, and we’re going to raise beautiful children. This rift between the Russos and De Lucas ends today. You and me, we will finish this. This feud will end in love. Do you understand me?”
He grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her close and drawing her lips down to his. She wrapped her arms around him. With her stomach in the way, it was hard to get as close to him as she wanted, but she didn’t care.
His touch, his love, that was all she needed. She didn’t need anything else.
She didn’t know how much time had passed before he pulled away, but when he did, he already had the engagement ring out, and he slid it on her finger.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. I don’t want the Russo ring. None of our children do, but I think you should give it to Ricky.”
Damon nodded.
“You’re not going to argue?” She frowned. “Did you kill him?”
“No. Ricky is not dead. It turns out he has been one hell of a guard around this place,” Damon said. He stroked her hair back behind her ear. “You’re so beautiful. You know that?”
She cupped his face and kissed him. “I love you.”
“And I love you. Don’t leave me.”
“Don’t ever give me a reason to leave.”
“I won’t.”
He held her tightly, and Milah finally felt like she belonged. Damon hadn’t just put on a show, she knew that. Some people would think she was a fool, and she could imagine her father and grandfather spinning in their graves because she hadn’t dealt a killing blow to him.
She loved him. There was no need to destroy him. The thirst for vengeance had caused enough death, and she was going to end it once and for all.
“Valentino really loved her?” Damon asked, pulling away.
Milah nodded. “It’s all in the diary. I found it in the top floor’s attic.”
“I’ve never been up there. Valentino made the room out of bounds for a long time. My mother had it redecorated not long after he passed. She said the room had once been a shrine to something.”
“It must have been Alicia,” Milah said.
He nodded.
“Read the diary, Damon. For me.”
“I will do anything for you, Milah. All you ever have to do is ask.”
Epilogue
Five years later
Some people would have called her a fool for believing Damon. Milah watched from the table on the porch as the man himself chased after their five-year-old son, Daniel, and their two-year-old daughter, Alicia.
The moment she held her little girl, she had known what to call her. Damon had said he wanted to lock her away so no men would ever touch her.
Damon De Luca had proven his words to her, time and time again. They had gotten married a month after their confession to one another about their feelings. Milah had been nervous about leaving her Russo name behind, but the moment she looked at Damon, she had known she was doing the right thing.
Not once did he turn his back on her. Their honeymoon had been one of the most amazing times of her life. She’d been heavily pregnant with Daniel, so it hadn’t been particularly exertive, but Damon had shown her how to make love everywhere.
She smiled at the memories and looked toward the chuckle to see Ricky coming toward her. Milah had gotten to know her brother. Damon had taken the effort to reach out to more of Antonio Russo’s children, but that had caused a few problems. Some of the women had convinced other men that they were their children, and so to let them know they are Russos would have caused a whole heap of trouble.