Page 87 of The Red Queen

“You’re in our territory, Italian.” The man’s eyes scanned them. When they landed on Desi, he smirked and licked his lips.

“I can rectify that,” Giovanni said coldly. “Return the territory to the people it belongs to, the people who live here.”

The man laughed.

It was the last thing he did.

Before Desi could pull her own gun, Giovanni shoved her at Dino, who wrapped his body around hers and took her to the ground, covering her. They landed softly, Dino cradling her stomach and head as he rolled on top of her. The Mexicans wasted precious seconds on shock as they gawked at Desi and Dino.

Desi peeked out from under Dino’s arm in time to see Giovanni pull two guns from the holsters under his arms. Shots cracked in the air, one after the other, as he walked straight at the Mexicans, shooting them all. One at a time they hit the ground.

A spray of machine gun fire had Desi gasping. She cried out when Giovanni jerked but the man who had fired the gun was dead and Giovanni was still standing.

Desi fought Dino, elbowing him in the throat before leaping to her feet and rushing at Giovanni, who stood over each of his victims and made sure they were dead with a bullet in the head. Desi slammed her fist into his bicep, which was bleeding from a bullet that had winged him.

He grunted and re-holstered his guns.

“I wanted to kill him!” Desi shouted at him.

Giovanni turned to her, his eyes glowing with fury. She backed up a step and would have stumbled, but Giovanni caught her arm and dragged her against him. He kissed her hard, his teeth slicing her lip. She didn’t think he knew he was hurting her. There was desperation in the kiss. Fear. Rage.

He broke the kiss and stared down at her. “That man raped you. I wouldn’t have let anyone else send him to hell, not even you.”

“Not fair,” she said breathlessly.

“I’ll let you have the next one,” he said, some of the rage easing.

“No, you won’t,” she complained. “You’re going to tape me up in bubble wrap and never let me kill anyone again.”

He chuckled. “Maybe, but you’ll forgive me and the only way for you to do that is if you’re alive.”

Desi gripped his face. “I want us both to live, so I should be at your back, keeping you safe.”

“No,amore mio, you will be at my side. Always.”

* * *

“To my grandchild, may he be healthy and strong!” Theresa cried, holding up her glass.

While Giovanni’s men joined in with raucous shouts, Theresa’s husband, Desi’s stepfather, toasted her with an indulgent smile, his arm firmly around Theresa’s waist as she mainlined tequila with the Italians. Desi laughed but had to swallow tears as well.

This was her family and she finally got to be with them.

Not just Gabriel, her stepfather, but their children, Desi’s half-siblings. She had tho. The oldest, Fran, was nineteen, but still living at home, along with her brother, Marco, who was sixteen. Theresa had been so upset over losing Desi that she refused to start another family for several years after Desi’s disappearance, and once she did, she couldn’t let her children go. Desi hoped that seeing her alive and well would reassure her mother, convince her to let go of her other children so they could live their own lives.

“It could be a girl,” Giovanni drawled from their place on the couch, raising his voice so everyone could hear it over the laughter and toasting.

Theresa looked at him and then made her way over. She took Desi’s face in her hands and shook her head, pride giving her a glow that made Desi uncomfortable. “A girl baby as beautiful and accomplished as my daughter will be most welcome in this family.”

No matter what Desi said, she couldn’t convince Theresa to stop treating her like some kind of angel sent from heaven. The woman refused to see the truth about her daughter, and Desi didn’t have the heart to inform her. Though it made her uncomfortable, she wanted to take the look on her mother’s face and hold it close to her heart forever. No one had ever looked at her like that.

Giovanni kissed the side of Desi’s head. “We will bring the baby here after it’s born.”

Theresa threw her arms around her son-in-law, hugging him tightly. She was only a few years older than him, but that didn’t seem to bother her. She treated Giovanni with jovial respect. An equal in her household. He wasn’t venerated as the Italian Godfather or even as a rich husband for her daughter. He was welcome because he made Desi happy. He would always be loved and well fed in her household.

Theresa moved away from Giovanni and turned to her husband, who was standing behind her, his eyes glowing with warmth and love for his wife. Desi would go back to Italy, content in the knowledge that her mother was well taken care of. Even her half-siblings seemed happy to welcome Desi into the fold, peppering her with questions about her extraordinary life while deftly sidestepping any mention of the brutality of the cartel. Unlike their mother, they didn’t see Desi as an angel, but neither did they see her as the devil she’d spent so long thinking of herself. She was just… human.

“I think it’s time for bed,” Giovanni announced. Desi wanted to argue, but he gave her a significant look, then turned his charming smile to her mother. “Theresa, thank you for offering us a room.”

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