Fifty-One
Romeo’s [POV]
Now: Six months later…”I hate school.” Naz had been repeating that same mantra all through dinner, though strangely enough, he’d always loved school. And now he was repeating it after brushing his teeth, mumbling it under his breath while he got on his Batman PJs.
Frowning, I went into the bedroom I shared with Eden.
Ours.
Home.
We’d moved out of her old house soon after we came together. I sold my penthouse and decided to buy a house outside the city.
Years ago, I would have said the quiet suburbs were my worst nightmare.
Now, I found that I preferred the quiet; I preferred this family, this family that was real, which was mine.
Eden was in the bathroom, wearing black silk shorts and a tank that left little to the imagination when she wasn’t wearing the short silk bathrobe around her little body.
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“Is he still saying he hates school?” She rubbed some moisturizer around her gorgeous face; her worried eyes met mine through the mirror.
I tugged her back against me.
The three-karat princess cut diamond shimmered on her left hand as she grabbed my arms and laid her head back against my shoulder, leaning into me, relying on me.
I would never get tired of it.
The way she looked at me as if I wasn’t a killer, but someone who did whatever it took to keep her and my son safe. Protected, content & Happy.
I was still an assassin for the family; I just didn’t sleep with women anymore to gain intel.
“Yeah.” I kissed the top of her head. “He’ll talk about it when he’s ready. You know how he gets.”
She snorted. “Yeah, he takes after someone else I know in talking to himself and kicking the ground until he’s worked through a problem.”
I smirked. “Wow, this person must be a great role model.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I think when he wipes the blood off the blade of his knife or cleans one of his many guns.”
I smacked her on the ass, earning a yelp, and then she turned in my arms, and her mouth eagerly found mine.
Damn, I was ready for her.
So hard that I forgot our son was in the next room until “Ewwww gross!” sounded from behind us both.
We slowly broke apart. Eden’s cheeks were red; I just winked and said, “And that’s how babies are made.”
Eden smacked me in the stomach.
Naz shook his head. “Babies poop themselves.” He crossed his arms. “Did you know that if you wake up a sleeping bat, it dies?”
See? He loved school. It didn’t make sense.
“Come here, little man.” I picked him up and carried him to our bed while Eden followed.
I placed him between us and cocked my head to the side. “I’m worried. Can you help me out with something?”
His eyes went wide. “I don’t want you to be worried.”
“Okay then, so you can help?”
He gave me a firm nod. His inky black hair was getting long. I threatened to cut it, and Eden threatened to cut me off. It was near his shoulders.
My cock was just as obsessed with her as I was.
“You came home kind of upset today, and I can tell something’s on your mind. I think if you talk about it, you might feel better… It’s making me worried that there might be a bully at school I need to go take care of.”
His lips pressed together before he let out a very dramatic sigh. “It was Dad’s Day at school.”
My heart stopped in my chest. “And that made you hate school?”
Tears filled Eden’s eyes as she watched our conversation; I knew it was killing her not to fix it, not to pull him into her arms and coddle him.
“Well, my dad did bad things, sometimes he hurt Mom, and then he died, and I don’t have a dad, and Jude said that I only had a mama, and then he asked me if I was going to cry.”
I was killing Jude later.
Rage coursed through me.
“Hey!” Naz glanced up at me with the brightest smile I’d ever seen. “I know how to fix it!”
With guns and bloodshed? I was in. Fuck, I wasn’t going to survive if the little man decided to do sports; I would one hundred percent be the parent who got kicked out of the stands.
“How?” I kept my voice calm when I was anything but. How dare anyone threaten my child.
My blood.
I was going to murder the little shit, and I didn’t feel bad about it.
“Well, I mean, if it’s okay with you… Can you maybe be my daddy now? I know I call you Uncle Romeo, but you’re marrying Mama, which means you’re kind of marrying me, right? So maybe-”
I crushed him into my chest with shaking hands while tears streamed down Eden’s cheeks. We’d decided to tell him I was his real dad before the wedding, but the timing just never seemed right.
“You’re my son,” I whispered into his ear. “You’ve always been more than a nephew to me, Naz; I’m just sorry I never told you. I’m sorry. Can you forgive me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Honey.” Eden rubbed his back. “Before your dad-”
“Before your dad,” I interrupted, “your mommy and I were very much in love, but I was stupid and afraid, and I said some not-nice things.”
“He had some growing up to do,” Eden chimed in with a smile.
I laughed. “Yeah, a lot of growing up. And I thought I lost your mama when she married your daddy, but our love was so big and so bright, that we created you, only I didn’t know right away, and when I did find out, you already had a daddy, it didn’t feel right to take that from him.”
Naz narrowed his eyes. “I think I understand.” He frowned. “So, you’re my daddy now?”
He was too young to get it.
But the words had needed to be said.
I pulled him into my lap and kissed his head. “I’ll be your daddy forever.”
He turned in my lap and threw his skinny arms around my neck, burying his face against me. “I can’t wait to tell Jude tomorrow. Hey, can you come to school and drop me off?”
“Of course.”
“Yay!” He did a little fist pump. “Oops! Gotta go pee.”
And then he was gone.
Eden cleared her throat. “No weapons.”
“I wasn’t going to-”
“You were plotting poor little Jude’s death in your head; I saw the tense look on your face. He’s six…”
“Still.” My jaw clenched. “Little shit for brains isn’t even good enough to be my son’s friend. I would never hurt a child, but trip one by accident? Tie his shoes together? Teach Naz how to take his enemies down one by one by plucking them from-”
“Mama! Daddy!” Naz came blazing back into the room. “I forgive Jude. It’s not his fault he’s mean. I’m just gonna tell him that it hurt my feelings.”
Damn it. Save me from a son who has more self-control and kindness in his heart than his mom and me combined.
“Good idea, buddy.” Eden ruffled his head. “Now, off to bed; I’ll be right in to say goodnight.”
He skipped off.
And once he was gone, I murmured, “At least let me glare at him…”
“Deal.” She burst out laughing and turned, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “Once a made man, always a made man.”
“Hey, this made man keeps you safe. Keeps his family safe.”
“Yes.” She smiled. “He does.”
“Mammmmmmma!” Naz yelled.
“Hurry and kiss him goodnight so I can kiss you everywhere.” I grinned.
She laughed, sliding her hand down the front of my pants.
I was instantly hard.
She gave a throaty laugh. “Neat trick.”
“I have many tricks. Now hurry before I embarrass myself.”
“I love you, Romeo Casanova.”
“Love you too, Red.”
“Forever.”
“Forever,” I repeated.
Everything was in this house.
My world.
My future.
My son.
And soon-to-be… my wife.