Twisted Bonds (The Camorra Chronicles, #4)

by Cora Reilly

Nino kissed me again, his expression hard. “I won’t ever risk your wellbeing, Kiara. I can’t lose you.”

“I doubt Nino would threaten you.” “Oh, he would, definitely if you are concerned. You bring out the protective side in him, and not only in him.” In our living room, I sank down at the piano. “Don’t tell me you mean Remo.” Fabiano plopped down on the sofa and stretched out his legs in front of him. “Remo and Savio both. It’s the way they watch you and act around you.”

“And with you as a mother, it’ll drown in love and sweets, that’s for sure.”

“Sometimes I feel like my insides are a raging flood of emotions when I look at you, but I don’t mind drowning.”

I really didn’t understand what it was with the Falcone brothers and their aversion to wearing shirts.

“I love you exactly as you are. And maybe you are a monster, but you are my monster.”

When I finally turned to the rest of our family and caught a dark gleam in Remo’s eyes, a hint of worry flickered in my belly. I gave him a smile, which caused him to give me his own twisted version in return.

“Sometimes I think I’ve come to accept my emotions, and then this happens and I just want the quiet back,” he murmured. “I know,” I said softly. “But you’ll be glad for your emotions when you hold your child for the first time.” “I’m glad for my emotions when I look at you.”

Remo was a father. I was an uncle. Two new Falcones. Kiara would be ecstatic to have them in the mansion.

I hadn’t been sure how I’d feel for a baby. I’d always cared for my brothers, and I cared about Kiara, but I didn’t know if I’d feel the same way for a baby. Yet, seeing those babies who looked like Remo, like Adamo when he was a baby, I felt an overwhelming sense of protectiveness.

Remo never considered having kids, but he’d protect them with all he had, from this day on until his death. I knelt down beside him again, feeling his pulse, needing the reassurance that his heart was still beating. I wouldn’t let him die.

Savio nodded, then yawned. “I’m still not over it and I’ve been staring at doll-face and little Remo for hours.” “Doll-face?” I said with a smile. “Did you take a look at that face? If you put that kid up on a shelf, nobody would realize she wasn’t a puppet.”

I crossed the small space between us and hugged Remo for the first time in my life. “Thank you,” I whispered. “You are how I wish my brothers could have been. I don’t care what people say about you, I love you like a brother.”

I had enough self-awareness to know how most people perceived me. They were scared of me, not just because of the Camorra, or because I was a Falcone but because of what I was. Kiara managed to see more in me, parts of me I hadn’t been aware of before she came into my life.

“Nobody will ever hurt you again, nobody will come close,” I promised, stroking his tiny head then his cheek, wondering if anyone had ever shown him love so far. My heart broke and at the same time something fiercer, darker rose in my chest. Nino kissed the side of my head. “I told you the same shortly after we married.” “I know, and you kept your promise ever since. Will you protect our son like you protect me?” “I’d lay my life down for you and him.”

Adamo was adrift and looking for an anchor but he kept looking in the wrong places when a safe haven was always waiting for him in these walls.

Fabiano caught Nevio’s grabby hands. “No.” That was a word Nevio wasn’t very fond of and his face scrunched up in an indignant cry. Fabiano chuckled, grabbed him and catapulted him up over his head. “One day you’ll be Capo, young man, but until then you’ll hear many no’s.”

I smiled to myself, surrounded by family. I pressed my palm against my belly and after a moment Nino covered my hand with his. This was worth fighting for. Every day, every hour, every minute.

in the beginning when I started to feel things because of you, I hoped fear wouldn’t be among them. But then last year and today again, I felt it, fear of losing you.” “You didn’t and you won’t,” I said. “Alessio, Massimo and I, we’ll never leave you.”

“Considering that our marriage was only meant to bring temporary peace, this is … incredible.” Nino cupped my cheek and pointed at his heart. “It brought peace here, and one that will outlast any truce between the Camorra and the Famiglia.” “You gave me peace too,” I whispered, then rested my head against his shoulder. “Me and my boys.”